Mistaken: The Lost Heiress

Dinner with Gramma

{Adelynn’s POV}

“It’s so lovely..” I said softly, looking up at her.

“What’s wrong honey?” She asked, walking in and laying down the dress on the counter.

I turned back towards the mirror. “I was just looking at myself. I’ve lost a lot of weight.. after the incident I didn’t eat for a while. I went through a bad depression, especially since I can’t walk. I was hoping that my legs would have healed up by now. Yet, I’m still in this chair, and I look so sickly.” I said, turning back to look at her. “The doctors keep saying that I’ll be able to walk again, but I still can’t even move my toes..” I whimpered.

She ran to my side and pulled me into a hug. “I’m so sorry honey..” she cried hugging me tightly. “It’ll be okay, we can take you to see better doctors, see if there is anything they can do!” She said, pulling back to look at me.

“I can’t ask that of you. I just said that I didn’t want anything from you all, only to get to know you!” I replied.

“Please, I know that you don’t want anything from us! Just let us take you to see the doctor at least!” She smiled.

I pondered, then nodded. “Alright, but I want to pay for it!” I answered.

“Whatever you want Adelynn!” She smiled, walking over and grabbing the dress. “Let me help get you dressed and fix your hair. Then we’ll go eat some dinner!” She smiled.

She did exactly that, she helped me get into the dress, it fit like a glove. Then she pulled my hair from its braid and brushed it out. She grabbed a curling iron, and curled it up. It looked so pretty once it was done. I reached up, grabbing a curl and twirling it in my hand. “It looks so pretty..” I said, looking over my hair. My legs were still in their braces, big clunky black braces, and a back brace that stretched up under my dress.

“You’re a beautiful young woman!” She smiled, putting up the iron and grabbing my other clothes. “I’m going to wash these up, and I’ll get you some comfy pajamas after dinner.”

“Thank you..” I said softly. She nodded and opened the door motioning me to follow her out.

Once we made it out into the kitchen my father was standing at the counter with his phone out. He smiled when I wheeled in, “You look so beautiful!” He said softly, walking over and placing his hand on my shoulder. “You look exactly like your mom when she was younger.

“She really does..” Theodore said, smiling at me from the doorway.

“Thank you..” I said softly, looking down at my hands.

Liam walked up behind me, grabbing my chair and pushing me into the dining room. He had moved a chair out for me, and pushed my wheelchair up to the table. “There you go, right between Theo and gramma!” He smiled down at me.

Everyone settled into their seats, as we began to get our food. Then suddenly a loud thump came, as the front door swung open and shut. An older woman walked in, she had on a black pantsuit, and had her arms filled with bags. Her hair was shoulder length, and curly, and her eyes were the same forest green as mine. She was short, not as short as me though, about 5’4, and kind of chunky. “You will not believe what happened today!” She started, as she sat her bags down on the kitchen counter. She turned around, finally looking at the table, her eyes landing on me. “Oh.. who is..” she started, looking over me.

“Mama.. this is a lot to explain.. but she’s our daughter. There was a mixup at the hospital all those years ago. She is our birth daughter.” My mother said, walking over to the woman.

She looked between my mother and I, then walked over to me. She sat down in her seat and touched my face softly. “She looks just like you did when you were her age Maria..” she said, cupping my face.

“Hi..” I said softly, smiling at her.

“Oh honey, you’re too thin! You need to eat!” She said, pointing down at my plate.

“Mama, leave the poor girl be, we were just about to eat!” My mother said, smiling over at me. “Everyone dig in! Adelynn helped me make it!”

I smiled and took a bite, it was amazing! We all ate and once we were done my mother and grandmother helped me get ready for bed and took me to a bedroom on the first floor. “Alright, get some rest sweetie!” My grandmother said, leaning down and kissing my head.

“I will, thank you all..” I said softly.

My mother walked over, helping me get into bed, and get comfortable. “Goodnight honey, we’ll see you in the morning.” She said, kissing my forehead and smiling down at me. She turned walking out of the room, and turning the light out.

I laid unmoving and uncomfortable in the bed. I couldn’t fall asleep no matter how hard I tried. I turned and grabbed the edge of my chair bringing it up beside the bed. I carefully moved over to it and decided to go get some water. I carefully rolled into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. I drank half of it down and sighed, turning my chair back around and noticing that the light in the living room was on. I made my way towards it, but stopped when I heard someone talking.

“What happened to her legs though?” I could hear my grandmothers voice say.

“It was.. the man that raised her. Apparently the couple that raised her was abusive.” My father’s voice came through.

“You mean that it wasn’t an accident, or she wasn’t born like that? Someone did that to her?” Sebastian yelled.

“Yes. She showed us pictures, and some of the things from her court proceedings. It was hard to look at, to know that my baby was alive this whole time, and that someone was hurting her..” my father choked back a sob.

I heard a slight movement behind me, and turned to see Theodore. I gasped and covered my mouth. “You know, it’s impolite to eavesdrop.” He said, a small smile on his face.

I looked up at him. “Sorry.. I heard them talking, I was going to go in.. but they were talking about me. I was about to try to go back to bed.” I whispered softly.

“Alright.. let me help..” he started.

I held up my hand and wheeled myself away slightly. “I can do it on my own, it’s difficult, but I need to make sure I can take care of myself.” I replied, before wheeling back to my room.