Helena strided across the marble reception of the Peabody Foundation building towards the large oak door with her name on the brass plaque and reached for the large brass door handle

Ms Peabody, your post is on your desk. I think that business proposal from the UCC is amongst it. The receptionist called out as Helena stepped into the room and violently slammed the door behind her.

She shrugged the jacket off her shoulders, threw it against the coat stand and hit the play button on the answer machine on the desk.

Hey, Helena, there is nothing I can do about your mothers decision to give Winnie the house, we have absolutely no grounds what so ever to over rule her choice. I can help with custody, but Im sorry the rest is out of my power. Give me a call back

*****! She slumped in the dark green leather chair *****. She grabs the pile of letters on her desk and flicks through them, stopping suddenly when she notices the Queens head of the British stamp. The address was neatly handwritten on a bright yellow envelope, she took a deep breath in and turned the envelope over and slowly undid the tab. She pulled the letter and unfolded the sheet.


7 Pebmarsh Close
Colchester
Essex
CO2 0BE

22-05-2005


Dear Helena,

If I walked past you on the street, you wouldnt recognise me, and I wouldnt recognise you. You wouldnt know my voice if you heard me on the phone. Even if you saw my name you wouldnt know it was me. This is the letter that you have been expecting for the last 16 years. I do not know whether you want to read this or not, but I do know how you hold your breath as you open every letter with an English postmark. Well you can breathe now, because this is the letter, and I am your daughter.
I dont write this because I am in need of a family; I have an amazing family who will always support me through every choice I make.
I dont write this to tell you how much I disagree with decisions that you have made in your past. I have every faith that you made the choices you did from a responsible position and that you wanted to give me the best life I could have. A life that maybe you were unable to provide.
I am hoping only, that you will be able to answer my question. Not huge life-altering questions. Just small things that children who grew up with their parents take for granted. Like who I get my blue eyes from, and my dark hair. Where I get my stubborn streak, my ambition, my thirst for success, who named me. All of these things that live on inside of me, are traits from two people that I dont know.
These answers will not change me, but theyll help me to become a stronger person and move on. Adopted children tend to live in the past, in a world of what-ifs and you are the only one who can pull me out of my fantasy world.

Yours,

Alexandra Jackson.



Helenas hand shock as she re-read the letter amazed at how precise this stranger had been. As her eyes read the neat words over and over, he mind was full of just as many questions as Aleandras must be.


+++
Dunno if I should continue, wot do you think?