Having A Place

Karen

I woke up the next morning around 7:00. Emma was still sleeping. This is the most relaxed I have seen her in the past twenty-four hours. She was curled up to me with her head on my chest. I brushed the loose strands of hair out of her face. The skin under her eyes was still a little red and swollen. I just feel so bad for her. This whole thing is worrying her so much. A fifteen year old should not have to worry about someone taking them away from their family.

I heard Elijah rustling around in his room. I don't want to wake Emma. I nudged Jimi lightly so I wouldn't wake her. He opened his eyes and yawned.

"Can you get Elijah dressed and get him some breakfast? I don't want to wake her, she needs to sleep As soon as I move she's going to wake up." I whispered.

"Yeah of course" he whispered with a smile. Then he carefully rolled out of bed and went to get Elijah. I laid with Emma for the next forty-five minutes until she woke up. I saw her eyes flutter open.

"Good morning sweetie" I said softly with a smile.

"Morning" she said with a yawn. She nuzzled into me a little more. I wrapped my arms around her a little tighter. We laid there in silence for another ten minutes or so. She is not normally this quiet.

"Do you want to go downstairs and get some breakfast?" I asked and she nodded. Then we both crawled out of bed.

We walked into the kitchen and saw that Jimi made some eggs and bacon. Elijah was just finishing up his breakfast.

"Morning sweetie" I said and kissed the top of his head.

"Morning Mama" he said cheerfully. Emma sat down next to Elijah. I grabbed Emma a plate and served her some eggs and a few strips of bacon. Then I poured her some orange juice.

"Thanks Mama" she said with a small smile. I can tell this is going to be an off day for her, but that's to be expected after last night's events. I turned around and Jimi handed me a plate of food and a cup of coffee.

"Thanks babe" I said and kissed him.

Emma finished up her breakfast and put her plate in the dishwasher.

"I'm going to go take a shower" she said and walked upstairs. Elijah went to go play in the play room. Jimi and I were left in the kitchen.

"Should we call Amy?" he asked and I nodded. Jimi pulled out his phone and put it on speaker. It rang twice and she answered.

"Hello"

"Hey Amy, its Jimi Westbrook. Sorry to bother you on a Sunday, but we have something we would like to discuss with you sooner rather than later" he said.

"Hey Jimi, it's no problem at all. What can I help you with?" she asked cheerfully.

"So, Emma's biological mother showed up last night. She claims she wants to be in Emma's life. We are a little worried that she will try and pull something. We were just wondering if she had any chances of getting visitation or even custody." He said.

"You legally adopted Emma right?" she asked.

"We did" he said

"So then the biological parents had to have signed away their parental rights" she stated.

"She signed them the day Emma was born. We have no idea who the father is. It wasn't stated on her birth certificate" he added.

"So she hasn't had any contact with Emma up until last night, correct?" she said.

"That is correct" Jimi said.

"With the information you just gave me, there is most likely no way that her biological mother could ever get custody of her" Amy said.