A Year at Harvelle's
Chapter 4
As the days passed, Ellen and Emily started having more disagreements, mostly about the way Emily treats her daughter. Every little thing Sarah did, she either got yelled at or hit.
"Mom, I thought we weren't supposed to interfere," Jo reminded her mother of what she told her and Ash.
Ellen was pacing the floor, after another argument with Emily. She held a hand up to her mouth. "I know," she said, staring at nothing. "It's... It's just getting harder to just sit back and let it happen."
"Can't we do something?"
"If we get the 5-O involved, they'll take the kid away and put her in foster care," Ash told them.
"That may be the best thing for Sarah," said Ellen, staring at Ash.
Ash looked away, not saying anything.
"Hold on. Emily does love Sarah," Jo pointed out. "I've seen her give Sarah, kisses."
Ellen shrugged over at her daughter, "Don't mean nothing. Emily still beats her when she feels Sarah isn't doing like she wants her to."
Ash stared off into space. Out of nowhere, he blurted out, "Why don't the kid just live here with us?" The women stared over at the guy, surprised by his suggestion. Ash noticed them. He turned his head to look directly at them. "What?"
"What do you mean, Ash?" Ellen asked of him. "Are you saying, we should try and become Sarah's legal guardians?"
"Why not?" he shrugged. "We've already been doing it, these past few months."
"Emily would never agree to it," said Jo. "Like I said, she does love Sarah...I think. She already hates my mom. I don't think she'll go for my mom, asking for custody."
"I like that idea." All three heads turned in the direction of the voice. Sarah had come from her room, chewing on her lip. She wandered over to the group, picking up speed, halfway, running to Ellen. Ellen lifted the two-year-old up, into her arms. "I want you to be my mommy," she told her. "You're better at it. You only yell at Jo when she's not doing her homework."
Ash tried to snicker behind his hand, until Jo gave him a warning look. The snickering ceased, immediately.
"How long have you been listening, sweetheart?" Ellen asked of Sarah.
Sarah's eyes and head drooped. "I just came out. The first thing I heard was Ash's idea. I didn't mean to listening to what you were saying."
"It's okay. All is forgiven," she assured the little girl.
She looked back up. "Can you be my mommy?" she asked, hopeful.
"Aw, sweetheart, you have a mommy, already."
Sarah shook her head. "I know Mommy doesn't like me, very much."
"That's not true," Ellen tried to tell her.
"Why are you lying to her," Ash snapped.
"Ash!" Ellen snapped, back. "I am not lying to her."
"Well, Emily has a funny way of showing her love," he said, sarcastically.
"Sarah, your mom tells you she loves you, every now and then, right?" Jo asked.
Sarah looked back, over her shoulder. "Sometimes."
"See, your mom loves you," said Ellen.
Ash scoffed, looking off in another direction, again. "Words can mean nothing," he muttered.
Sarah looked over at Ash, and grabbed onto Ellen's neck, hiding her face in her collarbone. Ellen rubbed her side, up and down.
"Maybe we can try and talk to Emily, see what she says," Jo shrugged. "What's the worse she can say? No?"
Ellen looked from her own daughter, down at Sarah. She did wished her and Bill could have, had more children after Jo, and she did love Sarah as if she was her own. "Okay," she finally agreed. "We'll talk with her and see what Emily says."
The three of them sat Emily down and discussed what they had talked about, amongst themselves. Ellen had to remind Ash, to behave himself. When Emily heard they wanted to adopt Sarah, she was silent, at first.
"My mom would take good care of Sarah, we all would. She'll be loved for sure."
"But, we understand that you are her biological mother," Ellen also added, "and no one can replace that role. We don't want to force you to give her up, to us. We're just looking out for Sarah's best interest."
Emily remained silent. Finally, she told them that she would think on it and give them an answer after the holidays. With that said, Emily stood up and headed to their room, to check on Sarah.
A week before Christmas, Jo took Sarah, Christmas shopping. Sarah had been helping Ellen, and Jo out, that the women would give her some pocket change, that she saved. Ash slipped her a five or ten every time he felt Sarah was unfairly punished. After five months, Sarah had saved eighty-four dollars and forty-three cents. She would have had more, but Emily took it from her, telling Sarah they needed to save as much as possible, to go towards essentials. So, the next time Jo gave Sarah, a dollar, Sarah asked if she could keep it for her, in her room, instead.
