The Eye of a Hurricane

Lin

A/N: I know Lin has tons of family in PR but for the sake of a juicy story we'll pretend it's just Miguel and the girls. Thanks for playing along.

I had been sick with worry for days.  I'd heard nothing from my cousin Miguel and his two kids.  The guy wasn't the most responsible anyways, and I worried about the girls a lot.  The cell towers must still be down because his phone didn't even ring.

I tried to keep myself distracted but it was hard.  I needed to hear something.  Anything.  It had been three days now since the hurricane had hit.  I constantly checked my phone to see if I heard anything from Miguel.

One afternoon an unknown call came through and I immediately answered.  Usually I would let it go straight to voicemail but I figured it could be Miguel calling from a landline.

"Hello?" I answered, trying not to sound too frantic.

"Uncle Lin?" My niece's little voice answered.

"Isabel?" I asked, pressing my other finger to my opposite ear.  The connection wasn't great.  "Is that you?  Are you alright?"

"We're okay," she told me.  "Well, Luna and me are alright.  Daddy got arrested."

"Arrested?" I asked, concerned.  The man had been arrested multiple times before and the girls had had stints in foster care throughout the years.  "For what?"

"Drugs," she told me, which wasn't surprising.

"Where are you?" I asked her.

"Some place for displaced kids," she explained.  "The lady wants to talk to you."

"Okay, hand over the phone," I requested.  A few moments later an unfamiliar voice greeted me.

"Mr. Miranda?  My name is Dominica Marzano," she explained.  "I understand that Isabel and Luna Miranda are your nieces?"

"Yes, ma'am," I told her, still pacing my apartment.  The nervous energy still hadn't left me.

"Their father has been arrested and is looking at extended time in prison while he awaits trial," she explained.  "If convicted, he'll likely spend years in prison.  The girls are in the situation that they'll either go into foster care here on the island or be taken in by family elsewhere."

"Can I take them?" I asked immediately.

"Yes," she said, sounding pleasantly surprised.  "Isabel mentioned you're in New York?"

"Yes," I told her.  "They're absolutely welcome here.  Are there any flights leaving?"

"It'll still be a few days before any planes can depart," she said.  "But I'll get in contact with the airlines immediately."

"Thank you," I said, feeling relieved.  I loved Puerto Rico, but I needed to get the girls off that island.  Their father wasn't capable of giving them the upbringing they needed.  From what I understood, they lived in poverty and took care of themselves.

We finished up our conversation and I asked to talk to Isabel again.

"Uncle Lin?" her little voice asked.  She was twelve but from the latest pictures of seen of her she looked more like ten.  Her little sister was tiny.

"Hi sweetheart," I said.  "How are you holding up?"

"Okay I guess," she said.  "Luna misses Daddy."

"I bet," I told her.  "I don't know how much Ms. Marzano explained, but your dad's not gonna be able to take care of you for a while.  So you're gonna come stay with me, okay?"