𝘼𝙁𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙒𝙀 𝘾𝙍𝘼𝙎𝙃𝙀𝘿 ↣ 𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝘿𝙄𝙍𝙀𝘾𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉

27. KIWI

When Louis and I got home, we discovered that Harry had also trickled his way to our house. His car was parked out on the street.

"Did you invite him?" I asked, looking at Louis.

"No, I figured you did," Louis said.

There was a beat of silence. "Keenan," we both said at the same time. I laughed and shook my head, before climbing out of the car. Louis followed.

We walked into the kitchen, which was arguably too quiet.

He and I shared a look before walking deeper into the house. It was then that we found the five of them.

Harry, Zayn and Karter were engaged in what looked like a serious game of Mario Cart. Keenan and Niall were on the floor next to the couch. She was painting his nails, in a color that was dangerously close to matching his blue shirt.

The sight melted my heart. The boys had actually managed to pull Keenan and Karter's attention away from the awful events of the day. They were miracle workers as far as I was concerned.

"They're not giving Jakob custody," Louis spit suddenly. All heads, including mine, snapped to him in shock.

I had imagined a softer, more controlled delivery of the news.

"The judge ruled it today. She said that you guys are good with us, and you would be worse off with him," Louis continued. He walked closer, which prompted me to do the same thing.

"I thought you said they weren't going to decide today," Karter said. The controller was limp in his lap but the video game he was playing had long since been forgotten.

"The judge decided she had enough information to make a reasonable decision," I explained, "the letters that you wrote helped her to make up her mind, I think."

There was a stunned silence between them.

"We're not going back to him?" Keenan squeaked.

"No," Louis and I said at the same time.

Keenan flopped onto her back and let her arms land over her head dramatically. Her legs sprawled, one of them landing in Niall's lap. "Thank fucking god!" she shouted through a laugh.

"Thank fucking god," Harry repeated, flopping back into the couch. He turned to Karter and ruffled his hair, a grin on his face. "Told you it'd be okay, didn't I, kid?"

"Yeah," Karter said quietly. He slumped back into the couch. The stress he was feeling seemed to pour out of him, leaving him collapsed and deflated.

"That's amazing news," Zayn said. He was on Karter's other side, and he grabbed the younger boy's hand and squeezed it without thinking.

Keenan pulled herself out of her puddle and walked to Louis and I. She wrapped her arms around both of us and held us tight. We instantly wrapped our arms around her as well.

She'd grown since we met. She was now a few inches taller than me, and she looked a few years older despite it only being seven months. But right then, as she held us and sighed in what could have only been relief, I remembered that she was only fourteen.

Fourteen, in the grand scheme of things, was very young.

We didn't realize Karter was coming over until he wrapped his arms around us too. I wrapped my arm around his torso and Louis pressed a hand to the back of his head.

"We have you," Louis whispered. I closed my eyes and pressed my face into Keenan's shoulder.

Keenan repeated his words a few times, voice soft. Her head was over my shoulder and her body was pressed between Louis, Karter and I.