PROLOGUE

I remember the fighting. I remember the yelling and screaming – soon followed by painful cries from my mother.

I remember a door slamming, without so much as a goodbye, and a truck starting, leaving the driveway and inevitably leaving my life.

I remember my mother coming up to check on me, tears flowing on her blotchy red cheeks. I closed my eyes so she would think I was sleeping, but she knew better.

"You are so loved, my angel," she whispered to me, and kissed me on the forehead. "It is safe, now, you can go to sleep."

I remember waking up to a storm, full of as much rage and thunder as the fight between my parents. I walked downstairs to find my mother hurriedly packing the car, looking over her shoulder every few minutes to make sure no one was there. I stood in the doorway.

"We need to go away for a while, my love. I packed your bag while you were sleeping. Why don't you grab something to eat and go wait in the car. I know it's scary outside, but we don't have a choice right now," my mother said to me. So I grabbed a cereal bar, and waited in the car.

I remember waiting a long time for my mother to come back. The thunder and lightning was scary. The rain was coming down so hard, I thought it was going to crash through the windows and swallow me up. When she finally did come back, she was crying again.

I remember the long drive down the highway. Trees everywhere, barely visible behind the sea of water flowing from the sky. My mother looking through the rearview mirror frequently, as if she was afraid someone was following her.

I fell asleep shortly after that.


I woke up to many voices, and a cold, wet hand shaking me awake.

"Sweetheart, you need to wake up," a man said.

"Who are you?" I asked him, "Where's my mommy?"

"Mommy is being taken care of, you were in a car accident. My name is Carlisle. Are you hurt anywhere, my dear?"

"I don't think so," I said. I wasn't in any pain.

"Okay, then we will get you out of here, but you need to tell me if anything hurts, okay?" The man, Carlisle, said again.

"I want my mommy," I told him. I couldn't see her from where I was anymore.

"I know, sweetheart, I know. It will be okay" he told me, and slowly lifted me from the vehicle.

He took me to a police car, and a man in a blue uniform was waiting for me. Carlisle handed me to him, and he buckled me up in the backseat. He tried putting on sirens and making everything look cool, but it was still raining outside, and my mother was still nowhere to be found.

I remember being brought to a special room in the police building. A special room where a woman dressed in black was waiting for me.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Danielle," I told her. "I want my mommy."

"Well, Danielle, my name is Christine. I actually have some news to tell you about your mommy, okay?"

"Where is she?" I asked her.

"Danielle, you mommy was killed in the car accident. She lives in the sky now. Do you understand that?"

"I want to see her."

"I wish I could take you to see her, but, unfortunately, you won't be able to see her for a long, long, time. I am going to take you to your daddy very soon."

"Not Daddy." I said.

"Why not daddy?" Christine asked.

"Daddy hurt my mommy" I told her, and started crying. "He is the reason why we left. I don't want to go back to him."

"Okay, honey, okay. It will all be okay."

I remember her leaving the room for a while and a police officer bringing me some snacks. I did not each much, even though I was very hungry.

I remember her coming back a few times, and asking me different questions about my family, especially my mother and father and their relationship.

I remember the last time she came back, she was with a man. It was the man from the car accident. It was Carlisle.

"Hi Carlisle," I told him when he walked in.

"Hi Danielle," he told me, smiling sadly, "how would you like it if you could come home with me?" he asked.

"I want to go home with mommy," I said.

"I know you do, my dear, but guess what. I have a very big house, with a lot of grass for you to run around in. I have a wife who would love you make you a warm dinner when we get there. I also have five wonderful children of my own who would love to be your brothers and sisters. Have you ever wanted a brother or a sister?"

"Yes, but mommy said no." I told him.

"Well, now you can have five, if you want to come live with me and my family for a while," Carlisle told me.

"Okay, I guess," I told him, and we talked for a while about his family and he answered my questions.

I remember going to his home and meeting his family. The family, that over the past six years has become my family. The home that became my home. The love that became my love.