Casey and Me

Well look at that. Some good news for a change!

August was well upon us when the court case for guardianship of Casey began. My parents, Miss Ainsworth, and Mr Gladstone had all been on board with my suggestion. Of course, it all hinged on Jane and Kenneth's willingness to let their niece and grand-niece/nephew out of their claws, but they were already under criminal investigation for what they'd done to Casey, not to mention a whole host of other misdemeanors. One of which was the way they'd fraudulently obtained custody of Casey shortly after her birth. Miss Ainsworth had thankfully retained Casey's original birth certificate, as well as other damning documents. Those documents had gone straight to court the moment it was deemed appropriate to do so, and Jane and Kenneth were now facing some very hefty charges. They certainly didn't have much of a chance of retaining custody now, unless they had something truly nefarious up their sleeves.

In the end, justice prevailed, and there were tears of joy and relief as the court granted guardianship to my parents for the next one and a half years, until Casey turned 18. This meant they could make important decisions for her, such as what she was going to do with her baby when he or she was born. Casey herself admitted to some mixed feelings.

"I wanna keep 'em," she admitted, as we stepped outside into the bright August sunshine. "I mean, I'm his or her mum, right? I don't hafta to give 'em up?"

"No, you don't," Mum assured her, giving her hair a gentle ruffle. "I'm an old hand at raising babies, and if you need help, I'll be right there alongside you every step of the way. And I'm sure your mother will be there if you want her to be."

Casey bit her lip hard as she looked at Miss Ainsworth. Mr Gladstone stood protectively beside her, and I saw clearly for the first time just how much it had killed him to be apart from her all those years. Jane had obviously told him some very malicious lies to drive him from Miss Ainsworth's side, but now that the air had been cleared - after a fashion - I could see he'd never stopped loving her. Casey could see it too, it seemed, and her face gained a determination I'd never seen her show before as she made her mind up.

"Miss Ainsworth?" she said nervously. "Um, I gotta say... I'm really sorry for rejectin' you. A-and I wanna a-ask you... when all this is over, wh-when I t-turn 18..." She took a deep breath as tears filled her eyes. "W-will you be my mum? For good an' real this time?"

Miss Ainsworth nodded, her own eyes bright with tears. "I will," she said softly, and that was all it took for the floodgates to open, as Casey ran into her mother's arms, sobbing as they held tightly to one another. I let out a long sigh of relief as a few tears of my own escaped. Even Dad - a known non-crier at the best of times - looked a bit misty-eyed. 

Then Mr Gladstone topped it with a (not-so) surprising question of his own. "I suppose now might be a good time to ask the question I never got to ask all those years ago," he said gruffly. My parents and I made to step away and give him space, but he shook his head, instead looking at Miss Ainsworth. It didn't take long for her to make her own mind up, and she nodded. 

"I suppose that wouldn't be a bad idea," she agreed, smiling through her tears. With one arm still wrapped around her daughter, she offered her other hand to Mr Gladstone, who took it and kissed it. That was the cue for my parents and I to exit the scene. Casey, of course, didn't mind too much, and we left her and her parents to it. 

"They've got a lot of ground to cover," Mum whispered, as we beat a hasty path back to our car. "But I think they're going to make it."

"Love will do that to you," Dad said, chuckling as he unlocked the car. "Why do you think I put up with you for all these years?" 

Mum rolled her eyes and gave him a punch on the arm. "Just get us to somewhere where I can get a good cup of tea," she said, trying to sound cross and failing, and Dad laughed as he obeyed  - once we were all safely in the car and buckled in, of course.

I glanced over my shoulder as we pulled away from the curb. Casey stood close by as her parents talked, and I giggled to myself as I turned back. Clearly there were going to be a few good-natured arguments over wedding details and the like, and I smiled. After the last year, it was immensely relieving to finally see an end to all the pain and tribulation. Even so, as Mum had said, there was going to be a lot of ground to cover. But I had no doubt that Mr Gladstone's love for Miss Ainsworth would be enough to see them through, not to mention his love for Casey. And I knew for a certainty that the same would be true in reverse; Miss Ainsworth loved her daughter and fiance fiercely, and that love would probably be just the thing Casey and Mr Gladstone needed. 

That was my hope, at least, as we turned the corner in search of a good cafe. The years of hurt, misdirection, accidental betrayal and the like, would need a lot of healing. But love could - and had - done wonders. It was probably going to be the one saving grace that would rescue them when all other measures failed. 

As for me, I was glad I'd survived my first year at Maple Hall relatively unscathed. We'd whooped Silver Cross good and proper in the finals, and they, true to their word, had moaned immensely about it, but that was it. In fact, we'd even formed a friendship, now that Jake was out of the picture. He'd apparently taken his expulsion to heart, and was now working to mend his ways, but his former team wasn't ready to accept him back into the ranks just yet. 

Olivia and I had mended fences after a fashion, and she was starting to regain some of her privileges. But I knew we could never be friends, and I felt no remorse giving her the cold shoulder. She'd been way too much of a pain in the neck for me to ever feel truly comfortable around her. I did sometimes feel sorry for her, but there was always the recall of what she'd done to me that fateful January day, and I had no doubt some of it had been fueled by spite. 

David and I, on the other hand, were growing stronger together every day. We still hadn't gone beyond holding hands, but I didn't mind. I knew that, unlike Ellis, he actually did care for me tremendously, and I knew that that caring had the strong possibility of turning into love one day. I was going to miss him dreadfully, but we'd promised to keep in touch, and he'd even given me his senior ring. It was way too big for my fingers, but I'd threaded it on a leather thong and now wore it around my neck. Casey, Sophia, Marcia and Sally had all teased me for it, but I'd laughed it off, knowing how happy they were for me. David had also promised to "sneak" onto the school grounds from time to time, much to Miss Ainsworth's amusement. 

All in all, it'd been one hell of a year. But I was very glad to have come to Maple Hall. And I couldn't wait to see what awaited me when the new school year commenced in September.