Oklahoma (Isaac Hanson)

Chapter One

and so it begins!

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Growing up and never knowing your true identity, never knowing who your real parents were, or if you had any real family wasn't a life Perrie Marshall would put onto anybody. Over time, Perrie had forged her own identity. She had been living at the same address, in the same house, in the same room for as long as she could remember. Perrie had never known any other home, or any other life. She had been placed with Grady and Laura Burnham when she was eight months old. Grady and Laura Burnham, along with their oldest foster child Benjamin, had been the only family Perrie had ever known.

They weren't her real family, but a family wasn't made by blood. A tip Perrie had learned at a young age, it didn't make you any less of a family just because there was no blood connecting you. Settling a little further into her blankets on her bed, Perrie sniffled and wiped her hand across her tear soaked eyes. Blinking back more tears that threatened to fall, Perrie swallowed hard and squeezed her dark brown eyes shut. People always complimented her eyes, the same way strangers would tell her she looked like Laura; although entirely impossible. Somewhere out there were a man and woman, who she truly resembled - a man or woman who had given her such brilliant dark eyes.

Sobbing, Perrie pulled her blankets up over her head, today she had learned that there was in deed a man out there, a man who she resembled, a man who said he never knew about her. Perrie was sure it was just some pathetic lie to cover up his lack of interest in her, although Grady had told her not to be mad, maybe the man really hadn't known. Closing her eyes, Perrie sighed angrily, she wanted to fall asleep. She wanted to fall asleep and wake up, finding out that this was all a bad dream. Instead as she dozed the replay of her afternoon plagued her. In her mind she could still see Grady, his tall figure standing in the kitchen with his hands nervously running through his short dark hair as he delivered the news.

"That was the social worker, they uh," Grady paused, rubbing his hands over his jeans. "They found Perrie's birth father. She's going to be leaving as soon as it is set up."

Laura couldn't believe the news her husband had just given her, they had been Perrie's home since she was a baby. It was likely she would eventually move on, they had been lucky to have her for the last fifteen years, most foster children went from home to home almost monthly. The news that the little girl they had raised was leaving them - it hit like a ton of bricks.

"She's leaving us." Laura stated quietly. Grady nodded, his expression grave. "Will she be close by?"

"He lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma." Grady answered.

"You're just going to allow this?" Laura gawked at her husband. At least somebody was willing to fight for her, despite Grady's next words, Perrie knew he secretly wanted to agree with his wife.

"Yes! This is exactly what I want for her, Laura. If she has family then I want her with them." Grady firmly insisted. "I want her to know what it is like to have a real family, you know what that is like why would you ever want to deny her that chance? Hell, had somebody given me that chance as a kid I would have loved it."

Grady Burnham was no stranger to the system, he had been placed in temporary foster care when his mother had decided to walk out on him and his little sister, nobody ever knew who their fathers were and their mother had no ties to her family. Growing up in place after place had been hell, a reason why Grady had fought so hard to keep the only two foster children who had come into his and Laura's home.

"In a few years she'd be gone anyway, you know how this works."

"But still, Oklahoma." Laura sniffed back her tears.