The Wishbornes And The Fallen Star

Chapter 4

When I walked out of the front door of the orphanage, everyone was already in the car except Mr Wishborne who kept the car door open for me. "Sorry for the wait Mr Wishborne", I said as I climbed into the car. "No problem, and please call us Theo and Helena", he said with a smile. Damn he's really handsome for a middle aged man.
The inside of the car was much bigger than what it looked like on the outside. Mr Wishborne, well Theo, sat in the front passenger seat and Helena sat with us in the back.
"Took you long enough Bell", said Raynard, as the car started to pull away, and I stuck my tongue out at him. "You look beautiful in that dress Clarabell, dark blue really suits you", said Helena and gave me a smile that seemed so warm and familiar. "Thank you", I said as I tried to hide the loose threads at the bottom of my dress.
"Clarabell, this is Walter, our chauffeur", said Theo.
"It's an honor to meet you Miss Clarabell", said an Indian man with white hair while looking at me in the rear view mirror. "Nice to meet you too Walter", I said smiling back at him in the mirror.
"Ahh", squealed Irene and looked down at her legs, "What was that?". Raynard and I looked at her legs but there was nothing?
"There's nothing there Rena", said Raynard leaning back in his seat again.
"I could have sworn something brushed up against my leg", said Irene as she looked at me. I just shrugged my shoulders as I looked for a second time and still saw nothing.
I looked at Raynard and he was making that face that told me he is about to say something or do something stupid.
"So", he said. Here we go...
"Judging by this car, and your chauffeur, I take it that you're loaded? And I haven't seen any 'Wishborne' logo's in town. So what do you actually do for a living? Is it some shady business?", he then whispered,"Is it drugs?". "Raynard", I said and gave him a sharp look. Although he had a point. I haven't ever heard about the 'Wishbornes' before. Which probably means they don't live here or like he said, they part of some shady business?
"No use beating around the bush Bell. If they are going to be our future guardians, we need to know if we should start looking out for other people who look like they might be part of the mafia".
Theo and Helena just laughed. "No, we are not drug lords", said Helena while still laughing. "We own a fabric company, that is a family business, that has been passed down to each generation", said Theo.
"So it's old money then?", said Raynard.
"Well, yes, if you want to put it that way", said Theo.
"Ok, then why are there no logo..."
"Ah look we're here", said Theo, cutting Raynard short, as the car came to a stop in front of The Owls Nest. Well at least they have a great taste in restaurants. I was scared they might be taking us to The Golden Pot or something much more fancier. The Owls Nest was just the perfect combination of cozy and fancy.
Walter got out and came around the car to open the doors. Once everyone was out Walter climbed back into the car and drove off.
    "Right, shall we go in?", asked Theo as he gestured with his hand to the front door. Helena started walking first and we followed.
One of the waiters came to our table and gave us each a menu. Raynard opened the menu, but kept on staring at Helena and Theo.
"I hear their pasta is pretty good", said Irene who was studying the menu. Not suspicious about anything like Raynard and I.
I looked over my menu at Helena and Theo. They really do seem like a nice couple. But this is also only the first time meeting them.
"I love pasta", said Helena, "my Moeder, use to make her special pasta dish every Friday when I was younger." Raynard leaned over and whispered," Her what?". But before I could answer Irene whispered,"her mother".
I looked over my menu to study the couple a bit more myself. Besides their beauty they had some other distinguishing features. Helena had a sense of danger in her eyes. A type of fierceness you would find in a warrior. Which told me you wouldn't want to be on her bad side. Theo had a lot of creases around his mouth and eyes, which probably meant he laughs a lot and is the jokester sort. Although he was quite built and could probably punch a hole in the wall, he had soft and calming eyes.
"So", said Raynard. Here we go again.
"About my question I wanted to ask earlier. Why are there none of your fabric shops in Herben? Do you even live here?"
Helena and Theo looked at each other and then back at Raynard.
"Most of our shops are only found in bigger cities around the world. You know, where there's a bigger opportunity for sales", said Theo.
"And we do live here just not in town", said Helena. "It's about an hours drive from here", said Theo.
"Hmmm", said Raynard and narrowed his eyes as he put the menu down.
"Can we please stop with the interrogation now?", snapped Irene. Raynard and I looked at her with surprise. Raynard sighed and then said, "Just one more question" and folded his arms while leaning back in his chair. "Why are you looking to adopt and more importantly why us?", he asked. Helena and Theo's faces grew sad.
"Well you see, we already have an 17 year old daughter, Clodovea. But short after her birth there was a..." she looked at Theo then back at us," terrible accident. Which caused that neither Theo nor I could ever have children again. It left us heart broken because we both wanted a big family. We did consider adopting after the accident, but unfortunately it also left some mental scars."
"But about a year ago", started Theo, " the urge for a big family grew bigger and bigger. The scars left by the accident have healed and that's why we are here today". Theo looked at Helena and took her hand in his. I could almost feel their sadness. "And as for why we want to adopt you specifically, is because well, we feel we would have the most in common with you based on your files. For example, Clarabell it said that you love to read? Well Theo and I are the readers ourselves. And Raynard it said that you are into hunting? Well I'm the huntress myself", said Helena. I knew she had a different side to her.
"And Irene, I read that you are interested in the different cultures of the world? Well I speak 15 different languages and with the business, I travel quite a lot. There's a lot of stories I can tell you about what I've seen and experienced", said Theo. Their sadness vanished into soft warm smiles as they just looked at us. I looked at Raynard who still looked unconvinced about something. I , on the other hand, started to like them. The waiter finally appeared to take our orders.
The rest of the night went pretty well. Theo is really the jokester. He made us laugh so hard that my tummy started to hurt and people started to stare at us. Raynard even dropped all the interrogation questions.
All though I still had my doubts about the Wishbornes, that night I went to bed feeling like something that was missing my whole life finally got replaced.