Angel's Song

Chapter Two

A/N: Okay, I know I messaged that I was planning to redo this storyline entirely, but after a lot of thought and some much-appreciated good sense, I've decided to keep it the way it is and edit only minor things. I hope you like this somewhat re-vamped version of the story and keep following it!

Enjoy!

Chapter Two

"What?"

Aidan O'Connor stared at the man who had presided over his brother's funeral, unable to believe the words he had just heard. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't.

"As I was saying, Mr O'Connor," the weedy, grey-haired minister continued, pushing his glasses up higher on his nose, "you are your niece and nephew's only living guardian. Despite your rather...ahem...interesting past, you are still a blood relative and therefore have legal custody."

Aidan turned, his eyes crossing the room to stare at the children sitting quietly in the corner. He hadn't even known Shaun was married, let alone that he had two kids. "What happens if I don't want them?" he asked.

"Well, they'll be taken to a state orphanage and placed for adoption."

Aidan glanced at the children again. Lina, the younger of the two, sat huddled on a chair, her thin frame curled into herself while her shortcut fair hair hung limply around her face. Jesse, the boy, stood next to his sister, an arm around her shoulders while he glared fiercely at the other people in the room as though daring them to come over.

Aidan sighed. The life he led wasn't fit for one child, let alone two, but he wasn't about to send them to an orphanage. Turning to the minister, he voiced his decision. "I'll take them."

The ride home was a silent one. Aidan couldn't think of anything to say, and the children seemed mute, sitting quietly side by side in the back of the wagon. Not a word was spoken until the wagon pulled into the front yard.

"Well," Aidan struggled to find the words, "this is it."

The place was a disaster. It had once been a large, respectable farm, but at some point a fire had broken out, and the house had been partially burned to the ground. One side of the house was sagging, the boards black and rotting, but the other half was in fairly good condition, with a weathered front porch and an outhouse round the back. A barn stood off to the side, and next to it a well. It wasn't much, but it was home.

Aidan turned around to lift Lina down from the wagon, but she was already on the ground. He motioned for the children to follow him, and they stepped inside the house.

The inside of the house was only marginally better than the outside. Dust lay thick on the worn table and chairs in the center of the front room, and tattered curtains waved in the frail breeze. A black cast-iron stove stood in the corner, and from then on, the house branched off into several rooms, all with the doors lying open.

"You kids hungry?" Aidan asked, breaking the silence.

Lina glanced at her brother, and then shook her head.

"You can go to your rooms, then. The ones down the hall and across from each other are yours."

They nodded and turned slowly in the direction of the bedrooms.

"Hang on a second," Aidan called. "You got any bags?"

Jesse shook his head.

Great. They'd come in only the clothes they stood up in. Aidan sighed. Looked like he was going to have to go to town.

~

"How are you liking the new house?" Angel's query brought Hope's head up from her sewing, her eyes sparkling with excitement.