Jo cleaned out a pickle jar her mother was throwing away, and taped a label, they made, with Sarah's name. She set it on a shelf, in her closet. "There. Now, whenever my mom or myself gives you any money, we can put it in here."
"Yeah," Sarah nodded, smiling, excitedly. "Thank you, Jo."
"You are very welcome," she smiled. Also, even though Jo never told Sarah, this, when she would get home from school, Jo would put the leftover change from her lunch, in the jar.
When Sarah told Jo, she was saving for Christmas, so she could buy everyone a present, Jo was impressed and thought that was so sweet. Even that young, Sarah thought of others more than herself and that is a trait, not many adults had. That Jo knew of, anyway.
They wandered around the mall, for several hours, grabbing lunch around one. Sarah spent the most time, trying to decide what to get Ellen and Ash, wanting to get them, something special. For her mother, she got her a little stuffed bear, wearing a bow tie, and for Jo, a necklace from Claire's. Jo had to look away when Sarah picked it out and paid for it.
After lunch, Ellen was the next person Sarah picked out for. Jo found a really nice picture frame.
"Hey, how about we both get this for my mom, and we can get our picture taken, together. Just the two of us, and we can put it in this," she suggested. "Would you want to? Or, you can get something from just you. Totally up to you."
Sarah thought on Jo's idea. "I like it. Let's do it."
"It's twenty dollars, so how about we throw in ten from each of us. How's that? Split the price in half."
"Okay," she agreed. After they paid for the picture frame, Sarah and Jo left the store. "Now, all that's left is Ash. But, I can't find anything for him."
"I'm sure we'll find something he might like," Jo assured her.
The girls walked around the mall, for a couple more hours. Nothing jumped out at Sarah, she wanted to give him. It was around five-thirty when they started to feel tired. Jo suggested they'll try another store, some other day. Sarah, reluctantly, agreed.
On the way out of the mall, they passed a vendor that was selling watches and jewelry. A particular sport watch caught her eye. It drew Sarah towards it, walking over and pressing her face against the glass.
The watch was silver, with a metal, link band. It told time both in digital and with a face and hands. There was even a symbol of an alien's head. It had two buttons on the left side of the watch and a turnable knob on the other side.
Jo joined Sarah, walking up behind her. "What did you find, Sarah?" she asked, curious.
Sarah looked up at her. "I found Ash's gift!" she exclaimed.
Jo knelt beside the little girl, to see what Sarah had been looking at. "You want to get Ash, that watch?"
She nodded, rapidedly.
"Let's see if you have enough, then." Jo stood up, taking the rest of the money Sarah had, out of her jeans pocket, counting it out on the glass. She had the exact price of the watch, left. "You won't be able to get a chocolate milk, on the way home."
"That's okay. Ash is more important. I can get coco milk another day."
Jo smiled, touched by what Sarah said. When the vendor was finished with another customer, he came over to them, offering help. Jo told him, they wanted the watch. He unlocked the back of the glass case, to take the watch out. "Are you sure this is what you want to give him," she double checked with Sarah.
Sarah nodded.
The vendor offered a gift-wrapping charge, which Jo offered to pay for. Sarah left the mall, a very happy girl and could not wait for Christmas morning, but not as a kid normally would be.
When Christmas morning did come, Sarah got everyone up, around seven. Emily was the only one that gave her trouble. Ash did, at first, but once he realized it was just Sarah, he stifled his annoyance.
Everyone met up, around the Christmas tree, they had decorated, the first week of December. Ash and Emily weren't apart of it, though. They stayed in their rooms, the entire time, uninterested. The other three had a great time, at least.
Sarah wanted everyone to open hers, first.
Emily opened her present, from Sarah. "Wow, a cute teddy bear. Thank you, Sar Bear," she smiled.
Sarah didn't like the nickname her mother called her, but didn't say anything.
Jo opened hers, next. "It's beautiful, Sarah," she hugged the little girl, not catching the frowned look they were getting from Emily.
Ellen was the next one to open hers.
"It's from both me and Jo," Sarah explained. "It was her idea."
"Oh, was it?" Ellen smiled. She ripped the wrapping paper off. She smiled at the framed picture of both Jo and Sarah. "Girls, I love it. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Sarah replied, with a big, humble smile.
"Love you, Mom." Jo leaned over to hug her mother. As they did, Sarah hurried over to where Ash was sitting, on the couch. "You have one, too, Ash."
"I do, huh?" he looked among his small pile, not expecting the kid to get him anything. It was probably like a gumball or something small like that. Ash found it, holding it up. It was bigger than a gumball, that was for sure. He ripped the paper off, tossing it onto the floor. He was surprised at what it was.
