ANNIE

12 ☼ You Won't Be an Orphan for Long

A N N E T T E

By the time dinner came around, I had already talked to Ms. Kenslee once. With the amount of communication we had, I wasn't feeling the least bit anxious that the woman was hours away.

As I wandered into Granny's bedroom, Tux followed. "Granny?" I called out as we entered the room.

"Hmm? Ánni, is that you?" Granny shouted from the bathroom.  "I'll be right out."

Sitting down to wait for her return, I gently smoothed Tux's fur as I glanced around the room.  Part of me wondered why Granny couldn't just stay where she was. There was nothing wrong with it. It seemed perfect and the second Granny entered the room, I decided to confront her about it. 

"Why can't we both just live here? The place has more than enough room for the both of us. This has been working right?" I rambled out quickly.

Crossing the room, still drying her hair with a towel, Granny sat down directly beside me on the bed.  "I thought you might ask that at some point," she smiled. Setting the towel down on the coffee table, she looked over at me.  "For one thing, I look forward to going back. Main reason for me not returning soon was because I had you to look after. I figured, at the time, that a change of scenery could do us both some good."

"It has," I cut in, trying desperately to get Granny to see things my way.

"Yes. ...but I miss my home, Ánni. I'm ready to go back. I think it's time," she replied gently as she placed her hand on my knee for reassurance.  "I also miss my adelfí, your aunt Thalia. Don't you?"

"Well, of course," I faltered, "b-but it's been working out okay here."

"Once we get home you'll be able to get to see more of your family," Granny tried to reason.

"That will be nice, I suppose...but I like it here," I emphasized, leaning carefully into Granny as she sat beside me. "I know you want to go and all but we can work that out too, right?"

"Ánni, you have school starting soon.  You can't possibly be here and at school every day."

"I know," I sighed. "I just wish things could stay like this."

"I know, Moró," Granny sighed out, relieved. "That's why we wanted to make sure you had the option to spend as much time as possible with Ms. Kenslee. That's also why we started talking about her being listed as your guardian. So, if anything ever happened to me there would be no delay, you would come straight here."

I fidgeted as I sat, thinking about everything Granny had just said.  I still had one more question but the thought of asking it made me feel nervous for some reason.  Finally taking a deep breath, I spat it out. "How...did the idea of adoption come up?" 

Granny nodded in understanding as she watched my hands fidgeting in my lap. She  grabbed ahold of my hands and held them.  "I asked Ms. Kenslee for every possible scenario.  Every single way we could work together to take care of you.  We talked about keeping things as they are. Then we talked about guardianship to protect you in case anything happened to either one of us," she answered before pausing to casually brush my hair off my forehead.  "Then, from there, the talk progressed to adoption," she supplied, smiling when I leaned into her touch.

Taking a deep breath, I leaned further into Granny. I didn't want to see her reaction when I asked my next question. "What about my real mom and dad..."