Marie
I called dad and we arranged for Marie to come and see me at the dumping ground in 3 days' time. It was crazy how slowly the time passed while I was wondering what she'd be like and if she would like me or not. It didn't help that every member of the house had got their own ideas of what she would be like, and at every available opportunity they would give me their opinions.
The day finally came, and everyone apart from me was crowded around the stairs at 2 which was the time we had arranged for her to come. The doorbell rang and 5 past 2 and everyone held their breath while Mike answered the door. I didn't see her at first, because I was in the TV room feeling nervous. Harry ran into the room and told me that she was there, and I got up and walked into the quiet room.
Marie was just shorter than me, and she was, well, she was very pretty. She had dark brown long hair which was wavy and she had it slightly pinned back. She wore trendy clothes and she had lots of jewellery on. I noticed that she had green eyes – he same as my mam (and one of my eyes). As I walked in she smiled at me, but I could see how nervous she was.
I sat down and introduced myself. She told me that my dad talked about me a lot, and she told me how mortified he was when he had found out that I lived in care. We talked for quite a while and I really liked her. She had a beautiful northern Welsh accent, and she kept using welsh phrases in her speech, because she said that she found it more expressive.
Around 3 o'clock she told me that she had brought Amelia with her, and that she had gone to town, and was doing some shopping for English clothes. She asked if I wanted to go and meet her, and so we went out of the house and into the town. Of course, Gina tagged along but she kept her distance, and I was grateful. I was looking forward to seeing Amelia again. I thought of her a bit how I thought of the queen. She was someone that I had always known existed, but she didn't quite seem real.
Marie got a text from Amelia saying that she was in the café where Jade worked (not that she knew I knew Jade). We made our way there, and I recognised Amelia as soon as I walked in. She was sitting in a table at the window and she looked around when Marie called out to her.
We stared at each other for a second. I could see what dad had meant about me an Amelia looking similar. It was like looking at a slightly smaller, more fashionable, less pale version of me. It was incredibly weird. After a moment I sat down and introduced myself again. She stared for a second longer and then she burst into tears, stood up, ran around to my side of the table and hugged me.
I had no clue what was going on. She started telling me that she had always wanted to meet me, and that she hated not having any siblings that she knew. She said that she hated herself for being the one that was taken with dad, and that she was so sorry that I had been stuck with such a horrible person for a mam. She also said that she wished that none of it had ever happened and that we had all been a good family.
At that point she seemed to remember that we were in a public place, and she sat down again. She apologized to Marie, and said that she was looking forward to having a stepmother really. We started talking, but I decided that since there was no Mike around who wanted to know what we were saying, I wanted to talk in welsh, because I missed speaking my own language.
I had a great afternoon. We went shopping (even though I usually hate shopping) and Marie bought me a new badminton racket. I was shocked. No one apart from Josh had ever bought me anything, and it was such a great racket. Amelia insisted that we went to all of the clothes shops and found me a great outfit that I could remember this great day by. I loved the outfit she picked. I had to hand it to her, she judged my style perfectly. She even guessed that my favourite colour was blue, even though I wasn't wearing any blue that day.
When finally it was time for them to leave and go back to Llanfair, I was disappointed that they had to go. I'd had a great day, and I exchanged details with Amelia. She also seemed sad that she had to go, and said that she wished I could come back with them and see their new house, which according to her was awesome.
I told Marie that I would be a bridesmaid. It turned out that she already had one of the dresses in my size put aside, so we arranged that I would go and stay with them for three days before the wedding and stay a little bit after too, so that I was there for the rehearsal and I had time to see the new area that they lived in.
I was so excited about going back to Wales. I hadn't been there since we left, and the only thing I had left of it was my accent. I didn't know how I'd be able to wait for the month or so until I went, but looking back, I wish that it had been a much longer wait. I would give anything for that day never to have come, but there was no way that I could have known what was coming for me.