Chapter One

Marianna tried ignoring the knocking on the door for a few minutes and hoped it would go away, but it turned into a hard pounding. She sat up in bed and shook her husband.

"Scott! Wake up." Marianna shook her slumbering husband who snored in return. "Come on someone is pounding on the door!" 

"So? Ignore it they'll go away. Go back to sleep," her husband mumbled sleepily.

"They're not going away. Go see who it is!"

"You go. I'm trying to sleep."

"You're going to let your old, frail wife go answer the door at four in the morning? What if it's a deranged, psychotic killer?" Marianna asked half to herself and to her husband.

"Do you honestly think a deranged, psychotic killer would knock on the door first?" Scott grumbled, reluctantly waking up. "And you are not an old frail woman, woman."

"If he's deranged enough he just might," she told him insulted that he thought it was not possible.

"Woman you have officially lost your mind and you're forty. You are not old. If you were seventy I might go but you're not. So you go answer the damn door if you're so worried but I'm telling you it's probably just a bunch of kids," he told her.

"Fine but if it turns out that there is a deranged murderer on the other side and he kills me, I'm haunting you until you die," the upset woman said in a huff as she walked out the bedroom door.

"Well then let's hope he offs us both," Scott whispered loudly hoping not to wake their sleeping daughter.

Shooting him an icy glare she turned the corner and headed toward the stairs, the pounding started once again. She stared down at the big, red front door from the landing of the stairs and took a deep breath.

"Here goes," she said quietly to the dark.

She then proceeded to descend the stairs, taking them two at a time. Reaching the door, she was not sure if she should be upset someone was knocking on the door so early in the morning or concerned that someone may be hurt or worried if it really was a deranged sociopath. As she unbolted the door she took a deep and grabbed the umbrella from the stand.

"What are you going to do with that?" Scott asked his wife startling her as he sat on the bottom of the steps.

"Did you have to do that?" she asked glaring at him trying to get her heart out her throat, "I'm going to beat the killer with it that's what and I thought you were too tired to come down here. Isn't that why I'm being the man and answering the door?" Marianna whispered to her snickering husband.

Sitting there Scott looked at her, "You're going to beat a deranged, psycho killer with a nylon and one-fourth inch thick flimsy metal? Oh no don't bruise the bad man. Anyway, I figured I would come and watch the fight. I could use a good laugh right now."

Marianna reached for the doorknob wishing her husband had just stayed in bed, "Sarcasm is not needed from the peanut gallery."

"Well, I just don't see how Danni's blue ducky umbrella is going to protect you from this killer who is knocking on our door. Which I must say it is awfully polite of him instead of just breaking down the door like any other crazy person."

"Shut up Scott." She shot her husband another icy stare starting to get irritated him.

Taking another deep breath she got the umbrella ready and pulled open the door.

Puzzled she looked around. "Hello? Is anybody there? Scott, nobody is there," Marianna said exasperated.

"I told you to ignore it and they would go away but do you listen to me? Nope. You just had to come downstairs and defend your home with that umbrella. Not even the big one at that. I'm going back to bed," Scott said laughing as he stood; he was wondering how she intended to beat down a maniac.

Glaring at her husband, Marianna turned and began closing the door when she heard a faint noise coming from near her feet. She looked down and saw a basket covered by a soft, pink blanket. Stitched onto one corner was the word. No, not a word, it was a name, "Arianna". While looking at it the blanket moved slightly, Marianna jumped back startled. She most certainly was not prepared for what she saw next. She pulled the blanket to the side and there lay a beautiful baby girl. She had soft, fuzzy blonde hair and big blue eyes. Marianna picked up the baby, not knowing whom she was holding or where the darling child could have came from.

"Scott, look! Someone left their baby on our doorstep!" Marianna said excitedly and slightly bewildered.

She picked up the basket and carried everything inside. Scott, who was sitting on the bottom step again confused, took the infant from Marianna and stared into the deep, blue pools that were the child's eyes. He held the baby close and just smiled. They had been trying for so long to have another child without any luck. Could she be their miracle baby?

He was baffled at how a person could just dump such a beautiful baby off on a stranger's doorstep like this? They know they have to call social services or somebody no matter how much they didn't want to. Arianna wasn't their daughter. Not yet at least. They had her for five minutes and the girl had them under her spell already.

"Well it is already late and I am sure she is hungry and tired. Why don't you go up into the attic and pull down the old cradle and some clothes we had for Danni?" Marianna suggested as she walked, humming, into the kitchen.

