Two Steps Forward by Luana Ehrlich

Author:Luana Ehrlich [Ehrlich, Luana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Potter's Word Publishing
Published: 2019-07-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Monday, May 20

After having a late breakfast at our hotel, Nikki and I headed out to the Tzora kibbutz to see Lisa. The kibbutz was located about thirty minutes from our hotel in the rolling hills west of Jerusalem near the city of Beit Shemesh.

Nikki didn’t have much to say on our way out there.

Neither did I.

When I’d returned from seeing Geller, we’d had a long discussion about Lisa’s mental state, her Mossad connection, and our upcoming visit to the kibbutz.

What we hadn’t discussed was Eleanor’s future.

However, all that changed during breakfast when I brought up what Eleanor and I had talked about during our phone conversation the night before.

When I began describing something funny she’d told me, tears suddenly appeared in Nikki’s eyes.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing’s wrong. These are tears of joy.”

“They don’t look very joyful.”

She reached over and laid her hand on top of mine. “It just makes me happy to hear you talk about Eleanor. Your whole demeanor changes when you mention her name.”

“Is something wrong with my demeanor when I’m not talking about Eleanor?”

She laughed. “No, but you’ve got to admit you’re a somber-looking guy.”

“Serious? Maybe. Thoughtful? Certainly. But somber?”

“Well, whatever you want to call it, when you’re talking about Eleanor your whole face lights up.”

“I’m pretty sure it also lights up when I’m talking about you.”

She leaned over and gave me a kiss. “Are you missing Eleanor as much as I am? Don’t get me wrong. I’ve loved having you all to myself, but I’ll be glad to get home and give her a big hug.”

“Yeah, that sounds good to me too, but don’t forget I leave for Langley next Monday, so I’ll have a quick turnaround in Norman.”

“That still gives you a few days to spend with Eleanor, and by the time you get back, she’ll be out of school. I guess that means we need to start making plans for what to do with her this summer.”

She took a bite of her cinnamon roll. “I know she wants to go to camp with Bella in June. Do you think that’s a good idea?”

I wasn’t sure this was the best time to bring up the deadline we were facing with Eleanor, but I couldn’t think of a better time.

“When I talked to Ms. Brooks in the Casualty Assistance office last week, she reminded me the emergency certification giving me temporary custody of Eleanor was only good for six months. That means we’ll have to take her back to Virginia sometime in June.”

“But won’t they just extend the certification for another six months if you tell them that’s what we want?”

“No, according to her, the state requires a mandatory hearing six months after an emergency certification has been issued. At that hearing, a judge will determine what’s in Eleanor’s best interests.”

“I’ve always been skeptical of a judge knowing what’s in a child’s best interests.”

“Ms. Brooks has been involved in the case from the very beginning, so she said the judge will probably follow her recommendations.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.