Broken Silence

Chapter 16: Like a new person

2 weeks later

The following weeks seemed to go on forever. Between the police interviewing Gabriel and Matthias, the attention in school, and Abigail working to get the finalization to become my legal guardian, I felt like things were happening too fast.

That's right, Abigail wanted to become my legal guardian. When she told Gabriel's mother the news, I thought she was going to have a heart attack from her initial reaction.

"Boys? I'm home!" I heard an unfamiliar voice happily say. The twins moved like lightning, jumping down from their seats to the front door.

"Mommy!" They screamed in unison. Feminine laughter filled the living room. Knowing that I would be meeting Gabriel's mother had me scared of turning around from the pot with pasta in front of me. How would she react? Abigail smiled next to me and laid a reassuring hand on my shoulder. She turned around, wiping her hands on her apron, and helped me turn around.

"Who's this, mom?" Susan Edwards, her name only known from the countless stories the boys had told me, asked cocking her red-haired head at me. I had only seen her in pictures during this time, for some reason our paths never crossing. Her position as a nurse kept her extremely busy, according to the boys who acted like they didn't mind.

"Zoey, this is Noelle. She's the girl I told you about." Abigail said rubbing my back.

"Oh. Gabe's friend? The one who's been staying with us? Go take a shower boys, you smell." She put down one of the twins with a small kiss on his forehead, both of them running upstairs, and fixed a piece of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail. "It's nice to finally meet you, Noelle." She extended her hand to me, I wiped my hand on my apron and shook it with a small smile.

"+I'm sorry it took so long for us to meet, but working double shifts at hospitals sucks. It really does." She leaned over the stove and smelled the pasta, groaning with hunger. "That smells so good, mom." She kissed Abigail's cheek and took a fork to taste it.

"Noelle made it. With some help from me, but it was mostly her." Abigail said with a proud smile. I felt my ears get hot and found the floor suddenly very interesting.

"Well, then. We'll just have to keep her, mom, because this is delicious." Susan joked.

"I was hoping you'd say that." Abigail said quietly, but we both heard her and looked at her with questioning stares. "I think you both should sit down." Walking out of the kitchen and to the dining table, we did. Abigail took something from inside a cabinet, an envelope, and put it on the table.

"Mom?" Susan said with a raised eyebrow.

"I want to adopt Noelle." Abigail suddenly said. I stared at her, too shocked at her words to move.

"What?" Susan said stunned. Her eyes widening, brown furrowing together, and her mouth dropping open. I could even see a vein in her forehead bulging. "Mom, aren't you too old to adopt a teenager?"

"I want to become her legal guardian, at least until she becomes 18 and can take care of herself. She's still young enough that she can be put back in the system, and I will not let that happen. Especially with everything that's happened. Now, I talked to the judge handling her case, she's an old friend, and with Noelle's consent I can transfer her custody to me." Abigail explained.

A silence fell upon us.

"Her foster family has already signed the papers transferring the custody as part of the deal, all that's missing is my signature and Noelle's. I would take care of all her expenses, but I wanted to run it by you, Zoey, because you pay half the bills in the house and I thought it'd be appropriate to include you."