“Guys,” I begin, my shrill voice not promising anything good. “I should… er… tell you something.”
The kids immediately turn their attention to me.
“What’s going on?” Mason asks, alarmed.
Logan immediately takes Emily’s hand between his own.
I was the one who told them about their parents. I had to do it. I didn’t want them to find out from the voice of a stranger or a social worker.
It was the hardest thing I have ever done. And the most painful. I will never forget their eyes, the hope that it was just a bad dream, and the despair of certainty. I will never forget our embrace and my words. ‘I am there with you. You don’t have to worry about anything. Uncle Seth is here.’
“Something wrong, Uncle Seth?” Logan asks hesitantly.
“Not really, but…”
“Just say it,” Mason urges me.
I take a breath and spill the tea. “Remember your grandmother?”
“No,” Emily quickly says.
“Vaguely,” Logan wrinkles his forehead as if straining to remember.
“Yes,” Mason states, his expression serious.
“She would like… She thinks that… You know, she…”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Ross interjects. “Your grandmother is asking for your custody.”
“Ross!” I call him back immediately.
“She believes that your uncle is not able to take care of you.”
“What?” Mason raised his voice.
“And she has hired a lawyer, indeed, a bevvy of lawyers to override your parents’ wishes and to gain sole custody of you.”
“Are you done?” I raise my voice as well.
“Sorry, watching you try to delay the inevitable was really painful.”
“What does that mean?” Emily asks, looking at us. “I don’t understand…”
“It means our grandmother wants to take us away from here,” Logan informed her.
“No!” Emily gets up from the floor and runs towards me. She hugs me tightly. “You promised, Uncle Seth!”
I hold her close to me. “I know, sweetheart. I know.”
“You said you would take care of us,” Logan adds, his voice tinged with disappointment, the trust he had in me now shattered.
“You are right.”
“We believed you,” Mason concludes gravely, his fear of being abandoned now palpable, “And now you leave us, too.”
* * *
“I’M SORRY, I didn’t want this,” Ross says at the door.
