Winchester Legacy 2.5

RECAP: The family went downtown, Val got a makeover, Gai met a witch, Neil had a heatstroke. Val dug up some dirt and Melody Tinker and Neil broke up because of it(although Neil was getting tired of her anyways!). Val has a crush on a mysterious person and Gordon called looking for Neil.

“Haha! What happened to your face Val? Too much sun?”

“Well, I look better than you on your good day Neil! And keep eating! Pretty soon you’re going to look like a sumo wrestler and that’s only hot in Japan!”

Neil looked from Val to his plate and then his gut before he carefully placed his fork down beside  his plate.

“If you’re not going to eat that I want it!” Gai piped in as she shoved another forkful of omelet into  her mouth. I glanced over when Dane nudged my knee with his. He winked at me and nodded toward the kids. I cleared my throat.

“Hey guys. Your dad  and I have something to tell you.”

“Oh good! You’re selling Neil! The house will be a lot better when he’s gone.”

“No, she’s giving you to that witch that Gai was talking to a few days back. Mom got a mint for you since you’re already half way to be being a witch anyways!”

“Take that back!”

“Not on your life!”

“Neil, are you gonna eat the rest of your eggs or not? I don’t like cold eggs!”

“Kids!” The room fell quiet when Dane raised his voice. Reaching over he grabbed my hand.

“Your mother and I have been wanting another baby-”

“Oh for goodness sakes! You two are waaaay too old to-” Val fell silent when Dane cut a glance her way.

“But apparently,” he continued on. “That’s not in the cards for us right now. So-”

“We’ve decided to adopt. “

The only sound in the room was Gai dragging Neil’s plate closer to her then the clank of the fork as it hit her teeth.

“Cool,” she said around a mouthful of eggs. “Now I’ll finally have someone to play with!”

Neil and Val shared a look before Neil shrugged. “Pretty soon Val and I will be in college and then Gai so I guess you need someone to keep you guys company around the house huh?”

“Yeah…I guess it’s kinda cool. When are they getting here?”

“Today actually. In a few hours. Which will give us enough time to convert the old nursery into  your new room.”

“Oh damn, I’m gonna love this kid,” Val said as she hopped up and raced out of the room.

A few hours later Gai came racing into our room. She bounced eagerly on her toes.

“They’re here! They’re here!!”

My heart started to pound really fast and my palms got sweaty. We had went through the adoption service here where they let you pick the age and sex of the child…but for whatever reason didn’t let you actually see the kid. Which was fine I guess. We weren’t looking for the next Tyra Banks or whatever. We just wanted a healthy child. Someone that Gai could play with. At Gai’s insistent tugging I got up from the bed and allowed her to pull me out of the room and down the hall. She yanked open the door and raced outside to the end of the sidewalk where a woman was standing in front of a blue van.

“Do you think she’s gonna like me?” Gai whispered as she stood on her tip-toes to try and peek inside the van’s tinted windows. “How old did you say she was?”

“She’s about a year younger than you.” I grinned down at her. “And I’m sure she’s going to like you.”

“Well, okay! If you say so mom!”

“I do.” Tugging on one of her ponytails I looked up when I heard the van door open. “Let’s go back into the house sweetie. I think that lady might want to talk to her for a minute okay?”

“Alright,” she said with a little pout. “But then I get her all to myself right?”

I had to laugh.  “Let her get comfortable first and then we’ll see about that.”

Gai pouted for a moment then a quick smile crossed her face. “I’m going to go and put some of my dolls on her bed.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I watched as she raced away then looking over my shoulder saw a little girl crossing the street toward me.

Can I just say that she was adorable? And her dreads? Oh my God! I just wanted to pinch her little cheeks. There was a nervous air about her though so I resisted. She glanced at the house before walking over to the woman. The woman bent down and placing her hands on the girl’s small shoulders whispered something to her that made her smile before she gave the woman a hug, straightened her narrow shoulders and marched toward the house.

She took a cautious step into the house and then looked quickly around before turning to me.

