Four

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"Morning." I greeted everyone who was sitting in the kitchen. Eleanor was serving breakfast for Madi and Liam, who looked half asleep but almost ready to go to school. James was sitting there drinking a cup of coffee looking more awake than his kids and fully ready for work.

"Good morning, Nathaniel." Eleanor greets me, smiling softly at me. I think there were a few brief moments that she couldn't believe the day before wasn't a dream, I could see it in her eyes. "Would you like some breakfast?"

"Yes please." I take a seat at the only seat left on the kitchen island in between Madison and Liam, thinking Eleanor as she slides me a plate of whatever she had made for breakfast.

"I forgot to ask last night, are there any foods you don't eat?" Eleanor asks, getting a notebook to write it all down.

"Well, I'm not fussy but since Ev is allergic to seafood and mushrooms I choose not to eat them." I mentally shudder at the memories of her being diagnosed. She hadn't really tried those foods until she was seven or eight so there was no way to know she was allergic to them. So when she was suddenly itchy everywhere and having trouble breathing, soon after that she fainted and everyone was terrified. Azariah rushed her to the hospital and after that no seafood or mushroom was brought back into both the Soleil and Rozzi households.

"Elijah is allergic to both of those two, Em is only allergic to the sea food and Ezra to the mushrooms." Madi pipes up, going through the conversation. I nodded in response, grateful that there won't be any of those in the house, and they should be trained if a situation were to happen and I weren't there. Hopefully, though, that never happened.

I sat at the island watching Liam scramble to finish some sort of homework and Madi try to find her tennis shoes. This felt like a normal family, but I wasn't used to a normal family. When my dad was still alive it was normally just the two of us. We had chefs to make them breakfast or we went to a cafe. And I always knew where everything was. I had housekeepers cleaning up after me if he ever left anything lying around.

"Nathaniel, you and Everleigh are coming with me and Lily to the school now so we can sign you in. We were told you have all your forms?"

"Yes, I'll get them out just now." She nods urging Liam and Madi to get ready faster so they can leave. When they were finally done, I followed them out the door, having grabbed my folder for the school. On the Taylor property Gabriel and Emmeline were sitting ready by the car just talking to one another waiting for Madi and Liam to go with them. I spot Rory playing football, or as they call it soccer with Ezra and Eli. Growing up it was a sport to play with our friends. Even though she hadn't ever played it competitively she was pretty good at it, shocking both the quads.

"I thought you said you have never played." Ezra pants, pushing the blonde curls out of his now red face.

"I said I've never played on a team." Rory corrects. "I play with my friends and cousins all the time."

Spotting me coming she gives me a full blown grin, passing the ball to me and I take the chance to show off a little before tossing it back. I didn't play on the team either but if I wanted to keep up with some of my friends I had to learn a few tricks.

"So you play." Ezra accuses me and stares unbelievingly when I shake my head. "If neither of you play then why are you on the same level of varsity team players who practise like hours a week?"

"Because we're competitive and don't like losing, especially not to our friends." I shrug, we couldn't help. It wasn't that we didn't like losing, but we always like to try one hundred percent for everything we do and if we find interest in something we learn about it.

"What sports do you do competitively?" Eli asks curiously.

"I do boxing and a couple other martial arts as well as polo, sometimes basketball."

"Dance as well as a couple equestrian events, I also do martial arts with Nate." Ella says with a gleam in her eyes, she loved dance and was exceptional at it and she also loved horse riding from the day she was introduced to it. And we had been trained in martial arts since we had been taken and it seemed like a good idea to keep training in them.

"Is there anything you can't do?" Eli asks jokingly.

"Yes, read." Ella answers making it sound like she's joking. Ella has always struggled with reading due to her having dyslexia but she's gotten better at learning to cope with it throughout the years with a ton of help from Azariah.

"Don't worry I can hardly read either." Ezra shrugs. "Come on, let's go."

I hang back a second with Ella as the others grab their bags. "Morning, baby." I whisper pulling her into an innocent hug. She smiles at me and I take her in for a second. "You look beautiful." She did, it wasn't her normal outfits, but something simpler so she could blend in here better, and even though she normally would not wear this she still made it look like she wore it all the time.

"I don't know," she says assessing her outfit as we walk to the car. "I kind of miss the lace, and corsets and chiffon."

"You look beautiful in everything but it's okay to want to stick tot he clothes you personally prefer." I tell her and she looks at me for a second before I see it sinking in. She was her own biggest critic and she didn't feel as comfortable or confident in clothing that wasn't her usual style, clothing was a big thing for her and now she was thrown into the depend only because she feels like she can't dress the way she's used to.

"Thanks, Lex." She whispers, getting the words I never actually said out loud and then climbs into the car.

We piled into two cars, Rory and I were stuck in one car with Lily, Ezra, Eli and Gray while the others went with Eleanor. Grayson sat at the front, Ezra sat right in the back row of seats with all the school bags. Rory sat in between Eli and I leaning her head on my shoulder while going through emails and messages on her phone.

