Ruby's aunt, a woman named Sarah with a kind, no-nonsense voice and a will of pure, unadulterated steel, agreed to meet with them. The meeting was scheduled for the next day, in her small, and slightly cluttered, law office in a quiet, unassuming part of the city.
The six of them—Kofi, Nina, Jake, Ruby, Thea, and a very nervous, very reluctant Jessica—piled into the office, a strange, and a deeply, deeply, eclectic, new client base.
Sarah listened, her expression a calm, professional mask, as Jessica, with Ruby's gentle, encouraging prompts, told her story. The real story. The whole, ugly, and deeply, deeply, complicated story.
When she finished, the office was silent. Sarah just looked at Jessica, a new, and a very powerful, and a deeply, deeply, compassionate, understanding in her eyes.
"Okay," she said, her voice a simple, and a very firm, and a deeply, deeply, reassuring, command. "Here's what we're going to do."
