“But she still wants to take her back,” I said. In my head it was a question, but it came out sounding more like a statement. I guess that shouldn’t have surprised me; I was sure of it. Helena didn’t even attempt to persuade me otherwise.

“Yes, darling, she does,” said. “Her parole hearing is next week.” That was all she could day before I started crying for real. After Helena had left and Shane had brought Charlie home, we put them to bed in silence. When they were asleep, I told Al what Helena had told me, and she did nothing more than hug me and cry.

The next few days were a real blur. We decided to take Kallie to do everything she enjoyed. We went to the zoo, to the fairground rides, to the water park, and several meals at McDonalds. Kallie had a great time and we did too. We were trying to create some memories of her that we’d always be able to keep. I don’t think Alice ever took so many pictures.

We went to a barbeque at Bette and Tina’s house the night before we were due in court. It was nice. Everyone was there, and Kallie hugged them all at least three times as was her custom. Finally she got tired and snuggled up on Jenny’s lap, where she fell asleep. After that, Alice and I talked a little bit about what the procedure was and what would happen in the next few weeks. Everyone seemed relieved that the mother couldn’t get full custody for a long time, but it was still a sad situation for everyone. The entire group loved Kallie, and said they wanted to spend time with her while the trials and applications and whatnot were going on.

Shane and Bette seemed particularly bothered by the situation. Shane’s reasons were fairly obvious, and I guess Bette’s were too after the struggle to adopt Angie. Still, it weirded me out a little when Bette volunteered to watch Kallie any night we wanted. We agreed, although we wanted to spend as much time as we could with her.

We ended up not having to worry about it. When we went to the courthouse to file paperwork, we were told that Kallie’s mother was ill and unable to make the date. We went home confused but happy, until Helena called us to say that Kallie’s mother was in the hospital. “It appears to be an overdose of some form of drug,” she told us. “We’re not sure at this point, but it’s common for inmates to try and have drugs smuggled into the prison.”