Sorry I took so long to post!! The one problem with getting so many different ideas with stories is that it's hard to concentrate one just one. I didn't know what I was going to do exactly for this part of the story, but I've at last gotten past my writers block, and I hope you all enjoy it!!
Chapter Eight
Kelsi closed the door with her foot, and pecked Lilly on the cheek. "Hey munchkin. Is your daddy awake?" Lillian nodded, but bit her lip nervously. "But what's the matter, honey?"
"He's not talking to me!" she whimpered, tears flowing down her chubby cheeks. "I've tried to talk to him, but he just keeps staring at the wall in front of him! I wish he was still asleep!" Kelsi wrapped the distressed little girl in her arms and balanced her against her hip and walked into the kitchen.
Face in hands, elbows resting on table, hair on end and unkempt, eyes staring unseeing in front of him, Ryan Evans was a wreck. Kelsi set Lilly down and walked timidly touched Ryan's bony shoulder. "Ry?" It was as if she did not exist. After two more tries, he at last turned to face her, but his eyes did not see her even then. They stared through her and onto something else; something beyond horrible. "Ryan, what is it?" He still did not answer. She took his face in her hands and made him look into her eyes. "Ryan…tell me what's the matter." He shuddered and closed his eyes, but Kelsi forced him to look back.
"They're trying to take her away from me," he choked, tears seeping from his red-rimmed eyes. "They're trying to take her away from me!"
"Take who away, Ryan?" Kelsi asked gently.
"M-my baby girl," Ryan whispered slowly, as if every syllable caused him pain. "My baby girl"
"Lilly?" Kelsi gasped. "Who's trying to take her away?"
"G-gabriella," he sighed, hiding his face in his hands again. "She filing for full custody"
"On what grounds?!" Kelsi protested. "You're taking perfectly good care of Lillian!"
"It's because she doesn't have a 'mother-like figure' in her life, which is a 'necessity for a growing girl', and Ms. Montez's lawyer put it." Ryan groaned. "I thought having a loving father was enough…Gabriella doesn't even know Lilly! She gave our baby up because of college, for Christ's sake!" Kelsi bit her lip as no words of comfort entered her mind.
"Daddy?" Ryan lifted his head and looked down at his adorable daughter who had reentered the room. "Are you alright?"
"I am now," he laughed and opened his arms. Giggling happily, Lillian ran over and leaped into her father's embrace. Tears squeezed out of Kelsi's eyes when she saw how tightly Ryan clung to his daughter, his trembling hand stroking her blonde braids. Kissing her head, Ryan whispered lovingly, "I love you, sweetheart"
"I know. I love you too, Daddy." Ryan hugged Lilly like he would never let go. Lilly yawned snuggled against his shoulder.
"You didn't finish you naptime, did you, Captain Lilly?" Lilly shook her head sleepily. "Tell you what; your Daddy didn't get to finish his naptime either. Why don't we go take our naps together?" The gap between her two front teeth showed again, and Lilly bobbed a nod. Kelsi almost protested that Ryan still had a fever, but held her tongue.
Ryan climbed into his bed and Lilly launched herself next to him. Kelsi pulled the blanket over both of them as Ryan wrapped one arm around Lilly, who buried her tiny face into his chest yet again. Kelsi turned to leave, but Ryan grabbed her hand.
"Kels…you have to help me. I can't do this by myself." There was a wild look in his eyes. "Please help me…please"
The desperation in his voice made Kelsi's eyes burn. "I will"
"Promise it!"
"I promise—with all my heart." Ryan relaxed, but wrapped his fingers around her hand.
"Don't leave," he mumbled as sleep began to take its toll, his eyes barely staying open. "Stay here." Kelsi let her boyfriend tug her back to the bedside, and she sat down by the headboard. She ran a hand through his hair, and a gentle moan of pleasure escaped him. She smiled.
Tabitha knocked softly on the door as she let herself in (she had acquired keys to his apartment many moons ago). "Anybody home? Ryan? Lilly? Kelsi?" Tabitha dumped the groceries she had picked up onto the counter. After a bit of searching she looked into the bedroom. A wide grin overcame her face at the sight before her.
