How do you feel when you discover that something you had often thought about, something you had even fantasised about at a few points in your childhood, was real?
Thoughts like that reverberated through Matilda's mind, as she and her mother sat on the bus; they didn't own a car, since there were plenty of shops nearby they could reach on foot, but for some of the other things they had to do, well they caught a bus. Both preferred sitting next to a window, but right now neither was bothered. Matilda was more than aware her melancholy and ambivalent mood was attracting worried looks from her mother. She had already told her friends about the letter she had revealed a few days ago, and they were stunned.
Lavender was her best friend. She knew life at the Wormwoods hadn't been exactly wonderful for her friend, but learning about that was a shock. Hortensia, Bruce, and the others were the same.
She hadn't given the Wormwoods much thought for the last few years; the day they'd left was one of the happiest in her life. Granted she did somewhat feel a tad sorry for the woman she had believed was her mother. Seeing the genuine sadness in Zinnia's eyes when she told them she had kept those adoption papers for such an occasion and hearing how she had never once understood Matilda had been a shock. Zinnia had been stunned the girl even had them, and Matilda had seen the dawning emotion in the woman's face, the horror she'd even had a little girl in her own home and she had never bothered once to know her, to love her.
That was the reason why she had signed the papers. Where Harry Wormwood had done it to get rid of her, Zinnia realised the time had come to do something responsible for Matilda. For the first time ever she had wanted the girl to be happy.
More information about the Wormwood's arrest had come through. How could Harry and Michael be so stupid? Hadn't Harry learnt anything from when the FBI began investigating his stupid car business? They had sat outside the house and the office for weeks, gathering evidence, watching everyone's comings and goings. They had watched the used car parts being mailed to the house for heaven alone knew how long. She didn't know if they'd been told of the activities by a disgruntled employee; Harry had frequently hired and sacked workers, and it had been rare for a week to go by when he wasn't ranting or boasting about it. Somehow it wouldn't surprise Matilda in the least if dozens of employees did tell someone.
But the arrogant way Harry had conducted his business had brought down his business, wrecking that delusional bubble he had in his brain where he believed he was the ultimate businessman and he'd been forced to emigrate.
The sensible thing to have done would be to enjoy what there was and live, but that would have just been far too easy. Harry and Michael, and Matilda had no idea what had gone through their minds this time, had both gotten involved in a drug smuggling and dealing business. Matilda didn't have a clue what they'd been doing, although she was horrified Michael had followed in his father's footsteps as a crook.
But what stunned her was how Zinnia had learnt something. Matilda wondered what had made her do it, but according to the news she'd received so far, Zinnia had quickly discovered something was up which indicated to Matilda the woman who'd used to get so upset whenever a nail was cracked, discovered what was going on and decided enough was enough. But she didn't know for sure.
Matilda and Jennifer were both on their way to meet their real parents. Matilda was still struggling to make some sense out of the revelations which were still rocking her world as if she had just walked into an earthquake zone by accident. While she was wondering what could have gone wrong at the hospital for this kind of disaster to happen, Matilda was more worried about her real parents.
Would they be nice? How would they take to her and her mother? Would they understand she had a mother? Matilda wasn't sure how this meeting would go, but what she was dreading the most was answering extremely awkward questions about her life with the Wormwoods. They were bound to turn up, and they were also bound to ask her questions about her life with the Wormwoods.
Matilda was not looking forward to that. She had always known a person's personality grew with their experiences, and she knew she was no exception. She wasn't sure how they'd react when they discovered she had learnt how to change a bed, wash, feed herself and learnt how to read and write and had trekked across town when anything could have happened to her, to get to the public library and had gone there ever since.
She had grown up on the periphery of the Wormwood's lives, and they'd barely even noticed her presence. She'd had to learn how to clean, cook, and look after herself simply because nobody else had bothered to care.
Neglect.
Would her biological parents be better than the Wormwoods? Would they understand she loved her new mother, and really did not want to be separated from her? Matilda shook her head, ignoring her mother's worried looks when she saw what she was doing. Of course, they wouldn't take those steps, that was stupid, but Matilda couldn't deny she was extremely worried.
