Her little tears hit the page as she read and reread the letter. Cassandra finally looked up at them and smiled. Even though it’s what she had wanted, her heart still ached a bit knowing that her parents were giving her up so quickly and easily. But alas, she knew the only way to survive the next four years, was to live with her aunts. Her father would have made them hell until she was eighteen and able to leave. She called her mother and cried over the phone about it, she’d miss her mother, as she was the only one who’d truly miss her. As the conversation ended, she passed the phone to Tina.

“Christina, thank you, this seems crazy but you need to get those documents notarized as quickly as possible.”

“Caroline, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my family. You’re not crazy and don’t worry, we’ll take care of her. We called our attorney and she has an appointment set for us today.”

“Good, good. When was your flight supposed to leave today?”

“One, but we’re gonna cancel it and our hotel reservations now that we don’t have to go out there.”

“I was wondering if, well, sheesh, I feel like a shy school girl.”

“What is it Caroline?”

“Well, I was wondering if you wanted to come anyway. John and our son are out at a father son conference in Raleigh, and they won’t be back until Friday,” she said and there was silence, “they always do this right before school starts. Don’t worry, he never comes home early and never misses it.”

“I don’t know Caroline.”

“I just want to see my baby one last time.”

“Well, I, um,” she said, looking at Bette, “hold on.”

“What is it babe?”

“She wants us to go to North Carolina anyway,” she said covering the receiver, “she said John will be gone until Friday.”

“Oh, well, do you want to go? We can go and come back late tomorrow.”

“I don’t know babe. What if she’s setting us up? What if John will be there?”

“Well we can take that risk and go. I mean Cassandra might want to pack more things, see her mom and maybe her friends one last time.”