Lena's POV
I wake up and decide to lay for a while. My mind drifts from thought to thought until I hear Callie calling the house down for breakfast. I roll out of bed, put on my robe and slippers and head downstairs. As I descend the stairs I see a small figure run out the front door followed closely by Callie. I decide to give them space and head to breakfast. I am thankful for the lie in after Stef woke me to tell me about the girls.
I enter the kitchen and am met by noise; Stef, Mariana and one of the girls are seated at the table. Stef is arguing with the girl about going outside after her sister. I quietly take a seat at the table and push my pancakes around my plate with my fork.
One by one the boys enter and begin to eat their breakfast. They all still half asleep so they don't really notice the little girl opposite Stef or the fact that she and Stef are arguing. Suddenly the arguing escalates and the small girl stands up facing Stef off. She looks slightly unsure of herself at first but as she quickly realises Stef will not harm her; she regains her composure.
"I will tell not you my name! We're not going back! Just let us go and we won't bother you anymore!" The girl screams at Stef
"Don't talk to me like that! You are going home and you are going to tell me your name!" Stef shouts back standing up
The boys turn bewildered and face the screaming pair finally realising what was going on. Their eyes are like saucers as they watch the drama unfolding. I can tell Stef is really close to losing it. I decide to try and intervene. I get up and stand beside Stef. I have no clue how to help. I stand and think for a minute but a small voice pulls me out of my thoughts. The words that escape my mouth are no good. I sit myself back down, defeated.
"Kirsten, stop it." Says a slightly smaller girl beside Callie.
She has dark brown eyes, lightly tanned skin and dark brown hair with sun bleached blonde tips. She has chubby cheeks, a chubbier build and a turned up nose. She looks exotic, the antithesis of her sister who has lighter hair and eyes. Her sister has freckles covering her face and a very frail, skinny build. In all honesty if I hadn't known any better I'd have said they weren't related.
"So, your name's Kirsten?" Stef asks the angry girl who was just referred to as Kirsten
"No." She replied stubbornly crossing her arms and furrowing her brown; earning stifled giggles from the rest of the room except her sister
"Yes it is! You're Kirsten and I'm Cora! Stop lying, they'd find out eventually." Sighed the exasperated 6 year old.
"What a lovely name Cora, I'm Lena." I say smiling warmly introducing myself before introducing the rest of the family to her.
Her sister, Kirsten just sighs and sits down in her seat with her arms crossed , a frown on her face and her bottom lip stuck out. It wasn't long ago my kids pulled that face when they didn't get what they wanted. I smile at the girl. She's cute in her own way.
Mariana and Callie talk with Cora. They seem to have taken to her. Callie sits the girl on her lap and they talk about cars or something like that, this conversation engages the boys and soon enough she seems like part of the family and has been her whole life. The laughter and smiling that I see makes me so sad to think that they'll be leaving soon, really soon.
"My dream car is a baby blue beetle!" Cora announces animatedly continuing the conversation.
Stef and I share a smile. The family really seems to love the little girl, her sister on the other hand seems too guarded. I bet she'd be lovely if we gave her a chance...
But we can't because they have a home to get back to.