Chapter 1

A eight-year-old Kitty struggled to carry her toddler sister, Lily. She ran because she needed to get them away from her mother before Belinda killed them both, like she killed Ray. Her sister was limp in her arms as she ran out into the darkness to get away. Ducking into a dark alley, away from the streetlights, she climbed the crates and crawled into a dumpster and hide. She had come here a few times before to find food for them. Lily whimpered and fell asleep so Kitty closed her eyes, singing softly, and hoped not to be found. Her face, back, and sides hurt from where her mother hit and kicked her when she tried to stop her from shaking a crying and feverish Lily.

Hours later, she was startled awake when the lid opened, she cried out as a bag of trash landed on her battered body. The surprised boy stared in at her and her feverish sister.

"Please," Kitty begged, "Please don't tell mommy."

"Mrs. Chanxi, help!" The boy shouted. As he reached in, he said gently, "It's okay. It's okay, I'll help you. Give me your sister." He gathered Lily in his arms and handed her to an elderly woman, then reached in to help Kitty out.

Suddenly, there werepeople, then ambulances and police cars all around them. The EMTs rushed Kitty and Lily away in anambulance. At the hospital, the medicine they gave her made Kitty too sleepy to stay awake while they did the xrays.

"Hello, Lavia. I'm Dr. Ava. How are you other than the whole trapped in a dumpster?" Kitty wondered if she talked the way a nice grandmother sounded. After her daddy's death, in Kitty's dreams, her grandmother was the soft voice who comforted her and said she loved her, but Kitty didn't know who she was or what happened to her.

"My sides hurt, Dr. Ava," Kitty whimpered. "How did you know my name?"

"Mrs. Chanxi at the restaurant to the paramedics your name. You have bruised ribs and a concussion from you mother attacking you, but you are going to be okay."

"Lily? Is she okay? She was so hot and wouldn't stop crying."

"Your little sister Lilyana will be fine. She had several infections like you. Is there anything else you need to tell me about how you and Lily got sick?" She asked thinking about the terrible infections both girls had from being molested.

"Uhm..."

"And what, precious?" Dr. Ava's voice was the most soothing sound Kitty had ever heard.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Kitty's voice cracked with emotion.

"You can tell me anything, I'm your doctor," Dr. Mason smiled as softly as she could.

She was certain she already knew what the child ​would say, but they needed her to say it so they could charge her mother with abuse and neglect. However, what Kitty told her in great detail, shocked and enraged her. It was worse than the gentle pediatrician imagined. She wanted nothing more than to save the poor children from their suffering and give them justice followed by a life of joy and love as every child deserved. Social services would surely find the girls a good home after their abusive drug-addicted mother was sent to prison for  letting her 'boyfriends' molest them in exchange for drugs.

Walking away from Kitty's bed, she left the curtain closed to the next patient treatment area. The hospital's social worker and the police detective from the SVU both shared her feeling of horror from their expressions after eavesdropping.

The detective nodded to her, "Thank you, Dr. Mason. Your assessment paperwork and getting her to reveal what happened voluntarily means I can arrest her mother immediately for abuse."

"What about the murder?" Ava tried not to grind her teeth.

"He was a suspected drug addict, just because Kitty saw Belinda giving him more doesn't mean it was a fatal dose or that's what the defense will claim. We need to find the other man who was there. Maybe he will turn on her to save himself, if we threaten to arrest him as a pedophile."

"He should go to jail for what he did to Kitty. She was only seven the first time," Ava insisted.

"Sometimes we have to take what we can get." The detective announced sadly, then he walked away.

<<@>>

"I am sorry, Dr. Mason. There is nothing more we can do. Mrs. Johansen jumped bail and took off. There is a warrant for her arrest for murder, but until they can find her... I am assigning the girls to a group home for abused children until a suitable family can be found who is willing to take them together with their unique needs." The social worker was already closing the folder when Dr. Mason stopped her.

"What about their mother's aunt? Surely, she..."

"Ms. Rosen is in her sixties and in another state. Never married and never had children. We don't feel that she would be a good fit for the sisters," the social worker insisted primly.

"What if I sponsored her? I was planning on retiring this year anyway. I could keep an eye on them, assess their health regularly, and make sure they get the therapy they need... It's far enough away their mother won't look for them there," Dr. Mason offered. "Please, they are Evelynn's only family."

"You've already spoken to her? You'd leave Salt Lake and move to Wisconsin?" The social worker looked shocked.

"Yes, I would. And yes, I have spoken to her, and you haven't." Dr. Mason tipped her chin up judgmentally, shifting her neat salt and pepper bob away from her cheeks. "Does your supervisor know you are excluding willing potential custodial guardians related to your case children based on age, marital status, and sexual orientation against federal regulations against discrimination against the LGBT community? Or perhaps the national media would be more interested in your Mormon bias?"

Savoring the woman's shocked look, Dr. Mason stood up and smiled politely, but her pale hazel eyes were hard. "I'll bring her by tomorrow. What time is good for you?"

"I... uh... I have appointments next month..."

"How nice for you. So 12:30? I'll bring lunch and Ms. Rosen since you won't get your break, " Dr. Mason announced happily then gave the astonished social worker a reminding glare, "Don't stand us up or the department will get some very uncomfortable scrutiny."

"But Dr. Mason, our requirements are very..."

Interrupting, Ava revealed, "Very well met by Mrs. Johansen's aunt without your bias... Oh look at the time... I have to go pick Evelynn up from the airport. Be a lamb and let the group home know Kitty and Lily's great-aunt will be coming by with their doctor this evening."

Going out, Ava stopped and chatted with the director of the department in view of the social worker then she breezed out. Her years of working with the department had resulted in a lot of connections and too much knowledge of the flaws in the system responsible for the less fortunate children of her city and state.

<<@>>

Kitty and Lily held hands as Dr. Mason led them off the airplane from Utah.

"Dr. Ava, where are we?" Kitty asked quietly.

"Green Bay, Wisconsin...We are only half an hour from your new home. Your mother's Aunt Evelynn owns a bed and breakfast on the coast of Lake Michigan but don't worry, I will be just a few blocks away. The local clinic had a part-time opening for a pediatrician in the afternoons," Ava smiled gently at the girls. "You are not alone."

Kitty nodded as they went to the luggage carousel. Lily sucked her thumb then covered her ears as the bell alarmed and the machine clanked. She stood between Dr. Ava and Kitty watching the machine spit out suitcases on the shiny silver surface then there was a commotion and a scream followed by more. Something dirty gray jumped on her, and she fell backwards with a wail as Dr. Ava cursed then flung the offending rodent away from the child.

"Lily? Lily, did it bite you? Did it scratch you?"

The toddler shook her head, crying with her thumb in her mouth. "Scary!"

"Yes sweetie, rats are scary." Dr. Ava assured her, "But you are okay, and it's gone now."

Pulling their luggage off the carousel, Ava led the girls to a rental car counter. "Hello, I'm Dr. Ava Mason, I have a reservation."

Driving the half hour north to Oconto, Ava followed the GPS through the town and then out along the edge of Lake Michigan. Turning down a tree lined drive with a cheerful sign, she pulled up and stopped in front of a buttery yellow-colored Victorian house with tiger lilies lining the walkway.

"Pretty!" Lily exclaimed as Kitty lifted her out of her carseat.

"Dr. Ava, is this really our new home?" Kitty stared at a place that looked like something from a fairy tale.

A woman with salt and pepper hair came down the steps and bent to one knee to hug the girls. "Welcome home, girls. Welcome to the Tiger Lily Inn."

 "Aunt Evie!" They ran to hug her.