A New Cullen Sister

Chapter 13

"Was she abused?" asked Carlisle of Ms Colgan, Amelia's social worker. He was on the phone with her as soon as they arrived home.

"She had some rough homes, yes. I suspect one or two of them may have been abusive. I asked her more than once about them, but she refused to say anything. I arranged for her to speak to a child psychologist but even she couldn't get anything from her. I asked the other children who stayed with those foster families if they had any abusive incidences with them, but they reported nothing, although one little boy remembers Amelia being hit repeatedly after she got sick on the floor of her bedroom. She was six at the time and made the boy promise not to tell anyone. I had those families removed from our care list. Amelia is sicker than most of the kids that get fostered, and in my experience, foster parents get frustrated far easier with those kids, but it's still not an excuse to abuse a child," sighed Ms Colgan unhappily.

"Thank you, Ms Colgan," said Carlisle, struggling to keep a lid on his emotions. For a generally calm and collected man with legendary control, he was pretty riled up. Esme put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Carlisle took a deep breath.

"The paperwork has arrived and is being processed as we speak. It might take longer than we thought because of the backlog, so I have put a rush on it because of Amelia's state of health. In the interim, you are officially her foster parents so she doesn't need to return to the group home when she gets back to Seattle. Please could you give me a call when you have her home?"

"I'll be in touch about that, right now we just want to bring her home. What about consent and the like? Should anything happen to her now, we still need to get hold of you for permission to proceed with surgery or similar, like last week, correct?"

"As of half an hour ago, both you and Mrs Cullen assumed full legal rights over Amelia. I also took a look at the ages of your other children – with all of them being over 18 now, except for Renesmee, they have been granted a degree of responsibility. Amelia's situation is unique, so I have afforded them the right to give consent in the event that you and Mrs Cullen are not able to be reached, with the understanding that you will be there as soon as possible to formalise consent. A Ms Samantha Jenkins was also added to that list, I believe she's Amelia's nurse."

"Thank you."

"I've made a note of this on the system so there shouldn't be any problems."

They chatted for a little while longer, before hanging up the phone.

"So do we confront her about the abuse, or hope one day she tells us?" queried Esme.

"I really don't know. I don't want her to think that we are rethinking the adoption, but I also don't want her thinking we are mad at her for hiding this from us. But I honestly think that she thought that I was going to hurt her after she got sick."

"Are you upset about that?"

"Definitely not. It's a natural reaction after extensive abuse."

"I hate to think that someone hurt our baby girl like that," cried Esme. Carlisle took his wife in his arms.

"I know just the thing to cheer Amelia up," he said with a smile.

---

A very unhappy-looking Amelia greeted them in the early hours of the morning. She looked like she hadn't slept much, and Samantha had confirmed their suspicions. Amelia's dreams had been filled with nightmares of her past. Samantha had gotten desperate enough to call Esme after the teen had awoken screaming for the third time. It was close on 4.30am and the exhaustion was etched on her face. Amelia generally shied away from affection, hugging only when given a hug, but this time she launched herself into Esme's arms with a strength that neither Esme nor Carlisle knew she possessed. Samantha had made her some tea and now Esme was coaxing her into drinking it.