Finding Adelina

4

**ADELINA**

Half an hour later I'm in a first class seat, between my parents, nestled in a thick blanket with my seat reclined. We're in a box, of sorts, which ensures that no one can see us and that we can't see anybody.

"You can go to sleep, honey. It's about an eight hour flight, so we'll get home at about five p.m." My mother tells me.

"But it's one o'clock now."

"There's a time difference." She says, smiling. "America is five hours behind the U.K."

"Oh." I whisper. "Right."

The tiredness comes back to me again, so I turn on my side, my body facing my father, and close my eyes, leaning my head on the arm rest.

**ZOEY**

I smile at my sleeping daughter. She's fallen asleep within a minute, her head on the rest between her and her father, who glances at her, his gaze softening as it lingers on her.

I grin at him. "She's back."

He looks over at me, smiling too. "Mhm," he says softly. Adelina stretches her arm out, resting her hand on her dads knee, completely unconscious. She falls asleep very fast.

"I can't believe they never told us about her narcolepsy." I mumble, keeping my voice quiet so I don't wake Adelina up.

"At least now we know." He responds, his voice the same volume as mine.

I nod. "Did Layla reply yet?"

He shakes his head. "No. I think she's still upset."

"I thought she'd be happy."

He sighs.

I look down at Adelina again, frowning. "I don't want her to make her feel.. I don't know, unwelcome."

"She won't." He assures me. "I've already warned her."

I nod, his words bringing me a small bit of reassurance. "I hope they all get along well." I look up at him. "We can go on days out, every weekend when they're not in school. And we can take her shopping, too, since she didn't get to choose anything yesterday before she got tired."

He smiles faintly. "Let's just let her settle in first. She can start school after Spring Break. We can take her to the doctor, and find out more about what we need to do for her narcolepsy."

"Yeah, I can book an appointment with a specialist." I offer.

     He nods.

     Adelina stirs, and we both snap our heads down to her. She takes her hand off her dads knee and turns around so she's facing the ceiling of the plane, squeezing onto the blanket that's covering her.

     I smile again.

**

Adelina wakes up about an hour later, when a flight attendant comes with drinks. She rubs the tiredness from her deep blue eyes, sitting up, and smiles as she takes a coke from the woman. I take a glass of champagne, and my husband takes a water.

Adelina sits up, sipping on her coke, and glances warily at us.

"Did you sleep okay, honey?" I ask her.

She nods.

"How are you feeling?" I question.