Lyra? (Interracial- BWWM) unedited

1

As if the death of her mother wasn't hard enough. Now add moving in with a family she doesn't know....and great the Kids all ready hate her. Well...welcome to orange county Lyra.

Chapter 1

The Hartnett family sat around the dinner table, enjoying a meal of roasted potatoes, collard greens, steak, and of course, a side of Cesar salad. Laughter and chatter filled the room, giving off a warm friendly vibe.

" I landed my back tuck today after only TWO tries," Tori declared, stealing her parents attention from her siblings. As she talked her messy curls bounced up and down, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes gleamed with excitement as she explained her accomplishment to her parents.

˝Thats great!" Mrs. Hartnett congratulated.

"Dad are you coming to my game?" Gavin asked, averting the attention away from his younger sister. She rolled her eyes at him, sticking her tongue out.

Gavin was the oldest out of the three Hartnett children. Just like his sister Gavin also possessed a mop of curly hair. It fell around his face, every now and then covering his eyes.

"Most likely," Mr. Hartnett said taking a sip of his red wine.

Mr.Hartnett had a more dominate appearance, he seemed life a huge giant at first, but really he was a kind hearted man. Everyone in town knew him and his family. They were after all one of the few rare African-American family in Orange County.

"Mom? Can I leave now?" Trey the middle child asked. Trey was only 11, and he was the shyiest. It was a huge contrast compared to his 9 year old sister, who was filter free.

Mrs. Hartnett waved her hand at her son, barely paying him any attention. You see, Trey wasn't on any football team, like his brother. He wasn't good at gymnastic, like his sister. He was pretty plain and not talented like his siblings.

With a sigh, Trey stood up pushing his chair, leaving the room.

Tori watched her brother leave, she could careless about his feelings.

"Anything interesting happened at work daddy?" She asked. Tori loved hearing about her father's job. He was a detective in their town Newburgh, Orange County.

"Actually we-"

BRING! RING! BRING!

Mrs. Hartnett walked over to the phone, bringing it up to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this the Hartnett residance?" The unknown female asked.

"Yes, How may I help you?" Mrs. Hartnett asked, shifting her weight to one leg, while using the wall for support.

"I'm looking for Garret Hartnett, may I please speak with him?"

"Sure, hold on one second," Mrs. Hartnett pulled away from the phone, covering the mouth piece with her hand. "Someone is asking for you," She told her husband.

Mr. Hartnett placed down his wine glass, got up from the table, and took the phone from his wife.

"Hello,"

"Hi, Mr. Hartnett this is Delia Temple from child services,"

"May I ask why child services are calling this residence?" Mr.Hartnett demanded. His kids were well taken care off, there must have been a mistake. Who would call child services on his family?

"I'm calling about your neice Lyra Thomas," Mrs. Temple explained. Neice? He had a neice?!

"Well then what's wrong?" He was getting impatient, here this lady was telling him he had a neice, for what reason? He had no idea.

"Are you aware of Gemma Thomas passing?"

Well that was a blow to the face. His younger sister was dead? He couldn't even remember the last time he talked to her, maybe 19 years ago when the family disowned her. Gemma was what you would call a wild child. Drinking, doing drugs, having sex, going to parties. This was all at a very young age. Their parents finally had enough when Gemma announced to the family that she was not going to Yale, like they wanted her to. She was going to get married to this guy four years older then she, and they were moving to Florida. From that day on, their parents didn't want to hear a word spoken about their daughter.

"How did she die?"

"Car crash, about 3 weeks ago," Mrs. Temple informed him.

"And the child?"

"In foster care, we've been trying to reach some family, who would take her in, so far no one is willing to. You're the last relative listed." Mrs. Temple said sadly, she really felt sympathetic for this young girl. Losing her mother, and having no family wanting to take her in.

"Basically what you are telling me is that...I'm the last hope this child has?"

"If you put it that way, then...yes,"

Mr. Hartnett turned to his family who was watching him with curious eyes.

"Can I think this over?"

"Yes, you have 24 hours, our she's going to remain in the system."

"That's fine, thank you," With that said, Mr. Hartnett hung up the phone, sighing loudly.

"So?" Mrs. Hartnett stood in front of her husband.

"They want me to take in my sister's daughter," He simply said, shaking his head.

"Gemma?"

Mrs. Hartnett didn't like what she was hearing, Gemma was bad news to the family. Who knew what she raised her child to be like? The last thing she needed was this girl coming in, being a bad influence on her innocent children.

"You don't have to... do you?" Mrs. Hartnett asked, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders.

"I don't know what I'm doing, but I don't want to leave that girl in foster care,"