Adopted

Chapter 22

I woke up to the sound of tapping beside me. I opened my eyes and looked around. Brendon had replaced Sarah and he was bouncing his foot up and down and staring at me. 

"Jess!" he said when he saw my eyes were open. "I am so, so sorry. You misunderstood what I said. Well, you didn't misunderstand. You understood the words that came out of my mouth, but not the tone. My mother accused us of adopting you for the publicity and I swear, I was being sarcastic when I told her that's why we adopted you."

I glared at him. 

"I'm not going to apologize for them. That's for them to do if you're willing to listen, and right now, I'm angry enough to say you don't have to listen. But I am going to apologize for you hearing what I said and thinking that I meant what I said. I swear I didn't.  Jess, Sarah and I love you. We want to be your parents. I hope you still want us to be. I know we probably have work to do to show you and to regain your trust. But I promise you, we love you. We really do. If we didn't, would we have gone looking for you in a rainstorm?"

"You didn't. Zack did," I said. 

"Touche," Brendon said. "But Zack and Kala only went out to find you so I could tear a strip of my parents. Jessica, I am so angry that my mother would, first of all, say such a thing not only where you could hear it, but that she would say it at all.  You are not a publicity stunt. We talked about that. Yes, of course, there's publicity, but that's because of who I am. Jessica, I can't make you believe me. But I really hope that you do."

"I'll think about it," I said. 

"That's all I can ask, really," Brendon said. 

Just then Sarah came in with three Starbucks cups in a carry out tray.

"Oh, good. You're awake. How're you feeling, honey?" she asked. 

I shrugged. I felt... okay. Still heavy and tired and the oxygen mask was still on my face, which helped. 

"Well, look who I found out in the hallway," she said, and Dr. Roberts stepped through the door. 

"This is the last place I expected to find you," he said, frowning. "What did you do, going and getting pneumonia?"

"I missed you? And the hospital food?" I said. 

"Well, glad to see your sarcasm is still intact. You were pretty sick when you came in, but pneumonia hadn't gotten a great hold on you yet.  I'm guessing that was brewing for a few days already and being out in the rain didn't help. Haven't you ever heard of staying indoors during the rain? Or at least bring a tent next time you try camping in a park," Doc said. 

"So, how long do you think she'll need to be here?" Sarah asked Doc. She handed me one of the cups and said "Hot chocolate, the way you like it, with whipped cream."

"Oh, at least a month," Doc said, a twinkle in his eye. 

"A MONTH!?" Sarah and Brendon both exclaimed. 

"Well, she's a brat, and you're rewarding her with hot chocolate. She needs a good grounding for running out in the rain."

"Don't tell him you took me to Disneyland," I said, moving my oxygen mask and sipping my hot chocolate.

"Two months then. I can't believe you went to Disneyland without me. Do you know how long it's been since I've gone to Disneyland?" Doc said. 

Sarah and Brendon laughed. 

"Honestly, as long as her fever stays down for 24 hours, and her chest x-ray comes back clearer, I think I can send her home before the end of the week. It's Sunday today, I think probably by Tuesday at the latest. She's responding well to the antibiotics, I think we can take her off the oxygen mask. Maybe just cannula up your nose?"

"Up your nose," I said. 

"Well, that wouldn't be very helpful to you, Missy," Doc said, with a smile. 

He wrote a few things down on my chart and said goodbye.  A little while later, the nurse came in and changed my oxygen mask for cannula. 

Sarah and Brendon talked to me, basically pleading with me to forgive them, and explaining what had happened. I thought back to the first few days I'd lived with them and remembered that if they really  had meant for me to be a publicity stunt, they would have had press at the orphanage the day they adopted me. I decided maybe I should give them another chance. 

"Okay, I forgive you. But I'm still mad," I said. 

"Oh, sweetie. That's okay. We are, too. Well, not at you, obviously. But at Grace, specifically," Sarah said. 

"Why would she say something like that?" I asked. 

"I really don't know," Brendon sighed. "Part of me wishes I could explain it, but part of me is so angry that she would even say such a thing, I don't even want to know. If that makes sense."

I shrugged. I guessed it did. 

"For what it's worth, my parents did fall in love with you. They think you're funny, intelligent and mature for your age," Brendon said. "For my mom to then turn around and say what she said..." He trailed off.  I could see he was still angry, too. 

"She felt terrible," Sarah said. "Not that that's an excuse or anything.  Brendon really laid into her. I wouldn't be surprised if they shorten their stay, but I do hope they have the presence of mind to come and apologize. Or stay long enough for you to come home and she can apologize."

I stayed quiet. I wasn't sure I wanted her to apologize.  

I was wracked with a coughing spell, and Sarah jumped to my side and sat me up.  When I was done coughing, she handed me a kleenex so I could spit out any phlegm I'd coughed up, and lay back down with me. It was nice. Feeling safe, I fell asleep.