Running on Insulin

Chapter 53

Jenna POV

All of us were anxious and nervous Tuesday morning. Samantha had had a rough day at school on Monday because she couldn't stay focussed. Her friend Jill had called her over the weekend and tried to cheer her up, and on Monday stuck by her as much as possible.

None of us were very hungry for breakfast but we knew Samantha had to eat, and Josh made her his famous cheesy eggs, bacon, toast and chocolate milk.

She picked at her food but managed to eat most of it.

"Good luck, you guys," Josh said. "See you when you're a family of three!"

He smiled at us as we collected our jackets and whatever paperwork we had that we thought we might need.

"Dinner's on me tonight," Josh said, as we went out the door.

I watched Samantha in the back seat of the car. She was chewing her thumbnail and staring out the window. She was so nervous and I felt so terrible. I couldn't wait for this to be done.

We drove to the courthouse in silence. I kept checking on Samantha.  She looked up at one point and looked at me. I smiled at her and reached back to pat her knee. She tried to smile at me.

Tyler found a parking spot close to the doors and turned off the car.

"Here we go," he said. "Samantha, you ready to start a new chapter in your life?"

She looked up at him and tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Still scared?" He asked. She nodded.

We got out of the car and Tyler wrapper in a tight hug.

"It's going to be okay, okay?" He said to her. She sniffed, wiped her eyes and nodded. She took Tyler's hand, and then reached for mine. I put my arm around her and took her hand with my free hand. I gave her a kiss on the head.

"Let's go make you our daughter, okay?" I said to her. She gave me a half smile.

We walked up the steps to the courthouse.

Marie met us just outside the courtroom. She looked upset.

"Marie, everything okay?" Tyler asked as we walked up.

She sighed.

"Not exactly,"

Samantha looked at us and then Marie.

"You see?!  I told you!" She cried. "I told you he was going to find a reason to stop this!"

Samantha made to run, but Tyler held on to her and pulled her in to him.

"Let's hear what Marie has to say, first, okay?"

Samantha's face was wet with tears.

"Marie, what happened?"

"Stanley sent a lawyer. He's not contesting the adoption. I'm not sure why the lawyer is here though. The lawyer won't tell me and said as he represents Mr Deitz it's attorney client privilege and we'll have to wait until the hearing."

Samantha turned into Tyler and started crying harder.

"I don't understand," I said. "If he's not contesting the adoption, what could he possibly want?"

"I don't know. I think he's playing his last game. He knows he can intimidate Samantha easily. On the one hand, this doesn't look good for him. To play this hand on the day her adoption order is being signed, it's pretty low."

Marie knelt beside Samantha and put her hand on Samantha's back. Samantha turned her head from Tyler's chest and looked at Marie, her eyes red, tears staining her cheeks.