The London Paradigm (book 4 of Adopted by the Josephs)

14. Samantha

Emma came home from the hospital the next day. When she came into the house, Benji ran to her and threw his arms around her.

"I'm so happy you're home!" He said.

"Me too, pipsqueak," she said.

"Hi Emma," I said. "I'm glad you're home, too. And that you're okay."

Emma looked at me. I couldn't tell if she was mad at me for some reason, but her features shifted and a tear fell from her eye.

"I'm sorry, Samantha," she said. "I'm sorry I was so horrible to you. Mummy and Beth told me what you did. I'm sorry."

I shrugged.

"I won't pretend it didn't hurt, but I guess you had your reasons."

"I was jealous," she said. "I still am. You have such an amazing life with amazing parents and you're rich!"

"Emma," I said. "First of all, you also have amazing parents. Second, I'm not rich. My dad is. But we don't live in a huge castle with hundreds of staff. And I do go to school. And I'm capable of dressing myself, by the way."

She looked at me with embarrassed horror on her face. She knew Beth and Benji had told me what she'd been saying. I winked at her.

"Also," I continued, "I don't know if your dad has told you much about what my birth dad was like. But my life is far from perfect. I still deal with a lot of things from the way he treated me."

Emma hung her head.

"I know. He told us. Sort of. I'm really sorry I was so mean," she said. "Can you forgive me?"

"I can," I said. "And I will. But you need to know that words can be very hurtful."

"I know," she whispered. "I'm sorry."

I went over to her and gave her a hug.

"I'm going to go lie down for a bit," she said. "They don't let you sleep much in hospital."

We all laughed at that.

The rest of my vacation was way better after that. Emma finally started being nice and asking questions and actually getting to know me. Mark and Carol had a barbecue one night and invited a bunch of their friends with their kids and introduced me. We were all out in the garden that night. It was a lot of fun.

We went to Paris for a few days and stayed in a nice hotel near the Champs-Élysées. We explored the city and went to the Louvre, and Versailles, and I saw the Mona Lisa. We went up the Eiffel Tower and walked along the Champs-Élysées, and along the banks of the Seine. We took the train from London to Dover and I saw the White Cliffs of Dover that Mom told me about. They really were white! We took a ferry across the English Channel and caught a train in Calais to Paris.

We rented an RV, which Mark called a caravan, and drove to the coast and stayed for about a week by the seaside. We swam in the ocean and ate our meals in seaside restaurants or cooked out at the RV. Emma and I played a lot, together and we made sure to include Benji, too.

One rainy day at the seaside, we were all sitting in the RV just playing cards and talking and snacking. It was a lot of fun, but that night we decided to to see a movie in town, so we threw on raincoats and walked into the town. We had dinner in a pub and then went to the movie theatre.

We also took some day trips to places like Stonehenge and Windsor where Mark showed me where the Queen lives when she's at Windsor Castle.

We also went to Stratford-On-Avon, where Shakespeare was born, and saw a Shakespeare play. Romeo and Juliet.

"I thought Shakespeare was English," Emma whispered. "I don't think they're speaking English. I don't understand them!"

"They're speaking Old English," Mark said.

Emma sat back, looked at me and rolled her eyes. We both giggled.

In London, Mark took me to High Tea at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. It was very fancy. But a lot of fun.

He also took me to Abbey Road where the Beatles took a photo for their album 'Abbey Road', and he showed me where the studio was. We also went to Notting Hill, which was basically just a neighborhood.

I was having such an amazing time with Mark and his family. I wished I could stay forever, but I also missed Mom and Dad.