A fresh breeze cools my skin and fills my nose with an earthy smell when I step out of the motel room. What a difference from the drier, warmer air in my hometown. Mierda! There's another eight hour drive before we make it to this cabin.

"Are you ready?" Estel asks from behind me.

I shrug.

"Is that your answer for everything?"

"It works."

"Not a morning person?"

"Used to be," I say pausing to decide if I'm going to explain or not. "Once I was out on the streets, I had to sleep whenever it was cooler."

"How did you survive?"

"Lucky?" 

She squints at me.

"There were a few people willing to help me at first learn what I needed to know. Most of the time I could feel when danger was near." I shrug.  "Never tried to figure out why, I just was thankful for it."

"Could you feel danger before your adoptive parents died?"

"A little, I guess, but I'm not sure." I look to the horizon that's growing more defined by light bouncing off of clouds creating oranges and pinks. "Maybe I didn't really pay attention to all of those types of feelings before Mom and Dad died."

She tilts her head and presses her lips together. A lone car smothers the silence. We load the car to leave for the next leg of the journey.

We get to a nice cabin near a clearing, way off of the main road. I can't even describe the smell, because it's something I've never experienced before.

We go up a small set of stairs and enter, seeing a whole group of people sitting around eating dinner. It looks and smells amazing - tomato sauce and garlic wafting through the room; but I'm too overwhelmed to try and sit down, so I have Estel show me to my room upstairs. At the top of the stairs, there are doors into four separate rooms. The two on the right are already taken. One of the doors, on the side where my room is, is closed, so I figure she is either downstairs or doesn't want to be bothered. The last room is mine, and Estel asks if I want a tour of the cabin. I ask if I could get a tour later because I am tired - which I am, but I'm not ready to face so many new people at once. She agrees and leaves me to myself.

Closing the door, I hope no one will bother me. That thought doesn't last longer than about thirty minutes, before someone is knocking on the door. The person on the other side seems sweet by the way she is talking to me through the door, but I don't want to be bothered. She apparently doesn't take the hint, and the smell of food on the other side makes my stomach win out. Reluctantly I open the door, and I'm greeted by a girl with light brown hair and unusual gray eyes. She introduces herself as Tallulah. The name seems familiar to me, but I don't know why. She's nice enough and sits quietly while I start eating. Relief floods me when she starts talking. A silent room and someone watching me eat is unsettling, I had too many of these situations growing up.

She tries to engage me in small talk, but I'm not sure about her - you never know who's a threat. She talks about her hometown in East Tennessee. Getting the surprise of her life, she comes here after she is told she is adopted and informed about her biological parents. When she talks about not knowing she was adopted until about a month ago, it doesn't surprise me that I wasn't the only one to receive such news. My experience with learning that I was adopted spills out of my mouth. My anger builds so quickly that I actually show it outwardly. When I look towards Tally, wide eyes greet me. No breath leaves her lungs for a second, until I apologize.

Once she recovers, she mentions the Westlin surname. Recognition dawns on me - she's one of my cousins. I finally get to meet some of my birth family.

"So, our other cousin is Tanner Orson. He is a very happy person who's eager to meet his cousins. Very umm... umm... " She pauses and scratches her nose. Odd. "He's very enthusiastic. Maybe like one of those battery toys that won't shut off."

I laugh, actually laugh.

"Oh, I didn't mean that in a negative way. I've just never been around someone for an extended amount of time who's so energetic. My best friend, Danny, is energetic, I guess you could say. He's something of a risk-taker and likes to find new adventures. I'm not ready to take all the risks he does, so he mostly goes with his guy friends." Did she even breathe when she said that?

Ah, she talks about this Danny guy a lot. Interesting.

She continues to talk about what was happening in her hometown, and her few friends - especially Danny. Her talk of friendship reminds me of Meghan and Tyler. They were my best friends growing up. When the State took me, I never saw them again. I wonder what's happened to them.

Her chuckle interrupts the quiet that has fallen. "Are you ready to meet Tanner?"

I shake my head in a negative answer.

"You'll meet him sooner rather than later. Maybe he won't be so energetic this time of night."

Her hopefully expression breaks my resolve. Although, I'm doubtful I'm ready for such a happy person. Tally seems to be a happy person but not overly so. I want to decline, but I just can't seem to tell Tally "no". There's just something about her that creates a tiny hole in my walls. She's like a cute bunny. That's it, I'll give her the nickname of conejito, which is Spanish for little bunny. I smile again, but I wipe it off my face before Tally sees it.

However, I still don't want to socialize and be forced to answer questions, but I'm going to have to get used to being around so many people - so why not. We go back down to the first level where there is a living room, dining room, kitchen and a room off to the side. We continue down into a lower level where several rooms are set up. A group of teens are hanging out around the pool table, and some are huddled on couches playing a video game. Tally scans the room, then walks toward a dark blond-haired guy, only a few inches taller than me. He beams when he sees her. That kind of smile might actually be nice to get. He waves her over to where he's talking to another guy. They start a conversation, and the room begins to close in on me. I have to get out of here, so I rush up to my room.

Only a few minutes later, someone is knocking on my door. Tally and the blond-haired guy are standing on the other side.

"Sorry, Mick," Tally says looking down.

"It's completely my fault. I'm Tanner."

I discover he is a member of a large family where all of the children are adopted, seven in total. He seems to survive in chaos I can't imagine. His family lives in Sage, Florida. I inwardly smile at the odd names of the towns we live in: Avens, Sage, and Applewine. Maybe we'll be as unique as their names.

Refocusing on Tanner, he talks about his disciplined but happy upbringing. It makes me slightly jealous of both of my cousins getting to live their entire lives with loving families, but it isn't their fault what happened to me.

According to Estel, the Elders of the islands decided it was too much of a risk for any of the cousins to live near each other. There is another set of cousins here. The only two that have lived in close proximity to each other ended up dating, and for some reason, she was living with his family before they came here. No one really tells me the reason, and I'm not sure they know the reason either.

For the rest of the night, we just chat about trivial things. They seem to not want me to feel uncomfortable, and I appreciate their effort. They want to form a family bond based on our shared stories about our birth parents, our common jobs; if you want to call it that, and the same blood that runs through all three of our veins.

It is a fresh start for me to have a family with my blood cousins. Family that maybe I can rely on and have the unconditional love people usually have from family; excluding my Aunt Angie and my uncle's wife.

___________________________________________

[A/N]:

Mierda (Spanish) meaning shit or crap

(https://www.rypeapp.com/blog/spanish-swear-words/)