Becoming Blue

C H A P T E R 4

Emily was sitting in the back of the car. Eddie and Jamie were sitting up front. Apparently they were on their way to Jamie's father's house. "Eddie?" Emily asked.

"You know, you can call Jamie and I mom and dad if you want." Eddie said slightly awkwardly, turning back to look at her as Jamie kept driving.

"Um..." Emily said, looking down. "I just... I mean, growing up, even without my mom present meant I always had someone who I thought of as my mom. And obviously I've had my dad with me, so I don't think I really want to call someone else mom and dad. There's just... too many memories with them, even if they're not good ones" Emily shuffled her feet.

"Don't worry about it." Eddie said turning around. "What was it you wanted to ask?" Emily thought she heard disappointment in Eddie's voice. Oops. Emily didn't want to disappoint her. "I was just wondering, how many people, exactly, did you say were going to be at this dinner?" Emily asked. They were on their way from child services. They had been there since 10:30 this morning. Emily had gone to the dentist, doctor and had lots of questions asked while Jamie and Eddie filled out paperwork. They had only gotten out of there about an hour ago, and it was now 5:45. Emily was now Emily Reagan.

"Eleven, now that you're joining us." Jamie replied as they pulled into the driveway of a massive house. He looked at his watch. "Come on, dinner is about to start."

Jamie walked in the back door. Eddie followed and Emily went after her. Emily could hear people praying. "...though Christ, our Lord, Amen." They said, finishing.

"Hi all." Jamie said, going over and grabbing the spare chair that was by a wall. Emily hovered at the door way, waiting for Eddie. "Eddie and I want to introduce someone." Jamie said. She watched as he made a girl, who looked around the age of 20, and a woman move their chairs down a bit. Emily heard him say something quietly. Something about not asking something. She looked at Eddie, who had grabbed an extra place setting.

Emily followed Eddie into the room. "Who's that?" The boy on the end said, staring at her.

"This is Emily." Eddie said, putting the place setting down at the chair in-between the girl and one of the chairs. Emily looked around nervously. There were so many people staring at her, putting her in the spotlight. She didn't like it, but she couldn't do anything about it. She saw everyone assessing her silently, taking in everything about her. She immediately twirled her hair in her finger and pulled it across the bruised side of her face. She followed Eddie and Jamie and went to sit down next to Eddie and the girl.

"Everyone, this is Emily. Eddie and I adopted her." Jamie said, looking around the table. The man sitting across from Emily raised his eyebrows at Jamie.

"Emily, this is my father, Frank." Jamie said, pointing to the man at the other end of the table. He had kind eyes and bushy eyebrows.

"You can call me grandpa if you want." He said, looking at her.

Next Jamie pointed out Linda and Danny. They were on the left of Jamie's father. Linda had sea blue eyes and mid length blonde hair. She smiled at Emily. Danny had short dark brown hair. He had brown eyes and looked quizzically at Emily, as though he was still assessing her. She turned away quickly.

"These are their boys, Jack and Sean." Eddie pointed to the boys sitting next to them. Sean had short, wavey brown hair. He had light blue eyes and looked to be Emily's age. Jack was a reflection of Sean, with the exception that he looked older and he wore glasses. She smiled as Jamie started serving food for her.

Eddie pointed out Henry, Jamie's grandfather. They called him Pop. He had short white hair and the same kind eyes as Frank and wore glasses.

"Next to you is Nikki, your cousin, and her mother Erin." Eddie said, pointing the last two people out. Nikki had slightly longer hair than Linda, which was brown and pulled back into a ponytail. She smiled at Emily, making her feel welcome. Erin looked almost exactly like her, with the exception of age and eyes. Nikki's eyes were dark brown while her mother's were light brown.