"Of course you can. I trust you, Ashley. I made a copy just for you. You can even take a camera and your video camera if you want when you go visit her." Arthur smiled at the brunette, trying to put her at ease.
" When can I see her? Can I take her a present? What do we do now? She won't go anywhere permanent before I get a chance to take her, will she?" Ashley looked horrified at the prospect of losing her daughter again, causing Spencer to stroke her girlfriend's hair with her other hand in an attempt to help her stay calm.
"Well, unfortunately this could get complicated. Since your rights were terminated, you're going to have to prove that your mom did this and you didn't know about it."
"Hm, how can I do that?" Ashley's thoughts were swirling and she started to panic at the idea that she'd lose her daughter a second time.
"I know!" Spencer spoke up as she continued to smooth Ashley's hair away from her face. "Does that business manager still handle the money? I don't see your mom paying any bills. If it's the same one that was around then, maybe he knows something."
"Spence! You're a genius! I'll go try to call him in a minute. If nothing else, I'm sure he paid the hospital bills, maybe he knows something. I'm just worried that he'll be loyal to my mom cause she pays him though."
"Either way, if he does know something, I'm sure your lawyer can subpoena him, Ashley. Don't worry, we have ways of getting our info and I'm sure your lawyer has ways of his own." Arthur looked over at the girls with a huge smile on his face. "That's the way to start then. I'd say contact him and contact a lawyer. It's better to have the lawyer make first contact with our office too, they can't give you any information until they do the DNA testing. It's not fair, I know, but it's a security measure."
"I'm going to figure out a way to tell them I know without getting you in trouble too, Mr. C. I promise! I just need a little time to let this all sink in."
"I didn't think you were going to get me in trouble, Ashley, but it was worth the risk. You've been through so much just since we met you, I couldn't let your daughter get away if I could do anything to help. It's going to seem like forever until you get to see her, but we'll help you however we can. When you do see her, of course you can take her a present. I'm not totally sure yet, but I think we can keep her where she is until I have a chance to help you figure things out and make some plans. She will not be placed anywhere permanently though, no, so don't worry about that. I do have say in that part of things at least. You're going to be 18 in about three months, right?" Arthur looked thoughtfully at Ashley as he spoke.
"Right." Ashley stared at him with a puzzled expression on her face.
"If we get you emancipated, I think you can have access to the money your dad left you now instead of waiting until you're 21. We can turn the guest room into a nursery and you two can sleep in there if you'd like? If you want to stay here with us, that is?"
Ashley sat there in shock, looking from Arthur to Spencer and back for several seconds, tears again flowing down her face before she spoke. "Wow. Thank you so much, Mr. C.! I think I can call the lawyer or business manager my dad used to find out if I can get the money sooner if I get emancipated. They both know my mom and I'm sure they'd be willing to do anything they could to help me." Ashley smiled at the prospect for a second before her expression grew serious again. "But, um, are you sure you want us living here? What about Paula? I know she won't want us living here, corrupting Spencer. Can you imagine what she's gonna say when she finds out I have a kid? I'll be lucky if she doesn't put you in some sort of boarding school with mean attack dogs and twenty foot walls far away from me." Ashley looked at Spencer with a stricken expression on her face. "I don't even know how you feel about all of this yet either. Maybe you don't want me living here. I can probably afford a house with my money when I get it, can't I?"
Arthur and Spencer both started speaking at once. Spencer let her father go first with a nod as she continued to hold and try to comfort Ashley. "I am positive I want you and your daughter living here with us. You've done so much for Spencer since we moved here. You've been a great friend to her and it's time that we return the favor. I'm not even going to think about Paula right now." Arthur had begun standing up for himself more after his wife left and it made things much better around the Carlin home. The tension that had wrapped the house like an ugly fog before was now almost non-existent much to the delight of everyone. "We have a lot of stuff to work on before I'll even consider letting her move back home. If she does come back, she's going to have to realize she's not going to be able to control everything anymore. She's going to have to accept that things in this house didn't stop when she left and if she wants to live here she's going to have to deal with the fact that Spencer is growing up and may choose to do some things that she doesn't always agree with. You and Samantha have more of a right to be here right now than she does. If she can't tolerate you living here, then I don't want her to come back. Let me worry about Paula, not to mention Glen though. As far as I am concerned, you are already family, Ashley. We have more room now with Glen away at school too."
Ashley was not used to people being so nice to her and helping her so she started crying harder and Spencer embraced her tighter before speaking. "As for me, Ash, there's no way you're going to get rid of me that easily. I think this is great for you. I love kids. You know that. I'm not going to let you run away or let you push me away this time. I can't wait to meet Samantha. I'm sure it will take you a while to get used to being a mom, but I'll help you however I can. I know you're going to be a great mom! I'd love to have you guys living here too! We'd get to spend so much more time together! When can she move in, Dad?"
"I can get the paperwork together for you to sign tomorrow, Ashley. When your mom signs it, it will take about a week to be final. Can you pretend nothing is going on until then? I just don't want her to know anything until this is over and done with."
"It will be hard but sure I can. She's only going to be around for another two or three days anyway and then she and her latest boy toy are going on some stupid cruise. This is good timing then. I don't want you to get in trouble, Mr. C, don't worry." Ashley smiled at Arthur, thanking him yet again for coming to her rescue. She thought again how much she envied her girlfriend because she had great parents. The brunette hoped she could be more like Arthur and less like her mother had been.
"Can Ash spend the night tonight? That's nothing unusual, and that way her mom won't hear us talking about anything." Spencer looked pleadingly at her father.
"Of course she can. You know she's welcome here anytime, but you two are going to go to school tomorrow, right?" He smiled at them gently. "I know you don't skip much, but just so you know, Ashley, the state will have to do a background check on you as part of the process. Now that I think about it, I'm sure that has to happen before they'll let you see Samantha. I'll try to have them do it as fast as they can though. School attendance will probably be part of that. I'm not sure I'll be able to handle your case since I know you so well and you'll be living here."
"Will you still be able to keep Samantha's case?" Ashley looked at Mr. Carlin nervously.
"I'm not sure, but I'll do my best. If I can't keep it, I can probably have some say in who gets it though, so please don't worry, Ashley. We will work something out."
"But if you don't keep the case, how do you know she won't go to a permanent home before I get her?" Ashley started to freak out again.
"Wait a minute. Dad, didn't you say the original birth certificate was in the file?" Arthur nodded at his daughter. "Well, I know Ash's rights were terminated, but can't you say something at work about how you know her and this didn't sound like her to you and you wanted to talk to her?" Spencer wanted to help any way she could.
"No, honey. That would be violating the confidentiality rules as well." Arthur looked sadly at the pair on the couch. "Let's all sleep on this and maybe we can come up with a better plan tomorrow. I can promise you, Ashley, we have plenty of time. Why don't you guys go up to Spencer's room and relax and I'll get dinner. We'll eat in about half an hour.
"Thanks Dad! I love you!" Spencer reluctantly let go of Ashley to go give her father a hug.
"Thanks, Mr. C. This means so much to me." Ashley cautiously gave Mr. Carlin a hug on the way out as well.