She had so many questions, but right now, none of that really mattered. ‘I’m coming.’ She leaned forward, but stopped in her tracks. ‘Wait! My stuffies! I have to liberate them!’
Her dad was working in the adjoining room. He was about five minutes into a ten-minute appointment. She should be able to do this before he finished. Obviously, she was worried about the boys, as well, but no doubt they’d be OK, right? Finn was on top, too, which shouldn’t put too much stress on his lungs. She’d been so worried about him, but he looked well.
‘Hurry up,’ came a strangled call from the bottom of the tower. The boys had been clever, coming to the window. Her dad had security cameras at the front of the building. This way, he’d have no idea what was going on.
Quickly, Tammy began to collect her stuffies and other Little stuff. She went back and forth from the locker to the window, passing toys and dolls to her Daddies. Finn passed them down to Conor, who passed them down to Shay who… dropped them on the floor?
Don’t worry about that right now, Tammy, get on with it — you’re racing against the clock.
It didn’t take long before Tammy was ready to go.
‘Come on, Tamster, your turn now,’ Finn said, holding his hands out.
There was a moment of fear, then she threw herself into it. Not literally, for the sake of the three brothers.
It was a little tricky to work her way, spider-like, down the tower of brothers, but she managed it, helped by the strong arms of the three of them. At the bottom, as she climbed down Shay, she looked closely at him. He had a sad look on his face.
‘I’d hug you if I could,’ he said, his warm brown eyes on the verge of tears.
She didn’t know what to say. There had to be a good reason that Conor and Finn had allowed Shay to come here.
When everyone was safely back on the ground, they all piled into the old Volkswagen. She was in the back, wedged between the twins.
Shay looked over his shoulder. ‘So, are we all safely strapped in and ready to go?’
‘What’s going on?’ Tammy asked. ‘I feel like I’m in a parallel universe.’
They all laughed. ‘A good one though, right?’ Shay asked.
‘I… guess.’
‘Well, to answer your question,’ said Finn, kissing her on the forehead, ‘we’re taking you somewhere special. Somewhere you’re not going to be our doctor, so there’s no grounds for legal liability.’
‘Not Liberty?’
‘Not just yet. But eventually.’
‘What about the malpractice? My dad’ll sue the town and sue you! And I if I can’t work as a doctor then I’ll probably have to—'
Shay butted in. ‘Don’t worry about it — I’ve got it figured out. Trust me.’
Trust him? Could she? She was going to have to try.
‘So where are we going?’
‘Somewhere the three of us have been wanting to go since we were kids,’ Conor said. Then, he squeezed her knee.
*
Finn swore he would never, ever get tired of seeing Tammy excited.
‘Disney World! Are you kidding me? We’re on our way to Disney World! The happiest place on earth?’
They’d managed to keep their destination a secret for quite a while. At the airport, they’d got her to keep her eyes shut for most of the time (aside from the moment that she was required to show ID). It had worked pretty well, but as soon as she worked out that they were on a flight to Florida, it became hard to keep the secret.
‘That’s right,’ Finn said.
He was lucky enough to be sitting next to her on the flight, and he was trying his best to enjoy every moment.