“My name is Alice and I’m ten years old.”

I smiled down at her. “Hello Alice. My name is Toni. And I’m too old to tell you my real age.”

She giggled then clamped a hand over her mouth and peered up at me. I shook my head. “It’s fine to laugh at my lame jokes Alice. Trust me, you’ll find plenty to laugh about here.”

Nodding, she shuffled her feet before clearing her throat. “Do you have any other kids?”

“Yes, I do. I have a seventeen year old, a sixteen year old and an eleven year old.” I watched as her eyes lit up when I mentioned Gai’s age. “Gai, that’s my eleven year old, can’t wait to meet you. She actually stayed home from school today just to do that.”

“Really?” There was awe in her voice.

“Really.”

She chewed on her lip before blurting: “Do you want me to call you mom?”

I shrugged. “You don’t have to. Whatever feels right to you is fine by me.”

“Okay….”

There was a pause and then before I knew it my arms were filled with a ten year old girl.

“I think I’m going to like it here.”

“I hope so, sweetheart. I hope so.”

The social service lady was in the kitchen putting away all the paperwork. I could hear the girls screaming with laughter in their room. Shaking my head in amusement I walked outside to get the mail. An interesting woman walked by and spotting me walked over.

“Getting one of the kids taken away?” she asked pointing to the van with a jerk of her thumb.

“Umm…” No matter how long I’ve lived here I just can not get over the nosiness of some the people here in Redfalls.

“No, I just adopted a little girl.”

“Oh, that’s sweet!” Reaching out she grabbed my hand and gave it a brisk squeeze.  “That’s really great. I was in the foster system until I turned eighteen and then I was shoved out and left on my own. It’s good that people like you still exist. “

“T-thank you.”

She nodded and then with a small salute continued on down the sidewalk.

“The people here just keep getting weirder and weirder,” I mumbled as I opened the mailbox and peered in. A small sigh escaped me when I saw the envelope laying onto of all the bills. After all these years he still did the same thing.

Bring the letter up to my face I took a deep sniff and the smell of Dane’s cologne washed over me. Every year on our anniversary he’d write me a love letter and stick it in the box. I cut my eyes over to the photographer when she cleared her throat.

“No, I’m not going to read it aloud,” I said as she motioned with her free hand. “There are some things that are just personal.” I rolled my eyes when she rolled her eyes.

“True, you’ve seen me give birth but…this letter. This is just between Dane and I. It’s the one thing we have that no one really knows about. Of course NOW they will since you have that camera shoved in my face but they don’t need to know the contents. Now shoo!”

So, Alice and I were talking and I found out that she loved to dance. All the rest of the kids were into sports, although some didn’t play them that well, but she busted out a few dance moves for me and I could see that she was really talented. Like seriously. So I got a ballet barre installed in her and Gai’s room and she really enjoyed that. And I’ll admit that I enjoyed it too. When no one was looking of course. I mean, you guys have seen my dance moves. They’re not the worse but they’re not the best either! Anyway, she took to that like a duck to water.  So did everyone else for that matter. I’ve even caught Dane on it although he says he was just dusting it off. Uh huh. Riiight!!

We were able to get her into private school as well and she really seemed to enjoy it. She and Gai would be up first thing in the morning, giggling over bowls of cereal as they waited for the bus to come and pick them up. Speaking of which…I’m glad she and Gai got along so well. I was worried for a moment when those two sized each other up and then I let out a sigh of relief when Gai motioned her to the backyard and they started fishing in the pond together. Since then they were nearly inseparable.

Val tolerated her and Neil pretty much went about his own thing. He was looking into colleges now so that had him pretty busy. Besides the fact that there was a new mystery girl in the picture. He seemed to really like this one. He didn’t bring her around a lot but he was constantly on the phone. When I asked Val about it she just shrugged and said it wasn’t any of her business who Neil was snogging(yeah, she was reading Harry Potter) which in Val speak meant that she actually liked the girl.