Always

      I'm Piper. Piper Louise Adams. I'm twenty-one years old. Almost three years ago, my mom came home and told me she was getting married. I liked Jake, I really did. And his kids were awesome. I was an only child and having siblings was fun. All of a sudden, I had two people that I could go to no matter what. They were always there for me. Lilliana was the youngest at seventeen, but we call her Lily.  It's hard to believe she's almost twenty now. I remember thinking that she was extremely pretty, with her dark, almost black curls and violet eyes. It's not a color you see every day, but that’s very Lily. Lily isn’t your typical person. She’s rather eccentric. Her brother was my age, almost to the day. Nathaniel is sixteen days older than I am. He is just as pretty as his sister, with chiseled cheeks and sculpted everything else. His hair was like hers, but wavy and his eyes were as blue as the pool in their backyard.

Yes, that's right. We moved into their house. I didn't care that much. Their home was much bigger than mine; we wouldn't have all been able to fit at my house. The North family home was huge, with a Widow’s Walk, pool, and private suites of rooms. Mom and Jake were really in love and I couldn't be happier for them. Jake was one of the few people I would let be with my mother. Mom and I were close. Really close. We always have been. Ever since Dad died.

For almost a year, few things changed. Nate and I became best friends. I had to leave all of my old friends at home when I went to college and he was a good substitute. We had mutual friends and actually formed a friendship several months before the wedding. Luckily, we lived close by anyway. That's where I was going to college. It turned out that Nate was in most of my classes. We put together a study group, for just the two of us. Then Mom and Jake announced they were having a baby.

We were all really happy. I mean, come on, who doesn't love babies? Mom was on bed rest and Jake spent all of the time he could with her. He still had to work, for the middle few months. And he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. She trusted my opinion and had Nate and I do most of the shopping. Many people asked us when our baby was due. Eventually, we just got tired of denying it and told them I was only three months along. It was actually kind of fun to play Mommy with Nate. There were only four bedroom areas. Mom and Dad were in the basement. They had an office, a living room, a huge closet, and a giant bathroom. I’m not even going to talk about how large the actual bedroom is. The baby could stay with Mom for a little while, but then it would need a room. I offered mine and Mom didn't want me to move out alone. So Nate volunteered to go with me.

Shortly after we moved out, Mom went into labor. Thomas Jacob North was born twelve hours later, three hours after Nate and I rushed to the hospital. We had classes, so we had to wait until they were over to go to the hospital. We were both nervous, of course, but Mom did great. And little Thomas was adorable.

And everything was good for a while. Then we found out Mom was having a baby again.

We just found out and I am still shocked. Since I no longer live here, I went up on the Widow's Walk. It was kind of our space, Nate and I. Nate knew that was where I would be. We were best friends for a reason. He came up ten minutes after I did and pulled me into his arms, his head dropping to my shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked me, his concern evident in his voice.

"I'm fine, just shocked. Mom's pregnancy was so hard on her last time. She almost died. Thomas almost died too. I’m worried, Natey."

"I'm worried too, Pi." He likes to call me Pi. I'm not really sure why, but I just let him. You could tell we were upset and feeling affectionate by the nicknames we were using.

"Piper! Nathaniel! Maddie wants you both to stay in Nate's room tonight. It's icy. And it’s getting late." Lily yelled up the stairs to us. She wasn’t as upset as we were, but I knew she was still upset. If something happened to Mom, Nate and Lily would be just as upset as I would be.