Chapter 6 - THE LEGAL DOCUMENTSBack in our wedding suite, the yellow envelope sat open between us on the bed.
I picked up the legal document and began to read. My eyes scanned the official court letterhead from West Virginia, tracing the dates, the witness testimonies, and the coroner's reports.
My heart hammered against my ribs as the pieces of a nightmare finally locked together.
"They aren't my children, Johnny," Emily whispered, tears finally spilling over her lashes as she touched her scarred shoulder. "They were my younger brothers and sister. Johnny was nine. Paul was seven. Lily was five."
I looked up from the papers, staring at her in stunned silence.
"Six years ago," Emily continued, her voice shaking violently, "our family home caught fire in the middle of the night. A faulty space heater in the hallway. The flames blocked the stairs instantly. My parents... they didn't make it out of the master bedroom."
She closed her eyes, reliving the horror.
"I was nineteen. I broke through the bedroom window from the outside. I managed to pull Johnny, Paul, and Lily out of the burning nursery through the smoke. But when I went back in for the twins... the roof collapsed."
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She gestured blindly to the massive, horrific burn scars twisting across her chest and back.
"The hospital bills, the skin grafts, the months of surgeries... and then the state wanted to separate my siblings and put them into the foster system. To keep them together, to pay for their clothes, their schooling, and a roof over their heads, I took every housekeeping job I could find. Every dollar I earned went to their guardians in West Virginia."