"You are allowed to use the police gym right?" Eli asks on the drive, making me nod. "It's over there, everyone is so jealous because they have the best equipment and trainers, supposedly they are sponsored by some big government project. Why did you guys get in anyway?"

"Our adoptive fathers were police in a branch of the British government. They had done quite a couple things to help the American government and they were awarded with certain perks and when they passed they transferred to us." Ella explains. That was half the truth anyway, we did get a lot of perks off favours our dads had done for different governments.

"That's awesome." Ezra exclaims, "This kid's enthusiasm should be contagious". "Have you ever held a gun?"

"Yeah." Ella laughs at his enthusiasm, not telling him we both had two or three on us right now. "But there are so many better options for the low calibre guns you can find on the street especially in America."

We didn't believe that killing people was the best solution, sure there were people who deserved to die but there were so many better options.

The mind was a powerful thing, it could be your greatest strength or your worst enemy, and we were good at turning people's brains on themselves while they rotted away in a small jail cell.

Lilliana finally turned into the parking lot of a brick building.

"You guys go to school here?" Ella asks hopping out of the car and sliding sunglasses on taking in everything. "It looks like what you see in movies." She tilts her head to the right slightly, taking in everything.

"What did your school look like, Hogwarts?" Ezra snorts.

"I mean, a little." Ella shrugs not noticing the shock on the other two's faces.

Our eyes take in everything happening around us. It was filled to the brim with students. The school wasn't only for one two but for three of them so it was pretty big. The school we went to didn't have this many people and it went from preschool all the way to upper six and this was only from fourteen years to eighteen years old.

"This is a lot different than RCA." Ella speculates quietly so that only I could hear. All the others go to their classes and we follow Lilliana and Eleanor to the office.

"New challenge?" I offer back softly, this is a lot harder on her than it is on me. I can handle school, I like learning, Ella on the other hand struggles with crowds, and reading and paying attention even though she has an IQ higher than most people combined. "Come on, my love. You can do this and if you can't then I'll help you."

"Promise." She asks me to hold out her pinky which I hook mine through easily.

"Promise."

We stop in front of the front desk where the mothers are talking to the receptionist who smiles at us warmly.

"Well haven't you both grown up beautiful?" The older lady smiles. "I'm Mrs Chester, I knew you both when you were babies."

Ella twists her fingers anxiously but smiles at the older lady.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs Chester."


"Isn't your accent adorable?" She comments. "Well dears, I need your letters from your old school, a form of identification and then we are going to do some tests to see where you are."

Noting Ella wasn't going to say anything I spoke up. "Do you have any support for learning disabilities?"

"Do you have a learning disability?" She asks, typing on her computer.

"No, Everleigh does. We have all her diagnosis and all her occupational therapist notes." She takes them reading through the notes.

"You have both dyslexia and ADHD?" She asks Elle to which she confirms. "What did you old school used to do?"

"I was in a specialised class but I think I should be fine to go into normal classes. I just want the teacher to be made aware I struggle to read out loud, especially, and prefer audios of the text books if possible. And if I have a copy of the syllabus to go through it first on my own ahead of time."

"That can definitely be arranged." Mrs Chester smiles. "What were your classes like? We have been wanting to expand our resources for learning disabilities."

"I only had seven other kids in my class and all our work was unique to us so we didn't have to follow the pace of everyone else. We had a lot of interactive lessons, like projects and experiments."

"And are you in those classes?"

"No, I was mainstream. I wish I was in the E.L.P." I sigh, my classes were interactive and pretty fun but nowhere the level of Rory's.

'Well here we are, it seems like your old school is so quick to send you information. Wow, you went to a very elite school didn't you?"

"Yeah." Elle draws out not really bringing attention to the fact. We weren't hiding the fact we grew up wealthy but we didn't want to make it seem like we were showing off.

"Well here you go, dears. We are going to need to answer this packet. If you want dear we can have a teacher sit with you and read out the work."

"I think I'll be fine but if I'm struggling I'll let you know, thank you."

<><><>

Because of Ella and I's birthday we were in the same school year which I found great. "That wasn't so bad." I nudged Ella when we handed in our work. We had flown through it, purposely getting a couple wrong to stay at the level we wanted to be at.

"That's because we were doing that work at nine and ten."She points out. "Maybe even before."

Only Eleanor was waiting for us when we returned, Lilliana nowhere in sight. She stands up and smiles at us, handing us each a file, Ella's much larger than mine was.

"Those are the syllabuses and I think there are also flash sticks with the audio copies of the textbooks." We thanked her and the receptionist, following her to her car. "Do you two want to come with me to run a few errands around town or would you like me to drop you back at the house first?"

"We don't mind tagging along, if you don't mind." I answer for the two of us, we needed to learn more of the layout of the town. "We have a couple things to get we weren't able to bring."

"Of course I don't mind." She smiles and I can tell she really meant it, for the both of us. Ella slid into the seat behind me when I took the passenger seat. "What do you need so I know what shops to stop at?"

