Page 69 of Big Island Sunrise
“Can I hold one?” She reached a hand in, then paused when the orange one hissed again, ferocious as a lion and lighter than a golf ball.
“Not just yet.” Emma moved the box to a chair and set the top back on slightly askew. “They’re very sick, and very scared. I’m going to call the vet that helped us with Dio and see if they can make time for us today.”
“Okay.”
She glanced at the line of people waiting for shave ice. “I know that I said we could wait until your mom got off work, but we might have to leave sooner to go to the vet before they close.”
“That’s okay. I want to go with the kittens.”
“Mama,” Kai asked very quietly, “are they going to die?”
She looked into his beautiful dark eyes, and the grief that she carried doubled. The pain of it was almost unbearable. Certainly back home she had turned away from it more than once. But not today. She held his gaze and reached out to touch his hand.
“I don’t know. I hope not.”
“What can we do?”
“We’ll take them to the vet, and then we’ll buy some bottles.”
“How can I help?”
Emma’s eyes pricked with tears as she smiled, touched by the question. She heard the scrape of claws on cardboard and looked over to see two tiny paws clinging to the edge of the box. A small orange face with goopy blue eyes peered out, and she almost laughed.
“You can start by making sure none of them escape.”
She dialed the vet and watched Kai gently lift the orange kitten and place it back inside. Silently, she prayed that the kittens weren’t too far gone to help.
21
Lani
“How can he sue for custody when he’s not even her father?” Lani asked, pacing back and forth through the living room.
“It’s not unheard of for a stepparent to win custody of a child, particularly if they’ve been there from the beginning.” The man’s voice was low and calm. “You said that you were already living with Ezekial when your daughter was born?”
The room seemed to tilt, and she landed on the sofa with a thump.
After calling several family law attorneys in Alaska only to be told they were too busy or quoted an exorbitant fee, a friend of a friend in Juneau had passed her the number of someone they knew. This attorney, more than old enough to retire but still busy, was willing to work with her remotely. He had also charged her a fraction of what the other lawyers had wanted.
Even with a steep discount, his fee had eaten up nearly all of the savings she had left. She had no idea what she would have done if she had already used that money on rent and a junk car. What would she have done without the last dregs of her savings, without friends and family there to help her get back on her feet?
This is why women stay, she realized with sudden clarity.This is why women go back.
“There’s no chance that he’ll be given full custody,” her attorney continued, “and it’s extremely unlikely that he’ll even be allowed visitation rights. But the judge will hear him out. Your email mentioned domestic violence. Do you have any documentation? Police records?”
“No.” Lani struggled to take a breath in.
She felt as if the pit opening beneath her might swallow her whole.
Quickly she stood and walked into the kitchen, searching for something to occupy her hands while her attorney droned on about legal procedures. If she could keep her hands busy, she might actually be able to retain some of what she was saying. As it was, she had basically blacked out for the past minute or two.
“Do I have to appear in person?” she asked as she opened a can of kitten formula.
“No, you don’t have to come all that way. We can file a Motion, Affidavit & Order to Appear & Testify By Telephone. Most courts do zoom calls these days, but, well, you know Alaska. I’ll appear in court and you can phone in.”
She mixed the formula with warm water, testing it on her wrist to make sure it wasn’t too hot. The kittens started screaming for attention as soon as she came into view of the box they were housed in. The orange one nearly leapt over the side in his eagerness for food – jumped so high that he caught the edge with his paws – and so she picked him up first.
“So what happens next?” she asked as she sat down with the kitten on her lap. He attacked the bottle with growling ferocity, gnawing more than nursing. He had already chewed the tops off of two other bottles, and he devoured wet food with the same fervor.
