The Lavender Butterfly

Chapter 46

“What is that delicious smell?” I thought to myself as I opened my eyes. Morning had come, as I looked and saw the sunlight poking in through the curtains. I gave myself a nice stretch as I looked around and found that Allie wasn’t in the room. I poked my head out of the bedroom door and smelled that someone was cooking breakfast. I walked downstairs and walked into the kitchen. “Mom!” I cried as I saw that Meredith and the girls were all cooking pancakes for us all to eat. “Good morning, sweetie!” Meredith said cheerfully. I rushed her and gave her a big hug. At that moment I remembered how much I enjoyed seeing her bright-eyed happy face greeting me every morning, and how much I had missed it over the past couple weeks. Allie smiled at me and offered me a plate. “Good morning, Olivia! We made pancakes for you! Do you want yours plain, chocolate chip, or blueberry?” she said to me. “Mmm….blueberry,” I replied. Amaya stepped in and flipped some blueberry pancakes on my plate. “Here you go Olivia!” she said spiritedly. “Thank you!” I replied kindly. I sat down with my plate and began to eat when Molly walked into the room. “Hey, good morning, Olivia! How did you sleep last night?” she asked. “I actually slept very well last night,” I replied. “Good, because I just got off the phone with Susan. She and Tonya from the adoption agency are going to be here at 9 A.M., so I want to make sure you are all dressed up in the next half hour, okay?” she continued. “I’ll be ready. I’ll go up and get dressed as soon as I finish eating,” I replied. As soon as I finished up, I put my dirty plate in the dishwasher and headed upstairs. As I started to strip my pajamas off, and gather up my clothes for the day, I began to think about what was going to transpire that day. I was giddy with excitement, knowing full well that I would likely be back at home, in my own bed that very night. As I looked through my clothes, I found that beautiful sun dress that Meredith and I bought on that first shopping trip we made after I became a girl. I slipped into the dress and felt so free. It reminded me of how I felt when I first tried it on back at the mall. That moment when I tried the sun dress on in that dressing room was when I started to fall in love with my new body. I looked in the mirror again and thought to myself how happy I felt. I was going to return home to a familiar place and see many familiar faces as well. Only now it was going to be completely different. I was now going to face my old life as a 13-year-old girl. Strangely, I wasn’t nervous about it. I already had accepted my new identity, and I was excited to go back home and start my new life. As I was posing and admiring myself in the mirror, Allie walked in and smiled. “You look so gorgeous in that dress,” she said to me. “Thanks! This dress is one of the first things that Meredith ever bought for me,” I replied. “Nice, that looks really good on you!” she said to me. She walked over to her dresser and pulled a gift bag out of the drawer. “Here Olivia, I got you something as a going away present. I hope you like it!” she said thoughtfully as she handed it to me. I opened it up and saw two framed pictures. Both picture frames had a picture of Allie and I sitting next to the backyard pool smiling. It was a wonderful picture of both of us. “I got one for you and one for me,” she said. I started to cry softly. “Thank you, Allie, I love it,” I said happily. “I wanted to give you something, so you don’t forget about me,” she said. “Allie, you know I won’t forget about you, but you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to put this picture right next to bed, just so I can see your smiling face every time I wake up in the morning,” I said. “You’re so sweet, Olivia. I think I’m going to do the same thing. I…..I’m going to miss you so much,” she said as she hugged me warmly. “I’m going to miss you too, Allie,” I replied. I was truly lucky to have met her, and at that moment, I felt truly lucky that she was my best friend. “Well, I guess it’s time to face the moment of truth,” I said nervously. “Don’t worry, you’ll do great,” Allie said reassuringly. “Thanks, Allie,” I said with a smile. As I walked back downstairs, I felt really nervous. I was worried that I was going to mess this whole thing up, and I was going to have to stay here, and Meredith would be going home empty handed. And then, I would likely never see her again. “I’m not going to go and screw this thing up,” I thought to myself. As I made my way down to the foyer, Meredith greeted me with a huge hug. “That’s the dress we picked out at the mall! I still can’t get over how beautiful you look in it!” she exclaimed vociferously. Her voice echoed in the foyer. “Yeah, I know. It does look good on me,” I replied listlessly. “What’s wrong, Olivia?” she said to me, concerned. “I…..I’m just really nervous that I’m somehow going to mess this up…” I replied sheepishly. “You’re not going to mess this up, I promise. Plus, I’ve got most of the legwork already taken care of. I just