The London Paradigm (book 4 of Adopted by the Josephs)

10. Samantha

Benji was sniffling quietly in the back seat of the police car, and holding my hand. I'd managed to get a t-shirt on myself, and him. Beth was sitting on my other side and I'd given her my hoodie for now. She was also crying.

"I'm sorry she's been so mean to you," Beth said quietly to me. "I think she's jealous."

"Of what?" I asked.

"Of who your parents are. I don't know why. Her mum and dad are pretty great, too," she said. "I don't believe the things she says about you."

"Well, that depends what she says," I said.

"She said you're spoiled and you don't have to go to school, that you can travel wherever whenever and that you're so rich you live in a mansion and have people that do everything for you."

"Well, yeah. None of that is true. Except maybe the mansion. I don't know if our house is a mansion exactly, but it's bigger than the house I grew up in, so maybe. But otherwise, I'm like any other kid. I still have to go to school. And the only thing people do for me is drive me places if I need because I can't drive yet, and make sure I get my homework done. Oh, and pick up my medications. Because I can't drive."

"You know," Beth said. "You really are nice. I don't know why Emma is so jealous of you."

"I don't either. Because I know I'm lucky, because my birth dad wasn't nice and I was lucky that my parents adopted me. I could have wound up anywhere. But I wound up with them."

"Your dad posts pictures on Instagram of you and your sister. She's really cute," Beth smiled.

"Thanks. She is."

"Can I ask you a question?" she said, pulling out her phone.

"Sure."

She scrolled through her phone and pulled up a picture of Rosie just after she was born, lying on a hospital bed in my arm, with tubes and wires coming out from all over.

"What happened?"

I sighed.

"I was in an accident. I fell into a river and hit my head. I was in a coma for about a month, I think. Rosie was born just before I woke up."

"Oh," Beth said. "Are you okay now?"

"I am," I said. "I worked really hard after the accident to be able to walk properly and talk properly, because my head injury messed up my brain a little. But I'm fine now."

We pulled into the hospital and the police opened the door for us. Benji grasped my hand the minute we got out of the car, and Beth took my other one. Which was awkward because I had everyone else's bags.

We followed the police into the hospital and Carol came running over to us. She hugged Benji first, who started crying a bit harder. Then she hugged me.

"Thank you, Sam," she said. "I hadn't even noticed it was Beth who screamed."

She then hugged Beth and told her she was glad she was there and that she had such a loud scream.

"Where's Emma?" Benji asked.

"The doctors and nurses are looking after her right now. We're going to be super patient, and wait out here, okay?"

The police officer came over and talked to Carol for a few minutes, then asked if any of us needed anything. Carol shook her head.

"Have you kids had lunch yet?" she asked. We shook our heads.

"Mrs. Solman, do you mind if I take the children to the cafeteria and get them some lunch?" she asked. Carol looked as if the officer was speaking a different language.

"Oh, um. Okay. Sure. If they'd like."

I opened my bag and pulled out my pump and reattached it. The officer was watching.

"Diabetic?" she asked me. I nodded.

"Me too," she smiled and showed me her own pump. I smiled back at her. "They're a godsend, aren't they?"

"Yeah," I smiled.

We followed the officer to the cafeteria and she bought us sandwiches and fries and chips and pop. I don't think any of us were really in the mood to eat, but I knew I had to and I encouraged Beth and Benji to, as well. The office did ask us a couple of questions about what happened, and said, she wasn't interrogating us and there was no need for us to think any of us were in any trouble, but that if we wanted to wait until we were back with Carol, we could answer her then. I told her all I knew. I heard Beth scream and saw Emma floating in the pool, so I jumped in and turned her over and brought her to the side of the pool and the lifeguards took over from there.

"How did you know how to turn her over?"

"We have a pool at my house back home. My parents made me learn how to at least get someone flipped over. I have a baby sister and even though there's a gate around the pool, Mom and Dad wanted to make sure we all knew how to help if any of us were in trouble. I know CPR, but I'm not really strong enough to get someone out of a pool."

"Your parents are very smart people to make sure you have some water safety training," the officer said.

Once we were done eating, the officer brought us back to Carol. Beth called her parents and shortly after we got back, Mark came charging into the emergency department (which they call Accident and Emergency) looking for us. Carol got up and ran to meet him. They hugged and she started crying some more.

"What happened? Where's Emma? Have they told you anything?"

"No, no. Nothing yet. Emma was showing off to Beth and someone jumped into the pool somehow. I don't know. I didn't see. Beth screamed because Emma wasn't moving, so Samantha jumped into the pool and turned Emma over and brought her to the side of the pool before the lifeguards even reacted."

Mark came up to me and wrapped me in a hug.

"Thank you for acting so fast, Sam!" he said. "Thank you, thank you thank you! Are you three okay?"

He looked at Beth and Benji and I.

"We're okay," I said.

"A police office took us for lunch!" Benji said.

"That's good," Mark said, looking away as a doctor came into the waiting area. Mark and Carol went up to him and spoke with him. I heard unconscious and drowning, and overnight. Which I pieced together. Pretty obvious, really.

Beth's mother showed up a little while later, while we were still in the waiting area of the emergency department, and Beth gave me my sweatshirt back, and left with her mom. Before she did, she gave me a hug.

Emma was being moved upstairs to a room, so we followed. Mark and Carol went to sit beside her and Benji and I had to wait out in the hallway.