Finally home

This is my first ever short story would love a critiques thanks..


My story: Finally Home!!

You think you know but you are never really ready for when your life changes. Mary grew up in a Queenslander home north of Brisbane. She was popular at school and had two much older sisters and a brother a few years younger than her.
The day was memorable; she could even recall her uniform. It was 1982 Mary had just had her 10th birthday. She skipped her way home from school in her green dress with her school logo on the left hand side. Her hair was in two piggy tails, curling up at the ends. There were red bobby pins keeping her fridge out of her face.
"I’m home” she yelled out as she got to the creaky old front gate.
Entering the house she could smell the flowers as she opened the gate, her mother was meticulous with them, and she would spend hours arranging them. However this afternoon was different, there was a kind of tension in the air.
Her mother called her down stairs into the laundry where she was ironing her father’s work clothes.
"We need to speak" she said to her.
When her brother arrived, her mother began a story of a sister and her brother who were adopted into a loving family with 2 much older siblings when she finished she asked
"Do you know who that story is about?”
“No, I’m not sure”. Mary said.
“It’s about you and John.” Mum replied.
“But John and I aren't adopted."
"Yes you are, honey. Dad and I believed we could offer you a good loving home". She then went on to say that we were special; we were "chosen" out of love and care.
At the time the way that mum approached it made me feel so special. It wasn’t until much later that it really hit me. The catalyst for this was finding her birth parents.
For Mary, it was a desire to discover her medical history coupled with the growing understanding of her place within her adopted family. When her father died when she was thirty three it became apparent to her that her adoptive family were not as happy with her place in their lives as her parents had been and she began to see moments in hindsight in which her adopted siblings had been less than kind. Her mother had passed a few years prior to her father. With his death it was if a barrier had been removed.
Mary and her brother were alone as her sister disconnected her from the family. It was the worse feeling she had ever had. She had never felt so alone. She loved her family and when her nephew lost a leg in a car accident she cared for him in the hospital. She was devastated when on mother’s day with the family she was forced to leave due to hostility. She was bewildered.
“I started to realise how my siblings had been treating me all this time.” Mary admitted that this give her a mission to discover her birth parents.
She began tracking down her medical history and from here her curiosity grew. Through the Department of Community Services NSW Mary gained an authority letter so allowing her to obtain her real birth certificate. “I was shocked when I found out I had a new name and identity I never knew about. I was born as Anne-Marie Andrews instead of my adopted name of Mary Smith.”
As much as she loved her adopted parents Mary admits she was becoming more curious about her origins. She was also scared. Mary started to feel nervous and uneasy about her birth family. When she came across her Uncle Pat’s profile she felt a sense of relief.
“I actually look like someone; I have my Uncle’s eyes at last I actually look like someone”. Mary sent her Uncle an email. Months went by with no response. The following year she received an e-mail from Uncle Pat’s daughter Anna.

"Hi Mary, I know who you are, but I shouldn't, I was going through Dad’s things when I came across the email from you.”

“That moment changed our lives we became inseparable and we email each other daily.”

After a few months Aunty Julie, Anna’s mother, contacted me. She told me of my mother had fallen pregnant to a married man. It was not possible for her to keep me. This was compounded by her family’s strong faith.



The email read:

Dear Mary

I know it has taken me many months to contact you I have just felt this is the right time to contact you about your birth mother. Your mother Angela was with a married man when she had you, I wanted her to say I could adopt you it was hard seeing you going to a foster home, but your mother moved to Sydney before she had you and gave you up for adoption. A majority of the family doesn’t even know she had a baby. I never knew your father well as we don’t even know his last name I only met him a few times and back then she would have been in trouble being in a relationship with a married man.

Julie Cartwright.

On 27th December 2006 When Mary’s daughter was 9 months old, my cousin now living in Quebec, Canada, was coming out for her Mother’s (Aunty Judy) 50th Birthday. Mary had organised for her Uncle Pat and Aunty Julie to meet her at the airport. This would be our only chance.



The day in Brisbane was hot and Mary had a lunchtime flight. The thought of meeting my real family for the first time was nerve wracking. She had shivers an nausea wrack her body. How would she fit in? She didn’t know what to expect.

As soon as the plane landed Mary was in such a hurry to get off that it felt like every second took a year. Once she was clear of the baggage area she was free to turn. And then she saw them. They were in a tight group, huge smiles on their face.

Mary moved toward them, her heart in her throat. There was jostle as they moved into Mary and then she was in their arms and everything, for the first time in her life, felt at home. didn’t want to let go she felt at home with them.

"It took you so long to find us. It has been too long”.

“Yes it has.” Mary was home.