Mistaken: The Lost Heiress

Dinner with Gramma

{Adelynn’s POV}

“It’s so lovely..” I said softly, looking up at her.

“What’s wrong honey?” She asked, walking in, lying the dress down on the counter.

I turned back, looking into the mirror. “I was just looking at myself. I’ve lost a lot of weight.. after the incident I didn’t eat for a while. I went through a bad depression, especially since I can’t walk. I was hoping that my legs would have healed up by now. Yet, I’m still in this chair, and I look so sick..” I said, turning back to look at her. “The doctors keep saying that I’ll be able to walk again, but I still can’t even move my toes..” Tears slipped from my eyes before I even knew I was crying. I reached up, wiping them away before plastering on a soft smile. “It’ll all be okay though.. they’re in prison.. and I’m going to walk again.”

She rushed to my side, pulling me into a hug. “I’m so sorry honey..” she cried, her arms holding me tightly. “It’ll be okay, we can take you to see better doctors, to see if there is anything else they can do!” She said, pulling back to look at me.

“I can’t ask that of you. I just said that I didn’t want anything from you all, I only want to get to know you!” I replied, shaking my head at the suggestion.

“Please, I know that you don’t want anything from us! Just let us take you to see the doctor at least!” She smiled.

I sighed, thinking for a moment, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to get a second opinion. “Alright, but I want to pay for it!” I answered.

“Whatever you want Adelynn!” She smiled, walking over and grabbing the dress from the counter. “Let me help get you dressed and I’ll fix your hair. Then we’ll go eat some dinner!” She smiled.

She did exactly that, helping me into the dress, I was surprised when it fit like a glove. She then pulled my hair from its braid and brushed it out, grabbing a curling iron, and curling it all. I reached up, grabbing a curl and twirling it in my hand. “It looks so pretty..” I said, looking over my hair. My legs were still in their big clunky black braces, and my back brace stretched up under my dress.

“You’re a beautiful young woman!” She smiled, putting up the iron and grabbing my other clothes. “I’m going to wash these for you, and I’ll get you some comfy pajamas after dinner.”

“Thank you..” I said softly. She nodded and opened the door motioning me to follow her out.

Once we made it into the kitchen my father was standing at the counter with his phone in his hand. He smiled when I wheeled in, “You look so beautiful!” He said softly, walking over and placing his hand on my shoulder. “You look exactly like your mom when she was younger! We’ll have to pull out the family album and show you!”

“She really does look exactly like mom..” Theodore said, smiling at me from the doorway.

“Thank you..” I said softly, looking down at my hands.

Liam walked up behind me, grabbing my chair and pushing me into the dining room. He had moved a chair out for me, and slid my wheelchair up to the table. “There you go, right between Theo and gramma!” He smiled down at me.

Everyone settled into their seats, beginning to make up their plates. Theodore helped me get some of everything, before setting my plate down in front of me. “Thank you Theodore..” I smiled softly at him.

“Call me Theo!” He smiled. “And it’s no problem.” He said, fixing up his own plate.

Suddenly a loud thud interrupted our conversation, as the front door swung open and shut. An older woman walked in, she was wearing a black pantsuit, and had her arms filled with bags. Her hair was shoulder length, grey and curly, and her eyes were the same forest green as mine. She was short, only not as short as me, she was about 5’4, and kind of chunky. “You will not believe what happened today!” She started, setting her bags down on the kitchen counter. She turned around, finally looking at the table, her eyes landing on me. “Oh.. who is..” she started, looking over me. I watched it click in her head as her eyes scanned over me.

“Mama.. this is a lot to explain.. but she’s our daughter. There was a mixup at the hospital all those years ago, this is our birth daughter Adelynn.” My mother said, walking over to the woman, and placing her hands on her shoulders.

She looked between my mother and I, then walked over to me. She sat down in her seat reaching over and touching my face softly. “She looks just like you did when you were her age Maria..” she said, cupping my face gently in her hands.

“Hello..” I said softly, smiling at her.

“Oh honey, you’re too thin! You need to eat!” She said, pointing down at my plate.

“Mama, leave the poor girl be, we were just about to eat dinner!” My mother said, smiling over at me. “Everyone dig in! Adelynn helped me make it!”

I smiled and took a bite, it was amazing! We all ate our fill, I could barely finish half of what was on my plate. Once everyone was done my mother and grandmother helped me get ready for bed, taking me to a bedroom on the first floor. “Alright, try to get some rest sweetie!” My grandmother said, leaning down and kissing my head.

“I will, thank you all..” I said softly.

My mother walked over, helping me get into bed, and get comfortable. “Goodnight honey, we’ll see you in the morning.” She smiled, kissing my forehead, before she turned walking out of the room, and turning off the light.

I laid unmoving for what felt like an eternity, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get comfortable. I just couldn’t fall asleep, I decided that since I couldn’t sleep, I’d go out and see if anyone else was still awake. I turned, grabbing the edge of my chair sliding it up beside the bed. I carefully moved over to it, making my way back out towards the living room. As I made it into the kitchen I noticed that the light in the living room was on. I rolled my way towards it, but stopped when I heard my grandmother talking about me.

“What happened to her legs, Maria?” My grandmother asked, her voice soft, but full of emotion.

“It was.. the man that raised her. The couple that raised her.. they were abusive.. and when she tried to leave, he did that to her.” My father said, anger pouring into each word.

“You mean.. it wasn’t an accident, or she wasn’t born like that? Someone purposely did that to her?” Sebastian yelled.

“Yes.. the man that raised her caught her trying to leave.. he threw her down the stairs..” my father said, choking back a sob.

I heard slight movement behind me, and turned to see Theodore. I gasped and covered my mouth. “You know, it’s impolite to eavesdrop.” He said, a small smile on his face.

I looked up at him. “Sorry.. I heard them talking, and I was going to go in.. but they were talking about me. So I was about to try to go back to bed.” I whispered softly.

“Alright.. let me help..” he smiled, grabbing my chair.

I held up my hand and wheeled myself away slightly. “I can do it on my own, it’s difficult, but I need to make sure I can take care of myself.” I replied, smiling up to him. “Thank you though, goodnight Theo.” I said, before wheeling back towards my room.

“Goodnight Adelynn.” He smiled back, before turning and making his way into the living room.