Page 182 of Nocere

"Yes." She leaned back and returned to holding my hands. I allowed myself to slowly grow used to the affection from this stranger who was also my sister.

"You look like our grandmother. And she was the best person in the world."

Juni chuckled and sniffled at the same time. "Do you have pictures of her?"

"I do. Want to see?"

She agreed and scooted closer when I moved toward the nightstand. I pulled open the bottom drawer and lifted out my old, and only, printed photo album and scrapbook before setting it in her lap.

"This looks ancient."

"It is. I got to keep it after she died, and I carried it with me to all my foster placements and group homes." I opened it and we set it in our laps.

Juni leaned her head on my shoulder while we slowly flipped through the pages. Her smile, almost dreamy when coupled with her teary eyes, remained steadfast as she learned about our family.

"She liked to cook?" she asked.

"Yes. She taught me some things. As best you can teach an eight-year-old. See how you look like her?" I pointed at a picture of our grandmother whose up-do and blue eyes mirrored Juni's.

"A little. Look how cute you were. I think Sebastian looks a little like you with all that platinum hair." She chuckled while pointing at one of my photos from when I was about three.

"I can see that a little."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure…"

"I don't want to sound rude, I want to understand. How come Rebecca didn't adopt you after all that time?"

"At first, they wouldn't even let her foster me. They said she was too young, had a dangerous job, wouldn't be around enough, and some other stuff. Then they said because she had another child in the house and I needed a therapeutic foster home. But I kept running away from group homes and other placements to see her. She wasn't even officially my foster mother for a long time, but she kept applying. Eventually when I turned seventeen, they finally let her. I aged out at eighteen, but we were already a family by then so nothing changed."

"Did she try to adopt you later on as an adult?"

I nodded while fiddling with the edges of the crumpled page. "I told her I didn't want her to. I didn't want to ruin what we had. I still feel that way. She became my legal guardian though. I wanted her to make decisions for me when I couldn't."

"You have a lovely family. I'm glad you have Rebecca."

"Me too. And I'm glad you got adopted by a good family. It soothes my heart." I flipped the page to a collage of baby pictures of myself.

Juni started and held the page down before I could turn it. "Wait. Look." She pointed at one of the images. "That's me."

"It is?" My brows lifted as I inspected the photo a little closer. I'd looked at it for years and always assumed it was just one of mine at a different stage of development. Juni pulled out her own photos and placed it down beside the one in the album.

"Look. I have a freckle here." She poked at her cheek then at the picture. "You don't. It's the same as this one."

"I never noticed that." My smile broadened despite my sniffling. "I've had you in here this whole time."

When we got to the end of the book, with pictures of me a little older, Juni held out the rest of the photos she had. "Let's put these in here, too."

"But...then you won't have them."

"I have digital scans. This way, all of our family pictures are together."

I pulled back the plastic covering on the page and watched as she carefully placed the photos. "Can we make copies of them all so we both have this album?"

"I'd like that," she said, her tears gone though the bright shimmer in her eyes remained. "I'm grateful to have found you, Rosie. And I'm sorry for all you've been through."

"I have a good life," I said, clearing my throat when the hoarseness took over. "A lot of people have it worse than me. I knew that I was loved. By Grandma, Rebecca, my friends, and Samirah. I have all of that, Juni. You don't have to be sorry."

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