Chapter 13.
Maxine was hanging laundry on the line, tears still falling down her face no matter how hard she tried to stop them, they kept falling.
"Mom? What's wrong?" Seth asked.
He had seen her from inside the house and went to help her hang out the mountain of laundry she had washed. "Mom?" He reached out to touch her shoulder.
"Sorry, I'm just a bit upset and have a lot on my mind." She replied, reaching to grab another article of clothing to hang.
"Does it have anything to do with Jo packing? Quinn and Bryan are with her now."
"Yes, the state has decided that this family may not be the best for Joanna so she will be picked up tomorrow morning by a caseworker and…" Maxine found her words getting stuck in her throat.
"...she is going to live with her grandparents." Seth finished for her.
"No, no she is not."
"What are you saying?" He said slowly, unsure he wanted to hear the answer.
"Joanna is going to be put into foster care for the time being."
"This is bull! They can't do this!" He exclaimed.
"Seth, calm down. There is nothing we can do, it's out of our hands."
"But her grandparents are not taking her in?"
"No they are not." She said firmly, closing her eyes.
Seth shook his head.
"Who turns their back on family? She is their granddaughter and they are turning a blind eye?" He said in shock.
"Like I said, it's out of our hands." She said quietly.
Seth couldn't believe what he was hearing as he rubbed the back of his neck, he met his mother's eyes one last time before he walked away as she shook her head.
This was not happening, it couldn't.
"I'm struggling to understand what was wrong with the arrangement that you, dad and grandfather had in place? We all agreed as a family that her living in the house would be too much so grandfather let her live with him. She was more than okay there, she told me herself. Jo felt safe, comfortable and she trusted grandfather so much, those were her words to me." Seth said, not able to accept what he was hearing.
"Trust me when I say we fought for her. The state had made up their mind, they weren't willing to listen to me and your father; your grandfather brought forward a strong case but they called him inexperienced and unfit to raise Joanna. Our hands are tied." Maxine said, wiping a stray tear that slipped down her cheek.
"Can you hang the rest of this up? I'm going to see if she needs help packing?" Maxine asked her son.
"Of course, go."
Just after 9 o'clock on Saturday a silver sedan had pulled up to the cabin. Joanna knew what that meant when she watched Farrin Walker step out, looking like she meant business and wasn't going to stand for any nonsense but Joanna made sure she didn't go without a fight.
It had upset Mac to hear the girl crying, begging for Miss Walker to let her stay but it broke Maxine to hear those broken sobs, she watched a thirteen year old girl begging to keep her life, to not be uprooted again, to not be taken away from her family.
Life was cruel and unfair; or that's how Joanna started to see it.
After being with the Ely's for nearly six month's, it was long enough for Joanna to adjust. It was just enough time for her to be happy with the friends she had, confident enough to be herself at school, getting good grades and even signed up to the school's gymnastics team. She had gotten on well with all the Ely boys, especially Quinn and Bryan. Between her uncle, aunt and grandfather, she had everything she needed to be happy, they gave her a happiness that couldn't be bought through materialistic things, they taught her what love, hard work, patience and what dedication could give you.
She had been in the foster system three months and had already been through three foster homes, currently in her fourth but she couldn't see herself staying here much longer. After the first two homes gave her up she started to shut down, pushing away people, not seeing the point in trying.
"I know that look. You're up to somethin." Luke said as he caught Maxine's eye, he hung his stetson by the door as he kicked off his boots.
"I'm just thinking." She said, reaching up to kiss her husband.
"That's never good." He joked as she gave him a dirty look. "What are you thinking about?"
"How would you feel about getting Joanna back?" She said seriously and didn't miss the shocked expression on the normally well collected cowboy's face. "I understand that it's a very big step because it will involve us fighting the system a lot harder than before."
"Okay." He said. "What made you come to this decision?"
"I miss her. I can't help feeling like I lost a daughter the day she was taken from us, it broke my heart Lucas."
"Are we really the best place for her? She was taken from us for a reason." Luke said grimly.
"She was taken away from us based on numbers and statistics. You saw yourself that she was starting to settle in and some of the boys actually miss her."
"There is a lot to consider. For starters, we have spent twenty years raising sons, we know nothing about raising a daughter." He tried to gently reason with Maxine.
"Luke, she is your daughter."
"Isaac was her father, I merely helped when him and Tiva couldn't conceive their own. I'm not her father but that doesn't mean I don't care for the kid."
He grabbed her left hand, letting his thumb rub over her wedding band.
