Trust Me

Home Is Where the Heart Is

"Seventeen." I answered, and she nodded, smiling a little. 

"I have a son who is seventeen." she said, and I looked over at her. 

"I didn't know there was anyone else...." I said warily, realizing I should have assumed that it wouldn't be just be me. 

"Well, technically he isn't my son. We have four fostered kids, and two of my own." she said, keeping her eyes on the road. I felt my DEFCON levels kick up a couple notches.  

"There are six other people?" I asked her, and she nodded. 

"Well, seven including my husband." she explained, and I looked away. It was a whole family of them. This was going to be so much worse than I had expected.  

About twenty minutes later we pulled off the main road, onto a long winding dirt road, taking us up and away from the city, though I guessed I could probably walk back into the city in about an hour or so. Just in case. I paid close attention as we moved through the woods on either side of the road, mapping things out so I knew where I was.  

As it turns out, it wasn't even a road. 

It was a really long driveway, leading up the biggest gall darn house I'd ever seen. 

It was massive, with white columns supporting the roof over a porch that stretched the length of the house. The massive, meadow like yard was edged with massive gardens with flowers I didn't even know existed, and a large out building stood along the back edge, so far away that I almost missed it. Large windows took up much of the surface of the walls, going three stories up, and there were quaint little window boxes under most of them. At the top of the porch steps was a double door, painted white with stained glass windows.  

I slowly stepped out of the car onto the gravel driveway, gripping the strap of my backpack tightly as I gazed up at the massive house. Jake and used to look at houses like these and make up stories for the people who lived in them when we were younger. 

Maria came and stood next to me. 

"It's...big." I muttered, and she chuckled. "Yes, we have lots of space." she said, then gestured for me to follow her. Sweeping the area with my gaze once more, I followed her, my boots crunching on the gravel. I looked in awe as we passed a bubbling fountain, right there in the center of the driveway. It all seemed a bit...excessive. 

But if I thought the outside was extravagant, the inside was even worse. 

Well, worse isn't exactly the right term. It was amazing, a high soaring ceiling, a staircase right next to the door that went up, then stopped at a large landing with a wall made of glass, then took an abrupt turn and continued up to the third story. The wide boards of the hard wood floor shined, and didn't even squeak under my feet. A hall stretched away before me, with several doors of different sizes branching off into separate rooms. The faint smell of cinnamon and something else trailed under my nose. 

Maria smiled at me. "Do you like it?" she asked, and I resisted the urge to turn around and run away. This was all too good to be true. I didn't trust it. I managed a weak nod, and she smiled wider, then went over to this white thing on the wall and pressed a small black button. I almost expected someone(ninjas?) to pop out or something like that, but instead it just beeped and she started speaking into it. 

"Guys, come down to the living room! I want you to meet Quinn!" she said cheerfully, and a collection of groans came from the little box, or rather, the intercom, if you're using fancy terms. This place was so big that it needed an intercom. 

"Follow me, and after you're all introduced, we'll show to your room." She said, smiling back at me and gesturing for me to follow her.  

We walked all the way down the long, long hallway, which opened up at the end into a living room that was ten times bigger than any place I had ever lived before. Massive, black leather sofas were connected together in a sort of horse shoe way around a large wooden coffee table, a TV that deserved its own gravitational pull was positioned on the wall, and several fancy pants paintings hung on the walls. The floor was covered in a lush, off white carpet, and my boots left marks in it. One side of the room was just a massive shelf that held mostly movies, but also some books, vases, and various other items.