Heaven Is

My Home and Native Land

We land in Montreal, it's cold and snowy and I've missed it. We convinced the boys and Karlie to come with us to help pack. May is staying in London, bouncing between Sav's parents and my grandparents, going to see Rick as much as possible.

Sav holds my hand as we walk out through the airport. Steve and Phil shove each other like little kids. Joe and Karlie wonder around behind us.

"So enlighten me, how are six of us going to fit in the same car with luggage?" Steve asks.

"I got the neighbour to drop off my truck, so they're both here." Karlie explains as we walk outside.

The cold air attacks us against the warm air of the inside world. I dig through the pockets of my leather jacket trying to find my car keys. I look back to see the British boys shuttering and shaking like earthquakes. I smile and as they struggle to stay warm. I look up at Sav.

"Cold, are we?" I smile and he forces a smile.

"H-h-how did you live here?" He shudders.

"It's not even that could." I say and Sav shakes his head.

"This is insane." He says as I open the back of my Ramcharger.

We throw our bags in the back or my truck and Karlie's. We all decided that splitting up the terror twins while driving on icy roads was a good idea. Steve climbs into back of my car and I pull out onto the highway.

I drive the familiar way home as Sav and Steve watch out the windows. When I pull up to the big house I grew up in, that's when their eyes grow.

"That's is your childhood home?" Steve wonders.

"Yeah." I say looking at house. "My dad was military and mum was a lawyer."

"Holy hell." Sav says as Karlie pulls in the driveway beside me.

We all get out of the cars and starts to unload the bags from the back. Steve and Phil have started shoving each other in the snow bank at the edge of the driveway.

"Oi! Sav come here for a second." Phil yells and Sav starts to walk over to them.

"Oh no." I mutter.

The terror twins had gotten mitts full of snow and dumped it all over my boyfriend. Sav shoves them both back into to snow bank. Joe had made the mistake of laughing at them, Steve and Phil grab him by the shoulders and shove him into the snow pile as well. Karlie and I watch them shove each other back into the snow, laughing and having a good time. My cousin and I are careful not to laugh because if they hear us we'd be next into the snow.

"Oi, come here!" Steve yells at us.

"No way!" Karlie laughs and they boys look at us, they shrug.

They all start walking towards us, completely snow covered. We start to walk around the trucks. Sav cuts me off and picks me up over his shoulder.

"Sav, you're cold!" I complain and try to sound serious, I just end up laughing.

"And you're warm!" Sav laughs. "For now, at least."

He drops me into the snow and Karlie isn't far behind. I stand up freezing and snow covered, Sav smiles innocently.

"You started a war, Savage." I say and his smile broadens.

I grab his hand and drop my weight, pulling him into the snow with me. Eventually, we all are in out front yard, throwing snow at each other. We end up rugby tacking each other into the snow. We ignore the cars that drive by looking at us and judging us, we're having fun acting like kids. Rick would've loved this, May would've loved this.

Sav tackles me one last time and lands on top of me. I smile at him and he laughs. Sav kisses me and I smile into the kiss. I hear something all to familiar, the soft click of Karlie's Polaroid. There's a reason I left it in the house.

Karlie is a bit of a shutterbug, she loves taking pictures. I don't mind it so much when it's pictures of May or pictures of Sav (she took the locker picture) but I'm not so keen on pictures of myself.

Sav rolls off me and help me up. We're all soaked, freezing, I can't feel my feet, and still shaking. We all head back inside and go to get changed, so we don't get sick.

Sav

I walk back down into the kitchen after getting changed into dry clothes. Steve and Phil have already started to drink Molson's beer, Molson Canadian. Her namesake. I open up the fridge to grab a bottle but I'm more interested in the pictures on the fridge.

The first is May in the incubator right after she was born, so tiny and wrapped in a pink blanket. The next is Molson in the hospital bed, holding onto the pink bundle that is our daughter. Molson can't tear her eyes off May, her brown eyes are lined with tears and her dark hair is tied back in a ponytail. I should've been there, holding her hand, telling her it was going to be okay, holding onto our newborn daughter. I should've been there for the first and second birthday.

Molson comes up beside me as I'm studying the pictures. I wrap my arm around her shoulders and she wraps her arms around my chest. She follows my gaze to the pictures of our daughter.

"Should've been there." I say only loud enough for her to hear.

"You'll be there the next time." Molson says in the same tone.

"There's gonna be more?" I smile and she nods.

"Hopefully." She smiles, opening the fridge to grab a beer. I kiss her temple.

"I love you." I say in her ear.

"I love you." Molson responds.

We go over to the table where Steve and Phil are drinking, I sit down and pull Molson up onto my lap. Phil looks at the label of the bottle than back to Molson.

"Your folks named you after a beer company?" Phil smiles and she nods. "Sweet."

We sit and drink for a while before Joe and Karlie come back down stairs, I bet they were having fun. I hold Molson as close to me as possible, I never actually want to let her go. She's small enough I can see perfectly over her shoulder to everyone else. I kiss her neck every once in a while.

We just drink at the table for most of the night, just talking and drinking before ordering pizza and going to bed.

I follow a tired Molson up to her room and it's exactly how I imagined it. Queen, KISS, Led Zeppelin, and dozens of other band posters line her walls. A large record collection fills a book shelf . A large king sized bed sits in the middle of the room with red and black fittings.

Molson walks into the adjoining bathroom and starts to brush her teeth. I follow behind her and kiss her neck as she brushes her teeth. Molson smiles at me in the mirror once she's finished. She walks back into the bedroom and I brush my teeth.

I walk back into the bedroom and see my girlfriend already asleep on the bed. Jet leg, alcohol, and rough housing has done her in for tonight. I crawl into bed beside her, and wrap my arms around her burying my face in her hair.

"Goodnight, love." I say as I fall asleep.

"G'night, Sav. I love you." Molson replies half asleep.

"I love you, Molson." I tell her and I drift off to sleep.