Chosen Child Read Online Free PDF

check.
    ‘You’ll send her home sick as a dog,’ Rick said the night
before, when Ella told him the proposed afternoon tea menu.
    ‘I won’t. And her first visit’s an occasion. We must have
something special and Mel said these were her favourites.’
    Ella laid out the new plastic place mats she’d bought. It
was starting to become real, this thought that Soraya could become their
daughter. Liz had put the match in for approval by the adoption panel, and
until this came through Soraya would continue to know them as her ‘visitors’.
They had seen her twice in her foster home now, and there was no reason to
think the panel would reject their application; as Liz said, it was a match
made in heaven. The anticipation of motherhood was the sharpest pleasure Ella
had ever experienced. It was so special, so exciting – did women who were
pregnant feel the same way? She turned back to the clock for the zillionth
time. Soon, soon, Soraya would be here.
    They knew more about the little girl’s history now and it
had made Ella cry. The mother was a heroin addict, and although she remained
clean for most of the pregnancy she’d made some very poor choices afterwards,
and Soraya’s grandmother was given custody. Unfortunately, the older woman’s
partner hadn’t tolerated the presence of a baby, and Soraya was put in the
first of her foster homes well before her first birthday. Ella felt ill just
thinking about it. Poor Soraya had never been in a stable home for longer than
a few months at a time; she would never have learned to love and trust.
Changing that wouldn’t be easy, and what it all meant for the little girl’s
development was something they still had to find out.
    The landline in the hall trilled out and Ella hurried
through. Surely Rick wasn’t going to be late… But no, it was her mother. ‘Hi,
Mum, how’s the Yorkshire air?’
    ‘Funny you should ask that, darling – we’re about to swap it
for some Western Isles air. One of those last minute trips. We’re leaving
tomorrow morning.’
    Ella grinned to herself. Retirement had given her parents a
new lease of life – it was here, there and everywhere nowadays. And quite right
too. ‘Sounds good. Which island are you going to?’
    ‘Taransay and Lewis, then we’re coming home via Aberdeen to
give us the chance to catch up with Rowena for a few days. Nothing’ll happen
about the adoption while we’re away, will it? Mobile reception might be a bit
dicey in the Hebrides.’
    ‘Liz is hoping for a favourable report from the adoption
panel next week, but we’ll still be doing visits for a while. Soraya’s coming
this afternoon. Mum, it’s so amazing!’
    ‘I can’t wait to meet her and I’ll cross my fingers very
hard it all works out quickly for you. Have a fabulous time.’
    Ella put the phone down feeling warmed, but irritation
flooded through her when she saw the time – quarter to two already. Rick should
have been here fifteen minutes ago. He had grumbled about the visit being on a
Friday, but Soraya was going away for the weekend with her foster family.
School had broken up for half-term yesterday, so this was the ideal day.
    Determinedly not thinking about Rick’s lateness, Ella
wandered outside. The kitchen door at the side of the house led out to a
generous garden – plenty of room here to put up a swing set or a net for
badminton. A Wendy house? It was an idea, but maybe the best thing was to wait
until the adoption was approved, and then include Soraya in the new plans. Ella
pictured them going to the garden centre to choose a swing; a family of three,
and oh, she had waited so long for this. They could grow veg, too – nothing
like carrots straight from the garden to encourage kids to eat their five a
day. Ella smiled, then grimaced. For all she knew, Soraya could be the biggest
veggie-fan on the planet. There was so much they didn’t know about her.
    Ella slumped as the shivery anticipation gave way to a wave
of something like