“Oh nonsense! I may have gone a little overboard but it is nothing less than you deserve. Your Uncle Alex and I want you to feel at home, because as of right now this is and always will be your home. Besides, I didn’t want you starting you first day of classes tomorrow stickin’ out like a Barbie doll at a Rodeo.” She smiles and opens her arms, a gesture I’ve become very familiar with when she wants to hug me.
As she embraces me, a small tear slides down my cheek and I wipe it, but not before she sees me. I have so many emotions running through my mind, I have no idea whether to cry or jump up and down from excitement.
“Hey now, we won’t be havin’ any more of that you hear?” she puts her hands on my shoulder, “I know the last few months have been hard for you baby girl but you have a family here that love you. I don’t want to be your mamma but I’m here for anything you need, and I know Uncle Alex feels the same way. And I also know the girls are super excited to have you here too! Hannah and Finley have been telling all their friends about their big cousin coming to stay here. We want you to be happy here, this is where you belong,” she states matter-of-factly.
I smile at her Southern accent; it was such a warm, soothing sound to my ears.
“I can’t thank you enough for what you and Uncle Alex have done for me. It is more than I could’ve dreamed of. I don’t know how I would ever be able to repay you” I choked out.
Great, these stupid tears just love popping up uninvited…
“Sweetheart, you are as much a daughter to me as my two brats are so of course I will give you as much as I can. But you can still repay us by joining us for Sunday lunch every other week and stopping by your Uncle’s office every now and then” she teases with a wink. Before I can respond she starts again.
Good Lord, this woman could talk an ear off a horse if given half the chance…
“Now,” her eyes grow serious, “You take a minute or two to get settled while I unpack some of your things. Once we’ve left you can have yourself a nice long bath! I hope you’ll like your well-stocked bathroom,” she snickers. With that she kisses me on the forehead and leaves.
Standing alone in my big room I’m suddenly overwhelmed by how loved I feel. I was a little girl the last time I felt this way. Thoughts of my mother pop into my head again and I miss her then.
Her funeral was held a month after her death. We decided to have her buried here in Breckinridge, next to my fathers’ grave. It was what she would’ve wanted, and it was only a few miles away so I could go visit her grave whenever I wanted to.
My Uncle Alex and Aunt Emma were both very well-known here in Breckinridge. Uncle Alex was the coach of the Whitley University Football team, which gave him a kind of ‘celebrity’ status. Aunt Emma owns the biggest bakery in town and is also involved in every charity and fundraising event to take place throughout the year. But the job she loves the most is that of ‘momma’ to my two little cousins. Hannah is four years old and Finley is six. They are easily the cutest toddlers in town and it’s no secret that I adore them both.
A knock at the door drags me from my reverie and I turn from my spot by the window. My Uncle Alex stands in my doorway and takes up most of the frame with his huge body. On the outside he looks mean and fierce, but on the inside he’s a giant teddy bear. I know that from experience but also from seeing how he cherishes his wife and two daughters. He told me shortly before I decided to move here that he felt the same way about me and that he was happy to have me as part of his little family. Of course I cried after that conversation.
“Can I come in sweetheart?” he asks. I smile at the term him and my aunt have grown accustomed to calling me. My father was the only other person to refer to me as his ‘sweetheart’ and hearing it again makes the pieces of my heart fit together again.
“Sure.” I walk over to the bed and sit down, noticing that he has a guitar case in his hand. I know how to play a guitar, thanks to a very adamant mother who sent me for lessons even when she could barely afford it. She said my father played and she wanted me to learn so I could still keep a part of him with me.
“I hope you like your room. Your Aunt Em went a little crazy in here but she wanted to make sure you had everything you might need,” he says glancing around nervously.
“I love it, thank you Uncle Alex.”
He looks at me before speaking again, a sad expression settling itself on his handsome face. “Now this guitar belonged to your daddy. He gave it to me shortly before he died and asked me to hang on to it until I could get it to you. Somehow he knew he wasn’t gonna be around much longer.”
I touch the black box lying on my bed with my fingers, stopping over my fathers’ initials. Just knowing it had belonged to him made him feel like less of a mystery.