The London Paradigm (book 4 of Adopted by the Josephs)

38. Jenna

I listened to Samantha telling Mr. Greyson her history. She got upset and nervous a few times, but she plowed through. She would hug Tyler's arm when things got a bit hard for her. But she did really well.

When she told Mr. Greyson about her dad beating her for answering the phone, Tyler took his arm from her and I saw just the slightest hint of panic cross her face. Then he wrapped her in a hug and kissed her head. She relaxed.

Sam did really well. I got a little teary eyed when she admitted that a year or two ago she would have called herself useless. But that now, she thinks better of herself. She was definitely healing. There's still work to be done and she'll probably have to do for her whole life. But she was getting so much stronger and that edge we used to see that seemed to be the flight in 'fight or flight', has turned into fight. Samantha was becoming a person who wasn't letting people stand in her way.

"Samantha," Mr. Greyson said. "I have a hard question for you."

Samantha looked up at him. Where fear would normally reside, I saw resolve and curiosity.

"If, for some reason, and this is completely hypothetical, your mom and dad couldn't take care of you anymore, where would you go? Where would you want to go?"

I watched as she frowned, thinking. Something told me she was thinking back to the times she thought we were thinking of sending her away.

"Uncle Josh and Aunt Debby, or Uncle Brendon and Aunt Sarah."

"Not Mark?"

"Definitely not," she said, conviction and resolve in her voice. "I don't trust him. He lied to me."

"Fair enough," Mr. Greyson said, smiling. "But why those two specifically? What about Jill's family?"

"Well, Uncle Brendon and Aunt Sarah had a daughter and she died a couple of years ago. And they came all the way out here just to meet me, and then came out for Mom and Dad when Stanley kidnapped me. And they stayed after I was found and wasn't able to talk. They helped make my first Christmas something really special. Even if they totally spoiled me," she smiled. "Uncle Josh and Aunt Debby are always there for me. And now they've even moved to Ohio so I get to see them that much more. And Uncle Josh told me when I thought Mom and Dad might send me away when they told me about Rosie, that if they even thought of doing that, he would take me. Because he thinks I'm funny. And awesome. And he is, too."

I smiled. Samantha's assessment of our friends was sweet. And I knew they loved her just as much. In fact if anything did happen to Tyler and I and we couldn't take care of the girls, those four are the people I'd want raising them.

Mr. Greyson asked a few more questions and then declared that he thought he had enough for now but would Sam come back and talk with him if needed? She said yes.

"As we get closer to court, if you all don't mind, I'll come to your house if I need to go over things. No need to bring you down here every time. Unless I need you in the office for any specific reason, I can come to you."

"Sounds good," Tyler said.

"Samantha, it was a pleasure meeting you. Thank you for speaking with me. I think we have a very, very good chance of either getting this thrown out of court or at the very least, winning."

Samantha smiled.

"Samantha, I'm very, very sorry you're in the middle of all this. I will say, it speaks very highly of your parents how hard they're willing to fight for you. I hope you know how lucky you are."

Samantha looked over at me and then up at Tyler, who still had his arm around her and said she did.

We shook hands with the lawyer and gathered the few belongings we had, Sam's bag, my purse, and left the office.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Tyler asked Samantha as he wrapped his arm around her in the elevator.

"It was okay," she said. "I just don't like talking about all the stuff that happened."

"I know, baby," Tyler said. "I'm, we're, so proud of you."

Sam leaned into Tyler and smiled.

"Where's Rosie, anyway?" She asked, looking over at me.

"Josh and Debby are watching her," I said. She nodded.

We got into the car and Samantha, once again, put her bag up in the window and buried her face.

It was one thing for paparazzi and fans to recognize her because of Tyler. This intrusion into her world was hard for her.

Once we were clear of the press around the building, Samantha took her face out of her bag down and leaned on it. I noticed a little while later, she fell asleep as we drove home. Retelling those stories must have exhausted her.