It was a couple of days later and Farah had been reserved the last few days since the police interview. May-Li and Mike had just left her to it hoping that in time she would feel able to speak to them. They had made the decision that if she didn't speak to them by the end of the day, then they would hold a meeting with her to speak about her feelings.
That morning, May-Li was surprised to see Farah come down the stairs already dressed and ready for breakfast.
"It's only 7 o'clock" May-Li said surprised and Farah nodded grabbing a piece of toast that had just popped from the toaster.
"Someone seems happy today" May-Li said. Jody came down behind her.
"I gave Farah my Alice in Wonderland book and she read it all day yesterday. I said that we could go to the library today and look for some other classics. Is that okay?" Jody asked and May-Li nodded.
"Of course, Farah hasn't been out on her own before though so you both need to be very careful" May-Li explained, and Jody nodded looking at Farah who smiled.
"The library opens at 9 o'clock, we want to be one of the first people there" Jody said, and May-Li laughed.
"Best get there before all these classics disappear" May-Li said before making a puff sound with her mouth and hands. Jody and Farah both looked at each other and shook their heads. May-Li was glad that her and Jody were starting to develop a strong relationship now. They were similar in age with Jody only being a year older than the girl. They had a lot of similarities as well which May-Li hoped would help Farah settle in.
Once they had eaten, it wasn't long before Jody and Farah were on their way to the library. Jody was showing Farah the way and Farah enjoyed listening to Jody. She wasn't ready to speak yet, but Jody kept talking for both of them.
They arrived at the library and spent a long-time choosing what books they wanted to borrow. They got a range between the two of them and agreed that they would share them. At the desk, Farah filled out a form which allowed her to her own library card. She was very proud of it and put it in her jean pocket. When she got home, she was going to ask for a purse to put her card in.
They arrived back at Ashdene Ridge and both girls ran to their room and put all the books on their bed. They picked the one they most wanted to read and lay back to start reading. Farah suddenly remembered what she was going to ask. She needed to find May-Li.
She walked down the stairs and noticed the woman in the office.
"Hello, did you have a good time with Jody?" May-Li asked, and Farah nodded excitedly.
"Can I ask you something?" Farah asked nervously and May-Li nodded.
"Of course, you can" She said putting down the file she was working on and turning so that all her attention was on Farah.
"I got a library card, but I don't have anywhere to put it. Can I go shopping for a purse?" She asked shyly and May-Li smiled.
"That's a fantastic idea. I also have your pocket money for the last three weeks. It took a bit of time getting through the system so we can add that to your purse as well. You get £10 a week and another £10 goes into a saving account you will get access to that when you are 18" May-Li explained, and Farah nodded.
"Would you like to go shopping with me?" May-Li asked, and Farah nodded.
"Perfect, we'll do it this afternoon" May-Li said, and Farah went to leave.
"Actually Farah, can you take a seat for a minute. Mike and I would like a quick word" May-Li said, and Farah nodded. She really hoped that she wasn't going to have to see her father again. May-Li quickly called Mike and they closed the office door.
"So we just want to reassure you that you will not be going returning to your father. He is still in prison. He will get into a lot of trouble for hurting you" Mike explained, and Farah nodded. She understood that now.
"For you to remain in care, there will be a court case which will put you into the care system official long term. The reason that it hasn't been granted is because of the unknown whereabouts of your mother" Mike explained, and Farah looked away.
"Can you tell us anything about your mother?" May-Li asked and instantly Farah started shaking her head. May-Li moved from standing beside Mike to sitting on the sofa with Farah. She noticed that the girl was getting distressed.
"We want to help you, but we can't if we don't know the information" May-Li said softly.
"I want to tell you, but I can't. Not yet, I'm sorry. I just can't" Farah cried. May-Li held the girl's hand.
"But you understand that when you are ready you can speak to us?" May-Li asked, and Farah nodded. She understood that. She knew that she could speak to them.
"Now that we know that you are going to stay here for a while. We were thinking that we'd like to get to know the real Farah" Mike said. "The likes and dislikes of you. Not what you think people want to see"
Farah nodded.
"We want you to make your side of the bedroom yours" May-Li said "So when we go shopping for your purse. We thought that you could get a few more clothes and then some things to go into your bedroom. You have quite a lot of pocket money and we still have some of your clothing allowance left too"
Farah nodded and smiled.
"We will leave after lunch" May-Li said, and Farah nodded. Mike and May-Li looked at each other, they hoped that this was the first step in settling Farah in full term. She'd been here for over 3 weeks now, but it didn't seem like she'd left much of a mark. This was her room too, she deserved to be a part of it.
