Just One Hello (Book 2 in the Just Series)

Chapter 13

Ellie

I can't believe it my brother's getting married in a week. I talked to Ara and she told me all about how my brother proposed to her. She sounded so happy. I can't wait for them to get here tomorrow. It's going to be a very busy week but I'm looking forward to it. I also can't wait to have Zarah back. We're both going to be Ara's bridesmaids.

I also talked to my brother for a while. After the initial joy and excitement about his impending marriage to Ara. He warned me off Demetri. No doubt it was that prick, Marco who told him. I don't really understand what they have against Demetri. He was very nice to me the night of his party. I didn't see anything bad about him at all. Unlike Marco.

The man can make a saint burst in an outrage.

He's the best man, and I have to see quite a lot of him this coming days. My brother told me he's one of the best man, along with Jason. It's funny, none is were given the opportunity to be a part of my brother's wedding the first time, since they married in Vegas. They had planned a wedding, but Cassie fell pregnant and she wanted to wait until the baby comes. She didn't want to stress about wedding preparations. She wanted to spend the upcoming months preparing for the arrival of the baby. Unfortunately, that never happened. She passed away giving birth to my precious niece, Lia.

My brother grieved for Cassie for a very long time - so we are all very happy that he has finally found someone to love and spend the rest of his life with. He's far too young to grow old alone. At 27, he still have his whole life ahead of him. And now he has Ara to share his life with.

***

"I can't believe your finally home Zarah, I missed you so much," I said hugging my sister.

"I missed you too Elllie."

"How was your trip. How was the medical mission?"

"It was great. Everything went as planned. It was amazing and the people were just so wonderful."

"I'm glad it went as planned Zarah. What are you planning on doing next?"

"Well do you remember when you asked me if I would move to LA with you?"

"Yes..." Ok where is this going?

"Well, I've decided that I'd love to go with you," she said with a big smile on her face.

I squealed. "Really! You're not joking right?"

She shook her head. "No. You see, I was talking to one of the charity organizers and she mentioned something about a centre for abused women. They're always looking for more people to help out. So I started thinking, and since you were thinking about moving to LA, I decided why not. Anyways, you know how I feel about violence against women. After what happened to Esmeralda..." She trailed off.

Esmeralda was my sister's best friend she died in a car accident, while she was trying to escape her abusive husband. Zarah has always blamed herself for not noticing what was happening with Esme. Esme always made excuses every time my sister would see a bruise on her. She would make up excuses. The one time she finally decided to get out of that abusive relationship, she died. No doubt my sister is remembering the frantic phone call she received from Esme. She was driving on her way to our home. She was on the phone with Zarah when she had the accident. So it hit Zarah hard. It took her a while to get past it, but until now, she still gets sad and upset when she remembers what happened.

"Hey, I think it's great. I'm happy you're coming with me. And Esme would have been so proud of you," I said, giving her hand a squeeze. "Smile, Zarah. Esme wouldn't want to see you like this."