"It took the whole day to find it, and I found it just as we were leaving. Do you like it?"
Ash was speechless. He stared at the watch in his hand. "It's awesome, kid. Thanks." Ash couldn't believe a kid could afford something like that. "You picked and paid for this, all by yourself?"
She nodded. "You, Miss Ellen, and Jo helped when you gave me the money, for helping you." Suddenly, Sarah got grabbed in a strong hold, as Ash pulled her in. He hugged her for a long time.
Once Ash removed his new watch from it's case and fastened it onto his wrist, he never removed it for the next couple of weeks. Except to shower. Unfortunately, the watch wasn't water proof. Then, the day came.
He was talking with Sarah, in his room. Sarah lied next to him, on his bed, her head against him, as Ash hugged his pillow behind his head.
"Do you think Mommy will ever give Miss Ellen an answer?" she was asking him.
"Who knows, kid," he shrugged. Things were quiet for a while. That was when they heard commotion coming from the main area of the Roadhouse.
Sarah sat up. "That sounds like Papa," she said.
"Papa?"
"Yeah. Mommy's daddy." Sarah slid down from the bed and ran out of the room. "Papa!" She ran over to where Ellen and Jo were talking to an older man, his brown hair, starting to turn gray. He lifted her up, into his arms.
"Hello, Sar Bear. We missed you and your mom," he told her as she hugged him.
"I missed you, too." She lifted her head to look at him. "We met some friends. They are family, now."
Her grandfather shook his head, serious. "No, Sarah. They're not. Go get your shoes on. We're going to leave, soon."
"No! I don't want to leave! I want to stay here!" she cried out.
He set her down. "There is no discussion. Now, go, Sarah Lynn."
Sarah turned and ran over to where Ellen was standing, who lifted her up, and hugged Ellen around the neck. "Do something, Miss Ellen. I don't want to go."
Ellen was trying her best not to lose it, but it wasn't easy. "I know, sweetheart. I can't. It's your mom's choice. I didn't even know she called your grandfather."
At that moment, Emily came from the bedroom, carrying both hers and Sarah's duffel bag. "I'm all ready, Dad. Sarah, come get your shoes," she held out Sarah's tennis shoes.
"No!" she screamed out.
Even though, it was right in Ellen's ear, she did not say anything about it. Instead, she told Sarah, "I am so sorry. I wish you could stay, too, but you have to go."
"I want to stay with you, and Ash, and Jo. You're the best family I ever had," Sarah cried into her shoulder. Ellen caught her grandfather look up from the floor, over at Emily, his hands on his sides.
The man stepped towards them and grabbed a hold of Sarah, ripping her out of Ellen's arms. Sarah started trying to break free, to get back to Ellen. Tears were pouring down both sides of her face as she reached for Ellen. Ellen couldn't hold on and lost it, letting a tear fall.
Sarah ended up, popped on the bottom, telling her to knock it off, by her grandfather. He told Emily, "let's go," as he turned to leave.
Ellen wrapped an arm around Jo as they watched them take Sarah away. Her cries broke their hearts, crying for her.
"Good riddance," the women heard Ash say. He was standing where Emily had been. "I'm glad the bitch and the runt is gone." With that, Ash turned around and returned to his room, slamming the door shut. He stood there for a long time, letting his anger get the best of him.
Suddenly, Ash lashed out and shoved everything he had on his desk, onto the floor, including his laptop. But, he didn't stop there. Ash flipped over his desk and threw his chair across the room, before punching a hole in the wall.
He wasn't going to give in. Never in a million years! No way was Ash going to cry, period, much less over some kid. But, as he thought about the past year, his eyes looked down at his left arm, lifting it. As Ash stared at the watch, the emotions were getting stronger, causing him to knock over the lamp, on his beside table. Next thing he knew, he felt something wet fall from his eye.
Ash felt stupid for crying, having not done it since he was a kid while his father beat on him, with a switch. He could hear his old man call him, a crybaby and to man up, but he also could hear Sarah's laughter.
Ellen and Jo tried knocking and calling out to him, outside his door, but there was no way Ash was letting someone see him, cry. Not happening. He ended up, staying locked in his room for two days, refixing his laptop that broke when it hit the floor. When he did come out, Ash refused to talk about it, acting like he was glad they were gone. He never did, either. He wasn't gonna let anyone get that close as that little kid did. Not ever, again.