The Blue Dress Sisters

CHAPTER 16: YOU'LL BE MY LITTLE ONE

"Go say goodbye to your little friends and pack your things," Mrs. Gallo told Mestiere.

She ran to the bedroom, a smile on her face as tears welled up.

Finally, she would have a family. However, a bittersweet feeling ran through her body. Leaving behind the friends, almost sisters, with whom she had grown up, and the nuns who had raised her with so much sweetness, broke her heart.

The day her new parents had offered to adopt her, she knew for sure that she had lost all hope that the couple who had previously offered to do so would return. Three years had passed and in all that time they had never appeared.

Despite the fact that she had tried hard to study, to get the best grades, to be the most educated and perfect girl, they would never return...

When she finished packing the few belongings she had in her tiny trunk, she walked slowly downstairs to the living room where her companions were waiting for her.

Each one waited their turn to give her a hug and give her some keepsake. Although some were crying, they knew that leaving would be best for Mestiere and they said absolutely nothing to keep her. Other little ones, deep down, were very jealous that she had found a family. Delilah and Massimo, on the other hand, didn't understand how she could have made that decision.

Mestiere extended her arms to hug Delilah, but the little girl took a step back, rejecting her.

"Why do you want to leave?" she reproached. "Don't you love us? Not even the sisters? Don't you want to see us anymore? Don't you have everything you need here?"

The little blonde felt hurt, surprised by those words.

"Delilah," she murmured sadly. "You can't be mad at me on the day I'm leaving. I want us to be okay before I go and to be able to give you a goodbye hug."

"You wouldn't have to say goodbye if you stayed! I don't understand. What could there be out there that's better than our friendship?"

Saddened, Mestiere sighed.

"I love you, Delilah, just like I love everyone else. But I always feel alone. It's a loneliness that goes beyond friendship. I want my parents to read me bedtime stories, bring me milk at night, tuck me in, and hug me. I want them to teach me things I don't know and kiss me on the cheeks. I want to be their little one. I can't have any of that here. My childhood will end and if I don't take this opportunity to have a family now, I'll have missed out on those experiences forever."

Delilah began to cry.

"I'll read you bedtime stories," she offered, her face wet with tears. "I'll bring you milk, tuck you in, hug you, and kiss you on the cheeks. I'll teach you the things I know, and I'll learn new things to teach you more than any mother or father. You'll be my little one. But don't go, Mestiere, please. Stay here with us!"

"Delilah, you're adorable, I love you!" Mestiere wrapped her arms around her, even though Delilah didn't return the hug. "I wish I could stay, but I can't." She wiped the tears from her cheeks with her small fingers. "Tell me... If your mother ever found you and came looking for you, wouldn't you go with her?"

It was then that Delilah internally accepted that Mestiere was right. If her mother ever found her, she would go with her without a second thought. However, it hurt so much to see her friend leave that she wouldn't admit it out loud.

"Go away!" she shouted as she ran away. "Go away and don't come back!"

She ran until she disappeared upstairs. A loud bang was heard from the upper floor.

With the heaviness of not having been able to say goodbye to her friend properly, Mestiere picked up her trunk and headed outside, where her parents were waiting for her inside the carriage.