“We’re home! This is where we live!”

Mika and Mellissa put their suitcases down on the floor and looked at their new house. It was a house with no upstairs; everything was on one floor. The living room opened up to the kitchen and eating area, with a hallway on the left and right-hand sides for the bedrooms. The kitchen sliding door opened up to a nice, wide backyard with a playground- Charles had wanted to include something special for his little ones. There were still plenty of boxes that needed unpacking- Charles hadn’t had time to do them all before the trip to Florida.

“Have you always lived here?” Melissa asked.

“Well, Madeline and I used to live in an apartment, but we moved here so we could have more space. You and Mika have a room to share, and Madeline is in the room across from you,” Charles said.

Madeline wasn’t sure if she liked that. Their old apartment had only had one bedroom, and she felt more safe if her Daddy was nearby. What if having her own room meant she couldn’t sleep in Daddy’s bed anymore when she had a bad dream?

“Aww, sweet! We’ve got our own playground in the backyard! I’m gonna go play!” Mika yelled.

“No you’re not!” Melissa replied.

“Why not?”

“Because you’re it!” Melissa shouted, tagging him.

“Hey! No fair!” Mika yelled, laughing.

Charles smiled as he watched his two new children run around the backyard. He felt so proud of himself! The first sounds of little feet and happy children warmed him nicely. Suddenly, he realized Madeline had been strangely quiet all day. “Madeline? Don’t you wanna go play with your new brother and sister?” he asked.

But Madeline didn’t feel like doing that at all. She was sitting in the living room corner, sulking.

“Madeline? Is something wrong?” Charles asked.

“Go ‘way, Daddy,” Madeline growled.

Charles was worried. This wasn’t like his little one at all! “Madeline, you can tell me anything,” he said. “Can you tell Daddy what’s the matter?”

“I said go ‘way, Daddy!” Madeline said, angrily. Clearly she was not in a mood to be spoken with.

“Okay…I’ll be unpacking in there,” Charles replied, pointing to the right. “I hope you feel better, okay sweetie?” He gingerly left the room, hoping to get to talk to her more later.

Madeline was feeling mad, and sad. But mostly mad. She knew having a big brother and sister would be a big change, but not like this! True, she hadn’t had to move far away, or lose any friends- Mrs. Valerie lived on the same road, so she was closer to her friends now than before. But she still didn’t like having so many new things so quickly. It felt like Mika and Melissa’s fault somehow, even if she knew that wasn’t really true. What if that meant she couldn’t be a good sister? What if Daddy wouldn’t have enough time for her?

The sliding door opened, and Mika ran right in, tracking a bit of dirt as he went. “I’ll be right back! I’m just gonna grab my cellphone!” Seeing Madeline sitting in the corner, he asked, “Hey Madeline, wanna come play with us?”

Madeline grabbed her knees, and pretended not to hear anything.
“Sis? Is everything okay?”

When Madeline still didn’t say anything, Mika suddenly realized what was wrong. “Aww, I know. It’s not easy to move to a new place, huh?”

Madeline was surprised! “Howd’ja know?”

“I’d do the same thing when I had to move to a new foster home,” Mika replied.

“What’sa foster home?”

“It’s a kind of house where you stay when your real Mommy and Daddy can’t take care of you,” Mika explained.

Madeline was curious. “My other Mommy and Daddy couldn’t take care of me either,” she said. “What happened to yours?”

Mika looked a little sad, and simply said, “They left.”

Madeline didn’t understand. “Left where?”

Mika sighed and replied “They just left me at a bus stop when I was a baby and that was it. I’ve never known anything else.”

Now Madeline felt sad. She certainly knew what it was like to be left behind by people who were supposed to take care of you.

“I’m sorry. My other Daddy and Mommy did something like that.”

“What was that?”

“Daddy said they left me behind after they hurt someone with a knife.” She let it go at that.

“You’re real lucky. Melissa an’ me never had a house to stay in. Every time we did, the grown-ups would say we’d stay there forever, and later it’d turn out to be a big fib,” Mika said, sadly. “They’d be too busy, or they’d say they didn’t want kids after all.”

Poor Mika and Melissa! Madeline knew what it was like for grown-ups to not love their own children. She gave Mika a great big hug. “I want you, ” she said.

“Aww, thank you,” Mika said. There was one last question he wanted to ask. “Madeline? You’ve known our Dad for a long time, right?” Mika said, sounding worried.
“Ever since I was borned,” Madeline replied.

“….He wouldn’t ever give a kid away, would he?” Mika mumbled. A big part of him was scared that since a lot of people had given him away after saying he could stay, Charles would too.

“No! My Daddy never breaks a promise, and he loves you too much! Besides, I’d cry lots an’ lots, and good Daddies don’t make little sisters cry, do they?”

That made Mika feel very happy. Happy enough that he felt something trickle in his eye.
“Are you cryin’?” Madeline asked.

“Heheh, uh no, I gotted somethin’ in my eye, that’s all,” Mika replied.

Madeline gave Mika a smile. “Can I come and play with you an’ Melissa now?”