Harper & Lee Plus Three

Unhappy New Year

With Sophia and John's help, we got everyone out of both hospitals and home by noon. Talia and Stanley were still taking the triplets to give Lee and I some time to rest. Sophia stayed with us for a bit, making Lee and I some lunch before heading out.

Lee and I sat together on our old, reclining couch that we still had after buying it on Facebook Marketplace. Or was it one of the free things? I couldn't remember. My head hurt too much.  

I looked around the house we'd grown so accustomed to living in. With six more kids, we had no choice. We had to move. We had some money saved up, but definitely not enough money for a down payment on a super big house. We'd need at least five bedrooms, probably even six.

"Welp. Some New Year's Day this is," Lee said, sighing.

"Yup. Happy New Year," I said, taking out my phone. "I gotta call Detective Swan."

"What? Now?"

"He has an update and said I could call whenever."

"Okay. Let's call him, then. Put him on speaker."

    He was still in my contacts, so I selected him and the phone started ringing.

    "Hello? Harper?" he said.

    "Yeah it's me. Lee is here too," I said.

    "Hey guys. Happy New Year to the both of you," said Detective Swan.

    "It hasn't been very happy, but we appreciate the gesture!" Lee said.

    "Just tell me the update. You said the trial was set to begin next month. I literally cleared my schedule and set up childcare for an entire week," I said.

    "Well, that's the update...you can cancel those plans. She changed her mind and took a plea deal. There won't be a trial."

    "Are you kidding me? She did that this late in the process?" I asked.

    "I think she chickened out. This happens sometimes."

    "So what now?" I asked.

    "The plea deal was for a ten-year sentence. Almost eight and a half now, counting time-served."

    "They're seriously giving time-served to a lady who kidnapped a baby?" I asked.

"It was the judge's decision. There's nothing we can do to change this. I'm sorry, Harper."

"I seriously cannot believe they're only giving her nine years. This isn't fair. My mom has been sitting in jail for almost the same amount of time and she still isn't done!"

"This was Traci's first offense. I can guarantee it had something to do with it," said Detective Swan. He sighed. "I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but at least you don't have to go through the trial, and questioning, and reliving that nightmare."

"Bitch I live through it everyday anyway! No, I didn't want to talk about it, but if it meant putting that crazy woman in jail for longer I would've done it!" I said.

    "I understand that. I know this isn't the news you want to hear," said Detective Swan.

    I sighed. "It's not like it's your fault. Just keep me updated if anything else happens."

    "I'm sure things will be quiet for a while during her jail time. She's being held without the option of parole, at least," he said.

    "Good," I said.

    "Welp, that's all I've got. Take care, guys," he said.

    "You too. Bye," I said.

    I hung up the phone and looked over at Lee on the other side of the couch. He reached over with his non-broken arm to hold my hand.

    "She's getting locked up. That's all that matters," he said.

    "I wanted her to get the full twenty years," I said.

    "I know, but at least we don't have to go through a trial, and if you look at it this way, there's no chance that she would be found not-guilty."

    "Psh. She wasn't gonna be found not-guilty."

    "They said the same thing about OJ and Casey Anthony. You never know," Lee said. I rolled my eyes. "You want to watch anything?"

    "I should really be limiting my screen time because of the concussion. I think I'm finally gonna start that knitting project I wanted to do for the kids," I said.

    "Cool. I think I'm just gonna sleep down here for a bit. Can't really get up the stairs anyway."

    "Do you need me to stay with you?" I asked.

    "Nah. Go do your knitting project."

"You never asked me how the babies were after the accident," I said, getting up.

"Oh yeah..." he said, yawning as he started to nod off. His eyes jolted open. "Huh? Babies? With an S?"

"Yup," I said, taking a deep breath. "Those fertility drugs were working overtime."

"No way. Don't tell me it's triplets again."

"No...double that," I said, looking away.

"D-double?"

"Yeah...they saw six babies on the ultrasound," I said. "It's sextuplets."