Groff-Miranda/Miranda-Groff

Forty Four

*Cici's P.O.V*

April 22nd.
Six days before my seventeenth birthday.
Two weeks that I spend in my aunt's house, wishing more and more that my life was different. Or over.
"Morena?" My aunt calls, knocking on the door.
"STOP!" I shout. I can't take it anymore. I have two memories of my parents, and in them my father is calling me morena. She can't steal my papai's name for me. "Just stop! I am not your morena, I am not your daughter. I will never love you like you love me. I'm sorry, but I can't. I have a family. And to me, you will always be the woman who took me away from them. I'm sorry."
My aunt stood in the doorway, looking at me with an emotion that I couldn't describe. I couldn't tell if it was sadness, or if she was angry, or disappointed. I didn't know.
She sat down on the edge of my bed.
"Do you really feel so bad?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper. "Am I really that evil to you?"
I closed my eyes, nodding slightly. "I know I'm your niece, I know I'm your brother's daughter, but I fell in love with these people, Tia. I'm sorry."
"I wanted to help. I thought I could help you if I could bring you closer to your family." She whispered. "Losing your father was the worst thing that ever happened to me. He was my big brother, he moved to New York to be closer to me and our mom, and the next moment we were putting up missing signs at Ground Zero."
I swallowed. "I know."
My aunt stood up and left the room for a moment. She returned with papers.
"If I sign these I can bring you back to your family. The adoption process will pick up from where it left off. Should I sign them?"
"It's your decision."
She tilted her head up to the ceiling, eyes closed. I knew she was looking for guidance and for God. I took her hand.
"When they asked me if I'd like to be adopted, my Rosary fell out of my pocket, and I lost it. I found it later on the ground by Lin and Vanessa's room." I said. "Whenever I tell people, they dismiss it as a coincidence, or they say that the baby or dog moved it. But I know it was a sign."
"When I got here I lost my Rosary. I still haven't found it. I know that I had it with me, but I can't find it anywhere."
My aunt bowed her head, signing the cross on her body.
"Our Lord gave you to me for two weeks, and I can hear my brother. I see him in you, and I can hear him begging me to send you back." My aunt murmured, sound barely escaping her lips. "Hand me the pen."
I exhaled a shaky breath while she signed a number of papers. I read them all carefully once she finished scanning them.
"Go get in the car. We have to go to the courthouse, and then we'll come back here and you can pack." My aunt said. "If were approved, I can bring you home."
I hugged her. For the first time since I met her, I felt enough love to hug her and day thank you.
"My papai, he loved you. I know it. I can feel his love here, and I know he loved you."
My aunt smiled and kissed my forehead. "Please promise me that you'll call me at least once a month. I'm still your Tia."
"Of course I will. You are still my family."
And she was. Maybe I didn't love her as much as I love Lin and Jon and Vanessa and Gabe and WestRose, and everyone else, but I did love her. She is my family.

{A/N: Really crappy. So, this is pretty spiritual, but I wrote it that way so that you guys could see how big of a part that is to Cici. It's really important in her life. Thank you all so much for reading this, my goodness. We're almost at 2.5K, which I know isn't much for all of you author's reading this, but it matters to me. xxAv}