The London Paradigm (book 4 of Adopted by the Josephs)

42. Josh

Ambulance Seen at Joseph Residence
Samantha Joseph rushed to hospital

COLUMBUS - Yesterday afternoon, an ambulance was called to the Joseph residence. It was later found that the Joseph's teenage daughter, Samantha, adopted by the Josephs two years ago, was rushed to the hospital for an undisclosed reason.

It is well known that the teenager is diabetic and it's speculated that the ambulance came for a crisis related to the teen's diabetes.

The Josephs are currently embroiled in a custody battle with the teen's biological uncle,  Mark Solman, who lives in London, England and has challenged the Joseph's adoption of his niece, who is the daughter of his late sister, Janet Deitz (neé Solman). Mrs. Deitz is the late wife of the late Stanley Deitz, the disgraced lawyer who orchestrated a prison transport escape and kidnapped his daughter from school two years ago, after her adoption had been finalized.

A Columbus area judge has agreed to hear the case, despite the adoption having been finalized two years ago. 

A source for the Joseph family has said that the stress from this case is negatively affecting the teenager, who they are trying to protect and allow as little disruption in her life as possible. However the source has noted that her health is suffering despite their best efforts. 

Samantha doesn't go anywhere besides school. The press at the end of their driveway intrude into her daily life making it uncomfortable for the teen to go to friends or live the normal life of a teenager. Friends visit at the Joseph home as the source tells us Samantha doesn't want the press interfering in the lives of her friends or their family. She doesn't go to the mall or the movies because the press follows her there, despite an order to stay 50 meters away from the teen. The family's source says this is playing havoc on her mental health as Samantha was enjoying what would be considered a normal teenage life. 

Despite their best efforts, the press continues to intrude deeper into Samantha'a life and the family has taken to pleading with them to give Samantha more space.

These words have gone unheeded as a date for the trial to start has been set for October 15.
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I didn't know if Samantha knew that the court date had been set, so I put the paper away before she came down and saw her face on the front page.

Debby came downstairs just then.

"Good morning, wifey," I smiled. "Sam still sleeping?"

"Yeah. Poor kid. When you said she was having nightmares, I didn't think you meant they were that bad!"

"Are you sorry we invited her for the weekend?"

"Not at all! I'm sorry Jenna and Tyler have been dealing with that. And that Samantha has to endure these horrible nightmares. Josh, she has circles under her eyes. She's wasting away. What is happening to her?"

"Tyler and Jenna say the stress from all of this is getting to her. And I agree. We have permission to spoil her rotten this weekend. As long as she boluses her insulin, she can have as much of whatever she wants."

"Josh," Debby said, tears in her eyes. "We can't let Mark win. It will kill her. It will kill them."

"He's not going to win. Jenna and Tyler are documenting everything. When she has seizures, what may have triggered it, how she's sleeping, what her nightmares are about if she can articulate it. Even the paper today was talking about the toll it's taking on her. The local media is totally on her side."

"Why is he doing this?" Debby asked. "Didn't he say he didn't want to disrupt her life?"

"He did. So I don't know what this is all about. Tyler and Jenna are afraid he might have known Stanley as more than just a brother-in-law."

"What do you think?"

"I really don't know," I said.

We sat down with cups of coffee. Jim had decided to sleep with Samantha after her second nightmare.

When he came trotting into the kitchen, I knew that meant Sam was awake. And sure enough, she padded into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes and yawning. Her pyjamas were just hanging off of her.

"Good morning, sunshine!" I said brightly.

"Morning," Samantha said, a slight smile on her face.

"Good morning sweetheart," Debby said. "Hungry?"

"Not really," Samantha said.

"Well," I said. "Allow me to get slightly parental on you, you know you need to eat. So, you have options. Pancakes and bacon or my famous cheesy eggs and toast."

Samantha looked at me, a little surprised, I think. Her 'fun' uncle was getting parental on her? She smiled though.

"Cheesy eggs, please," she said. "Can I have jam on the toast?"

"As long as you bolus for it, you can have whatever you want on the toast. Except Limburger cheese. Because we don't have that and it's gross anyway."

"What is Limburger cheese?" Sam asked, taking herself out a plate and cutlery.

"I don't actually know," I admitted. "Maybe we'll google it later."

"Did you sleep okay when Jim came in?" Debby asked Sam as I led her to the table.

"I did. I'm sorry I woke you guys up. I can go home tonight if you want."

"The hell you will," I said. "You're here for the weekend. This is non-negotiable."

"Did Mom and Dad ask you to ask me? I keep waking them up, too."

"Nope. It was totally our idea," I said. "Well, mine. But Debby was all for it. I thought maybe you'd like a break from your house and the vultures at the gate."

"Did they follow me here?" She asked.

"I don't think so," I said. "And if they don't know you're here, maybe we can go out somewhere."

"No. They'll find me anyway and follow us."

It broke my heart that Samantha was imposing this isolation on herself.

"Want to call some friends to come over?" I asked, as I cracked eggs into the pan and started scrambling them.

She shrugged.

Debby looked at me with pain in her eyes. She was hurting for Samantha.

We all were.