"Do you have a fabric shop nearby, if you don't it's fine?" Ella questions, sewing for her was therapeutic, something she found solace in after we were saved. It was something she had never done before and she found it freeing, a reminder of sorts.

"There's actually one right around the corner, we can stop there first." She announces taking us to right where she said. I can already see Ella pretty much bouncing in her seat as we make it to the store. I open the door for her. Holding her hand as we go into the store. Her eyes take in the rolls of fabrics, touching the ones she likes to see if she likes the texture.

When we were saved besides the normal nightmares and PTSD I never had lasting problems. Ella on the other hand struggles with things like food and textures of her clothes. She used to throw fits sometimes when wearing her school uniforms because she hated how they felt. This went on for a couple weeks of her wearing the only one she liked on repeat until Azariah got some tailors in slightly different softer fabrics with no seams that touch her. It's what helped her get into sewing in the first place, that way she could make outfits that she personally liked.

"You seem like you've been material shopping with her a lot."

"Millions of times." I told my biological mother. "Her dad used to take her but when he passed I did, or we used to go shopping together. We used to drive up to London and go to these massive shops like one a month. She got fabric and new sewing stuff and I got art supplies and other things like wood for making models."


"What type of models?"


"Buildings, my dad enrolled me in architecture classes and I loved it so I do it more now."

"Do you want to do that when you're older?"

I already am. I think to myself. "That and computer engineering."

"I had something I wanted to talk to you about before I asked Everleigh." She had my full attention, but I also kept one eye on Ella just in case, watching her pick out and cut fabrics. "She mentioned this morning that she likes ballet. A friend from church's daughter has a studio and she takes classes, mainly for younger girls but does older classes in the evenings and early mornings. Do you think it's something she's interested in?"

My heart softened a little, this woman clearly cared about everyone around her, not only the three children she raised but all the Taylor children and Ella and I. Anyone who looks after Ella genuinely has my respect.

"I think she'd really like it, she loves dancing. I'll bring it up with her." I smile and watch Ella walk towards us with a bag in her hand.

"I could have paid for you sweetheart." Eleanor frowns but I shake my head.

"Don't worry, not to sound spoilt or anything but the family I, or we were adopted into both have more money than the average family and since we were only children we inherited a sizeable amount. We get a stipend each month that we never finish and it builds ups, we both have more than enough."

She didn't like anyone paying for her, besides maybe me and that's only if I hassle her. She never pays for anything on our dates despite us having more or less the same amount of money, and most of it coming from the same company.

"I don't want you using up that money for your future." Eleanor narrows her eyes at the two of us. That wouldn't be a problem, our companies could vanish tomorrow and I would have enough money to live in luxury for the rest of my life. I buckle my seat belt as Eleanor starts the car

"My father was a pilot mainly private for high end clients. He earned an extremely high salary and since it was the two of us we never paid many bills other than living expenses and school. He saved more than half his salary for me and he also had a pretty big trust fund he never touched from his own parents."

"I thought he was a cop?" She questions trying to catch her out or something.

"He stopped a while after he adopted me. He was in the military with Nate's father when they turned eighteen and a couple of years later we were invited for their positions as cops. They were part of the team who rescued us from the awful situation we were in. He decided to take flying back up more when he adopted me."

"He sounds lovely." She nodded but it wasn't completely genuine.

"Azariah was an amazing father to Ev, and Adriano to me. We were truly blessed with who we were given to." I agree.

She glances at the two of us. "Do you two mind if we stopped at my shop first or would you rather me drop you at home?"

"We don't mind waiting a bit longer." I shrugs, unbothered. "What do you do?"

"I'm a florist, I own a flower shop." She smiles evidently very proud of her business. That didn't surprise me, her garden was gorgeous and full of flowers I knew were harder to grow.

"So that's where you get your green fingers from." Ella teases and I just roll my eyes at her.

"You garden, Nathaniel." Eleanor asks surprised and I just shrug.

"A little, I did it more a couple of years ago before we moved to the city."

"He's being humble, after we were adopted her started a garden and he had all these gorgeous flowers and everyday he used to make me bouquets." Ella explains ecstatically with a twinkle in her eye that takes away all embarrassment of the situation. I had done it for her and she loved it so no one else opinion mattered.

"How old were you when you were adopted?" She was trying to get to know us, or specifically me but she wouldn't get much out of me so she's fishing it out of Rory.

"I was seven, Nate was eight."

We finally pulled up to her shop. I left my seat quickly and opened Rory's door for her, pulling her into me and wrapping an arm around her shoulders as we walked into Eleanor's florist, just behind her.

"Your shop is gorgeous." Ella compliments her genuinely, meaning every word, as we take a seat on a small couch in her office. She smiles at my flattery, leaving the office to go sort out some of her business leaving Ella and I completely alone since the first time we arrived.


She lays her head on my lap and immediately my hands start playing with the strands of hair around her face. Her eyes closed, revelling in my touch. She was feeling overwhelmed, this was a lot for

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