Finally Home

65. Tyler

"Mr. Joseph?" The voice at the end of the line asked.

"Speaking," I said, dully.

"This is Jane Simpson," she said.

"Oh. Hi," I said. What new hurdle did she have for us now?

"I have good news. Very good news," she said.

"Unless it's that you're bringing the girls home, I don't want to hear it," I said.

"Well, no. I'm not. But you can go pick them up and bring them home," she said.

I didn't initially register what she'd said and asked her to repeat it.

"You can go pick your girls up and bring them home. Dr. Frank got the records from Nationwide and Cleveland and has asked the investigation be dropped.  That said, I see no reason to hold the girls any longer. Go pick them up. Bring them home."

I thanked Jane a thousand times and ran to find Jenna. She was sitting in the living room, looking out at the snow outside, sipping a cup of tea.

"Jenna, get dressed. Come on!" I said.

"Why?" She said. "I'll get dressed before Jane gets here."

"Jane's not coming," I smiled. I couldn't help it.

"Why not?" She asked, finally turning around and looking at me. "Why do you look so happy?"

"The doctor got Sam's records. He's dropped the investigation. Jane just called. We can go pick up the girls."

"Please tell me you're not joking. Please. This is a really cruel joke otherwise."

"I'm not joking. I just got off the phone with Jane. She said we can go pick up the girls."

Jenna blinked at me. I could tell she was processing and trying to determine if I was telling her the truth.

"We can bring them home? Today?"

"Now!  We can go get them now!" I stressed.

Jenna jumped up and ran upstairs. I heard her sob and truly hoped that was a happy sob.

She was back downstairs in jeans and a sweatshirt.

"What are you waiting for?  Let's go!" She said, pulling on her coat. I smiled as I pulled on my own winter coat. We hugged as we went out to the car.

I wanted to speed. I didn't care about the speed limit or police. I just wanted my girls back.

But we were only going to Josh's, and he was less than 10 minutes away. I tried to steady my breath. Jenna was a ball of energy.

"I know it's only been a couple of days, but I feel like they've been gone for weeks," she said.

I smiled. I knew how she felt.

We pulled up to Josh's and I turned off the car.

Jenna was out the door before I'd had a chance to take out the key. I chased after her. Both of us couldn't contain our excitement.

"Okay, let's calm down," I said, breathing heavily.

I rang the doorbell and Josh answered.

"Ty, you're not supposed to be here," he said.  "The social workers haven't been here yet. And we don't have a visit scheduled."

"Jane called. The doctor dropped the investigation," I said, grinning.

"Really?!  That's awesome! Come in! The girls are going to be thrilled!"

We followed Josh into the house and stood for a second in the doorway to the living room. Sam had Rosie between her legs and they were just sort of, talking.

"Sam?" I said. She looked up and looked stunned.

"Mama!" Rosie said and ran to Jenna. Sam looked unsure.

"Sam?" I said, holding out my arms for a hug, tears coming. "Please?"

She looked warily at me.

"Why are you here?" She asked. "The social workers are supposed to come."

"The doctor finally got your reports from Nationwide and Cleveland and dropped the investigation. We've come to take you two home."

It was then tears came to her eyes as she came running to me. I wrapped her in the tightest hug I could manage.

Rosie started singing about going home. I helped Sam pack up the few things that she'd unpacked in her room at Josh's, and the few things of Rosie's that were there and we went out to the car after thanking Debby and Josh.

My girls were coming home.

We got into the car and while Jenna, Sam and I were quiet, Rosie was singing about home.

When we pulled into the driveway, and got close to the house, Samantha burst into tears. As soon as I stopped the car, Jenna jumped out, opened Samantha's door, pulled her out of the car and into her arms and hugged her tight while Sam cried into her shoulder.

"Why SaSa cry?" Rosie asked.

"Samantha is happy to be home," I said. Sam nodded into Jenna's shoulder.

Once Samantha had managed to compose herself a bit, we went into the house. We took off our shoes and coats and went into the living room where the four of us sat together on the couch. Sam kept wiping her eyes as tears kept flowing. I smiled at her.

"You took great care of Rosie, Sam," I said. "Josh and Debby said your main priority was making sure your sister was okay. Thank you, Sam."

"She's just a baby," Sam said quietly.

"I no baby!" Rosie said, angrily. We all laughed because it came out so cute.

"I didn't know Uncle Josh would be able to take us, so I made sure Rosie was safe at the foster home. And then, of course, at Uncle Josh's she was my responsibility."

"Sweetheart, at Josh's, she was their responsibility, too. You didn't have to do everything."

"I had to. What if they decided a baby and a teenager were too hard to take care of? What if they'd made me stay at the foster home?"

I held Samantha at arm's length.

"Samantha Joseph," I said, looking into eyes that were bluer than blue. "Uncle Josh would never have done that. Debby either. You know that."

"But what if?" Sam said, quietly.

I pulled her into a hug again.

"You're home, Samantha," I said.