Chapter 2
"You're not being an asshole," I whisper into the phone, copying Ivy's hushed tone. "If you're worried about her state of mind Nena, talk to Aiden, his father, ask them what's going on."
"I just- I love them so much." She says.
"Of course you do."
"And maybe I am just worrying because I want them to stay?"
"It's such a sudden change of heart from them all, it's okay for it to stress you out."
"I don't want them to experience Aiden dying," Ivy admits into the phone, she was in her bedroom, everyone else, Jackson, Mia (the boy's mother) and the boys were in their front room.
Ivy had to leave because she was getting upset and so she phoned me.
I actually picked up.
Amber was watching me talk to her, she was in the kitchen doing her lunch prep, I was sat on our couch, my tie half was undone, jacket on the cushion next to me.
I only just got home.
I had hardly spoken to Amber yet, but I knew I had to take this call. Ivy had called Jackson this morning to come home as soon as the boy's mother started talking about taking them back to their house.
She needed Jackson.
So I had twice the paperwork to do so I had to stay later.
We run a company that provides legal advice and sets up local representatives and interventions for the city's youth. Rates of poverty and crime were high, so we started it as non-profit but as we partnered with some different law firms, the profit they make from representing the teenagers is shared because we sent them that way, the same with different interventions... so we do good for ourselves.
Especially lately.
Hence the stacks of paperwork.
"We have no legal guardianship, Cole." Ivy whispers. "She wants to take them back because she is worried that they're going to resent her when they're older, for not being around Aiden the last few months."
"He's not going to recover then?" I ask.
"No, I- we've known this for a few weeks now, I thought I told you."
"No." I say gently. "Ivy, there is nothing you can do, other than being with them-"
"She wants to take them Monday."
It's Saturday evening.
I wince. "I am so sorry." Is all I can say.
"Come on, isn't there something you can do? Jack can do? I can't even talk to him because Mia is here- I- Cole, please-"
"Sweetheart," I say. "There is nothing we can do, she is their mum."
"I want to cry."
"Cry then." Is all I can say. She has swept these children up into her arms for over three months now, she adores them.
But she is not their mother.
Their mother still has every right to make decisions.
"She seems- excited Cole."
"What?"
"She seems so aminated and the boys love her so much and she seems good. But she's too good for someone who is losing the father of her children, she's-"
"Ivy, are you sure you're not just pushing your assumptions of grief onto her? People express grief differently; we know this."
"But I just have a bad feeling."
