Finally Home

63. Josh

The girls were so sad when Tyler and Jenna left. Rosie was practically inconsolable. Even Samantha couldn't calm her down fully.

We'd ordered pizza for dinner. It was quick and easy and most kids like pizza.  Samantha ate two pieces after helping Rosie with hers. And then she suddenly got up and ran to the bathroom. I followed her because I was worried that she was suddenly running to the toilet. I heard her throwing up her pizza.

I went in and sat with her while she finished and then as she cried. She got tired after so I took her up to bed.

A little while later, Debby took Rosie up to bed and then she mentioned she'd send Jim in, since Jim had helped Sam sleep when Mark was suing her parents.

I came back down after letting Jim in the room and saw Debby staring at the pizza boxes.

"You okay, wifey?" I asked her she looked up at me, a little startled.

"I just feel so horrible for all of them. None of this makes any sense. Tyler and Jenna wouldn't hurt a fly! How could that doctor look at Samantha and think she or Rosie were being abused?!"

"I don't know," I agreed. "It doesn't make any sense. My heart is broken for all of them."

"Jenna sent me a text when they got home. Josh, I'm scared for them," she said.

"What did it say?" I asked.

She showed me the text.

'If they take the girls, they'll take the new baby and then I don't want to be here anymore. I spoke to Tyler about leaving the car running in the garage.'

"I've never known her to be so dark," I frowned.

"Me neither," Debby said. "This is like when Mark was suing them for Sam. But on steroids."

I sighed.

"I don't know what to do," I said. "Technically, we're keeping the girls from them as much as we're keeping them for them."

"I don't know what to do, either," Debby said. "The girls are miserable, Tyler and Jenna are miserable. I'm miserable, you're miserable. We're all miserable and trying to support each other. And I don't know who this is harder on. Sam because she has finally gotten a family that loves and accepts and pushes her to be her best self. Or Rosie, who probably doesn't understand why Jenna and Tyler can't just take her home."

"Samantha, as upset as she is, seems so resigned to all this. Like it was inevitable," I said. "I don't get that."

"She spent her whole life being told she's unlovable, no one will want her and so on. And despite the lawsuit, I'll bet she still feels that her life with Jenna and Tyler is malleable and can be taken away on a whim," Debby said. "I wonder if she feels like it's all just held together with bubble gum and dental floss."

I shook my head.

"None of it makes sense. What you just said, yes. That does. What's happening doesn't."

I looked towards the stairs. Upstairs we had two girls, who did nothing wrong, whose parents did nothing wrong, and they were all being punished for it.

Debby and I went to bed shortly after cleaning up from dinner. We slept fitfully. Both of us would wake up at some point and realize the other was awake. We'd try to make sense of what was happening.

In the morning, I got up before Debby and went downstairs to start breakfast and see if the girls were up or Jim needed to go outside.

I quietly opened the door to the girls' room and saw both were still completely out. Jim lifted his head when he saw the door open.

"Jim, want to go outside?" I whispered.

Jim dropped his head back into Sam's leg.

"Okay, buddy. No problem," I smiled.

I continued on downstairs and pulled out eggs and bacon and cheese. This was definitely a cheesy eggs situation.

While coffee was brewing, I started getting eggs started and grating the cheese.

Debby came down while I was cooking, gave me a kiss and made herself a cup of coffee. Neither of us had slept well.

A little while after that, Jim came padding into the kitchen, followed by a puffy eyed Samantha and a sleepy looking Rosie.

"Good morning girls," I said, smiling. "I made cheesy eggs, bacon, coffee, or milk for those of us too young for coffee, and toast if you want it.

"I want Dada's awfuls," Rosie whined slightly and stuck her thumb in her mouth.

"I have some Eggos," I said, looking at Sam, who nodded that that's what 'awfuls' were. I put a couple in the toaster for Rosie while Samantha got her situated at the table.

"She likes them cut into strips and a little cup or bowl of syrup to dip them in," Sam said quietly.

"Okay. Done. Do you want waffles? Or eggs?"

"Eggs are fine, thanks," Sam said, no emotion in her voice at all. My heart broke at how much pain this family was enduring.

Sam kept looking at her phone, sighing and putting it down, face down.

"Everything okay?" I asked.

"I texted Dad last night before I fell asleep and he hadn't texted back," she said.

"They're really having as hard a time as you two. He'll text back. You know he will," I said. Sam nodded, but didn't seem convinced.

I served breakfast and dutifully cut up the waffles for Rosie. She seemed a bit happier.

Sam, however, was pushing her food around her plate.

"Sam, you took your insulin, right?"

She nodded.

"You need to eat, sweetheart. I know you're feeling badly, but you do need to eat."

She nodded again and kept pushing her food around. She took a couple bites and I saw tears in her eyes as she ate. She was trying so hard, I think, to hold on for Rosie. To be strong for her.

"Sam," I said. She looked up. "Can you help me with something out back after breakfast?"

She shrugged and nodded. I'd take her for a walk out back, like I'd done when Mark was suing for custody and she'd stayed here for a few days to escape the media circus at the house and her school. I'd gotten her to open up about how she was feeling and she'd broken down and cried. While she'd cried with me in the washroom the night before, I sensed she needed more. And that she didn't want to cry in front of Rosie because she didn't want Rosie to cry. But Rosie was already obviously sad and had obviously been crying as well.

We also knew the social workers were coming over today to talk to the girls again. I wanted to prepare Sam. Debby would prepare Rosie.