FISHER HOME
Claire's
body is totally numb. She
is faintly aware of Travis's
little fingers holding onto her hand, of Samantha's
minimal weight resting in her other arm, and of the pavement beneath her
feet. But only faintly.
There is a haze surrounding her,
a haze all too similar to one that she has experienced before. The scene
is the same, the Fishers' house looming in front of her as she crosses
the street, waiting to force her into saying out loud what she would rather
ignore. Even the November weather has taken a turn for the worse and it
is far too reminiscent of the chill of New Year's Day for her liking.
She climbs the front steps up to
the porch. The door flies open in front of her and
Paula appears in the
doorway. Clearly they have been waiting for her, waiting to see what happened.
"Thank goodness," Paula gasps. Claire
cannot fathom why she would say something so cruel until she feels Samantha's
soft fingers reach up and touch her face.
She knows that she has to say it
now, but she can't. She is hoping that her expression will do the talking
for her.
"What's wrong?" Paula asks as
Bill appears behind her.
Holding her lips together tightly,
Claire shakes her head.
"What happened?" Bill demands.
Claire wonders if this is reminding
them of that horrible New Year's Day, too.
"I lost her," she murmurs finally.
She cannot bring herself to look at the Fishers. "Diane got custody."
"Then why do you have her?" Paula
asks, as though there has been some gross misunderstanding and she has
just found the key to clearing it all up and restoring things to normal.
"Diane's not taking her until tomorrow.
The judge thought it would make the transition easier if we had a final
night ... to say goodbye and to get things ready."
Paula turns to Bill. "We should have
been there." She can tell that he is thinking the same thing.
"No," Claire says. "I didn't want
you to come, I told you that. It wasn't the place for it ..."
Paula's head shakes insistently.
"No. If we had been there, the judge would have seen what kind of family
Samantha has--"
"It wouldn't have helped. Diane got
custody because she's a biological parent and I'm not, case closed."
"But after everything she did," Paula
argues, "that can't be enough."
"It was. I didn't exactly come off
sounding squeaky-clean, the way her lawyer told the story."
Paula's lips part, ready with another
argument, but there is no use and she knows it. Painful silence sits upon
them as reality sinks in: There is nothing they can do. Again.
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