Will looked apprehensively at Jess, who, after a few days recovery, still winced when she walked. She had told her foster parents she had fallen at Halcyon Haven, and they forbid Jess from going back there as long as she lived with them. So that's where Will went to find Jess that afternoon. Jess had been determined to piss them off since they had gotten back from Meridian. Right now, Jess was sitting on the rocks, reading her book, and Will noticed, when she got close enough, that the pages were tear stained. She scrambled down the rocks with Sunny. Will smiled awkwardly. "I thought I might find you here."
"Yeah," Jess said with a sniff. She was looking at her shoes again. Will wished she would make eye contact. "So, you'll write to me, won't you?"
"Of course." Will whispered gently. "Send me your address when you get there, and I'll pass it on to the girls." Jess hugged her. "Come on, I want to show you something," Will said as they broke apart. She grabbed Jess's arm and the girls ran up the beach.
"We need to hurry. My train leaves in two hours."
"Don't worry about that now." Will lead the way down the streets and up the stairs of her apartment building. Will pulled her key out of her pocket and pushed it into the key hole, giving it a turn. Mrs. Vandom smiled from her seat on the couch.
"Hey girls,"
"Hey mom. Just coming to show Jess something." Mrs. Vandom got up and followed the girls to Will's bedroom. Jess scanned the room, and saw that, remarkably, it had been cleaned. Jess hoped that a clean room wasn't what Will had been planning to show her. Jess saw another bed in the corner.
"What's that for?" Jess asked.
"I'm getting a new little sister!" Will said excitedly. Jess looked curiously at Mrs. Vandom, who was divorced and had no boyfriend.
"Are you-"
"I'm not pregnant, if that's what you're thinking," she said hastily.
"Then where are you getting a sister?" Jess asked. Will was dancing on her tip-toes with excitement.
"You, silly!" She said.
"Call me blonde but, huh?" Will rolled her eyes.
"We're adopting you. Mom and I talked it over, and we decided that you shouldn't be up rooted again." Jess looked at Mrs. Vandom, hardly daring to believe it.
"Are you serious?" Jess was trying, and failing, to suppress a smile.
"I always wished I had had a second daughter," Mrs. Vandom was saying, "I figured, why not adopt one?"
"So, I'm staying?" she said. Will and her mother nodded. Jess through her arms around Will and Mrs. Vandom, who gladly hugged back. With a yap, Sunny came to join in on the group hug, and Jess lifted her up off the ground, as Will picked up Mister Huggels, her dormouse.
"It will be crazy, but you girls can handle it." Mrs. Vandom said. "You're sisters now." Jess released Will and put Sunny on the floor.
"Sisters," she whispered, trying out the word.
"Come on, let's go get your stuff and finish setting up." Will grabbed Jess's arm, and tugged her out the door. Jess followed willingly.
How about that, Jess thought as she lifted her duffel bag of the floor of her old bedroom, last week I had no family, and now, I've got a mom and a new sister. They love me. She looked at Will with a smile. They really do. Things are finely turning around,
"Hey will? Race you home," she said as both girls took off running.
Home! Somehow I'll get used to the word, Jess thought. I can't wait to get started.
A statue stands in a shaded place
An angel girl with an upturned face
A name is written on a polished rock
A broken heart that the world forgot
Through the wind and the rain
She stands hard as a stone
In a world that she can't rise above
But her dreams give her wings
And she flies to a place where she's loved
Concrete angel