Happy Endings: A Hessa Story (3)

Chapter 3: Hardin

Lo and behold, Vance, Smith and Grace are all waiting in the entrance of their home when we enter. There are balloons that spell out the word welcome, and Smith is even holding a cake.

"Surprise!" Grace squeaks out and blows into a party horn, making an obnoxiously loud noise.

"Smith and Grace wanted to do something to welcome you back to Washington, so I spent all morning making this cake."

Smith walks up to Tessa and me with a grin on his face, obviously proud of his nearly perfect penmanship in writing 'Welcome Hardin and Tessa' in blue frosting.

"Wow, thank you so much. This cake look delicious." Tessa lightly rests her hand on Smith's shoulder.

"Mommy helped me make it. It's Hardin's favorite, chocolate!" Grace beams, her bright blue eyes shining with glee. She looks so much like Kimberly it's scary, but I hope she doesn't take after her mother's big mouth.

"All of this for one weekend?" I comment, and Tessa glares at me as I knew she would.

"We just wanted to welcome you here properly. It has been a while since you last stayed in this house." Smith whispers under his breath. For some reason, Smith is one of the few people who can get me to feel sorry for acting like a dick. Maybe it's because he's my younger brother, or maybe it's because I see some of myself in him, but all I know is that I now feel bad for making that comment. Smith is the type of person to get offended easily. He cares too much, therefore he's always setting himself up for some form of disappointment. I need to remind myself that I can't treat him that way, he doesn't deserve it. Seeing the bright smile on my little sister's face also makes me want to take back my annoyed remark, especially since now I'll be having a daughter of my own soon. Stop being a dick to your siblings, Hardin.

"It looks great, bud. Thank you for doing all of this." I say to Smith and pick up Grace. She's much heavier than I remember her being last time I saw her. She's in a cute overall dress that I just know Kimberly dressed her in.

"I missed you, Hardin!" She enthusiastically shouts into my ear.

"I missed you, too. You've grown so much." I actually am stunned at how much bigger she's gotten. Her hair has gotten longer and blonder, plus she's much tanner than I remember. I'm surprised she even remembers me because it's been so long.

"I am now in kindergarten, and I'm four years old." She holds up her four fingers right in front of my face.

"Wow, you know I am twenty eight years old. I don't even have enough fingers to show you my age."

"Wow, that's old!" She scrunches her cute, button nose. "Guess what!? I have a boyfriend at school!"

I let out a loud chuckle. "Is that so? Who's the lucky fella?"

"Jake in Mrs. Kelsey's class. I love him like mommy loves daddy."

Ah, young love. In this case, extremely young love. "I'm sure you do. Do you know Smith has himself a girlfriend too?"

"I do not!" He huffs, and I can't help but laugh. As his older and probably more immature half brother, it's my duty to tease him about his first little crush.

"Well he loves someone just like you love Jake."

"That's not true." I can see the redness creeping up Smith's neck.

"Smithy has been too sad to have a girlfriend."

Without another word, Smith walks back into the kitchen with the cake.

"Too sad to have a girlfriend? Why is he sad?" I ask the girl in my arms.

"I want cake, now." She tells me, and I don't think I'll be getting any more information out of her childish mind. I'll have to speak with Smith later about this whether his likes it or not.