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.
"What about visitation?" Jimi asked.
"Probably not. Legally, you and Karen are Emma's parents. It would be up to you, until Emma turns eighteen, to allow the biological parents in her life. If you don't want her around, then she doesn't have to be around" Amy said
"I'm just warning you though, I wouldn't completely deprive Emma from seeing her biological mother especially if she wants to get to know her. I've seen it cause resentment towards the adoptive parents in the past. It's not always a bad thing for kids who have been adopted to know who their biological parents are, unless if they are some crazy ax murderer or something" she said with a giggle.
"Okay, thank you so much Amy" Jimi said.
"Not a problem" she said and they hung up the phone. I let out the breath I was holding. Jimi set his phone down on the counter and turned to face me. He wrapped his arms around me and I buried my face in his chest.
"We have nothing to worry about" he said in a soothing voice. I could not be more relieved. The only thing I am worried about is if Sara continues to follow us around.
I looked up at Jimi. "What if Sara keeps following us?" I asked worriedly.
"Then we'll get a restraining order" He said and kissed my forehead.
I heard footsteps walk into the kitchen. "Hey kiddo" Jimi said and released me from his grasp. I turned around to see Emma.
"Hey" Emma said quietly.
"We just got off the phone with our lawyer" Jimi started.
"What did she say?" she asked in a shaky voice.
"She said that there is no way Sara could even get visitation rights" he said.
"Really?" Emma asked with a small smile and we nodded. She let out a deep breath.
"Right now it is up to us if we want her in your life. When you're eighteen it's up to you if you want to contact her, but if for whatever reason, you want to get in contact with her before then, just let us know and we will figure something out. Unless if she is a psychopath or something, but we can't deprive you of knowing where you came from" I said and she nodded.
"I don't want anything to do with her. I just want things to go back to the way they were before she showed up. I liked not knowing who she was" Emma said. Jimi and I pulled her in for a hug.
"If you see her following you or us, let us know and we will get a restraining order, okay?" Jimi said.
"Okay" she said.
"I really don't want anyone to be my parents except for you" she said and hugged us both. Then she went into the living room. I'm glad she has calmed down. It's nice to see her be a kid again. I have never seen her so upset before.
Even though Amy said there is nothing Sara can really do, it still worries me. We can't control what Sara does. She might show up more often now that she has introduced herself to Emma. I just don't want Emma to get hurt. It kills me to see her as broken like she was last night. Emma's the type of kid who likes to be in control of her life. Until she met us, she had no control over her life. She had no idea how long she was going to be in a home. She had no family. No one to rely on or take care of her. She didn't know when she would get to eat next. When we got her, we wanted her to have control of her own life. We wanted her to be a kid. She deserves that. Now with Sara, unfortunately in the picture, her whole world has been shaken up and she is back to having no control. I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Emma yell.
"Oh my God!" Emma said excitedly and ran in the kitchen by Jimi and I.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I just checked my phone and Gracie texted me last night. She said that I won the solo competition and her band won the bands competition" she said excitedly.
"That's great baby" I said and hugged her.
"Congratulations princess" Jimi said and hugged her.
"Why is Emma getting all the hugs?" Elijah stomped in the kitchen.
"Emma won her talent show last night" Jimi said.
"Well I want hugs too" he protested.
"Come here baby" I said and put my arms out. He came running over to me and I picked him up. He wrapped his arms around my neck.
"All better?" I asked.
"Uh huh" he said with a smile.
I heard my phone go off. I set Elijah down and grabbed it. It was a text from Kimberly saying that she was coming over to talk because she is convinced that I am not okay after last night since I sent her a book long text message, freaking out about the whole thing. She said she would come over after lunch this afternoon for a little girl time.
I told Jimi that Kimberly was coming over and he offered to take the kids to the park and get ice cream to give us some time to talk. They left about five minutes before Kim showed up. I let Kim inside and we sat down on the couch.
"So, how are you?" she asked.
"Fine" I said.
"You're not fine Karen" she said.
"To tell you the truth I don't even know what to think or feel. I don't even know where to start" I said with tears welling up in my eyes.
"Start with what happened at the theater" She said. I took in a deep breath before I started talking.
"We went to go find Emma when the show was over and she was talking with this woman. I heard bits and pieces of the conversation. Then she said that she was Emma's mother. Then she went on about how she was seventeen when she had Emma and that her parents made her give her up for adoption and that she wishes she never would have given her up and that she wants to be her mother" I said quickly trying to hide the tears.
