Chương 10
My breath caught.
Then she added, “However, regional review remains pending.”
Hale glanced toward her.
Judge Lawson's expression hardened.
“Did the regional office identify a specific safety concern?”
“No, Your Honor.”
“A legal disqualification?”
“No.”
“A factual deficiency in the home study?”
“No.”
“Then what exactly remains pending?”
Delaney looked uncomfortable.
“A supervisory determination based on overall risk.”
Judge Lawson folded his hands.
“And does county policy require that determination before an emergency placement?”
“No.”
Hale stood.
“Your Honor, given the unusual size of the sibling group—”
“Counsel, five children were five children at nine o'clock this morning.”
Hale stopped.
Judge Lawson looked at the clock.
“Public attention does not alter their number.”
Nobody spoke.
He turned a page.
“This court has before it a cleared background investigation, a passed home inspection, documented financial resources, identified emergency caregivers, verified transportation, a proposed service schedule, and a department statement that no specific safety concern has been identified.”
He looked directly at me.
“It also has an applicant with no parenting experience who has demonstrated an alarming willingness to spend money before receiving legal authorization.”
Luis coughed behind me.
I suspected it concealed a laugh.
Judge Lawson continued.
“I am not persuaded that enthusiasm is competence.”
My stomach tightened.
“I am persuaded, however, that competence can be evaluated.”
He picked up his pen.
“For fourteen days.”
Nobody moved.
I wasn't sure I had heard him correctly.
Judge Lawson began writing.
“The court authorizes provisional emergency placement of all five siblings with Bernard Vance, effective today, subject to every condition stated on the record.”
Rachel gripped my forearm.
Hard.
“Daily contact with the department.”
“Unannounced access.”
“No unsupervised operation of shop machinery while any child is in Mr. Vance's sole care.”
“Immediate compliance with medical, educational, and therapeutic referrals.”
“Backup-care plan as submitted.”
“Review hearing in fourteen days.”
His pen stopped.
“If the placement becomes unsafe, Mr. Vance, asking for help will not count against you.”
I nodded because my voice had disappeared.
“Failing to ask might.”
“Yes, sir.”
Judge Lawson looked toward Hale.
“Anything further?”
Hale stood slowly.
“No, Your Honor.”
Then he glanced at me.
“Not from the state.”
The judge signed the order.
The scratch of his pen was smaller than I expected.
After everything that had happened, five lives changed direction with less noise than my table saw made cutting a two-by-four.
The clerk took the paper.
Rachel squeezed my arm once and let go.
Behind me, Luis whispered, “Oh, man.”
I stared at the closed side door.
Judge Lawson had not dismissed us yet.
He looked at me for another moment.
“Mr. Vance.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You fought very hard to keep those children together.”
“Yes.”
“Now comes the part where nobody applauds.”
I swallowed.
“I figured.”
He nodded toward the door.
“Go learn their bedtime.”
The first thing Leo asked when I stepped into the waiting room was whether the judge had said yes or maybe.
I looked at him.
“Yes.”
He did not smile.
He looked at Delaney instead.
“All of us?”
“All of you,” she said.
Leo's shoulders dropped about half an inch.
That was the entire celebration.
Maya began crying.
Not loudly.
She simply pressed the damaged bear against her face and folded into herself until Mrs. Ellis sat beside her.
Ben shouted, “Blue cup.”
June shouted because Ben had shouted.
Ellie slept through the decision that had rearranged her life.
Sofia looked at me and whispered, “You look like you're going to throw up.”
“I might.”
Luis slapped the back of my shoulder.
“Do it outside.”
Marisol told him to shut up.
Delaney handed me a folder thick enough to discourage joy.
Inside were medication instructions, temporary medical consent forms, emergency numbers, school information, contact restrictions, visit requirements, insurance documents, and several pages of things I was legally required to notify the county about.
I signed eleven places.
Then I signed three more because I had missed them.
Rachel stood over my shoulder like a disappointed teacher.
“Initial there.”
“I did.”
“That's the wrong box.”
“They made the boxes too close together.”
“The state will be devastated to learn this.”
By the time we left the courthouse, it was after five thirty and the parking lot had begun to empty.
A television van sat near the curb.
The reporter saw us.
Rachel saw her seeing us.
“No.”
She moved in front of me before anyone could approach.
The reporter lifted a microphone.
“Mr. Vance, can we ask how the hearing went?”
“No,” Rachel said.
“Can you confirm the children are leaving with you?”
“No.”
“Can Mr. Vance answer for himself?”
“He can.”
Rachel opened the minivan door.
“He's choosing not to.”
The reporter tried one more question.
“Why did you decide to do this?”
I froze with one hand on Ellie's carrier.
That question had started the day.
Now it followed me into the parking lot.
Leo was already watching.
I loaded the carrier.
Then I turned back.
“Not today.”
Rachel looked faintly proud.
We got the children into the minivan with the kind of physical incompetence that should have disqualified me retroactively.
I had watched installation videos for every seat.
I had read manuals.
I had practiced buckling stuffed animals into them.
Stuffed animals did not twist sideways while asking for crackers.
Ben objected to his chest clip.
June objected to Ben objecting.
Maya dropped the bear beneath the seat and screamed when I reached for it.
I withdrew my hand immediately.
“Okay.”
She scrambled down and retrieved it herself.
Leo buckled his own booster, then tried to buckle Maya.
“I've got it,” I said.
“No.”
“I can do it.”
“She hates when it touches her neck.”
“I can fix that.”
“No.”
His hands moved faster.
I almost told him to let me be the adult.
The sentence rose into my mouth and stopped there.
Three hours earlier I had told a judge that this child was being forced into adulthood.
May you like
Now I was about to punish him for acting like one.
So I crouched beside the open door.
