Far From The Truth

Chapter 3 - Parents

"Dinner!" Christina called out. I had had to change my shirt because of the prank Dylan had pulled on me. He had stuck five ice cubes down the back of my shirt and now the entire back of my shirt was soaked through.

I walked into the kitchen to see that Christina had made fettucine alfredo, with the help of Kary, the cook. Christina was the picture of a house wife, wearing a flowery apron with flour on her face and in her hair. That is what I liked about Jace's family. They didn't flaunt their money, though they did have a lot of fun with it. Sure, they had maids and a kitchen staff, but they were close and acted like a regular family would. It made my heart hurt to see their family sitting around the table, laughing and being a family.

I had missed out on the chance to have that when my parents died. I wasn't even old enough to know who they were before they died. My late aunt who despised my mother and wouldn't take me in had always told me what had happened.

"Your parents were alcoholics. They were not ready for a baby such as you to come into their lives, so they went out and got drunk, then they got in a car accident." My aunt sneered.

"No, I won't bewieve wou." I had said, crying like the little three year old I was.

"Well believe it honey. Your parents were not good people, I always knew your mother would do something stupid like this." With that my aunt had left the funeral home, leaving me with my grandfather, who later died from a heart attack.

My aunt was killed one week later by thugs who mugged her and shot her. My aunt was filthy rich, but she did not leave any money for me as she despised me as much as she had despised my mother. She left all her money to my cousin Maya, who despised me as much as her mother hated my mother and me. I guess despising people runs in their family.

After that, I had been sent to foster home after foster home, until I was 17, and I had just enough money saved up to rent a small apartment in downtown.

I snapped out of my reverie and sat down, smiling. "Thanks Christina, thanks Kary, this looks delicious." Indeed it did. Yum.

"You're very welcome Avril." Kary smiled. She was a nice older lady, she kind of reminded me of Lynn, but she was younger.

Everyone was now downstairs sitting down for dinner. Lane, one of the staff, put some pasta into everyone's bowls and we all dug in.

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After dinner I helped Lane, Kary, and Christina clean up the kitchen. "So Avril, has Jace told you about Dominique and Patrick moving out yet?" Christina asked nonchalantly. I knew that inside, she was bursting with excitement. Christina really wanted me to move in with her family, she thought of me as a fourth daughter. Yes, Jace had two older sisters, Sara and Kayla, who were in college/uni.

"Yeah, I've thought about it." Indeed I had. I had thought long and hard and thought I had the good answer.

"Aaaand...?" Christina asked anxiously.

"Well, I've decided..." She looked at me expectantly, "That I will live with you." I smiled and Christina hugged me tightly. "But, on one condition." I said and she let go, nodding. "If I live with you, I don't want to have everything handed to me. Deal?" I asked.

"Sure, sweety. Whatever you want. I'm just so excited! You and Jace can come with me and we can go shopping together and..." I kind of tuned her out after she started talking about the mall and mani-pedis, and I smiled. I was going to be a part of a family, even if they weren't my legal guardians. That got me thinking, I needed a legal guardian.