Steeling My Haart (17 page)

        
“Unless
you know of anything that may suggest otherwise, then no. We have been asked to
speak to you as when we checked with the hospital, you are down as the late Mrs.
Clearwater’s next-of-kin after her husband. Oh, and social services also want
to speak with you. A representative from the Child Protective Services will be
paying you a visit this afternoon, I believe. We are still in the process of
searching their apartment but we found documentation that was very recently
prepared, naming you as sole guardian of Adie and,” the officer paused as he
checked through his notes, “Leo.”

        
“Wait,
what?” Emma was stunned into temporary silence. “Me? Guardian? I never thought in
a million years when I signed those papers on Friday… Hell, I can’t be a parent
to two children. I’m alone and work full-time.” she began to ramble.

        
“Miss
McKellan, this is a conversation you need to be having with the social worker,
not us. We just need to know if you may have noticed anything strange or
anything that may help us in dealing with the investigation? Did you have any reason
to believe that Mr. and Mrs. Clearwater were involved in any criminal activity?”

        
“Well.
No, but they had been having some marital problems recently. I have been a bit
worried about Lily over the last two or three weeks but I just put that down to
a rocky patch. I have had a few strange texts and calls from Lily from a
blocked number but she hasn’t suggested anything else was wrong. In fact, she
had hinted that we would be meeting up this weekend…” Emma trailed off, trying
to maintain some poise. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think there’s much I could help
you with right now.”

        
“Okay,
Miss McKellan, I am so sorry to have had to bring such bad news.
 
Here, this is my card.
 
It has all of my contact details on it
and I have written Officer Walter’s number on the back, too. If you have any
questions or think of anything that may help at all, we are both just a call
away. Any questions please contact us, even if you think it is insignificant. I
think we need to be leaving you now to digest this news and get prepared for
the social worker visiting. She should be in touch with you within the next
hour, according to the latest update I received. Good luck, Miss McKellan. We
will be in contact as soon as we know anything further.”

        
Sergeant
Davis and Officer Davis stood to leave and shook the hand of each of them as
the bid them goodbye. Bruce stood to show the officers out and as he closed the
door. Emma had collapsed once again sobbing to the point of exhaustion onto Lou’s
broad shoulders.
 
He was doing an
incredible job of being the support that she needed and she was so touched by
the tenderness he was showing.

        
Within
the hour of the police officers leaving, the emergency social worker appointed
to look out for Adie and Leo arrived at the apartment. As the buzzer sounded, Emma
caught sight of both guys staring over at her. She contemplated how she must
look like such a miserable figure sitting there curled into a ball on the
recliner chair. She felt so fragile and alone despite their presence. Wringing
a tissue in her shaking hands she made a huge effort to pull herself together
enough to tackle what was coming next.

        
“Shall
I go, darlin’?” Lou asked quietly as Bruce walked over and sat down next to her
on the floor as he took her hand.

        
“Please,
Lou, if you could. I don’t think I’m ready for this,” she whispered with a
voice that was hoarse from all of crying.

        
“We’ve
got ya, darlin’,” he leaned over and planted a kiss on her forehead. As he
walked past, he squeezed Bruce on the shoulder on the way to the door.

        
As
the door opened, Emma wasn’t expecting the kids to be there with the social
workers. She had assumed that there would be a ton of paperwork to go through
before they would be released to her care.
 
One of the social workers was carrying a sleeping Leo and a diaper bag. Out
of nowhere Adie appeared, ran to Emma and leaped onto her knee inspecting her
face carefully. “Aww, don’t cwy, Auntie Em, you wook so sad.” She fussed as she
jumped up and down on her knee. She threw her arms around her neck in a tight
embrace.

Then suddenly she
realized that Emma wasn’t alone. Whispering in her ear she said, “Hey, Auntie
Em, whose deese men in your house?” She then looked up and suspiciously eyed
Bruce and Lou.
 

As quick as a flash, Lou strode across
the room and crouched by Emma’s side and held out his hand. “Well, hello there,
beautiful, I’m Louis Dupoint, but you can call me, Lou.” He took her hand and gently
kissed the back of it as she tried to figure him out. “I’m very pleased to meet
you, Adie, darlin’. I’m a friend of your Auntie Emma and this funny looking guy
here is Bruce,” he said conspiratorially as he winked at Adie. “He’s okay, I
suppose, for someone who likes eating boogers and snores.”

        
Adie
broke out in peels of laughter at Lou. It was infectious and even through the
somber mood that shrouded Emma she couldn’t help laughing too. Even Emma
managed a weak smile. “You is funny, Lou, but I wike you a wot!” the little
girl exclaimed as she flew from Emma’s knee and grabbed him round the neck
giving him a hug.

