Lisa takes Jack to the backyard to play outside as we have a brief conversation with our lawyer... The gate buzzer goes off again and Chris picks up the phone and takes a deep breath as the people tell who they are... Chris presses the buzzer and takes my hand giving it a light squeeze... "It will be okay angel..." He whispers and i nod... "It has to be..." I whisper and i give him a small smile...
The lawyer goes to open the door as Chris hugs me... We can hear him introduce himself to the persons and a few seconds later they walk in... "Mr. and Mrs. Evans... I am Mr. Kenda... I am the director of the foster agency... This is Ms. Cameron... One of our social workers..." He says and we shake their hands...
"First of all, we want to..." Mr. Kenda starts to say but Chris stops him... "If you dont mind... We want to have this conversation in my wife's office... Seeing as Jack is running around unaware of the whole situation... He is with my mother right now in the backyard..." Chris says draping his arm around my shoulder in a protective way... "Of course..." Mr. Kenda says and i go to tell Lisa we will be in my office... When i come back we walk upstairs, and we sit down in the little seating area of my office...
"As i was going to say... First of all, we want to apologize for this mess... I hope you will be happy to know that Ms. Jeffries has been put on leave while we investigate her actions..." Mr. Kenda says... "Have you spoken to Mr. Jeffries... Has she told you why on earth she did this to us... To Jack..." I ask and Chris takes my hand in his... "Unfortunately, she has not... She says she has done nothing wrong..." Mr. Kenda says and i scoff...
"How long will the investigation take and what will the effect be on Mr. and Mrs. Evans... Even more important what will happen to Jack... He is Mr. and Mrs. Evans first priority, and they are willing to fight for him... Like i said over the phone they are willing to go to court..." Our lawyer says and i can see this makes Mr. Kenda nervous...
"Well, that won't be necessary... We are willing to make it right... We can fix the whole paperwork thing and Ms. Cameron is willing to take over Jack's case... She will be your case worker... I dont see a problem by letting Jack stay here... But there have to be some interviews... We have to do some checks and of course we have to redo the paperwork" Mr. Kenda says and Ms. Cameron smiles at us...
I am happy he can stay but the thought of having to deal with them is irking me... The idea that something could change their minds about us, and they could threaten to take him away was scaring me... I dont trust them... It feels like they want to sweep it under the rug... It just doesn't sit right with me... Ms. Cameron looks nice enough but i just can't deal with them anymore...
"No..." I blurt out and everyone looks at me confused..."No?" Mr. Kenda says and i nod... "No... We will not be getting a new case worker... No checkups and no interviews... You are going to give us permission to adopt him... I know we said we wanted to wait until he was ready, but we need to do this to protect him... To protect us... I dont want to live with the fear that at any moment you and your corrupt organization can take him away..." I say and i look at Chris and the lawyer who both look at me a little stunned by my calm tone and demeanor...
"Mrs. Evans... Ava... May i call you Ava..." Mr. Kenda says and i shake my head... "You may not..." I say still in that calm determent tone of voice. "Mrs. Evans... That is not how it works... We can't..." He says but i hold up my hand to shut him up...
"You can... and you will... You say that it is not how it works... But nothing apparently has gone like it works... I will not life in the fear of losing our boy..." I say and take the file we had put together handing it to him...
"As you can see Jack is thriving... He is getting stronger healthier... You had no idea we were fostering him... You had no idea what was going on with him... This means that in my eyes that you have no idea what your social workers are up to... Ms. Jeffries has been deceiving not only us but you to... Do you even know anything about Jack... Because i do... I know his medical history by heart... I know that there was a time in his life he didn't get proper meals and it led to him almost inhaling his food because he didn't know when his next meal was going to be... I know that he is afraid of the dark... I know that he was with his mother when she died... I know that he loves apples, and his favorite flavor of ice cream is Chocolat chip... He loves castles and has picked out a bed with a tent in the form of a castle... I know that he named his stuffed animal after his bio mom... I know that even after all she had put him through, he loves her... I know that he calls my husband's mother grandma and i know that we love him... Our family loves him..." I say taking a deep breath...
"You will know after reading this that we are good people... That we have the money and means to take good care of him... That we will make sure that he is going to feel loved and cared for... That he will always feel wanted... He trusts us... So please dont destroy that..." I say looking at Chris who smiles at me... "We love him... I would move heaven and earth for him to be happy... To feel safe... To make sure he gets the best medical care, schooling and above all the best home he can wish for..." I say and Mr. Kenda goes through the file...
"Mrs. Evans this is all very nice, but we can't..." He says and i take a deep breath but before i can say anything the lawyer jumps in... "We both know that you can... I looked into what you can and cannot do... And you can do this... Yes, a judge has to sign off on the adoption... But with your recommendation that is just a formality... Or we can go to court... And bring this all out into the open... We all know this is the best solution for this problem... The best solution for Jack... And i have to warn you... Me and my firm are willing to go deep on this... We will leave no stone unturned... You and your agency will be not only judged in court but also in the court of public opinion... We all know that Mr. Evans is well liked and respected... Not only in America but all over the world... Are you ready for that kind of attention..." The lawyer says and Mr. Kenda and Ms. Cameron look at him in shock...
"That sounds like blackmail..." He mutters but the lawyer shakes his head... "No Mr. Kenda it is not... I am merely stating what steps i will take in our legal system to protect the Evans family... I am merely telling you what we are willing to do to keep Jack with Mr. and Mrs. Evans... All within our rights and following the law... You can either give them what they want and be able to fix all that is wrong within your agency yourself... Or you can be forced to by a judge and risk not only your job and the agency's credibility but also the jobs of all your staff..." The lawyer says, and Mr. Kenda looks between me and Chris...
"So, what is it going to be Mr. Kenda..." Chris says speaking up in a calm but firm tone of voice before giving my hand a little squeeze...
