Chapter Four

They did not know what to do with her, they both had families of their own and their wives were not so keen on having this little cuckoo in their nests. For her part Melody sensed her 'good' life was over after she heard the brothers discussing her and her hopes were raised when they mentioned Boarding School. She would not mind that she thought, she loved school and anything was better than the limbo she had been left in.                                                                                                                                         She had not been able to grieve for Henry and Anna, things had moved too fast from him dying to her Dementia, it appeared the couple had been hiding how bad Anna was. He had been managing her condition without help from anyone, they had decided it was better to keep it to themselves because he was coping. His death had exacerbated Anna's condition so rapidly that she lived for just six weeks in the home they had put her in. On Melody's tenth birthday, she found herself standing by the graveside of the only mother she had ever really known, her birth mother had ignored her for her first five years but Mary had given her the security and love all children deserve. Tears fell on her young cheeks as she laid the bouquet her brothers had given her on top of the coffin and her heart broke as she watched Anna laid to rest beside her beloved Henry. Her brothers held her small hands as they led her back to the car and then to her eldest house for the Wake, she was placed on a chair and petted by Anna's friends while the brothers did their duty talking to all that came.                                                Melody was frozen in her grief, she longed for someone to put their arms around her and tell her not to worry it would be alright but she knew it would not be. The voice in her head that had helped her through her darkest times was back with a vengeance,       'You must protect yourself, be prepared, something bad is coming.'                             So she kept out of the adult's way, trying to be invisible hoping they would forget about her but of course they did not, they watched her go to school and then scurry to the little room they had given her, they heard her crying herself to sleep and wanted to help. It was their wives who stopped them, saying they had enough to deal with and the situation became untenable for them when they both discovered they were pregnant again, one with her fourth child and the other with her third. There was no room in their hearts for the broken little girl, so her brothers began the arrangements for her to go to Boarding School. She was so close to her happy ending, the Boarding School they had chosen for her was impressed with the exceedingly bright little girl, who was so quiet and obedient and very beautiful that they told her brothers that they would be happy to take her.                                                                                                                       She wanted to go, she knew she would be happy there but the voice told her it was not going to happen and sure enough the Authorities arrived two days before her admittance. The two Social Workers arrived with two Police Officers, they explained to the brothers that as the adoption had not been finalised and both their parents had died Melody was now a Ward of the Courts, an orphan to be cared for by the State. They went on to explain that it would be a simple procedure to change the application into one of their names if one of them wanted to adopt her instead. Both the brothers wanted to, and they said as much to the Social Workers, who went away smiling thinking this case would be wrapped up very quickly. That night though their wives sat them down and pointed out all the responsibilities they already had and taking on this child, who hadn't anything to do with them, she was not their sister she was the child of a violent drug user who had overdosed and who knew who her father was? They explained that as she grew up these problems would manifest themselves and she would become a wild teenager who would almost certainly take drugs herself and that would mean she would steal and cause them no end of problems. Sadly the brothers listened to their wives even though Melody had never displayed any of the antisocial behaviours of her mother, even though she had been the star pupil at her school, and even though every single person who met her adored her, they believed the lies their wives told them.             The Social Workers could not believe her brother's cruelty when they rang them back the next day to call off the adoption explaining that they both had no time to care for her because of the expansion of their own families. Three days later the Social Workers returned to collect a terrified little girl with a small suitcase by her side and clutching a battered old teddy bear. She did not cry or make a fuss when they placed the rest of her cases in the back of their car and when the female Social Worker took her hand and said it was time to go she went without a murmur. She did not say goodbye or even look back over her shoulder, her back was very straight and her head held high.                The oldest of her brothers went to give her a hug he felt so guilty at what they were doing, she looked so small and fragile but his wife grabbed his elbow and shook her head, 'Don't make it any harder for her, just let her go.'                                                    Both brothers knew what they were doing was wrong and that their parents would never forgive them, it was a guilt they carried for the rest of their short lives. Within five years of their cruel act, both had succumbed to heart attacks leaving their families destitute as neither had thought to safeguard them in case this happened. Their businesses collapsed and their selfish wives found themselves out of their luxurious lifestyle and living in poverty in a place they had once described as hell on earth. Melody knew nothing of this because her life of hell was beginning again.