Kelsi was propped up against the headboard, her brown curls falling prettily over her face; contrasting with the maple wood. One hand was in Ryan's golden hair—the other clasping his bandaged left hand. Ryan's head was in her lap, and his right arm was wrapped around petite Lilly, who was curled up against his side. All three were covered in the sheets and sound asleep.
"This is more like it," Tabitha murmured before backing out of the room on tiptoe. This was one scene that had taken enough time happening to not be ruined.
Tabitha and Kelsi slipped into the second row of the humming courtroom. It had been about three months since Mr. Jassek had informed Ryan about Gabriella's choice, and it was at last the day of the trial. Ryan sat a bench in the front hand in hand with Lilly; him in a pressed black suit, her in a pressed black dress. With such blonde hair, it made the both of them look ten times paler.
At last the doors to the room were closed and all rose as the judge entered the room. Ryan looked as if he might get sick right then and there. Gabriella looked victorious, winning, and deadly in her navy blue, evening-length dress next to her lawyer. Kelsi inwardly praised God Almighty that the Evan parents were so well-off. it had not been a tearless experience when they had called Ryan to let him know that they would hire and pay all expenses for a lawyer.
Kelsi thought it would be an open and shut case, but evidently not. Mr. Jassek played highly off the fact that Gabbi had not seen her daughter in four years, and that Lilly truly had no motherly influence in her life; 'a necessity for a growing girl', indeed.
"But she does have a father, does she not?" Mr. Richards, the Evan's lawyer, protested. "Is the matter how well she is cared after by her father? I see in Lillian's records that she has come to no harm in her father's care, and has never had a problem socially or in any other category"
"You will admit, however, that she has no woman in her life. Can we honestly trust a college-aged boy to take as adequate care of her as a loving mother?"
Lilly, Gabriella, Ryan, and Mrs. Hart (Lilly's main teacher) were all called to the stand. Kelsi's heart felt like it had been punctured as she saw tiny Lilly seated primly on the witness stand, answering all questions thrown at her with innocent, but scared, eyes. And her heart took another beating seeing Mr. Jassek bear down and take every word Ryan said and twist it around for his own purposes.
"So let's forget about Gabriella's personal feelings about the matter for awhile," Mr. Richards proposed. "Let's all agree that the only thing at stake here is Lillian's well being. Are we agreed on that?" Mr. Jassek and the judge nodded. "Are we agreed that no harm has come to Lillian in her father's care—as far as we know?" They nodded their agreement again. "Technically, if at Mr. Evan's home she had an adequate mother figure, would he be allowed to keep full custody of Lillian if Gabriella was allowed visiting rights?"
The judge motioned to the Montez's lawyer that he was allowed to respond. "This is all just pure imagining," Mr. Jassek said after some careful thought, "but I supposed this is true"
"FIVE MONTHS!" Mr. Richards suddenly bellowed, startling everyone out of their wits.
"I beg your pardon?" the judge questioned him, slightly annoyed and bewildered.
"I ask the jury to give Mr. Evans five months to find a mother-like figure for Lillian!" Ryan's jaw dropped, and Gabriella's eyes bulged. No one had expected this.
"Permission granted." Down rang the gavel. "This court is adjourned until the date of—" but nobody heard the rest of what he said. The audience was abuzz with talk; Gabriella arguing with her lawyer, Ryan talking anxiously with his own. Halfway out of the courtroom, Kelsi caught up with Ryan and Lillian. While her father was engaged in conversation, Lilly slipped out of his hand and peeked around people until she found the person she was looking for.
"Mommy!" Lilly called loudly, making heads all around her turn, including the family she had just left. Gabriella turned around and broke out in a smile. She would have greeted her back, but the words caught in her throat. The golden hair, short stature, familiar cheekbones, eyes identical to her own…there was so much of her in this little person.
