“Can we make popcorn?”

Jane groaned internally at the request. She had finally gotten Adele to sit still on her lap, but now the little girl was starting to wriggle around again. “You just had ice cream,” she said softly in Adele’s ear.

“But it’s a movie!” Adele whined. “Daddy, can we make popcorn?”

Jane turned her head to look at Adam. He had been spending more time around the house lately, and tonight all three of them had sat down together for dinner at the little kitchen table. Jane had suggested they all watch a movie afterward, and Adele had flung herself into her father’s arms with a cry of delight when he’d agreed. Now they were all together in front of the big TV in the library.

Jane had sat down first, choosing a spot on one side of the loveseat and wondering whether Adam would sit down next to her or opt for one of the other chairs scattered around the room instead. He’d been keeping a careful distance between them during Adele’s waking hours. They’d come to an unspoken understanding that they would carry on as employer and employee during the daytime. But once the sun went down and Adele was safely tucked into bed, it was a different story. Jane’s musical education had been progressing steadily each evening here in the library – followed by a different kind of lesson, upstairs afterward in his big double bed.

To Jane’s pleasure, Adam had cued up the movie in the DVD player and then plopped down next to her on the loveseat. She had shifted toward him slightly so that their thighs just barely brushed, pretending to be adjusting herself under the weight of Adele sitting on her lap, but really testing whether he would pull his leg away. He hadn’t. Instead, he’d thrown one arm along the backrest behind her, silently inviting her to lean closer. Jane had bitten the inside of her lip to keep her face from showing the irrational stab of joy she had felt at his gesture.  Now his hand was gently resting on her shoulder as Adele squirmed in her lap. “Please Daddy?” the little girl cajoled.

“Jane said no, little girl,” he replied. “Now watch the movie.”

Adele had chosen Annie, another old musical from her seemingly endless collection. They hadn’t quite made it through the opening credits, and already Adele was getting restless. She scooted down off of Jane’s lap now and climbed up into Adam’s instead. “I already saw this,” Adele said, turning to look up at her father. “It’s about orphans.”

“Well I haven’t seen it,” Jane whispered, pressing one finger to her lips.

“It’s about orphans,” Adele whispered back. “They live in a itch.”

“An itch?” Jane wrinkled her forehead, trying to decipher Adele’s babyish words.

“Itsa orphan itch,” the little girl stated, exasperated at Jane’s slowness.

“You mean an orphanage,” Jane replied, grasping her meaning.

“Shhhhh,” Adam said loudly to both of them as Jane tried and failed to suppress a giggle.

Jane had never seen this movie before, and she was amused at the portrayal of the orphanage – more like a hard labor camp than the home where she’d actually grown up. Adele started dancing around the room when they got to the big production number, Hard Knock Life, singing along with snatches of the lyrics:

Santa Claus we never see.
Santa Claus, what's that? Who's he?

No one cares for you a smidge,
When you're in a orphan itch!

Of course, Adele couldn’t get over the heroine’s mop of curly red hair. “It’s just like yours!” she squealed when little Annie appeared again on screen. Adele climbed back up onto Jane’s lap and started twirling a strand of hair around her finger. “How come some people have red hair and some people have stupid brown hair?”

“You have hair like your mommy and daddy,” Jane whispered.

“Does my mommy have brown hair?”

“Watch the movie, blabbermouth,” Adam cut in.

“I like red hair,” Adele said sorrowfully. “I wish my mommy had red hair.”

Adam still had his arm around Jane’s shoulders, but she felt him take it away abruptly now. She snuck a glance at his face, but he was staring resolutely at the TV screen.

“Shhh,” Jane whispered into Adele’s ear. “Daddy is trying to watch.”

They were half an hour into the movie before Jane felt Adam’s shoulder start to relax again next to hers. She was just wondering if she dared to tilt her head and rest it against him when she heard him whisper in her ear. “Is she asleep?”

Adele hadn’t moved in ten minutes, and Jane peered down now at the still form sitting in her lap, breathing evenly in an out. She turned her head and nodded at Adam. “I think so,” she mouthed to him.

He gestured toward the door with his head and then got up, reaching down to steady Jane by the elbow as she stood gingerly, holding the soundly sleeping child in her arms. Adam silently led the way out of the library and up the stairs to Adele’s bedroom.

They were just easing a nightgown over Adele’s head when she stirred and looked up at the two of them groggily. “What happened to the movie?” she asked.

“It’s over, sweetie,” Jane said gently.

“But what happened to Annie?” Adele asked again. “Did her mommy and daddy come back?” Jane looked up at Adam for an answer – she hadn’t seen the movie all the way to the end.

“She was adopted,” Adam said. “Come get into bed now.”

Adele wasn’t satisfied. “What’s adopted?”

She looked up expectantly at their faces as Jane and Adam each waited for the other to answer the question. “That’s when a little girl doesn’t have a mommy and daddy,” Jane explained at last, “So a new mommy and daddy come and adopt her.”

Adele seemed to accept this explanation and allowed Jane to pull the covers up over her before she spoke again. “Will you adopt me?”

“Well, you already have a daddy, sweetie,” Jane whispered.

“But if you adopt me then Daddy could be my daddy and you could be my mommy!”

“That would be nice.” Jane smiled at her softly. That would be nice, wouldn’t it? It had only been a short time since Adam had become more than just her boss, but Jane couldn’t pretend that the same thought didn’t crossed her mind half a dozen times a day. Adele needed a mother. And Adam needed a wife. Why shouldn’t they make a new family together? A little family of her own. It was more than Jane had dared to hope for in a very long time. She glanced up at Adam now, seeking some sign in his face that he was thinking the same thing, but she saw him stiffen instead. She felt her heartbeat quicken as she saw the warmth go out of his eyes at his daughter's words, and he moved across the room so she could only see the back of his head.

“I’ll finish tucking her in,” he said coldly, without even turning to look at her over his shoulder. “Please go wash up the dinner dishes now.”

The words hit her like a slap across the face. Jane felt tears sting her eyes and she blinked them rapidly away as she left the room, making her way back downstairs to the empty kitchen.

Adele had been helping her cook earlier, and the room was still strewn with dirty pots and pans. Jane sighed as she ran her eyes over the mess. She knew she had no right to be offended, of course. It was her job to make Adele’s dinner and clean up afterward. She was still an employee. He still wrote her a paycheck every week.

She picked up the biggest pan and rolled up her sleeves to start scrubbing, singing to herself as she got to work.

It’s a hard knock life for us.

It’s a hard knock life for us.

Instead of treated, we get tricked.

Instead of kisses, we get kicked.

It’s a hard knock life…

This wasn’t a movie, she reminded herself bitterly. Maybe Hollywood made life in an orphanage seem more like prison, but they still managed to sugarcoat the ending. The little orphan girl got adopted, of course. She got a family of her own. She got hugs and kisses and someone who loved her to tuck her in at night. That was the movies. That wasn’t how things always turned out in real life.

She should thank her boss, really, for the reminder. It was a lesson she couldn’t afford to forget.