Ellynn graduated from high school six years later and went to culinary school, where she met Asher. They’d fallen in love and were married by the time she turned twenty. Only Ellynn didn’t start the family she’d dreamed of right away. She suffered with infertility issues for years. Cheyenne was the gift Ellynn had been waiting nine years for, and Ashlynn an added bonus.
I’d always imagined I’d have kids of my own. Yet my chances dwindled with every birthday. I hadn’t hit menopause yet, but my biological clock seemed to shout at me with every passing day. However, I’d never imagined caring for two kids through the act of guardianship.
“Dr. Kennedy, do you understand?”
I blinked, my eyes bringing the social worker into focus. Linda Simmons—as she’d introduced herself—had said a whole lot, but not much registered in my brain. I turned to Chris, who squeezed my hand, then let go.
“Ms. Simmons stated that Ellynn and Asher previously filed paperwork stating you would be the girls’ guardian if both of them passed away.” Chris’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “She said you can take the girls back to Colorado, but the family courts will set a date to confirm the guardianship as permanent.”
“Okay.” I grimaced. My voice sounded so weak, so feeble.
“You’ll need new car seats. The current ones are no longer viable since they were in the car at the time of the accident,” Ms. Simmons continued. “If your young man wants to go buy them, there’s a store just up the road.”
My hand gripped Chris’s arm. He couldn’t leave. How could I talk to the girls by myself? And sweet Ashlynn. A baby had no real understanding of death.
“I can ask Tuck to go to the store, if you need me here,” Chris said.
“Please.” I still hadn’t come to grips with how he knew Tucker Hale, the same man I had operated on earlier in the year when I’d visited Ellynn to celebrate Ashlynn’s birth. Kentucky really was a small world.
Chris pulled out his cell and texted a message, then slipped the phone back into his pocket. “He’s on it.”
“Are you ready to see the girls?” the social worker asked.
No. I was not ready, but I couldn’t let them just stay in the next room, confused as to where Ellynn and Asher were.
“You can do this,” Chris murmured in my ear.
I slowly nodded.
The social worker smiled at me. “You’ll be just what they need.”
Tears pricked my eyelids once more. How could I look at my nieces and tell them their mom and dad wouldn’t be coming home?
We stood, and I wrapped my hand around Chris’s. “Chris?”
“Yeah?” He studied me.
I gathered some courage. “Will you pray? I ... I don’t know how. I don’t even know if it works, but when you did it the last time, I felt something.” And something was better than nothing at this point. I was falling apart, but if Chris’s strength and even his faith in an unknown deity could see me through, then I needed whatever it took.
“Of course.” He bowed his head.
Like last time, I watched. I listened.
The pressure across my chest eased just enough for me to take in a breath. To exhale as Chris’s calm voice washed over me, strengthened me, prepared me somewhat.
“Amen.”
“Thank you.”
Ms. Simmons led the way down the hall. Each step felt like a walk along the green mile.
I can’t do this. I can’t do this. Ican’t.
You’ve got no choice, Erykah. Lean on Chris.
Could I tighten my fingers around his any more without restricting his blood flow? Would he even speak up if I crushed his hand? Not once since I received that awful visit from Officer Pratt had Chris faltered. He’d gotten us on the plane, into Tuck’s truck, and in front of the police and then the social worker.
He’ll be with you in front of the girls as well.