"Lilly," she at last managed to get out, her voice cracking. "Baby!" Lilly smiled toothily and hugged her mother around the waist for the first time in four years. Gabbi pulled her off the ground in a big hug. Had she really given up this angel for dumb college?
What am I thinking, college isn't dumb, Gabriella countered herself. It's very important to my career, and if it means having to send my daughter off to daycare everyday, I'm willing to do it.
"Lillian, baby, let go," she ordered, and her daughter immediately let go, surprised by the sudden harshness of her voice. "I have to go now, alright? I'll see you later—when maybe you can see me all the time, 'k?"
"But what about Daddy?" she asked abruptly, startling Gabriella. "When would I get to see Daddy?"
"Well…about once every three weeks?" Gabbi suggested, trying to rack her brain to remember visiting rights.
"Then no"
"No what, baby?"
"I wanna stay with Daddy!" Lilly sniffled.
"Lilly!" Her head perked up. "Come on, Captain; it's time to go home." The spunky girl bounced over to her father and grabbed his and Kelsi's hands. Grinning a goodbye, she swung in between the two happily—all three laughing. Gabriella's eyes narrowed.
Sharpay ran her finger around the edge of her soda can worriedly, and with her other hand drummed her chewed nails against the table. Her twin brother was very late for their meeting, and she hoped he would not carry on the tradition.
At last Ryan arrived at Jason's Deli, in ripped jeans and a baggy gray t-shirt, and seated himself. The bags under his eyes were more noticeable then ever.
"Hey Ry," she said softly, standing up to give him a hug. He embraced her tenderly, and they both sat back down. "You hungry for a sandwich or something?"
"No thanks." He ran an exhausted hand through his messy hair. "Shar, help me! I have no idea what to do"
"How much longer do you have left until the trial picks up again?"
"Two weeks and I'm stressing! How the heck can I get a 'mother-like influence' in just three months??" Sharpay rolled her eyes despite the seriousness of the moment.
"Dear Lord, Ryan, don't you love Kelsi??"
"Well, err, that is…yes," he stuttered sheepishly, blushing to the roots.
"More than anything else in the world?"
"It's a close tie to how much I love Lilly…"
"I mean 'other-than-family-love', doofus"
"Oh…then yes," Ryan responded, turning redder than ever.
"Then what's holding you back from asking Kelsi to marry you?"
"WHAT?!" Seeing all the stares he was attracting, Ryan sat back down in the chair he had just popped out of. "Marry her? But…but…"
"Can you think of a good reason not to?"
"Yes…no…but you can't just jump into marriage! We're just college students!"
"Jesus, Ryan, I know tons of people who get married in college! It's perfectly normal, and you aren't getting any younger. It's legal and you two love each other"
"But…but…marriage…I wouldn't know what to say!"
"'Marry me' might be good"
"I know that, but I don't have a ring…I don't have the money for a ring. And what would Lilly say? She's not used to having a mother!"
"She loves Kelsi too," Sharpay grinned, leaning back in her chair. "And knowing Lilly, I'm sure she will be fine with it"
"Could I at least at her about it?"
"Hey, don't ask me; it's your kid"
He glared at his twin. "Thanks." She beamed at him.
"No problem"
"But what if Kelsi says no and then our friendship gets all awkward?! I couldn't live with that…to be turned down twice…"
"Just ask Lilly and then come on over to Mom and Dad's," Sharpay ordered him in a knowing voice. "I think they have the perfect solution to the ring problem…"
Just a random little tidbit about this story:: it's actually based off of what's happening in my mom's best friend's life right now—only it's the dad applying for full custody, and nothing about the whole "mother-like influence" issue with the potential husband/wife. It's been a very traumatic experience, and the trial coming up soon! Wish her luck, because my mom's friend totally loves her daughter and would rather die then send her off to an uncaring dad.
I've discovered thing I love to do in this story—have a lot of repeating scenes…I dunno, for me, it just makes everything way more in perspective to compare things by having them be so similar, you know what I mean? Ah well, please R&R! Thank you all sooo much for your support!!!