Saturday
"Your siblings have gone berserk." Maisie says, in a very serious tone.
"What do you mean?" I am very confused already.
"Well I don't know how as I've already talked to Jess and she's talked to Vincent, but they've somehow found out that you didn't let Jess and Vincent stay here and they've reported you to the police for unlawful eviction as they claim your parents still own the house and therefore it would go to Sade, which isn't true as the house almost immediately went into foreclosure with no claims on it for years. They're coming into the community so they can 'get it back.'"
I suddenly feel a little less tense and just annoyed.
"What a waste of police resources. I'm not entertaining them, I'm not even going to look at them." I get up and go to Donovan's room and see three ugly, obnoxious cars pulling into my driveway, or attempting to.
Dacre gets me on call, leaves the house and asks them what they're doing, trying to get into the property and they're explain the situation and he says that they need to go to the police station if they want this issue resolved.
Donovan leaves to go somewhere and I stay in his room. He doesn't seem too bothered by me right now. I guess he can tell that everyone, including a very pregnant Maisie who will shout at him, is tense.
I can hear people in the general area and I look out of the window again and see some police officers coming to the Shepherd's house and I hide under a blanket on Donovan's bed. Well I don't hide, I just cover my whole body so I don't even have to see the officers.
I really hate the police.
Somebody comes upstairs and knocks on the door gently.
"Come in." I say from under the sheets and whoever is there, does so.
"Hey love, this is officer O'Shea and Carter is here too." Maisie says and I stir.
"You promise?" I ask.
"She wouldn't lie about me Gia, you know that. Just everything else." I laugh when Carter says and I sit up.
"Nice to meet you officer O'Shea." I say and she greets me back.
"Hello Giana, I need to take your statement and see proof of your deed. I do have to do this at the station though." I close my eyes for a second and wish that I wasn't here right now.
"Do I have to?" Even though I know the answer.
"Yes, unfortunately you do, Chief Franklin requested your presence in particular." That piques my interest.
I get up and go downstairs and put my shoes on, that Dacre kindly left for me, and Carter and O'Shea follow me. "Chief James Francis, the profiler?"
"Yes the one and only." Carter says. "She loves him and although she typically resists any sort of law enforcement or authority outside our family, she loves profiling and he is sort of a legendary profiler."
"I read about how people don't understand why he just works for Alevana Police Department now. They say he could be making good money if he had remained at the FBI. I realise that must be true but anyone who reads about him would learn enough to know that right here is his home. My home is his home. He truly is one of the greatest people I've learnt about in my lifetime and that's saying something because he's a police officer." We get into the car after I take one of Donovan's jackets to wear.
"You don't like the police?" O'Shea asks and I shake my head.
"I've not had very good experiences with them. Before Carter and his family took me in, I'd suffered a great ordeal at the hands of police officers. Some who didn't believe I was being abused and some believing that I wouldn't amount to anymore than I am. People like your mom." I say the last part quietly but I'm pretty sure she heard.
"My mother wasn't the best police officer, or mother. She's in jail now." She looks desolate and I realise that I'm lucky that her mother never ever committed a crime against me. I couldn't even imagine having a mother like that. I did have an aunt like that but never a mother. "I am sorry for how she treated you, she would come home talking about you and I knew that she was a bad woman."
"It's not your fault, it never was." I respond and she smiles at me and nods.
We finally get there and I start to feel a little bit shaky as I realise my siblings are going to be in there and Carter stands next to me and O'Shea walks in front of us and opens the doors for us and I wait in a waiting room with my eyes down at the floor.
A person clears the throat and with no hesitation I look up.
All of my siblings stare back at me. Every single one of them is here and it makes me a little sick.
I cross my legs and stare at my nails, suddenly uninterested. Why should I care about them?
"Gia!" Courtney and Lola say as they entered the room and they sit next to me. "Did you hear about Howlett?"
"No, you know she's not in school anymore, let's tell her." Courtney says and someone from aside the room scoffs.
"Dropout. As expected." Sade says as she rolls her eyes.
"She's an early graduate actually. Valedictorian." Lola turns back to me and they both tell me all about how Howlett and Miss Solan are in a relationship and how he wants me and Donovan to be at the engagement.
"I mean didn't we say that they were together? I knew we were right." I say and they nod.
"Don't be so humble. That was all of you. You're a profiler in the making." Lola says and winks at me and we all laugh.
Arthur walks in, kisses Courtney on the cheek and then waves his folder around.
"Gave it to Carter and he told me, hold onto the folder, dad won't be happy if you give that away." His mimicking of his dad makes me laugh at how accurate it is when we all get called to a conference room. I take a deep breath and we all walk towards it.