A normal family life (or is it?)

Chapter 1

Sitting on the stairs at home, I jump as my boyfriend's daughter Skye runs up and sits on my knee.

"Skye, let go, you're too old to sit on my knee!" I shout at her.

"Sorry Mum" She whimpers.

"Was there any need for that?" My boyfriend Danny shouts at me.

"I guess not" I mumbled.

Skye calls me "Mum" but she's aware I'm not her birth Mum. Her real "Mum" couldn't care less about her so I've basically taken on the role of Mum since Skye was four years old and she's now almost eight years old. I've got no idea why her Mum had her if she didn't want her. Skye's pretty much lived here all her life because although Danny and Stephanie share joint custody of Skye at the moment, we have her to stay with us almost every day and I'm in the process of adopting Skye. I wouldn't change my life at all, not even in the slightest. I never imagined I'd be a "parent" to Danny's daughter though.

Suddenly, the door goes and I stood up to answer it. I opened it and saw It was Stephanie, who's probably come back for round two.

"What do you want?" I snapped at her.

"Skye" She replied bluntly pushing past me.

"She doesn't want to see you!" I shouted.

"Right, come along Skye. Say bye to your Dad and T" Stephanie told Skye.

"Please Mum?" Skye begged me.

"You heard her, she doesn't want to go with you!" I screamed at Stephanie.

"She calls you Mum?" Stephanie laughed.

"Yeah, I'm more of a Mother to that little girl than you'll ever be so why don't you take your bottle of vodka and just piss off?!" I raged at her in anger.

"She's MY child! There is nothing you can do to stop me taking her!" Stephanie yelled at me.

"No, T might not be able to stop you but I can!" Danny threatened her.

"I'd like to see you try!" Stephanie sneered.

"Mum? Dad?" Skye cried.

"It's alright babe, Stephanie's just leaving" I smiled.

"Yeah, with Skye!" She snorted.

"Dan, take Skye's hand" I told him.

"OK" Danny replied, as he walked up and took Skye's hand.

"Right you, I suggest you leave now! Skye's going to be my daughter soon and there's nothing you can do about it!" I shouted at Stephanie.

"Not if I refuse to co-operate she won't be. You're not taking my child away from me, I won't let you, do you understand?" Stephanie warned me.

"Watch us!" I laughed.

"I'm sorry to inform you but this has nothing to do with you! This is just between me and Danny so why don't you go play with your barbies?" She added.

I'd had enough by this point so I slapped Stephanie across the face in temper. I know it's probably mucked up our adoption of Skye but this woman who claims to be Skye's "Mum" couldn't care less about that poor child! She's only here to cause trouble.

"Yeah nice one T!" Danny screamed at me.

"I'm sorry Danny but she deserved that! Who is it who's brought Skye up for the last four years, eh? Not you Stephanie, that's for sure! You've done NOTHING for Skye over the last four years. Even for the first four years you had her for, you probably never looked after her! Your sort aren't made to be parents, well do you know what? Me and Skye have our moments but I will protect that beautiful girl until the death of me! I'm surprised that poor child even recognises who you are to be honest! You're quite happy to palm her off on me and Danny because you want to go partying aren't you? I don't think you realise being a parent is a full time job do you? You can try and stop me adopting Skye all you like but I WILL go through with it! Maybe hitting you has mucked up my chances but I'd do it all over again in a second! You've been asking for that for four years and it felt amazing to finally do it" I raged at her.

"T I think that's enough now yeah?" Danny advised, stepping in and shutting the door.

"I'm sorry but she deserved that!" I whispered, as he pulled me in for a cuddle.

"I know, I can see where you were coming from but that's probably mucked our chances of adoption up. There's no way they'll let you adopt Skye if they think you're violent" Danny sighed.

"What else was I supposed to do?" I asked him.

"Walk away and ignore her" Danny smiled.

"Mum?" Skye asked me.

"Yes babe?" I replied.

"Will you still be allowed to adopt me?" Skye questioned me.

"Hopefully the courts will see that incident was a one off and I'm not a violent person" I reassured her.

"OK" Skye grinned before running off.

"What if I can't adopt her? What if that one slap has screwed everything up?" I feared.

"T, you can't think like that" Danny comforted me.

"It might have Dan. I love Skye to pieces and I'd do anything for her" I sobbed.

"Yeah and anyone can see that you've been more of a mother to her than her real one ever will be" He stated.

"I know" I answered, nodding my head.

I went for a lie down whilst Danny entertained Skye. I hate the thought of anything mucking up the adoption. We've done most of it, we just need consent from Stephanie agreeing that I can adopt Skye and we'll never get that. She's never agreed to this and she never will. Even though her and Danny are no longer together, she's never given up hope that they might reunite. I need to find a way to get Stephanie to accept that she's lost and allow me to adopt Skye, but how?