Reborn to be Queen Luna

Seven

After a delicious dinner of expensive steak and wine, Birdie made her way back to the hotel room of Mr. Richards had insisted on paying for her.

“Now that was some good meat,” her wolf said.

“And you were saying it was a waste of money.”

“I was wrong. From now on, we eat expensive and delicious meat only.”

Birdie turned the television on to see what was happening around the world. By this time in her last life, she was imprisoned in the cellar with no awareness of the outside world.

Too bad all the news channels were covering mostly bad news like wars, crime and shootings. She had no desire to watch sad news. She looked for a channel with a movie.

“A nice rom-com ought to put me to sleep,” she thought.

In the morning, a persistent knock on her door woke her up. Birdie covered her head and pretended she could not hear it. The uninvited individual, however, persisted until she grudgingly left her bed and opened the door.

“What?” she grumbled.

“Mr. Richards is expecting you.” A body guard said.

Birdie shut the door in his face. She was still exhausted. This was the first good night's sleep she had had in so long. The bed was so warm, soft, fluffy and comfortable that she hated to leave it.

She looked at the clock on the bedside table. It was at nine o’clock in the morning.

It was time for Adam to receive his second dose of medicine. She took a quick shower and a body guard at the door let her into the door.

She found a chipper Ms. Richards hummed and arranged flowers in the room. All signs of stress were gone from her face. She was a short, tiny, blonde-haired woman. Her size made Birdie wonder how she handled the large, tall, scary-looking husband of hers.

When she saw Birdie, she ran and hugged her like a long lost relative, “good morning my dear.” She said.

“Um,… good morning.” Birdie said hesitantly. She had not expected the hug, or the strength of the woman giving it. She really had way too much energy for a tiny person.

“Adam just ate a whole bowl of porridge. Can you believe it?” she asked.

“I can Mrs. Richards. He is now healed, so he has the appetite of any young growing boy out there.”

“Call me Sue.” Mrs. Richards said. “My name is Sue.”

“Okay.” Birdie nodded. “Can I go in and see him now?”

“I will lead you in.” Mrs. Richards held Birdie's hand like they were best friends and took her to Adam. Her husband was sitting by Adam’s side and they were watching cartoons on television.

The machines were gone and the bedding had been changed. The young dirty blonde-haired boy was laughing. His face had some color to it unlike yesterday when he was pale white.

Mr. Richards smiled and welcomed Birdie happily. “We have been waiting for you,” he said as he stepped down from the bed.

“I am sorry I am late. I overslept.” She explained.

“That’s not a problem, my dear. I am sure you need your rest” he said.

She could not believe that the same man who had threatened her yesterday was now calling her dear.

“I am going to check on Adam and give him some medicine.” She said.

“Yes, yes. Please do.” He said eagerly.

Birdie asked Sue to get a cup of water where the medicine was to be added. When she received it, she poured the glucose water solution she had mixed into it and fed it to Adam. Her heart was beating fast because she was worried that Mr. Richards, who was watching her like a hawk, would decide to test the medicine. Thankfully, he did not. Rather, he appeared to be immensely gratified at the sight of his son drinking the miracle medicine.

“Just one more dose and he will be at one hundred percent.” She told the two hovering parents.

“It’s sweet,” Adam said.

“Ha-ha-ha...” Birdie laughed awkwardly. “That means your taste buds are working fine again.”

The parents laughed as well and Birdie sighed with relief.

“That’s very good news,” Sue said.

“I want to eat chicken for lunch,” Adam grinned.

The family of three looked at Birdie. She was the doctor in the room after all. It was up to her to decide what diet he should be on for a while during recovery.

“He can eat chicken. All his body functions are functioning normally. In fact, he can get out of bed right now if he wishes.”

“Really?” Adam jumped out of bed immediately. His legs were shaking and his father reached out to steady him.

“Careful baby.” His mother said.

“I can walk now, dad. I can go to school and play baseball.” Adam mentioned all the things he wished to do that he had missed out on in the two years of his sickness.

“Thank you so much.” Sue hugged Birdie. “You have no idea what you have done for us.”

“Yes, we are forever indebted to you.” Her husband added.

“That’s why we have a decision as a family.” They looked at each other nervously, “If you are open to it, we would love to adopt you.”

“Huh.” Birdie was in shock.

“Yes my dear.” Sue held her hands. “Richard has told me about you and how you lost your mother and sister. Apparently, your stepsister recently married your fiancé and your mother is not good to you. You have no family left. We want to be your family.”

Birdie was still in shock and standing frozen in the same place.

“I want a big sister,” Adam said.

“Would you be willing to be Adam’s big sister?” Sue asked.

Birdie knew that a part of them was probably being selfish in asking her this. They probably wanted her around permanently if Adam relapsed.

“It’s for all of our benefit. To be honest, part of us wants to tie you to our family permanently for Adam’s sake. But we have only one child. We have aged and cannot have another child, so adopting you will be a good thing for us as well. We will love you the way a real family should,” Richard explained.

His men had really done extensive research on her. Birdie could not believe how much they had uncovered. The only missing information was the shifter bit of her life.

A little hand pulled on her dress and brought her back to the present.

“I don’t know,” Birdie said.

Family was a complicated word to her. Her own blood had rejected her, beaten her, imprisoned her, starved her and killed her. How could she trust complete strangers?

“Should we give you some time to think about it? Sue asked softly.

“They don’t seem to be bad people. We are going to need a lot of help if we are to build your kingdom. The man can be of help financially.” Her wolf judged.

“But they are strangers. They could betray us at any moment.”

“They are desperate to protect their child. They won’t betray you because they need you.”

Birdie looked at the Richards family's hopeful gazes. “I have secrets,” She said. “How can I trust you to keep my secrets?” she asked.

“I don’t think you have more secrets than I do.” Mr. Richards said.

“No, I am pretty sure my secrets tramp yours.”

“Then we can all tell each other about our little secrets as time goes by,” Sue said.

“I intend to stay and build a new life for myself here in Midrand city.”

“So do we.” Mr. Richards said.

“I am pregnant.” She blurted.

The Richards looked at each other and smiled.

“Our little family is going to get bigger, it seems,” Sue said with a broad smile. She loved children and it pained her that she was only able to have one.

Birdie could not understand why nothing seemed to faze these people.

“I have the paperwork ready. Say yes and we can be family before the day is over.” Mr. Richards declared.

“We are going to need them. If they are sincere, we get a new family. If they are not, we walk away from them. We can tell them about being shifters later on when we are sure they can be trusted.” Her wolf said.

It was true that she needed the right connections financially if she was to grow her empire. Family means relying on each other. They all had a reason to rely on each other. And it was true that she had no family left that mattered apart from her children. Being a billionaire’s daughter couldn’t possibly hurt her. In fact, it would open doors for her.

“Where do I sign?” Birdie shrugged.