Storms 01 - Family Storms

you when you lost your mother. We can help each other. Actually, you’ll be helping me and Donald by giving us more to do with our lives, our family lives.”
    “How?” I asked.
    She smiled. “I’d like you to think about something. I’d like you to come live with us, Sasha. First, we’ll be your foster parents, and then, if you’re happy, we will adopt you.”
    All I could do was stare at her. She wanted me to live with her? But I’d be living with her daughter Kiera, too?
    “You’ll only end up a ward of the state otherwise and be shipped off to some orphanage or multichild foster home,” she quickly added. “You don’t want that. Even your mother, in the condition she was in, that you were both in, avoided putting you there, and now that I have gotten to know you, it would make me very sad, too.”
    My continued silence unnerved her.
    “Do you understand what I’m saying?” she asked.
    I nodded, and she stood up.
    “Okay. You just think about it. I’ll be back tomorrow, and we’ll talk again about it.”
    Jackie came to the door and hesitated, waiting to see if it was all right for her to return.
    “You can come in,” Mrs. March told her. “She’s doing quite well, according to Dr. Milan.”
    “Yes, she is,” Jackie said, smiling at me.
    “We might only need you a few more days.”
    “Of course,” Jackie said. She smiled at me. “In this case, I’ll be glad to lose my job. She’s been a delightful patient.”
    Mrs. March smiled and looked at me. “Yes, she’s quite a wonderful young girl,” she said. “Continue to take good care of her,” she added, and left the room.
    Jackie waited until she was sure she was gone and turned to me. “Well? What is she planning to buy you? What is she going to do for you now?”
    “Have me take the place of her dead daughter,” I said.

5
A New Life
    Y ou mean she wants you to come live with her?”
    “Yes. And if I like it, she and her husband would adopt me.”
    Jackie sat, a look of amazement flowing over her face. “I have never seen her house, but when I was working for the plastic surgeon, there was always a lot of gossiping about some of the patients. Some were famous movie stars, but I remember hearing that the Marches’ house was bigger than any Hollywood movie star’s or producer’s and quite beautiful. In fact,” she said, getting more excited, “I remember someone said it cost about one hundred million dollars. It’s up in Pacific Palisades. Do you know where that is?”
    “I think so.”
    “Wow. Well, what are you going to do? Did you say yes?”
    “I didn’t say anything,” I said. “She wants me to think about it.”
    “Don’t you give it a second thought,” Jackie advised angrily. “Don’t you be bashful now. You take everything thatwoman is willing to give you. No matter what. You deserve more than they’re willing to give you, in fact. Take it gladly.”
    I didn’t say that I would, but somehow, because Jackie had heard that I might live in the Marches’ house and even be adopted by them, she looked at me differently. I could feel the gap between us suddenly widen, and I didn’t like it.
    Then, as if Jordan March had been listening in on our conversation, she sent more gifts. This time, it was clothes and shoes. Jackie unwrapped everything for me.
    “This is all very expensive stuff. She wants to be sure you’re dressed properly when you leave here and enter her world,” she commented. Her voice didn’t have the same tone of joy and wonder. I sensed the bitterness and wondered if I should be feeling it as well. “I bet this all costs more than I make in a week,” Jackie added. “If this is any indication of what it’s going to be like, you’ll be fine.”
    “None of that replaces my mother,” I said.
    Instead of being upset, she smiled. “That’s right. You keep that in mind. Take whatever you can get, but as I said, never let her and her husband forget that they can never give you enough. Sasha, don’t ever feel like some charity case. Promise me that.”
    “I won’t,” I said, but I wasn’t sure that I could keep such a promise. I wasn’t even sure that I was going to say yes. I tried to imagine what Mama would have said before the struggle. Back then, she had so much self-pride. She wouldn’t accept a nickel if she thought someone was giving it to her because he or she felt sorry for her. That’s why she had worked so hard on her calligraphy.
    “One of the worst things in the