Farah skipped up the stairs and returned to join Jody.
"She seems a lot more settled today" Mike said, and May-Li nodded.
"Sometimes time to settle in is all they need, especially someone like Farah" May-Li said, and Mike agreed.
May-Li headed through to the kitchen and started preparing lunch. She called the children down about half an hour later. Jody and Farah came giggling down the stairs. They smiled at May-Li who smiled back.
"Right, me and Farah are going into town after lunch. Does anyone else want to come?" May-Li asked. She hoped not as she really wanted to spend some quality time with Farah in order to find the real Farah. In the end, Bailey and Ryan said that they both wanted to come but didn't want to be seen with May-Li. May-Li agreed.
Almost an hour later, they were getting into May-Li's car. The two boys were bickering over who was sitting in the front.
"Enough, Farah is in the front then" May-Li said and both boys sighed but got into the back as asked. Farah was relieved, she wasn't ready to sit in the back with anyone yet especially not one of the boys.
They soon arrived at the shopping centre and May-Li noticed how nervous Farah was.
"Right boys, I want you back here by 4 o'clock" May-Li said and they both nodded. They headed off to look at some computer game they both wanted.
"Right, let's go and have a look in here first" May-Li said pulling Farah into Claire's. She thought that this might be a good starting point and she was correct. Farah found a silver phone case she liked and a marble effect purse. As well as a dreamcatcher for her bedroom and a couple of other small items.
"They are lovely, do you like silver?" May-Li asked, and Farah nodded.
"It's better than gold" She said, and May-Li smiled. Farah put her hand over the handheld fans and stared at them.
"Do you want a fan?" May-Li asked, and the girl shook her head.
"Do they remind you of something?" She asked softly and Farah nodded.
"Mum, she had a beautiful fan. It was yellow with flowers. I like florals and yellow too" Farah said, and May-Li smiled. She had guessed well with the notebook then.
They moved onto a few more shops and May-Li watched just how careful the girl was when looking at things.
"Did you shop a lot with Dad?" May-Li asked carefully, and Farah shook her head.
"No never, I can't remember the last time I went shopping" She said as she looked through some clothes.
"How did you know what size to get me?" Farah asked. May-Li was confused by the question until she realised the girl was on about when she had gone shopping herself for Farah.
"Well, I just sort of guessed. Carmen and Tee were there to help me" May-Li said "I usually looked at age 11 and then decided if I thought it would be too big and go from there. Did I do okay?"
Farah nodded.
"All the clothes you got me as very comfortable" She said, and May-Li smiled.
"I don't like skirts though" She said, and May-Li nodded.
"You never need to wear a skirt again if you don't want to" May-Li said, and Farah nodded. She decided to think about it as although she was scared of wearing skirts due to her father, she still liked them. She just needed to feel safe enough first.
They found a couple of new tops which Farah liked and new shoes. May-Li had only got the girl one pair of shoes as guessing shoe sizes is so hard.
"Oh look at the time, it's almost 4 o'clock. I think we should find Ryan and Bailey, what do you think?" May-Li asked, and Farah nodded.
They sped off to find the boys who were stood at the car waiting for her.
"Good timing boys" May-Li said as they put the shopping into the car. As soon as the boys had come into sight, May-Li had noticed a clear difference in Farah's behaviour. She suddenly stopped talking and her posture changed so that she was stumped and looking down. May-Li hoped that in time, they could change this.
They arrived back at the dumping ground and Farah run up to her bedroom with the new things she had bought. Tee and Carmen followed behind wanting to see what she had gotten. Farah enjoyed showing off in front of the girls. She felt a lot more comfortable with Tee and Carmen now.
"It's my own room now" Farah whispered and both Tee and Carmen looked at each other. They couldn't believe that Farah had spoken to them. They smiled at her. They were interrupted by May-Li shouting that dinner was ready. They all came running down the stairs.
"She spoke to us" Tee whispered to May-Li as she grabbed a plate for herself. May-Li was surprised but smiled.
"Thank you for being so kind to her" May-Li said, and they smiled. May-Li felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulder. The girl could definitely stay here now. She was going to settle in, in no time now.
Hope this is okay :) So I'm just trying to decide do you want May-Li's children to be adopted or do you want them to be Alice's children from IVF or another marriage? I just can't see May-Li being Jake's other mother when he was born – she would have been like early 20s when he was born. What do you think?