Page 53 of Not Part of the Plan
“But if you put us in foster care, that’s what’s going to happen. I’ll be eighteen in ten months. I can be Caleb’s guardian then.”
“But you can’t freaking raise yourselves until then,” Joey argued. “What the hell, Reva?”
“Okay, hang on. We need an adult pow-wow,” Emma said.
“Stay right there, and don’t even think about running away or I’ll have Waffles hunt you down,” Joey threatened Reva.
“Okay, here’s what happened,” Donovan began when they huddled up. “Reva’s mom asked you two to watch her kids while she went on vacation,” he said pointing at Joey and Jax.
“Us? We don’t know what to do with kids!” Joey complained.
“Please,” Jax snorted. “Reva is more mature than the two of us combined.”
“True. Continue.”
“We’re going to take them to their house, make sure the mom isn’t there, pack up some of their shit, and they’re going to stay with you two until I can figure out a way to make sure they don’t get split up,” Donovan decided.
“You heard the sheriff, Jojo,” Jax said. “We got ourselves a couple of house guests.”
“Good thing we put that addition on the house,” Joey muttered.
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Niko and Emma went with Donovan, Reva, and Caleb to the house to pack while Jax and Joey readied the guest rooms.
Reva stared sullenly out the window of Donovan’s SUV while Caleb fell asleep against Emma’s arm. Emma felt an ages-old rage roil inside her. How were mothers still abandoning their children? And in this case, there wasn’t a second parent ready and willing to step into the void. She and her sisters had been lucky. Franklin had been father and mother and therapist and friend to them all. But who did Reva have? And who did Caleb have besides Reva?
Emma understood Reva better than the girl could know. She knew the bitter taste of betrayal just as she knew the determination to keep the rest of her family intact. She just hoped the system wouldn’t damage them even more.
Without directions, Donovan pulled into the dirt driveway of a ramshackle ranch. Once a shade of white, the siding shown dingy gray in the headlights. Paint peeled from the shutters and front door. But the grass was neatly trimmed and the porch light glowed a sad welcome.
“Come on, Cale,” Reva whispered to her brother. “We’re home.”
Inside, Reva flipped on lights revealing a worn but spotless interior. The threadbare carpet was vacuumed. The shelves holding a handful of framed pictures of Reva and Caleb were dusted. The kitchen was immaculate and empty save for a box of peanut butter crackers and a bag of apples on the counter. There was no food in the cabinets or the refrigerator.
“I was going to go grocery shopping tomorrow. I got paid this weekend,” Reva said defensively as Donovan systematically opened and closed cabinets.
“Reva, there’s not a one of us that’s gonna say you did something wrong. So get that through your stubborn head,” Donovan said. “We’re here to help, and we’re going to do whatever it takes to keep you and your brother together. So if you’re gonna be pissed, be pissed at someone who deserves it.”
“You mean like my mother.”
Niko knelt down to Caleb’s level. “Hey, man. Want to show me your room? We can pack up some stuff for your sleepover at Jax and Joey’s.”
Caleb trotted down the ribbon of hallway tugging Niko behind him.
“Look, we’re not here to judge,” Donovan began.
“But you are,” Reva countered. “I come from a woman who loved pills and booze more than her own kids. That’s in me. She made me.”
Emma laid her hands on Reva’s shoulders. “You aren’t your parents any more than any of us are. My mom left, too. And I take great pleasure in not being her. It doesn’t matter who made you. It matters what you choose to be.”
“Do you know where she is, Reva?” Donovan asked quietly.
She shook her head. “Said she was going away for the weekend with her boyfriend. That was three weeks ago. She emptied the checking account.”
“Go pack whatever you need,” Donovan ordered quietly.
Emma gave her a minute and then wandered down the skinny hallway with its flattened, stained shag carpeting. She paused outside Caleb’s room and listened to Niko explain how to pack his Buzz Lightyear suitcase so he could fit his teddy bear in it.
