Bloodlines

by Trisha Lynn

Chapter Fifty

  .... Adeila ....

  It was close to nine am and everyone in her household was finally up. She made her way down the stairs for the last time; she set the backpack down by the front door. She had absolutely no idea how to approach this.

  She found her mother first, in the kitchen making waffles, and decided to start there.

  “Mom.”

  Kathryn Burton looked rumpled, and in her own right, lovely. Her pale skin, dark auburn hair and deep brown eyes, that didn't even look up or respond,.

  Adeila sighed. “Mother.” When she still got nothing. She gritted her teeth.

  “Kathryn Burton, my adopted mother.” She said the words soft, but knew they would pack some kind of impact.

  Finally, her mother looked up from her task, and eyed Adeila. There was an odd expression in her eyes. Between anger and annoyance, but also with acceptation. She knew it had only been a matter of time before Adeila discovered the truth, and she had been prepared for the moment.

  “Adeila, what? I am busy here.” She didn't even try to fight it. Didn't even try to dissuade Adeila from the truth.

  “So it is true then?” Even though she knew it was, she wanted to hear the words. Needed to hear one of her parents actually speak it. 

  Her mother sighed loudly, and put the waffles into plates. “Yes, Adeila, it is true. You were adopted. What difference does it make? Do you wish to find your real parents?”

  Adeila was taken aback a bit, but not surprised at her mother's abruptness.

  “I've already found them in fact, that is what I wished to tell you. I am leaving.”

  Kathryn nodded and pulled the maple syrup from the refrigerator.

  “That is your choice, you are eighteen now.”

  And that was it, she was eighteen. Her choice. They had no say. Did not want to fight to keep her here, under their roof. In their hearts. They were willing to give her up to people that they didn't even know. It stung. Her eyes pricked with tears. She had no idea what to say, or do.

  She stood, the woman watched her with knowledgeable eyes. She cared enough about her not to wish to change her mind, but didn't care enough to even try. It was heart wrenching to feel that kind of disinterest, but considering everything else she'd been through recently she just took the hit on her heart and moved on.

  She walked over and hugged the mother she'd known for eighteen years. The mother that had never loved her like a mother should, a mother she'd never felt a bond with. It made this moment easier and harder all at once. Kathryn Burton hugged her back, but it was not heartfelt. It was more what she was supposed to do, versus what she wanted to do.

  Adeila searched her eyes again for some kind of compassion, but there was no light in them. No sign of hurt. No tears.

  Her father came in shortly after, and looked between the two of them seemingly perplexed. Adeila opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it. She looked to her mother, and she nodded.

  “Adeila has discovered her real parents and has decided to go and live with them.”

  He stared hard at her mother for several moments, silent speak of couples passed between their eyes. His brows were pinched together in confusion, but soon he only nodded. And to her utter amazement he came to her, and gave her a sturdy, firm hug and kissed her forehead. “How will you finish school?”

  She hadn't really been preparing for such a question, so she thought of the first thing that came to mind. “I will probably take online classes...”

  He only nodded and after a few more words of “wisdom” of the world and for her to be careful, he allowed her to take leave to find her siblings.

  Her brother was in the living room watching a television show. She sat next to him, and waited a few moments for a commercial since she knew she would never gain his attention until one came on. When it did, and he began to pick up the remote, she touched his arm.

  His soft brown eyes reached hers and his widened when he saw the expression she wore. But he said nothing.

  She swallowed past a lump in her throat, remembering the little boy he used to be. The little boy that doted on her, that she did so many things with. She had played with him for hours on end. He had been the only one she had felt truly bonded, until of course, he got old enough to no longer want to play with toy trucks and puzzles with her.

  “I'm leaving.”

  “Okay.”

  “For good. I... I'm adopted and I found my real parents. I'm going to live with them.”

  His mouth dropped open and he stared at her wide eyes. “What? What the hell?”

  She smiled, despite herself, at his outburst, and felt that undying kinship towards him. It made her feel better that he hadn't seen this coming, like she knew Kayla probably did.

  “Yeah, I figured it out a few weeks ago. When I confronted Mom, she said it was true.”

  After his initial shock, saying good bye was hard. He didn't cry, like she did, but he also seemed really confused and acted as though this would blow over and she would be back. He treated it like she was going away for a week and would return. She decided not to argue with him. Instead she just gave him a long hug and went upstairs to find her sister.

  She knocked on the door, softly, and awaited the low come in that ensued. Adeila stepped lightly into the room. The walls were painted pale purple, shade darker then lavender. The bed was shoved against the left side wall, and its bedding was of the darkest shade of purple. Shockingly, as the eldest, Adeila had the nicest and largest bedroom with its adjoining bathroom. Her two siblings had to share a bathroom and had the exact same sized rooms just opposite sides of the house.

  Kayla looked up from her laptop that was propped across her bean bag chair with her sprawled out in front of it. Her feet kicking above her, in bright pink socks. It smelled like strong perfume and bubblegum candles.

  Kayla's expression displayed that she thought the intrusion a complete nuisance but also her interest was piqued.

  “Ah, so I... I'm here to say good bye.”

  One perfect eye brow arched, but Kayla said nothing.

  “I'm going to live with my real parents.”

  Finally, this got Kayla's attention and she sat up. “What are you talking about?”

  “I'm adopted.”

  She nodded her head, slightly, and pursed her lips. Her eyes cast downwards. “I heard mom talking a few months ago about something that made me wonder. She was talking to Grandma and saying something about you wanting to do something with Biology for college and she said she wondered if you got that from your birth parents, as it certainly wasn't from them. I guess I kind of passed it off as some weird rambling that mom tends to do with Grandma, but now it makes sense.”

  Kayla's eyes met Adeila's, and surprisingly a tear escaped the girl’s eyes, but Adeila had no idea whether this strange emotional display was real or not.

  “Am I adopted too?”

  Adeila realized why the girl’s emotions were actually present. She was worried about herself. Typical teenage selfishness.

  “No. You’re not. Just me.”

  Kayla only nodded. “So you’re leaving. Where?”

  Adeila sighed and sat precariously on the edge of Kayla's plushy bed. “My real parents. They are really nice and wish for me to live with them.”

  Kayla's eyes wandered around the room, avoiding hers. “Where do they live?”

  Adeila tried to remember, frantically, if Loki said South or North Dakota, but hey it was a fifty-fifty chance. “South Dakota.”

  “Wow, that's pretty far away. Will we visit you?”

  Adeila shrugged. “I seriously doubt it, Kayla.”

  She shook her head. “That's really weird. But -” Then she shrugged. “I guess Mom and Dad... Well, that will be up to them, right?”

  After a few more graceless moments of awkward questions, Kayla actually leapt up and hugged her. Adeila was so shocked she almost didn't hug the girl back.

  “Oh, and your welcome to all the clothes that I left in m
y room. I have no need for them. My real parents bought wardrobes for me.”

  Kayla's eyes widened. “Can I have your room too?”

  Adeila shrugged. “I don't see why not.”

  So with that she made her exit. Her adopted parents watched her go from the kitchen. Her brother continued to watch television as her sister began sorting through her belongings. It was beyond depressing, but as she watched Loki pull his long frame from his pickup truck, and come around to grab her bag, she truly realized that this had never been her home. This had never been her life. They were never her family.

  His beautiful, serene eyes captured hers and held her there. Mesmerized. She realized that where he was taking her was home. Her real home. To people that loved her. To a life she would learn to love. She would persevere. It was in her blood. Her strong Fae blood.