I. Heart Of Gold (Uneditied) ✔️ ORIGINAL

Thirty-One - Meeting the Grandparents

Maddox's POV:

Wednesday had come and gone quick and I was supposed to read with Brooks at the Echer's house. I didn't get to the week before, since I had a few things to do after school with Rosedale and their scholarship stuff. I had finally gotten their email after the holiday.

Emmi mentioned that they was her mom's parents and she told me she'd love to go and visit, since she was feeling much better. I gave in and picked her up after school before heading over there. "Did you get ahold of your parents?" I asked as I headed to her mom's parents house with my phones GPS.

She nodded, "I did. Told me they were able to get a flight for Friday."

"Oh? I thought they were coming home today?"

"They couldn't get a flight until Friday really late. So they'll be home like midnight if not super early Saturday morning." I could tell she missed her parents deeply. "They've never been gone this long before..."

I rested my hand on her knee and she didn't flinch. She has gotten better at accepting the small gestures from me, even resting my hand on her hip where there wasn't the large bruise. I still hated that she was in pain and I couldn't do anything about it. "Em, I'm sure they'll be glad to be home and happy to see you and Brooks. How often do they have to go on business trips?"

"Not too often. My mom owns the company and my dad helps with the finance stuff, so he goes with. It's always been like that, even after he moved out." She quotationed "moved out" since he apparently never took anything from the house besides a handful of clothes. "I'm just happy they're getting along again and look happy. I don't know if my grandparents know that my dad isn't living with us or not, so I want to keep that under wraps."

I nodded in agreement, "Alright. I'm assuming they kept is hidden, because they weren't actually divorced. They wanted to look perfect to both their families, even if there were struggles at home. Unfortunately, death of a child does that." I said softly.

"Yeah..." Emmi got quiet and I could tell just from her hand resting on mine that she was missing her brother more today than past days. I felt a soft squeeze and I felt something wet land on my hand in drops. They were tears. "Damn it..." she whispered.

I pulled into her grandparents driveway and turned to her after I parked. "Hey, there is no reason you need to be ashamed of crying over missing someone." I gently turned her head to face me, wiping her tears with my thumbs. "If you need to cry, don't hold it in. You miss him, that's okay. No one is going to judge you over that. And if they do, Wes, your girls and I will make them think twice about it." I leaned in, kissing her on the forehead, "You have a right to be sad and grieve, even if it's six years later. You will probably grieve and miss him every day from now on and that is understandable."

She nodded, only sniffling in response. She wiped her nose with her sweatshirt sleeve, which looked like an old college sweatshirt. It was from Elk Grove, a sister school to Rosedale oddly enough. "I knew I wore this for a reason." She smiled softly, giving herself a hug.

"Chester's?" I asked. She nodded and turned to me with a smile. "Shall we get inside? I'm sure your brother is wondering why we are just sitting out here and your grandparents are probably thinking the worst of us." I chuckled.

She pushed me playfully, "Maddox, they're not that old fashion." Her giggle rang in my ears and I smiled.

"Then let's go!" I got out, and ran to her side of the car. I opened her door and helped her out, closing the door behind her.

We headed inside as I locked the door with the key fob and the first thing I noticed was the heavenly scent of gingersnap cookies in the oven and the aroma of a vanilla and lavender candle from the living room. "Anyone home?" Emmi called out.