Chapter 20: Ties That Bind

Captain's Log -

Una has made it into grade school.  She passed through her toddling years, with the love and guiding hand of me and Cordelia.

 Una's first day of school was a mix of excitement and trepidation for her, and bittersweet for myself.   But she hardly showed her worries that first day she walked to the bus.  She had a set look of determination on her face and climbed onto the bus, giving Cordelia and me a wave of good-bye at the curb before the bus closed it's doors and moved up the street.
With Una off to school, I was asked by my Sargent to handle more odd-jobs of undercover work since my schedule allowed for it.  Although I held traditional 9-5 working hours, I was frequently called during the nights and weekends to go undercover and keep tabs on suspects with my partner.

There were many late nights, returning home long after Cordelia and Una were in bed.  Some mornings after my undercover work, I'd have to go back in hours later to the station to complete paperwork and report back to the Sargent.  It was hard to leave my family so much, but the end result was worth it.  I was satisfied with the salary that I got for the over-time work and it assuaged some of my guilt at leaving Cordelia and Una.

And leaving them for work gave Cordelia and Una the chances to bond and draw closer to one another.

Cordelia spent time playing with Una, read to her often, and kept her company during those times work called me away.

Cordelia even tucked Una in for bedtimes that I missed.  Cordelia's love for my daughter was no different than if we'd had a child of our own.  Every gentle touch to lovingly groom Una's hair for school everyday, every thoughtful glance to Una when she studied, every kind and appraising word she gave Una to let her know of how proud she was of her showed me how much she truly loved Una. 

 We still spent time all together as well.  I didn't leave Cordelia to care and entertain
Una solely on her own.

I made sure that our evening routine involved sitting down to eat dinner together.

 On nights that I didn't have to go undercover, I would tutor and talk with Una, giving Cordelia a chance to relax when she came home from her corporate job. 

 Sometimes, Cordelia and I would call a baby-sitter so we could visit the local bistro for time alone, too.

 Or we'd simply sneak out the door when the Una was home to give each other a kiss or a loving word.  Una had made it clear that seeing the two of us together was "great and all" but that she'd like to be spared from seeing us kiss and cuddle.
So we kept those moments to ourselves or in the bedroom.
Because Cordelia and I were one in our endeavors to teach Una the importance of family, our ties to one another were strong, and these were the ties that lasted forever, and were stronger than the ties that could rend us apart.  These were the ties that bind.

~Tom Calico