Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 48730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
“Smells good in here,” Aunt Ashley said, wandering into the kitchen. “Carrot cake?”
“It’s Cian’s favorite,” I said, bringing dishes to the sink.
“I can’t believe he’s fourteen,” she said, leaning against the counter. “I remember when he was brand new.”
“Me too.”
“We haven’t had much time to talk,” she said quietly. “I talked to the attorney again yesterday.”
“What did she say?” I asked, keeping my voice low, too. Between losing my mom and the rest of the upheaval, we’d decided that the kids had enough to deal with. They didn’t need to know the minutiae that went into figuring out what happened with the house and Mom’s bank accounts and which funeral home had the best rates but didn’t seem shady.
“She said that we have a good chance of getting you permanent guardianship of your siblings.”
“But—”
“You’ve already been successfully raising them while attending high school,” she said, cutting me off. “Now you’re legally an adult, with a job—”
“Maybe,” I interrupted. “They weren’t happy about giving me time off.”
She waved that away. “If your mom owned the house, then you guys have a permanent residence already. You’re in a good position to ask for custody.”
“What if they say no?” I asked nervously.
“Then you have me,” she said, lifting her hands palms up. “If you can’t get guardianship, then I do. I know your parents have a will somewhere. When we find it, I’m positive they’ll give guardianship to me. There’s no way to lose. Either way, you’ll all stay together.”
“So, we need to go back home,” I said, glancing toward the living room. “We need to go through their paperwork.”
“Yeah, we do.”
“Okay.” I took a deep breath. “When?”
“Give me a couple days?” she asked, like I was the one in charge. “I need to ask my house sitter if she’ll come even though I canceled on her a week ago.”
“Sorry about that.”
She waved me off. “I can take the motorhome, so I have someplace to stay, and the littles can ride with me if they want. Give them a little space to stretch out.”
I nodded. I wasn’t looking forward to another long road trip crammed into my car like sardines.
“Leave Monday?” Aunt Ashley asked.
“Thank you so much for doing all this,” I whispered, tears filling my eyes.
When we’d gone in search of our aunt, she’d been an almost abstract idea. We hadn’t seen her in so long, all we’d had were memories to assure us that we were doing the right thing. Desperation had thankfully led us to exactly the right person, and I couldn’t adequately express what a huge relief it was that I’d made the right decision. She’d gone above and beyond to figure everything out and make us feel safe while she did it.
“Of course,” she said, smiling. “Anything you need, remember?”
She wandered back out while I cleaned the kitchen. Cian was going to feel so smug when I told him we were going back home. Even if it was temporary, I was thankful. We’d left so much behind when we’d left, it was a relief to know that we could go get it and say goodbye properly if it came to that.
Maybe I’d even get to see Richie and explain. I thought about it while I frosted the cake. Would he even give me the opportunity to talk to him? If I was in his shoes, I didn’t know if I’d be willing to forgive him.
“Kelly kids,” I called when the cake was done. “Time to sing happy birthday!”
“What?” Cian said in confusion as he hopped off the couch.
“What the hell did you think I was doing in here?”
“I don’t know,” he replied defensively as Saoirse laughed. “I thought you were making muffins or something.”
“Nope,” I said as Aunt Ashley came out of her room. “Birthday time.”
“It’s not his birthday,” Ronan pointed out as he climbed onto a stool.
“Belated birthday time,” I conceded.
“You didn’t have to do this,” Cian said quietly, looking down at his cake, the top covered in candles. “Thanks, Mam.”
I hid my jolt of surprise, but no one else did. Aisling looked at him wide-eyed. The kitchen was silent.
“You’re welcome,” I said finally, reaching for the lighter I’d found in a kitchen drawer.
I lit the candles and listened as my little family sang the happy birthday song deliberately off-key. Cian smiled brightly, looking younger than he usually did, as they drew out the words and sang completely out of sync. When he blew out the candles, we all cheered.
“Thanks for blowing those out in one go,” Aunt Ashley teased. “I was a little worried that cake was going to catch the rest of the house on fire.”
“Yeah, E,” Saoirse said. “Maybe next time use the little number candles, not a single candle for every year.”
“Where’s the challenge in that?” I asked, grabbing ice cream out of the freezer.