Maxine turned away to look out the kitchen window, she saw a few horses grazing in one field and further in the distance was cattle and then with a crash and a woop, she identified four of her son's causing chaos.
"We have our hands full with the boys but I can't stop this nagging feeling saying we can raise Joanna. When she was taken, I had an easy feeling in my gut that something wasn't right and I still have it now. There is more to it than us and your father getting classified as being unfit to raise her." Maxine said, looking back at her husband.
He looked at her with a stern expression, thinking about what she said, letting his face soften as he sighed.
"What are you thinking?" He asked.
"Her caseworker kept mentioning that Joanna needed a mothers influence in her life and that day visits to the house were not enough. I was thinking of moving her in here." Maxine said and Luke raised an eyebrow so she kept talking, "We definitely have the room and without Kit living here it's one less male she needs to worry about, she would have her own room and it would mean I can be more actively involved in her day to day life."
"She wouldn't have her own bathroom. The boys share the two bathrooms and sometimes that's not enough." He pointed out and she knew he had a point.
"That is the trickiest part about this but I'm sure we could talk to the boys and hear their thoughts?"
"Max… they are boys."
"I know. Just think about this, for me?" She asked him, looking hopeful.
Luke could see this was something she really wanted and he thought no harm could come from him thinking things through if it meant she would be happy.
"Why don't we talk to the boys so they know what is going on and we will go from there." He said, meeting her eyes.
"Absolutely. I want us to remain on the same page at all times because this will not be something that changes over night. She is only just hitting her teenage years and it's going to be really hard. She needs stability and I think we can make this work." She reached out to grab his hand which he accepted giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"How do you boys feel about this?" Luke called out, looking over his shoulder into the empty archway. There was a whisper of voices before Nate and Adam appeared, hands in their pockets knowing they had been caught eavesdropping.
"We weren't listening in…" Nate tried to say when a stern look from Luke caused him to drift off mid sentence.
"I'll admit to eavesdropping, we were on our way out when we heard Jo's name being mentioned." Adam admitted, trying to meet his parents eyes.
"How would you feel about us having Joanna here permanently?" Maxine asked.
"Kinda like adopting her?" Nate asked.
"Yes." Luke said with a small nod.
"That would make her our sister, right?" Nate asked.
"Yes it would in a way."
"We will honor whatever decision you both make." Adam said in a mature manner.
"We appreciate the maturity you are showing but this is something each of you need to agree to. This cannot be a single person decision, this is why I'm talking to your father about this and why we are wanting to talk to each of you so you can take the time to think this through."
The two brothers went silent for a moment, thinking about what had just been said before talking amongst themselves.
"If we say yes and she becomes our sister, this will mess with the dynamic of being a boys only house minus mom." Nate said in a hushed voice.
"It was already a messed dynamic when she lived with grandfather. Dude, not much would change except the fact that we would be permanently stuck with her." Adam said, matching his brother's tone of voice while Luke and Maxine shared an amused look at the discussion taking place in front of them. "She spent her first 3 years growing up here, this place is her home. She may not remember but I do."
"Okay, you got a point. But I think an awful lot will change, this is very different from Samantha hanging around us because she goes back to her house, Joanna wouldn't. She would be around us 24/7, we would have to keep an eye on her, making sure she is safe and who knows what else." Nate explained, trying to get his brother to understand the situation.
"We are already doing that though."
"Not like how mom and dad were talking. She would be living under the same roof as all of us."
"Okay, I hear ya. Let's see what the others have to say and go from there?" Adam said as Nate gave a curt nod.
"This is not going to be a rushed decision." Luke said as he grabbed the boys attention.
"We know that and we would like to hear what the others have to say about this before we go giving our answer." Nate said.
"I'm glad you are. Me and your father are very proud of how you are handling this big news." Maxine said. "Now, did you want us to tell the others or would you like to tell them?"
"Honestly, I think it would be better coming from you then us." Adam said.
"We're hoping to talk to the boys at some point but I think me and your father need to talk about this more." Maxine said, looking at her husband for reassurance. Which she got as he gave a small nod.
"Alright, so we have to keep this to ourselves until then?" Nate asked, gesturing to his brother.
"Yes." Luke said.
"Cool, so business as usual. Me and Nate are heading out to Darton, we'll be back later."
"Drive safe and behave."
"Always do." The two brothers said in unison earning a snort of amusement from Luke.
"Well that went a lot better than I was expecting. Here's hoping the other boys feel the same." Maxine said, trying to feel optimistic.
"I'm sure they'll come around." Luke replied, kissing the top of her head before disappearing upstairs, leaving the petite woman alone with her thoughts.