"Are you sure that this is Emma's biological mother and not some random woman?" Kimberly asked.
"She has the same name listed on Emma's birth certificate. Emma is a spitting image of her" I said.
"What's her name?" she asked.
"Sara Montgomery"
"How did Emma take it?" she asked.
"Not well. It broke her. I have never seen her so upset before. It broke my heart to see her like that. She is so worried that Sara is going to try and get custody or visitation" I said.
"Can she?" she asked.
"Probably not. We talked to Amy this morning and she said that since she signed her rights away and she was legally adopted, there is nothing she can do. It's up to Jimi and I if we want Sara around. We told Emma and it calmed her down" I said.
"That's good" she said with a smile and I nodded.
"Except for the fact that Sara has been following us for years" I said.
"Wait, what?" Kimberly asked surprised.
"Sara found out we adopted Emma several years ago. She comes to our shows. She has been watching us and following us, Kim" I said with tears welling up in my eyes again. Kimberly pulled me into a hug.
"Can't you get a restraining order or something?" she asked.
"If we see her show up again we're going to" I said.
"What about you. How do you feel about all of this?" she asked.
"Terrified" I said.
"Terrified of what?"
"I'm terrified that somehow, someway, Sara is going to try to get visitation or custody. I'm terrified that Sara is going to keep showing up. If she tries anything, it's going to hurt Emma. I just feel helpless because I just want to protect her from this and I can't. And I think Jimi is more upset about this than he is leading on. He was so mad last night. I've never seen him talk to anyone like that since Mark" I said.
"Oh, honey" she said and pulled me in for another hug.
"Does Elijah have any idea what is going on?" she asked.
"No, and I think we're going to keep it that way for now" I said.
"There is one good thing that happened last night" I said with a smile.
"What?"
"Emma won the solo competition" I said excitedly.
"That's great" Kimberly said excitedly. Kimberly and I talked for a while until Jimi came home with the kids.
After a while, we heard the door to the garage bust open.
"Mama we got you a Blizzard from Dairy Queen" Elijah yelled and ran into the living room. He handed me the cup.
"Thanks baby" I said.
"We got you one too Kim" Emma said and handed Kim her ice cream.
"Thank you sweet girl" Kimberly said.
"Congratulations on winning last night" she added.
"Thanks" Emma said with a smile. That is the biggest smile I've seen since yesterday. I'm glad that she is finally calming down and not worrying about this so much.
Kim and I sat on the couch and ate our ice cream and talked. She stayed for another half an hour then headed home. Everything seemed to calm down and was almost back to normal. Emma even asked if she could go over to Gracie's tomorrow and go shopping since it is her spring break. I think things are going to be normal again.
The next morning went on like any other morning. Maggie has the week off because she is going on vacation with her family. I'm dropping Emma off at Gracie's after breakfast and Faith offered to drop her off this afternoon.
We all ate breakfast and got ready for the day.
"Emma are you ready to go?" I called up the stairs.
"Yeah" She said and came down the stairs.
"Do you want to drive or should I?" I asked her.
"I'll drive" she said with a smile and I tossed her the keys. We're trying to get her to drive as much as possible before her driver's test the day after her birthday. She has also been hinting about getting a car for her birthday, but we'll have to see about that one.
She drove us over to Gracie's house. We climbed out of the car and I switched to the driver's seat.
"Have fun sweetie. I'll see you this afternoon. I love you" I said.
"I love you too" she said and walked into the house.
I drove home and spent the day with Jimi and Elijah. It was a rainy day so we hung out and watched movies all day. Faith said she would drop Emma off around 4:30 this afternoon. Around 4:15 I heard a knock on the front door. Jimi stood up to see who was there.
As soon as Jimi opened the door, his face turned to pure anger.
"I thought I told you to stay away" He said in an angry whisper.
"Elijah, sweetie, let's go play upstairs" I said and picked him up and set him on my hip. I walked him up the stairs. I took him to his room and set him down. He went straight for his trains.
"Let's play trains Mama" he said excitedly.
"How about you set up the tracks. I'm going to go downstairs by Daddy for a minute and I'll be right back to play trains with you" I said in a shaky voice.
"Okay" he said and started building.
I walked down the stairs hoping that Sara was gone, but she wasn't. My heart dropped when I overhead Sara talking to Jimi.
"So, I've talked to a lawyer about getting visitation"