This was written nearly 3 years ago as a part of my English Coursework and was the very first fan fiction I wrote and hence apologise for it
Dear Tamora,
I wish I could have told this face-to-face but you know what I'm like-I'd be a crying wreck within seconds. You've said before that you never felt right in our family. I'm sure you know deep in your heart that you're adopted; your father and I adopted you when you were 6 months old. The adoption centre we got you from said you were brought in by a teenage girl claiming her boyfriend had stolen you from your mother. Your eyes were strange I remember. A sort of purple but they turned to blue a couple of weeks after we got you. Your real name is Isabella Ruby Fenshaw and your mother's name is Amanda Fenshaw. Please don't blame her for this, she is entirely innocent. Your father and I have searched for her but to no avail. If you are reading this then that means the cancer has beaten me. Thankfully you won't inherit that from me seeing as we share no DNA.
You may not be my daughter physically but spiritually and mentally you were the best (and I admit only) daughter your father and I could have hoped for. Try not to grieve too much. Make us proud.
All my love
Helen Swann
A.K.A. Mum
As Tamora finished reading this she felt the tears that had been threatening to fall cascade down her cheeks. She smiled weakly at the thought that her parents never realised shed known about her adoption since she was 7 and her aunt Laura had drunkenly told her. But now she was 24 and it she was about to start her very first proper teaching job at Waterloo Road and she was rereading the letter in the car park of the school. She looked up at her new 2nd home and sighed…Something about this school felt special-maybe it was just nerves but she felt that this school would change her life forever. . It had been 2 years since her mum's death yet this final message still made her cry and inspired her to make them proud. She was still not sure whether the 'us' her mother had mentioned included her birth mum, Tamora liked to think so. Her search had also been fruitless but she knew she would never give up. She had many questions for Amanda Fenshaw.
Cautiously she stepped out onto the playground and made her way to the head teacher's office. She knocked twice and was called in
"Ah, Miss Swann"
"Miss McKenzie
"Please Tamora, call me Rachel. Ill introduce you to the staff"
"I'll take you down to the staff room and get you acquainted with the staff" Rachel said standing up
"Thank you" Tamora said falling into step behind her
"Don't be afraid of me. I'm not going to bite. Promise" Tamora laughed-she could tell the two of them would get on just fine. They chatted for a minute as they made their way to the staff room before Rachel opened the door to a room full of grumpy teachers "Alright everybody listen up. I hope you've had a good half term. This is Tamora Swann; she's joining us in the English department. I hope you'll all make her feel welcome" She finished glaring at particular members of staff. Tamora smiled weakly.
After the end of a gruelling week at Waterloo Road all the teachers congregated in the pub
"So Tamora how was your first week? Running for your life yet?" Rachel asked grinning. She didn't usually go to the pub, she would usually still be slogging away at her desk at this time of evening but she owed one of the teachers a favour and so here she was ,slightly tipsy, surrounded by many of her completely drunk colleagues.
"I think I'll be alright here. It's certainly different from where I trained"
"It's different alright."
"So? Is there anything particularly interesting about you or are we going to have to ignore you for the rest of your life here?"
"Interesting? I was adopted when I was 6months old.""Wow"
"I was stolen from my biological mother by her crazy ex-boyfriend, not my dad FYI. My adoptive parents said I was brought in by my kidnapper's girlfriend."
"You ever try to find her? One of the teachers asked
"Yeah but Amanda is hard to find" Rachel gasped and ran out.
"Is she alright?" Tamora asked worried. All the teachers looked at each other confused. Why had there usually blasé boss run outside crying? Tamora followed Rachel outside. She saw her boss leaning against the wall tears streaming down her face" Rachel? Are you alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine." Rachel said brushing the tears from her eyes. Tamora cocked her eyebrow
"No offence but you don't look fine Rachel. I'd like to think we are friends. Quite good friends actually, you can tell me anything. I promise I won't tell anyone."
"OK. It's just that I had my daughter stolen from me when she was only 6 months old. "What a coincidence." Tamora laughed "it's so unlikely it'd happen twice so close together we could well be mother and daughter
"My little Bella." Rachel sobbed into Tamora's shoulder
"Wait Bella? That wouldn't happen to be short for Isabella Fenshaw would it?"
"Yeah. How did you know?"
"My birth name is Isabella Ruby Fenshaw. Mother Amanda Fenshaw,"
"My old name! OMG, Bella? My baby?"
"Mum?" They hugged on the floor crying into each other's shoulders. They stayed there for several minutes until the cold got to them and they decided to go back to Rachel's house, they popped back into the pub to get their coats and left without giving an explanation to the now even more confused teachers.
The ride in Rachel's car was silent, both people deep in thought. They pulled up outside Rachel's house and sat down on the sofa looking at each other
"So what do I call you mum or Rachel?"
"Whatever you want"
"O.K. Mum, apparently when I was adopted I had purple eyes. Was I born with purple eyes?"
"No. When you were born you had bright red eyes. It scared the living daylights out of me." Rachel laughed remembering the very first time she saw them
"Congratulations Miss Fenshaw you have a healthy baby girl"The midwife said handing Amanda her baby.
"Her-her eyes! They're red! Is that supposed to happen?"
"It's fine miss, it just means we'll have to keep an eye on her for a while but she's fine I promise. Have you thought of a name for her?"The midwife asked looking down at the little bundle."
"Isabella."
"What about a middle name?"
"With her eyes it can only be Ruby."They laughed
"Your middle name Ruby, it was because of your eyes."
"They're blue now. That's probably why they were purple, in between red and blue. "Why Isabella?"
"Isabella was my twin sister. She was stillborn"
"OMG I'm so sorry" Tamora said hugging Rachel. Her phone went off "Sorry about this. Its my boyfriend, I should take it" She picked up the phone and started talking animatedly into it. Rachel sat there thinking about the words to the ringtone
My heaven is where I am now on the front porch of the wood frame house. Swingin' with you just lookin' around at all I've been given and this life I'm livin' is my heaven .My heaven, My heaven
Sure it had been a strange day overall but she finally had her daughter back. Her life was now complete. She had the perfect guy, her dream job, great friends and now the final piece had fallen into piece. Forget wood frame houses. This was her heaven.