        
“Hewwo,
Bwuce,” she finally said as she let go of Lou’s neck and turned to him. “But
you don’t eat boogers. Thems will make you sick,” she said as a matter of fact.
“And you might get your finger wost if you go up your nose, too.” Her serious expression
as she wagged her tiny finger and chided Bruce made Emma smile, but he couldn’t
stop from bursting out laughing.

“Hey, Adie, and thank you for telling
me that. I had better remember your advice. But you know Lou has been known to
tell stories. I don’t really eat boogers, you know, they are pretty gross
really.”

        
“Well,
I know and Mommy tells me to stop picking my nose all the time, doesn’t she,
Auntie Em?” Adie looked to Emma who was struggling to keep herself from falling
apart again at the mention of Lily.

        
The
two social workers had now been shown over to the seating area and Emma noticed
that they had been observing the little exchange between Adie and the rest of them
with interest.

        
“Hello,
I’m Cathy Jennings and this is my colleague, Laurelin Pope. We are from the
Child Protective Services department.” She spoke in a calm and friendly manner
and held her hand out to Emma. As she took it, Emma replied, “Hi, I’m Emma
McKellan and as you may have already heard this is Bruce Jenson and Lou
Dupoint. They have both been with me since my… erm… visit earlier.” She was
unsure as to how much the kids, especially Adie may know at this stage. So she chose
her words carefully.

        
Cathy
was an older lady and an officious look about her. Emma even noted her dress
sense was decidedly officious and stuffy too. She was wearing official departmental
identification on a lanyard around her neck and Emma noticed that it had become
fairly tangled in the chain attached to her reading glasses. She was carrying a
substantial file and had already started flitting through some paperwork as she
was making her introductions.

        
“Well,
we have a ton of paperwork here I need to get through and I have to get going
as quickly as I can.
 
We have had a
busy weekend so far and it’s not showing signs of relenting today. I have my assistant
with me because she will be able to watch the children while I go through most
of this with you. Is there anywhere we could go to do this more privately?
Laurelin, can stay here with the children.” She was right down to business
before Emma had a chance to catch her breath.
 

        
“Erm,
well there is a residents lounge down on the second floor we could go to. It’s
rarely used and I’m sure we would have it to ourselves. Would that be okay?”
        

        
“Absolutely.
Now, it might be an idea to have someone come down with you to help you take
all of this in.”

        
“I’ll
come, Emma,” Bruce intervened. “Lou seems to have found a new pint-sized friend
over there.” He gestured toward Lou who was now sitting on the floor having his
hair styled by a chattering Adie and looking to be thoroughly enjoying the
experience.

        
“That’s
fine,” Cathy interjected before turning to Adie. “Adie, I just need to take
your Auntie Emma to talk to her for a bit about you maybe staying with her for
a few days? Is that okay?”

        
“Yes,
I want another sweepover! Yay! Can we make it snow again, Auntie Em, pwease?” Adie
jumped up and down.

        
“We
can talk about that in a bit, sweetheart,” Emma said as she reached over and
gently stroked Adie’s tiny cheek. Her heart was breaking all over again at the
thought of having to explain to the innocent little girl just how much her life
had changed overnight.

        
As
Adie turned her attention back to Lou and started chatting away about making
snow, Emma, Cathy and Bruce made their way down to the residents lounge.
 
Emma quickly grabbed her purse, knowing
she had a plentiful supply of tissues stashed away inside should she need them.
As predicted the room was empty, so Emma quietly asked the doorman if he could
allow them to use the room uninterrupted for as long as they needed.

        
As
the three of them made themselves comfortable, Cathy began to fill the pair of
them in on the events running up to the heart-breaking weekend.

        
“It
would appear that an application was submitted only yesterday by Liliya
Clearwater and Gary Clearwater to appoint you as the legal guardian of their
two children. I assume you will have received the court paperwork yesterday so
this can’t have come as a huge surprise to you.”

        
“It’s
a huge surprise, yes. I only attended court to fill out the paperwork on
Friday, yesterday even, and I can’t believe everything has been done already,”
Emma replied. “I had absolutely no idea that this was going to happen so
quickly. I feel like I’ve tempted fate or something,” Emma thought out loud
with a shudder.

