- T w o Y e a r s L a t e r: July 9th, 1995 –
"Rhiannon, sweetheart." Rachel cooed gently as she motioned her hand
to her daughter silently telling the little girl to come over to her.
The strict mother sat regally upon a rather worn looking green couch
in the living room which also possessed a matching green leather
material chair that sat idle across from the couch, with a big screen
television that was currently switched off in the corner of the small
box shaped room. The whole room had been silent but in the other room
Rhiannon, now five years old, and her older brother by three years had
been playing freeze tag. In attempt to get away Rhiannon had ran into
the living room, breathing heavily, her long straight pale blonde
tresses bounced and swayed with each quick step she took. Like a deer
that was being caught in headlights she stopped and locked eyes with
her mother, assuming that she had done something wrong when she heard
the woman call her over. Rhiannon knew very well that playing a game
in the house was forbidden on Rachel's standards but her and Adam
partook in the frowned upon activity anyways.
The little girl's breaths evened out as she quickly skipped over to
her mother, the white puffy sleeve summer dress that Rhiannon wore
flipped lightly with each stride she took. Rhiannon's large childish
eyes widened when her mother had lifted her up onto her lap. "It's all
of Adam's fault! He made me play!" That was Rhiannon's attempt in
making it seem as if playing freeze tag wasn't her idea, it really
wasn't but she liked the game and had taken part in it none the less.
Her mother raised a brow, and gently shook her head. "It's true!" The
girl defended her `theory' once she caught sight of her mother's
disdainful expression, flailing her arms to animate her words in the
most childish fashion.
At the age of five Rhiannon was quite active, she was mostly outside
playing with her eight year old brother Adam, and when she wasn't
outside she would be inside taking piano and Russian language classes
with her tutor or as of at the moment: playing inside when she and her
brother weren't allowed to. The tutor was an old Russian woman who was
strict and thought that everything should be perfect, and Rhiannon
showed everything but perfection though the vibrant little girl
portrayed a heavy dose of promise none the less, which was the reason
why the Russian woman continued on with her teachings. Rhiannon hadn't
been good at much else other than being able to play the piano and
singing; she was only five but could still play various songs and sing
along with them in almost fluent Russian. Something that Rachel's
biological kids couldn't do, which made the woman somewhat
disheartened and proud at the same time.
Mocha hued irises that Rachel possessed sparkled off the sunlight but
dulled lightly when she turned her head away from Rhiannon and away
from the rays of illumination. She inhaled deeply before exhaling, a
clear sign that she was stalling from what was about to be said. After
staying silent for no more than a second longer Rachel turned her gaze
back to her daughter, smiling lightly as she did so. "There's
something I have to tell you . . . something important." She stalled
once more, biting the inside of her cheek due to being horribly
nervous. Rachel never thought she'd ever have to tell her five year
old daughter that she was adopted, but despite her husband's
disagreement on the matter she was going to go along and say it.
Rhiannon couldn't go through life thinking that they were her real
parents! Or so, that is the logic that Rachel possessed. "You're
adopted." Blunt words quickly escaped her lips, more straightforward
than understanding, but Rachel didn't seem to take this into mind.
There was nothing else to be said.
The five year old blinked, not sure what her mother meant by
`adopted', was it good? Was it bad? Rhiannon's lips parted, about to
ask what being adopted meant but her mother knew all too well what the
young girl was about to say and quickly spoke up. "Being adopted means
that I'm not your real mother, and your father isn't your real father.
Though, Rhiannon, we still love you with all of our hearts and think
of you as a real daughter . . . it's just, well, I can't lie to you.
I'm sure when you get older you'll understand!" Rachel rambled
lightly, knowing very well that she herself was trying to cover up her
previously blunt spoken words. "Your mother made a mistake . . .
dropping you on our doorstep on Christmas day five years ago. I don't
think she realized or even bothered to think about what a cute little
girl you would turn out to be!"
Her words at first were met by a silence, a silence that was beginning
to make the mother nervous as she stared down at the little girl.
Rhiannon averted her gaze in thought for a moment before meeting her
mother's once more, she may have been five but she understood every
word that had came from her mother. She had explained it after all and
Rhiannon wasn't that dense to not realize what the woman was talking
about. "Oh . . . umm, okay!" She said, a grin coming to her lips. "I
think I get it!" The young girl was quick to add. "Don't worry, mummy,
I love you with all of my heart too." Before any other words were
spoken between the mother and daughter a little boy who hadn't looked
a day over the age of eight raced into the room. Matching mocha
colored irises which he and Anna received from their mother sparkled
with the carefree attitude a youth should have and nicely cut dark
brown hair was ruffled due to extensive activity.
"There you are, Rhi! I've been lookin' for you!" Adam Young said,
balancing a basketball in his hand, a toothy grin on his face. "I
challenge you to a game of basketball! It's July ninth which means
it's my lucky day! Prepared to beat!" The little boy adored his little
sister, she was much preferred over his serious perfectionist older
sister, and even though Rhiannon wasn't that great at athletic games
she was still fun to play with even to an eight year old boy who was
probably the only one who thought that of her. Adam never really paid
attention to Rhiannon's accent or that she was adopted, he liked the
way she said his name anyways. With her accent interfering it came out
sounding like "Ah-damn" which was funny to anyone over the age of
fourteen because it sounded like someone accidentally saying a profanity.
Rhiannon jerked lightly out of surprise as she turned to face her
older brother. She quickly hopped off her mother's lap, the expression
on her face was nothing less than cheerful –it was as if she didn't
even take into account what her mother had said– and buoyant. "No!
July ninth is the new doomsday!" With that she raced out of the room,
not before turning to her mother a strand of blonde hair flying in her
face. Rachel in no time quickly noticed the look in those beautiful
eyes: they were blank. Though that blankness only lasted a second
before Rhiannon tore her gaze away and chased after her brother,
"You're on little man!" She giggled at her words, knowing very well
that she was the little five year old and he was the older eight year
old. Such a comment was always something to be expected from Rhiannon.
"I'm not little!" Adam said in his own defense before a few words that
centered around his determination escaped. Rachel let out a small sigh
as the sound of the back door slamming against its wooden frame was
heard, it was safe to say that she felt better that the whole
conversation was over but she suddenly felt as if it was wrong to tell
a five year old little girl that she was adopted because she was
placed upon a doorstep on Christmas Day; but it was much too late now,
that much was clearly obvious. When Micheal would return home Rachel
knew he'd be quite angered seeing as he wanted Rhiannon to believe
that they were her real parents, but she wasn't that worried about her
husband in the long-term. It was the one person in that family who
hated Rhiannon with a passion and the person that Rachel was so
worried about was her eldest and only biological daughter: Anna.