Scott nodded and disappeared up the stairs never saying a word. He was a man on a mission and that mission was to search out baby stuff in their overcrowded attic.

"Well, little Arianna, how about some milk? Tomorrow we will go shopping for all kinds of goodies for you. How does that sound?" she asked lovingly to the baby who cooed in her arms.

Staring into her deep blue eyes Marianna felt warmth deep down in the pit of her stomach she had not felt in a long time and tears welled up in her eyes. She laughed as she heard the tiny baby girl giggle and coo a bit more.

"Now, I wonder how old you are. You're a tiny thing! Hey, Scott, grab the box with the bottles and stuff while you're up there!" Marianna shouted after her husband and heard a mumbling in return.

Turning her attention back to Arianna, Marianna noticed something shiny around the baby's neck that she had not seen before. She pulled it out from under the little girl's sleeper and saw it was an old, gold locket. Opening it, there were two pictures, one of a young man and the other of a woman. They were a very noble looking couple. The man had a magnificent golden crown sitting on top of his head. He was a strikingly good-looking man with thick brown hair and deep green eyes that were very serious and intense. His lips pursed together forming a smirk sort of smile. Her eyes drifted over to the woman who was just as good-looking as the man. Her crown rested delicately on her head of soft curls while piercing blue eyes stared back.

She looked at Arianna shaking her head, "Who are you? Are they your parents?"

Scott came walking into the room and Marianna handed him the locket. He took it, turning it over and over in his hands, staring at it in wonderment. It was a beautiful oval locket that had a curious design on the front, a large weeping willow with two strange creatures on either side.

"Well this is interesting, isn't it? Where did you find it?" Scott asked.

"It was around Arianna's neck. What do you make of it?"

"Perhaps they are her parents," he replied looking closely at the pictures.

"Why would they abandon their child just to leave a locket with their pictures in it?"

Marianna asked skeptically.

"Who knows Anna? Who knows?"

They smiled at each other and looked lovingly down at this child that both knew they would keep. She was placed on their doorstep for a reason and until somebody told them that reason, she would stay there. Arianna would become the newest James. They would all love and protect her as if she were their own. Their daughter had woken from her sleep due to all the noise that was coming from the downstairs.

"Mom? Dad? What on earth are you guys doing? It's so early," a sleepy, raven haired, young girl asked while slowly walking down the stairs.

While she rubbed her eyes her parents stared up smiling at her.

"Come and see Danni," Marianna said smiling at the yawning girl.

"Holy cow! Where did you get a baby from?" Danni asked suddenly wide-awake.

"She was left on our doorstep," Scott replied.

"Why would someone leave a baby on our doorstep?" Danni asked her father gazing at the girl in Marianna's arms.

"We're not sure, honey," Scott told her.

"Are we going to keep it?" she asked hoping that the baby meant she would finally have a little sister.

"She is not an it, sweetheart. She is a baby. Her name is Arianna and we're going to try,"

Marianna told her attempting to stifle a laugh.

"Arianna? How do you know?" Danni asked her mother.

"It was written on her blanket."

"Oh, okay. Is it alright to just keep a baby like that?" Danni questioned.

"Well, we don't know yet. We're going to have to make a few phone calls tomorrow to find out. Why don't you get back to bed?" Scott told her.

"Do I have to? I just got a new sister! I want to stay up with her," Danni protested.

"No, you can play with the baby tomorrow. She's getting sleepy and we're putting her to bed in a few minutes. So you scoot your butt back upstairs young lady." Marianna kissed her daughter and patted her on the bum as she headed to the steps.

She stomped up the stairs, "Okay, okay, fine. You have all the fun and I'll just go back to my boring bed."

Marianna and Scott watched, amused, as their daughter continued to stomp down the hallway and into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. Shaking their heads they turned their attentions, yet again, back to the baby at hand.

"Well, Anna." Scott tried to stifle a yawn as he looked at his wife and Arianna, "What are we going to do?"

"Can't we call Johnny and see if we can keep her?"

"Yeah, I'll call him in the morning. I'm sure there is some sort of abandonment laws we can get around. I don't see why we wouldn't be able to. We're not that old yet and we definitely have enough space for another kid."

Smiling a very contented smile Marianna headed into the kitchen to get the bottle ready for the sleepy baby. She watched Arianna happily drink the milk and close her eyes as they walked up the stairs to the bedroom. Arianna was sound asleep by time Marianna placed her in the cradle Scott had made up in front of the window. Hearing the baby sigh and settle down the couple climbed back into bed and fell asleep.