Kaleb's POV
As we all head to bed, everything about today storms around in my head. It was amazing seeing her have fun with us. And her laugh. Wow! I wish I could hear her laugh every day. Tonight, is going to be another sleepless night I can already tell. The conversation that we had before the movie is still bothering me. I still want to know what she means by we will 'lose' her anyways.
Why doesn't she want to leave her dad? I mean I'm sure there is still a small part of her that loves him, but he constantly abuses her. If she doesn't have a sibling there, why is she so adamant on going back home? I really hope that after everything that has happened in the past 24 hours, that Layla trust me and knows that all of us are here for her.
I continue to toss and turn in my bed until someone sits on the edge of my bed. "You can't sleep either?" Connor asks.
"No." I sigh. "I can shake this feeling that there is something else Layla is hiding from us. Something big."
"What could it be?"
"I don't know." I say, running my hand through my already messy hair. "We know her dad abuses her, but there is still something that is bothering her even more. Her mom is dead, and she doesn't have any siblings. I don't know what else it could be."
Connor stays quiet for a long minute. "Maybe she is afraid she will be put into foster care. I've heard that there are some really bad foster homes. Maybe she is afraid that it can be worse than it already is."
I didn't think about that. She is probably terrified of ending up in foster care. That would also explain what she meant by we would lose her. "I guess that could be it, but none of our parents would allow that to happen. Surely one of our parents would be more than willing to take her in, even adopt her."
"One of our parents?" Connor ask with a puzzle look on his face. "Knowing our parents, they will all want to take her in. She's a nice girl who has been through hell."
"I want her to stay here." I admit to my best friend. "The more I get to know her, I never want to let her out of my sight."
"Someone is in love." Connor laughs.
"Not love but I might like her."
"Dude, I'm not stupid. There's no might. You like her. You've liked her since freshman year ever since y'all bumped into each other."
"No," I deny. "I've just been intrigued be her. She's so different from everyone else. Had it been any other girl to bump into me they would have flirted with me and had a whole conversation with me."
Connor rolls his eye at me. "Maybe you're stupid, but I'm not. She is and has always been the first person you look for when we walk into a classroom at school." Connor says.
"I don't know. I feel like I'm going crazy right now. The more I find out about her the more I worry about her and yet I know there is still so much I don't know about her and that has me even more worried." I quietly say. "I feel like part of this is my fault."
"How is this your fault?"
"The days we bumped into each other freshman year, I saw the pain and fear in her eyes. I shouldn't have waited until our senior year to finally approach her. Had I tried to be her friend sooner maybe I could have helped her out of her situation sooner. I feel like I let her down."
"Kaleb, you didn't let her down. You didn't know any of this was going on and it's not like she would have just openly told you what was going on in her life. You're here for her now and that's what matters. Because of you, tomorrow all of our parents are going to start the process to make sure her life is better. Because of you, she won't have to live her next two years in fear."
I guess Connor is right. It could be worse. She could still be at her dad's or worse, she could be all alone crying in that abandon park. I wish I would have tried to become her friend sooner, but there is nothing I can do about that now. I have to be content knowing that I've helped her now. "You're right, Connor. Let's try getting some sleep."
"Night, Kaleb."
"Night, Connor."
Michael's POV (Kaleb's Dad)
It's only five in the morning, but with the stuff that I need to do today, sleep is the last thing on my mind. My beautiful wife has already made her way downstairs cooking breakfast for all of Kaleb's friends, and their parents who should be showing up here around six.
As a lawyer I've heard, seen, and dealt with several cases of child abuse before, but from what my wife describes of Layla's injuries, it's one of the worse cases that I've seen. To have to watch my wife cry herself to sleep last night broke my heart. My wife was an emergency room nurse before she quit her job to stay at home with Kaleb. She has seen some awful things in her time, but she said the extent of Layla's wounds were unbelievable.
I'm already dressed in my best suit as I make my way downstairs into the kitchen. My wife is setting the table for everyone. "Abby, go and get dress. The others will be here soon." I say, as I kiss her cheek.
Not long after she hurries upstairs the door bell rings. Opening the door, I let Connor, Whitney, Jake, Daniel, Winter and Summer's parents inside and we all go into my office. After everyone is seated, Abby soon joins us and explains what is happening with Layla.
After hearing Layla's story, every man in the room outraged and the ladies have tears falling from their eyes. Every single person sitting in my office at this moment agrees to help Layla out. As we head out to take care of business, Connor and Kaleb make their way downstairs. "Boys, remember under no circumstance should any of y'all leave the house today. Do not answer the door either. Abby made y'all breakfast and there is stuff that y'all can heat up in the fridge for lunch." I bid bye to Kaleb and Connor, before heading to the court house.
It took just over five hours for the police to get him here, but now standing in front of me and the judge is James Davis, Layla's father.
The judge excuses me so he can talk to Mr. Davis privately for a few minutes. The wait in the hallway is killing me. I can only begin to imagine the crap he is telling the judge. It has been a little over thirty minutes when I am finally called back into the courtroom.
"Do you understand that by signing this document you will be terminating of all your parental right to your daughter, Layla Davis." The judge asks before handing over the document.
Layla's dad just smirks at the judge. "I will gladly sign that bitch over."
Anger boils inside of me at his reaction of giving up his daughter. I didn't expect him to give her up so easily. I expected a fight or at least a struggle. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he is signing his rights away, but something seems strange about this whole situation. "How can you just throw your daughter away, like she means nothing to you? Do you not care even one little bit?" I bellow. I'm so loud that I have started to draw everyone's attention. As my wife join my side, it takes everything in me to not punch this poor excuse of a man in the face.
Layla's father starts laugh. "I don't give two shits about her. It was her choice to come and live with me. I never wanted her in my house, but she begged me to let her live with me. I had never even met her until her whore of a mother died a little over three years ago."
"So, she wanted to live with her father, and you abused her? She needed you and you treated her like trash when she had no one else in this world." I growl.
Layla's father smirks. "I treated her mother the same way, and I damn well know her mother told her how I was. There were other people who wanted the little brat, but she begged to live with me."
Layla's so-called father signs the document giving his rights up before being escorted out of the room by two officers. As he walks out the door her looks at me with an ugly smirk and says, "She's someone else's problem now."
My wife and I, along with the others all look at each other in confusion. There is piece of this puzzle that we are all missing. "Michael," my wife says grabbing my arm and pulling my attention. "I'm going to go talk to the judge about gaining custody over Layla." I smile and nod at my wife.
Two and half hours later, my wife finally joins the rest of us waiting in the lobby. Everyone is looking at her with eagerness in their eyes wondering if she was able to get us custody of Layla. "Well?" I ask.
Abby takes a deep breath. "The paperwork is all filled out, but something caused it to all halt in the system. It was probably just a glitch with the computer, but legally she isn't in ours until it goes through. Until then the judge has granted us temporarily custody of her while we wait for it to officially become permanent."
"So, she's safe now and she will be with us?"
Abby smiles and nods her head. "The judge seems to think so. Once it goes through the system it will be permanent. We just have to be patient as we wait for the system to accept it."
I kiss my wife's cheek. "Let's go home and celebrate. I'm sure the kids are beyond worried about what was going to happen today."
My wife is softly humming to herself happily as we drive home to tell the kids the good news. I can not wait to tell the kids the great news, but there is a small voice inside the back of my head telling me that something isn't right. I ignore the voice in my head because this was a victory for us today. It doesn't matter how easy it was or wasn't. Layla will now get to live in a house where she doesn't need to fear that someone will hurt her. She will get live with people who care about her and will protect her. She will be surrounded by love and happiness.