Life As We Know It
Chapter 4
"Karma, your friends Duke and Shane were in a bad car accident, Duke was driving and he had a stoke. While he had the stroke he crashed the car into a tree, neither of them lived." He says speaking slowly. As he is telling me this awful news my eyes water and I break down.
I let Theo's words process in my head. My best friend since College is dead; the one person who loved me and cared about me more then my parents. He had a stroke and he is now dead with his husband. After a second of thinking about Duke I realized that Theo said Shane and Duke where dead but didn't mention Emma.
I look up at Theo. "What about Emma?" I ask as I am trying to hold back my tears.
Theo takes a deep breath and says "She is okay, Emma is with CPS right now, she will be placed in a temporary foster home for the night. You and Amy will see her tomorrow.
Right on cue we see Amy running towards us, her expression has fear written all over her face. She looks at Theo and then to me. I shake my head "no" and she walks towards me and hugs me.
During the hug I feel tear drops on my head and realized she is shaking. I move my arms around her waist and move her closer. We stay in this position for a while.
Amy's P.O.V.
I was at work working on an independent film my friend Felix. We have been working on this film for several months and it is almost ready for editing.
The film is about a young girl who runs away from home. Her mother married a man who has verbally and sexually assaulted her. When she runs away she falls in love with this girl who is much older then her. This girl helps her find her place in the world. The ending is pretty sad, the runaway girl finds out several years later that her mom has cancer and begs her to come back home. She decided not to go home and her mother eventually dies. The runaway girl regrets not seeing her mother and she has to live with this the rest of her life. The point of the story is to live in the moment and do stuff that might be hard but is necessary.
We are filming the last scene before the credits when I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. At first I ignore the vibration but then after several minutes I figured it must be important.
I pick up the phone and hear Theo telling me something happened to Shane and Duke. I immediately grab my stuff and run out the door to the hospital.
That is when I saw Karma crying and knew the worst had happened.
Karma and I were advised to stay at Shane and Duke's house and wait for Emma the next morning.
We walk into the door of their house and I instantly feel the vibe in the house change. This was the house I always wanted, the house I would live in with my wife and kids. But knowing that my two friends who are now dead lived in this house makes me sick to my stomach.
I follow Karma in to the kitchen; neither of us has said a word. I guess we are both shocked and sad about the recent events of our friends.
"Are you hungry?" I hear Karma ask. I nod my head no. I feel like throwing up.
"Ok then, I am going to bed." I hear her say again.
I turn around and see Karma's eyes red and her face is stained with tears. I reach out to her and bring her in for another hug. We stay like this for a couple of seconds before she moves away from me.
"I'll see you tomorrow? Okay?" I hear her say. I try to hold back saying no, because she wants to be alone, so I just nod my head. To be honest I don't want to be alone right now, I want someone to hold me and not let me be alone in my thoughts. I don't want to think about how much I loved both Duke and Shane. I don't want to think about how much fun the four of us had together. I don't want to think about Emma and how she is doing. I don't want tomorrow to come and see Emma knowing that she is now alone in the world. I have no clue what to do about Emma. She is only a year old and she is now an orphan. I really wanted to be with Karma, I needed her but she wanted to be alone and it wasn't a time to fight or argue with her, even though we both know we are playing. So I let her go to the guest room upstairs and I made my way towards the couch. I turned on the tv and tried not to think about Shane or Duke or Emma.
The Next Day
I must have fallen asleep because I was woken by the smell of pancakes feeling the house. I sit up from the couch and walk towards the kitchen. I see Karma standing by the oven flipping a pancake over.
She must have noticed my presence because she turns around and we just stare at each other for a second.
Her eyes are still blood shot and it looks like she got no sleep like me.
"I thought pancakes would be good. Emma loves pancakes and we she comes this morning she will be hungry" Karma says.
I nod my head, I remember a couple of months ago the five of us went to IHOP and Emma and Karma were playing with their pancakes. Karma made Emma a pancake face with chocolate chips, fruit and whipped cream. It was Emma's favorite thing for the day.
I sit at the counter and see Karma made me a plate of three pancakes with orange juice. I try to eat. Karma's food is always delicious, but I still don't have an appetite.
I see she made herself a plate also but hasn't taken a bite yet.
After a few minutes we hear the door bell ring. We both get up and run towards the door.
When we open the door we expected Emma but we meet a man with a black suit on. He has a brief case in his hand.
"Ms. Raudenfeld and Ms. Ashcroft?" he ask. We both nod our heads and let him in.
He walks to the dining room.
"Ms. Raudenfeld and Ms. Ashcroft. I am Mr. Oliver and I am Duke and Shane's attorney. You might wonder why I am here right? Before I can let you see Emma we need to discuss your future with her. I have a will of Shane and Duke and they said on the will that you both will be her legal guardians if but the unfortunate events, that anything would happen to both of them and they are no longer able to take care of Emma." Mr. Oliver says.
I stare at him for a second not understanding what he is saying. I turn towards Karma and see she is as confused as me.
Mr. Oliver takes a deep breath and says "Amy and Karma, Shane and Duke loved you both and named you godparent's of Emma correct?" He asks. Karma and I nod our heads.
