Adieu

Chapter 25

(A:N/// Sorry people, I'm like.... An hour and Twenty minutes late with this one. But, it's here, and I actually had time to edit today *yay!*

This is my legit favorite chapter, honestly don't think I'll be able to wrIte another one that I feel this strongly about.

But anyway, sorry for being late and j hope you like it.)

"Josephine!" Gabrielle cried as she opened the door, pulling her into a hug. "It's been too long sweetie! Go on inside and out of the chill, we have all night to talk."

She sighed happily as she obeyed.

William smiled at the wavy haired woman, putting out his hand. "I told you you'd get your handshake."

She laughed- Josephine's laugh- as she took it. "So you did, come on in William."

Dragging the suitcases behind him, William walked into the house with the wrap around porch.

It was a simple, but elegant house. The first thing he noticed when he stepped through the door was the nearly endless bookshelves attached to each wall all over the living room, where in most houses a television and plain old wall would be. It was as if the study had moved into the living room. William placed the bags against a corner, just by the small open door that Jose had just disappeared through, before stepping forward to examine the east wall.

"I'm a little bit of a book hog," Gabrielle explained, noticing his actions. "The classics are on that wall your looking at now, the non-fiction is on the west wall, and he fiction on the north one. It's all organized by year published."

He swallowed with a nod. "Impressive, truly," he said, turning to face her.

She stood with her arms folded casually, looking around at her library in happiness. "Thank you. These were my first babies."

"Mom!" Josephine called from the other room. A second later her head poked into the room with a bag of chocolate chips. "Can we make cookies? Just like old times?" She questioned excitedly.

Gabrielle grinned. "That sounds great," she said happily.

"Awesome, I'll get started," she replied, her head disappearing.

Gabrielle lead William through the door to reveal a long hallway, with a staircase to the far right, a kitchen to the far left, and a bathroom in between.

"We used to make cookies together everyday after she got home from school," she explained as they walked the picture frame filled hallway. "She would always run through the front door and straight to the kitchen."

William chuckled and glanced to his left to see a picture of a little girl who looked similar to Aimée laying in the sunshine, fast asleep. "Is that Jose?" he asked, stopping and motioning toward it.

She nodded. "She was... Eight then. See the cast?" She asked tapping the pink blob on her arm.

He cocked his head to one side. "What happened?"

Gabrielle chuckled, walking again. "Fell out of her favorite tree at school. When she got the cast she told me that she had only been trying to catch a butterfly, her favorite insect, you know."

William smiled gently. "I didn't actually," he murmured.

They arrived into the kitchen where his wife stood in front of the island stirring quickly by hand. "I was wondering if you two got lost," she laughed, looking up at them.

Was it just him, or did the mint color of the wallpaper bring out her emerald eyes? She was the image of beauty, with specks of flower on her cheeks and cookie dough on her fingers. He grinned at the site.