Donna Forte

Chapter 3

“I’m home!” she yelled as soon as she walked through the front door of her home.

“Oh goodness Althea! Do you have to yell so loud?” a deep voice replied from the kitchen, she discarded her school bag and sports bag on the couch and bounded to the kitchen where her father was.

Albert Fernandez had been Althea’s life line for as long as she could remember. He was her father, her friend, her companion and everything she could ever wish for. Althea had been only a year old when he had found her at the doorstep of an old abandoned church. The poor little girl was drenched in rain and sick. He decided to take care of her like a daughter and since then they had been inseparable.

Althea knew about Albert not being her real father, she was happy with him and thought he probably loved her more than her own father and mother did.

“What’s cooking dad?” She asked, the sweet aroma of freshly baked bread overwhelmed her senses and she sighed in contentment.

“Mix fruit bread of course. Miles has been begging for it since last week. God that child has a pair of strong lungs.” Albert shuddered at the memory of his four year old son clinging to his leg and screaming his lungs out for a slice of mix fruit bread. Althea laughed at his misery and popped a grape in her mouth.

“He is your son after all, nothing less is expected of that wonder child.” She commented, Miles was indeed a wonder child. Albert had married Georgia a year later he adopted Althea. They both loved althea to death and did everything they could for her, but there was a time when Georgia wanted a kid of her own. They tried for years but she was not able to conceive, finally four years ago Georgia and Albert were blessed with a little boy and althea with a naughty little baby brother.

Even though they had their own son, Georgia and Albert never loved althea less. If possible, they loved her more and more as time passed.

“Well, don’t let Georgia hear this, but he is a brat.” He replied earning another chiming laugh from his daughter. “Go change, it will take another ten minutes for it to be done.” He instructed and shooed her away with a random spatula.

“Okay.”

She decided to take a warm shower and scrub her skin clean of all the dirt and sweat from her football practice. Putting on a pair of sweats and an oversized tee she pulled her long hair into a loose bun on top of her head. In school althea was known to be the tough sports captain of the girls team, she was otherwise very friendly to everyone but if anyone dared to cross her she would not hesitate to show them their place. It took her a good few years to earn what she had today and it saddened her to think that she will be leaving all of that in a span of few months. She was a senior in high school and her graduation ceremony will take place in exactly six months. But it is as I is, nothing can be done. And who doesn’t ant to get out of high school?

Pairing her look with her casual reading lasses she picked a book from her moderate size book shelf to read. Her room was a mix of various shades of blue. For some reason she like blue a little too much. Her clothes, her walls, even her bed sheets and pillows were the shades of blue. As a child her liking to the color was not taken seriously but as she grew her unhealthy obsession of blue only grew. Now others did not have any option but to deal with it.

Sitting on her window seat, that her father had so generously installed, she started to read where she had left the story last night. It was not a popular book, heck she had not even heard of it until she saw it in a sale at a book store. But the plot blew her mind, she had always loved stories of love and fantasy but this was better. The protagonist was a head strong lady who refused to give away her freedom and fought against the society, she refused to be bound in a loveless marriage and found her own destiny with the one she cared and loved and go the same in return. It was not an unusual concept in today’s world, but it was in the eighteenth century where the story is plotted.

Althea was mesmerized by the book and entered the world of old London where everything was new as it was old and every experience was unique as much as it did not make sense to her.

A ponding on the door made her snap out of her world, she stuck a book mark at the page she had finished reading and placed the book back in its place. She opened the door and smiled at the little guy in front of her.

“What’s up minute miles?” she teased her little brother knowing that his cheeks would puff up and go red as a fire truck. His brows scrunch up and little lips form an adorable pot that she adored. She loved teasing him but loved him to death, miles knew that but he was not grown enough to realise the intensity of it yet. She could do anything for her family and she won’t think twice before doing it.

“Dad is calling you for dinner!” he screamed as he ran away from her, probably complaining to Georgia about how mean she was being. She only chuckled and shook her head at his silly behavior. It was already dinner time, means she was reading for quite a lot of time. The hunger finally settled in and she raced down the stairs to her family for dinner.