"Shane and Duke made a will that said if anything would to happen to both of you that you would be legal guardians of Emma. That means you both would take care of Emma. In the will they both have that you both would stay in this house and not pay a cent on the mortgage."
Oliver looked in between Karma and I.
"Did they not mention this to either one of you?" He ask.
"No, not one bit, I mean I know Duke was a planner, but he never mentioned that we would have to take care of his baby." Karma said.
I try to recall Shane mentioning this to me and nothing came up. I nod my head agreeing with Karma.
Mr. Oliver said "Really? Because they wrote this will when they had Emma. This will has been in place for at least one year."
"Can we take a break?" I ask and Mr. Oliver nods his head.
I get up from the chair and see Karma did the same thing.
I got to the back yard and she goes to the front.
When I get to the back yard I start pacing and talking to myself. I try to understand why Shane and Duke would make Karma and I guardians of their child and not tell us. I don't understand how all this happened and I can't believe this is happening so fast. I don't want to act like a jerk because I really do love Emma, but I feel like I can't do this. I can't be a parent; I need to ask Mr. Oliver if I have to be the guardian.
I walk back inside the house and sit at the table again. Karma is already back.
I look at Mr. Oliver and ask "What if we say no?"
Both Mr. Oliver and Karma dart their eyes at me. I instantly feel like a jerk.
"Uh, I mean you could always say no, but remember, if we don't find a home for Emma she would be place in foster care till she is eighteen." Mr. Oliver said.
I take a deep sigh.
"Listen Amy and Karma. Out of every one is Shane and Duke's life they picked you both. They believe you two would be the best option for their daughter and they choose you. Now that being said I was told about your history. You two have this little rival going on. This needs to stop, you both are going to be parents and you need to show Emma what love, respect and care are about. I think you both would be amazing parents, but you both have to be 100 percent into this for this to work out. I know you both love Emma unconditionally, and she loves and need you both right now. I know this is a lot to take in but remember, they choose you and they believed in you.
I take Mr. Oliver's words in and take a deep breath. He is right, I love Emma so much and she needs Karma and I probably as much as we need her.
I grab Karma's hands and give it a squeeze, I see her look towards me and I nod. She nods to and we both look at Mr. Oliver.
"Okay, we will be her guardians." We both say in unison.
"Great, so on Tuesday there will be a hearing with a judge stating that you both would become Emma's legal guardian. For the time being please sign at the dotes" as he takes out several sheets of paper and tells us to sign.
After a couple of hours of signing papers for the will Mr. Oliver said Emma would be dropped off within the hour.
He suggested we both clean up a little because we look how we feel. Terrible. I tell Karma to take the shower first as I clean up the house a little for Emma. When Karma is done with her shower I go ahead and take a shower and let everything sink in.
I realized that my two best friends died less then 24 hours ago, I am staying at their house, and I am now their kids legal guardian with Karma Ashcroft. I then realized I know nothing about being a parent or kids. I instantly feel like I made the wrong decision.
I eventually get out of the shower and get dressed, I go downstairs and sit on the couch with Karma waiting for Emma.
Eventually we hear the doorbell ring and open the door, a woman holding Emma greets us, Karma grabs Emma and cradles her in her arms. The woman holding Emma then gives me Emma's baby bag.
"Hi I am Mrs. Hirsh and I am handling this case. I understand that you both have agreed to be Emma's guardians and go before the judge on Tuesday. " She says sternly.
I say "yes".
"Okay, well like I said, I am handling this case. I will be checking up on your randomly for the next three months. Just to make sure everything is going well and the three of you are a good fit. IF you have any questions please call me at this number." Mrs. Hirsh says handling me her business card.
I take the card and put it in my back pocket.
"Good luck and see you soon" Mrs. Hirsh says as she walks out the door to her car.
Karma and I look at each other and I close the door.
As soon as I closed the door Emma starts crying.
After three hours of Emma crying Karma and I are desperate to stop her. We have done everything. We checked her diaper, to try to feed her to rock her back and forth but nothing is working.
We both are growing frustrated and running out of options.
Right now Karma is trying to feed Emma again.
"You know we tried this Karma, like two minutes ago and she is still crying" I yell over Emma's crying.
"Just trust me" Karma says as she walks towards the blender. Karma put different stuff into the blender and presses the button. I watch the substance spin around in the plastic glass. The substance is this orange color and does not look good. Karma takes her finger off the blender and pours the orange liquid in a bowl. She grabs a spoon and walks towards Emma in her high chair.
"Trust me Amy, my cooking has never disappointed!" Karma says over Emma.
I roll my eyes and watch, knowing this is going to end badly.
Karma sits in front of Emma talking to her in her baby voice. She grabs the spoon and dips it into the orange substance. She then moves the spoon towards Emma in a zig zag motion and finally reaches Emma's mouth.
At first Emma lets Karma put the spoon in her mouth, but a second later she spits out the orange substance all over Karma and starts crying even louder.
Karma is staring at Emma defeated while I walk towards the counter and grab a towel.
I walk towards Karma and hand her the towel and say "You really think we can do this" and walk off.
I have no clue why Shane and Duke picked us to be Emma's guardian, not even 5 hours into parenthood and we are already failing.