My Gifted Mate

Could it be?

Being raised in an orphanage is definitely not how I would have chosen to grow up, but no one ever gets to choose those kinds of things, right? Things weren't always this way for me. I had parents, wonderful parents, parents that loved me more than life itself. We traveled a lot, never staying in one place for too long, but I didn't mind that. My mother and father always made these travels unforgettable.

I remember being as free as the birds that are now flying outside of my current home. My mom and dad took me to the park. While mum set up the picnic place, dad would either be pushing me on the swing as high as I wanted or we would be playing chase. My mother would help me pick the flowers that we later filled the house with and I have never again felt that kind of love. I smile as I remember these things.... now lately thoughts of mum and dad are the only things that are able to make me smile.

I was told by a social worker that my parents were involved in a car accident while I was in school. They were apparently on their way to pick me up when it happened. She told me she would find me a good family, a family that would love me just as much as mom and dad did...... that b***h f*****g lied. I spent a whole year in the foster care system.

Stephanie and Ben were my first foster parents at the age of eight and I lived with them for three months before I was back in the system. Stephanie tried to burn the house down with Ben and I still inside. Stephanie was an alcoholic and Ben was a male w***e, that is what Stephanie called him.

After that, I was in and out of foster care, placed with a family for a few months, then back into the system again over and over. This went on for about six years. If I wasn't being abused or used to shoplift, I had to baby sit the other foster kids. Sometimes I even had to play the role of mother to the younger ones.

Cooking, cleaning, bathing, homework, I basically did everything a mother was supposed to do. If I didn't, I'd end up in deep s**t, I was even made to watch one of my foster fathers r**e my foster sister, so that when I became of age I would know what to do. His words were not mine. We couldn't do anything about what was happening. All the social workers cared about was getting the kids placed with a family.

Now, at the age of fourteen, I'm sitting in the social workers' office once again waiting for my next foster parents. This is the part I dreaded the most. After a few months, I'll just be back here again and who knows what these people have in store for me?

As they entered the office, I had the slightest bit of hope that maybe this time it would be better. They looked like the perfect couple, well put together, in love, and they both looked really happy to be here. They didn't look like the other couples that came to foster me, but looks can be deceiving.

They wanted an older child to foster. The social worker didn't ask any further questions, they just wanted me gone. The place was too full for them still to be picky about who was allowed to foster a kid and who wasn't. My new foster parents signed all the paper work and then I was theirs like some damn prize...

Shit I totally forgot. I'm Thea Anne Newman... I know straight out from a fantasy book, right? I am fourteen years old and I'm an orphan. Well, I guess not anymore. I'm 5ft4 with long silver hair that reaches my butt, I have multi-colored eyes, one green, one blue. I'm built well enough to pass for an eighteen-year-old with big boobs and a good butt. Did I mention that I have a mouth that can make a sailor blush?

Anyway, back to my pathetic life....

"Do you need anything before we head home, Thea?"

The woman asked. I was too busy in my thoughts to catch their names anyway.

Okay, that's a first. No other foster parent has ever asked that question before...

"No ma'am"

I answered

"But you have such little things..."

She says

"They will do."

Being around them makes me feel weird....

"Look Thea, we know about what you have been through and we just want you to know that we are nothing like your other foster parents, we are here to take care of you. So I'll stop at the shopping center and Jane can take you to shop for some clothes, okay?"

The man asks

"That's not necessary sir."

"We want to, dear, and you can call us Jane and Lenny."

The woman said.

So that's their names..

"I have everything I need right here, ma'am."

"No you dont, no young girl can live with just that tiny bag full of clothes, we are going shopping and that final."

Jane states, giving me no room to argue.

"It's best that you don't argue Thea. Jane always gets her way."

Lenny says with a smile

Was that some kind of threat?... God, she is so demanding and I'm sure that once I enter their home she will set all the rules and chores for me so I can work the things off that she bought.

Jane shopped for hours after getting my sizes, going into every damn store she laid her eyes on. Lenny had already taken his third load of shopping bags to the car.... every time I tried to say something she would shut me down, Lenny gave me what I think is the sorry but I couldn't stop her, look.

"One more shop and I'll be done. You two wait for me by the car. I'll be there in a sec.."

She said to us

"Make that an hour."

Lenny whispers to me as we walk away.

"I heard that Mr."

Jane shouted after us.

Once we put the rest of the shopping bags in the car, Lenny ordered us Chinese take out.

"So tell me more about yourself, Thea?"

Great, here we go. The wife is out of sight so the husband takes advantage....

"Nothing to tell"

"Oh come on Thea, there must be something interesting about you."

"Nope, not a damn thing."

"Are you enrolled in a school?"

"Nope, I haven't been to school in a while."

"Why not?"

"Wasn't important enough for my last foster parents to send me."

"Would you like to attend school?"

"If the ma'am allows it."

"Thea....

"Okay, we're all set, let's get our baby home."

Jane said as she got into the car.

"You didn't have to get all this stuff for me."

I say

"Nonsense Thea, you are our responsibility now, so get used to it. I plan on being your favourite."

"So Thea and I have been talking... and she wants to attend school."

Lenny said

"That's only if it's okay with you guys?"

"That's more than okay, Thea, I have already made plans for you to get into a good school and I've got all the things you will need when you start."

Jane said

"Really? I get to go to school?"

"Of course, darling, every child needs an education."

Lenny said

"Thank you so much, I'll get a job then I can repay you for everything."

"Thea, there is no need for you to repay us for anything. We are your adopted parents and we will be there for you for as long as we live. We want what's best for you."

Could it be? Could they be the real deal?

"Thank you so much."

"Thank us by doing great at school."

Jane says with a smile on her face.... they seem so different from the other foster parents I had. With the others, as soon as I get into the car with them, the rules are set out: no school, no friends, no back talk, no boyfriends, do as they say, and most importantly, if the social worker comes to check in, be on your best behaviour.

"We're here honey."

Jane smiles

"This is your home?"

"It's our home, Thea, you live here too."

Lenny states

"It's really beautiful."

"Thanks to Jane she designed the house."

"You did?"

"Yes, I have now come on. Let's get you inside, the food is getting cool and I'm starving."

She said

I have never been in a house this beautiful before. Sure, my parents and I lived in nice places when we moved around, but this is beautiful... high windows, two stories... a pretty garden with a porch... it feels like home. I have no other words to describe it. Maybe just maybe this time it's for real.