have to fill out a small bit of paperwork and then we will be done!” she reassured me. Just then, there was a ring of the doorbell. “There they are!” Molly chimed as she waltzed into the foyer to greet Susan and Tonya at the front door. “Hey Molly, good to see you again! How are things around here?” Tonya said warmly to Molly. “Great, we have a wonderful group of girls here, it’s going to be tough to let this one go,” Molly replied, patting my shoulders. “You must be Olivia,” Tonya said to me. “I’m with the adoption agency that Meredith has been working with. And I believe you have already met Susan here from the county. Why don’t we have a seat over here at the dining room and we’ll work through some paperwork,” she said as she laid out a manila folder with a pile of paperwork in it. “Meredith, I have some papers for you to sign here,” she said as she slid a sizable stack of papers to her. The next several minutes I was just sitting at the table bored. I was thinking to myself that this was a lot easier than when Meredith and I closed on our house a couple of years back, when we had to sign a novel’s worth of forms and paperwork. It was a lot easier for me this time around, as I really didn’t have to do anything. While Meredith was finishing up on her forms, Molly turned her attention to me. “Susan has told me a lot about you. She filled me in on your background on the way over here. Looking at your file, we have your birth certificate now, but Susan hasn’t been able to pull any information about the foster care sites you have lived in,” she said. “Oh no, she’s onto me,” I thought to myself. “I understand that you probably don’t feel comfortable talking about it, but it says here that your biological parents perished in a car crash back in Michigan when you were an infant. I’m curious, what has happened between then and now? We don’t have any documentation of you between then and now,” she continued. “I…. don’t really know. I’ve been in and out of foster homes for the past few years. I don’t really remember much before that,” I said somberly. There was a long pause. I think she was waiting for me to say something, but nothing else came out. I didn’t have anything to say. “Olivia, I’m going to ask you a question. You don’t have to answer it if you don’t feel comfortable, but have you been involved in any human trafficking operations that you know of?” she asked. I didn’t know how to answer that question, but that explanation actually made a lot of sense, considering that I was, allegedly, off the radar for the majority of my life. I looked at the floor uncomfortably as I answered shakily, “I….I don’t…….I don’t really want to talk about it…” Meredith leaned over me and wrapped her arms around me, comforting me. “I see,” Tonya said, as she reached into her messenger bag. She pulled out some pamphlets and handed them to me. “Here are some booklets, and you don’t have to look at them if you don’t want to, but in them are some resources for survivors of human trafficking. There is also a support phone number inside that you can call anonymously 24/7. If you feel like you need to talk to anybody about your past, that number is a good place to start,” she said. I briefly looked through the pamphlets and looked back at Tonya. “Thank you,” I said. “Okay,” she continued, writing into another form. “Okay, almost done. Meredith has filled out all the necessary paperwork,” she said, as she flipped through a few more pages. “Olivia, do you wish to retain your old name, or, as Meredith is your new adoptive parent, would you prefer to take her name?” she asked. “Her name,” I said as I smiled at Meredith. She returned the smile. “Okay,” Tonya said as she finished filling out the form. “Miss Olivia Marie Parker, by the powers vested in me by the State of Florida, I hereby place you in the custody of Miss Meredith Erin Parker,” Tonya said with a smile on her face. Meredith and I embraced each other in celebration. “I love you mom!” I said. “I love you too, sweetie,” Meredith replied. Tonya and Susan looked at us adoringly. “This is my favorite part of my job,” Tonya said happily. Meredith and I walked to the other side of the table and took turns hugging Tonya and Susan. “Thank you both for everything,” Meredith said to them. “I wish you two a very happy life together, take care!” Susan said as she and Tonya headed out the door. Molly got up from the table and gave me a big hug. “I’m so happy for you, girl!” she said excitedly. “I’m going to go get the girls,” she said as she walked into the living room. In just mere seconds, Allie, Lauren, and Amaya paraded into the dining room. “Is it official?” Lauren asked. “It’s official,” I replied with a sly smile. The girls mobbed me cheering. “Okay girls let’s leave Olivia and Meredith alone for awhile so they can get ready,” Lauren said, as she and the girls went back into the living room. “Well….” I said to Meredith, both of us now alone in the room. “….it’s official. What should we do now?” Meredith looked at me with a smile as she said, “Pack your bags. We’ve got a plane to catch!"