Until You (Westshore Series #2)

05 | Princess Warner Brooks

☾ Hailey ☾

I hear a knock at 8 am and when I open my front door an agent from Child Welfare Services is standing on my porch next to Gracie. They were currently doing a thorough investigation into my dad's household to make a determination on whether the abuse or neglect could be confirmed or not.

"Haybail!" She squeals running into my arms. She has really taken a liking to Kenji's nickname for me.

"Hi, my Gracie." I catch her in my arms and give her a squeeze. No matter how stressed I was, a hug from my sister always made my day better.

"Hi Hailey, I'm glad I could catch you. I was hoping I could drop Gracie off while the evaluator is with your father today." The lady looks friendly, but I could never be too sure with these people.

The last evaluator appointed by the court for Gracie's case proved that. The evaluator reviewed health records and observed parent-child interactions, they also interviewed Gracie herself as well as her teachers. Yet somehow, they were unable to deem my alcoholic father an unfit parent. This is one of many reasons why it has taken so long for me to get custody of Gracie.

"Yes, of course," I wave her in, regretting not cleaning the pile of dishes in the sink this morning. I catch my reflection in a mirror, my hair is loose and flowing down the middle of my back pushed back from my face with a plain red hairband. My face is free of makeup, making me look every bit as young and small as I feel.

I don't really have a choice but to say yes. It wouldn't look good for me to be too busy to care for my sister when I'm fighting so hard to be her guardian. In reality, I was meant to work on my Equity and Trusts presentation with Juliet and had a tutoring session with Kenji later on. Neither I could cancel.

But Gracie came first.

The agent leaves and Gracie immediately starts frantically searching the house I know exactly who she is looking for. A certain fluffy friend that I may be delaying taking to an adoption center or shelter. I put posters out that I found a cat with no collar, but I was beginning to think the kitty didn't have a home.

I shoot Juliet a text praying she will be okay with an extra guest.

Me: Hey. A Child Welfare agent dropped Gracie off today so I am going to have to bring her to today's study sesh. Is that okay?

Juliet is one of the few who knows about my family issues. I hate putting any kind of burden on anyone so even asking her for this feels wrong.

"Lord Farquad?" Lucy calls out and sure enough, a ball of fluff comes running at her purring already.

We decided the cat deserved a proper title. So we named him after a Shrek character. He didn't mind being manhandled by Lucy who was holding him up by his armpits.

"He missed you!" I tell her.

"Well hopefully after today I can come over more. That's what the lady said in the car." Lucy says dragging Lord Farquad onto the couch with her.

"I hope so too." I give a weak smile. Lord Farquad flops on his back for belly rubs.

My phone dings and I see Juliet responded already.

Her: Oh my god of course! You know she is welcome anytime. She can play with Warner and Kenji while we study, they have the same amount of energy as her anyways.

"I have to get ready but after I do that we are going to go to the house with the tire swing okay? Does that sound fun?" I ask her and her entire face lights up at the mention of the tire swing. She has been bothering me about it ever since she missed out last time.