        
“Oh,
well, the application was submitted yesterday morning and can now be fast-tracked
through the system. As luck would have it, because this application was
commenced pre-death, there is a good chance that the courts will simply
rubber-stamp you as the guardian of the children, unless you have any objections?
I can appreciate the situation is difficult, but according to my file you be
already been pre-approved for this so it should just be a case of us requesting
an urgent hearing and this matter be closed. Although I haven’t seen it for
myself, it would also appear you are named as sole guardian for the children,
as well as their custodian in the wills of both Liliya and Gary, so in any
event, it appears you have just inherited a family, Miss McKellan.
Congratulations,” she announced brusquely.

        
“Wait.
What?” Emma stuttered, floored again by the detached and officious manner of
the lady in front of her.

        
“Let
me spell it out for you, Miss McKellan, unless you object, the kids are yours
as of today. They have no one else. They need you and we need a safe place for
them as soon as possible. Mr. and Mrs. Clearwater obviously trusted you with
their kids’ lives, and until I can process the relevant investigations and
welfare questionnaires the court will require I need them to be looked after. I
have found two potential emergency placements, but the baby will have to be
sent out of state if you can’t take them, so if I could just take you through
these documents.
 
You have the right
to refuse to take them but I will need to get going if that is the case. They
need to get settled somewhere as quickly as we can.,” Cathy stated.

        
“Oh,
yes, I’m sorry. I will take them. There is no question of that, but I’m just a
bit overwhelmed right now.
 
I’m
honestly stunned as to how quickly all of this has happened. I don’t know which
way is up today and this is just totally overwhelming me. I have so much to do
and things to get. I’ll need to get them some things from home I have nothing.
Do they know what has happened to their parents yet?” Emma paled at the thought
of having to break the news to Adie.

        
“I’m
sorry, Miss McKellan, I appreciate that this must be hard for you. But I need
to get those poor children a safe place to stay, even if it’s just temporary. And
you are the only option I have right now of keeping them together. I’d hate to
have to split them up but we just don’t have a placement that they could be put
in together. And, yes, we have mentioned to Adie about her parents being in an
accident and not coming home, but you will have to appreciate that she is too
young to fully understand the implications right now. I have a colleague in my
department who will be happy to see you, either later today or tomorrow to help
you deal with anything Adie may need and ask, so please don’t worry too much
about that.” The officiousness was overwhelming Emma.

        
Bruce
interrupted the conversation, “I hope if you don’t mind me interrupting, but
would it be possible for us to head over to the apartment after this meeting to
collect a few things Emma may need for the children? I am happy to stay and
help, Emma, and so will Lou. He seems to have found an affinity with Adie
already.” One side of Bruce’s moth lifted as he referenced the scene he left
behind.

        
Cathy
replied, “I’m afraid it won’t be possible to get the children any items from
home until the police have cleared their investigations. I know this isn’t
ideal but at the moment they are treating the apartment as part of a crime
scene. You have the basics in the diaper bag that we managed to retrieve from
the neighbors when we found them, but I’d suggest you arrange to send Mr.
Jenson here out with a shopping list and get some other things brought in. We
can advance you some funds from the departmental reserves and I can also make a
few calls for one of our other agencies to see if they have and equipment we
can loan you for a few days. Would that be of any help?” she asked quickly.

        
“No,
I have enough to sort them out and it’s still early so I’m sure we can arrange
to go shopping in the next few hours to get what we need. Oh God, I’m going to
have to ring my parents and see if they will come help out. I have so much to
do. I’m already planning on moving back home to Oklahoma to be near to my
parents, will that be a problem?” Emma was biting her nails nervously as she
began to take in the enormity of it all.

        
“No.
Once the court finalizes the guardianship and providing there are no objections
to your appointment you can go as you planned. If you don’t mind me saying, it
might be a blessing all around if you can get those poor kids out of this
city.”

        
It
took well over two hours more to go through the rest of the paper work and by
the time the three of them had arrived back in the apartment, Adie was asleep
in Lou’s arms and Leo had woken and was fussing for another bottle. Thankfully,
she had recently had them both and still had a few ready-made bottles of
formula in the cupboard from the weekend.

        
The
social workers left once they were sure Emma and the two protective men were as
happy with the arrangements as they could be. It didn’t take long for Emma to
settle Leo down and get him to sleep. As she took him and laid him down on the
couch sandwiched between her and Bruce, the full force of everything that had
just happened hit her. Bruce reacted when she broke down again and slowly
lifted the sleeping baby on to his chest and out of the way.
 
A now Adie-free Lou took her in his
arms. The floodgates opened and she sobbed like she had never sobbed before. The
grief at losing her best friend and the kids losing their parents streamed from
her like the tears streaking down her face.