A Home For MacKenzie

Chapter 1

Mackenzie Dawson sat in the small garden behind the orphanage.  She had her back leaning against a tree and her knees pulled up with her sketchpad balancing on her knees.  She had been in and out of foster homes since she was ten and once again her foster parents had returned her.  The teenager was starting to feel like a used piece of merchandise.  She took great comfort though in her drawings and getting lost in her books.  It was one of the only things that kept her sane.

            She absentmindedly brushed at her light brown bangs that kept falling into her eyes.  She put her graphite pencil behind her ear and studied the picture that was starting to take form on the page.  This time she had found herself sketching the two kids that were playing with a rubber ball in the yard.  The two were siblings and had just come to the orphanage.  Mackenzie hoped that they found a permanent home together.  She would hate for anyone else to have to suffer through what she had for the past seven years.

            The teen switched out graphite pencils and started to shade in different areas of her sketch.  She glanced up at the kids from time to time to make sure she was getting the right shading.  She planned on adding some color to the sketch later when she got back inside.  Her colored pencils were inside her messenger bag along with her book.  Mackenzie finished with the shading and put her pencils back in their drawstring bag.

            “Mac?  Are you out here?”

            The girl’s head shot up.  She silently groaned when she saw her social worker standing at the back door.  She shut her sketchpad and reluctantly got up.  It wasn’t always good news when her social worker paid a visit.  The teen slowly walked up to the building, clutching her sketchpad to her chest.

            “I’m here, Mrs. Lyle,” she said softly.

            The social worker was in her mid-thirties and actually quite pretty.  She had shoulder length, straight, platinum blonde hair and liquid blue eyes.  Her eyes were crinkled around the corners from smiling all the time.  Mrs. Lyle had been doing everything she could for Mackenzie, but the girl was still in the system.  She had one more year before she would be out on her own and she had mixed emotions about that.  Mrs. Lyle smiled when she saw the shy girl.  

            “It’s okay, Mac.  I have someone here who really wants to meet you.”

             Mackenzie narrowed her gray eyes suspiciously.  She was leery of those words anymore.  She had heard them one too many times and she always ended up right back in the system again.  She had learned not to get her hopes up anymore.

            “I know you’ve been hurt before, Mackenzie,” Abigail Lyle said.  “But I really think this couple is different.  Their names are Jeremy and Cassidy Timmons.  They’re young they’ve just started a horse rescue ranch,” she explained.  “You like horses, don’t you?”  Mackenzie nodded noncommittally.  Her parents had owned a boarding stable, but everything had been sold when they had died.  “Would you like to meet them?  I know they’re both anxious to meet you.”

             Mackenzie nibbled on her bottom lip.  She was still unsure.  “I guess,” she finally answered.

            Abigail led Mackenzie into the newly renovated brick building.  The teen had been through this routine countless times.  She wasn’t convinced yet that this time would be any different.

*~*~*

A handsome young couple were sitting at the small interview table.  Cassidy had dark brown hair that fell in soft waves around her delicate face.  She also had hazel eyes that seemed to show just what she was thinking.  Her husband had dusty brown hair that was a bit longer on the top and curled around his ears.  His soft green eyes were caring and they both had laughter lines around their mouths and eyes.  Although at the moment they both seemed a bit nervous.

            Mackenzie stood quietly at the door, just out of sight.  She wanted a couple seconds to study the couple before they saw her.  She had started doing that recently.  The couple looked friendly enough.  The teen liked how it was apparent that they smiled a lot, but she still wasn’t going to let her guard down yet.  Not until she was sure she wasn’t going to be let down once again.

            The teen took a deep breath before stepping into the room.  There was no reason to put this meeting off any longer.  She held her head high despite being nervous and uncertain.  Since her parents had died she had drawn in on herself and turned shy instead of the happy go lucky girl that she had been as a child.  She quietly stood beside Abigail.

            “There you are, Mac. I wondered where you had disappeared to.”  The girl didn’t offer any explanations as her social worked turned back to the young couple.  “Mr. and Mrs. Timmons, I’d like you to meet Mackenzie Dawson.”

            “It is a pleasure to finally meet you Mackenzie,” Cassidy said, her hazel eyes caring.  “And please, call us Jeremy and Cassidy.  Is there any particular name that you wanted to be called?” she asked friendly.

            Mackenzie gave her a shy smile, looking up at them through her bangs.  “Some call me Mac,” she said softly.

            “And do you like that?” Cassidy asked.  The teenager shrugged a bit, not caring one way of the other.  “Then how bout we call you Mackenzie until you tell us differently?”

            Mackenzie nodded, her gray eyes actually lighting up.  Maybe this would be all right.  They already seemed much nicer then some of the other foster families she had been with.  She slid into one of the two remaining chairs, knowing that there would still be paperwork and other things that needed sorted out before things could be finalized.  She wished now that she had brought her book with her.  It would have helped pass the time.