All She Wants (COMPLETE) - BSB Fanfiction

Chapter 4

Less than ten minutes later Ellena came back into the living room. She smiled softly to herself when she saw Kevin studying a picture on the mantle.

"She's beautiful. Who is she?" Kevin questioned Ellena.

"She's my mother. Yes, she was very beautiful."

"Was?"

"She passed away when I was sixteen."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Ellena smiled hesitantly. "You sure apologize a lot."

Kevin blushed and sat in the chair across from her. "Sor- I mean um...I'll try to stop that." He replied sheepishly. "Lacey is already asleep?"

"Yes, she is. It doesn't take her long." Ellena sat on the couch and curled her legs up underneath her.

"I heard you singing." Kevin smiled.

Ellena blushed slightly in embarrassment. "I didn't realize my voice would carry out here!"

Kevin chuckled. "Don't be embarrassed. It was a beautiful song. Where did you learn it?"

"It's a traditional Irish lullaby. My mother used to sing it to my brother and I."

"You have a brother? No sisters?"

"No, unfortunately I have no sisters. I sometimes wonder how different my life would be if I had a sister. Younger or older, sisters just have that...that best friend bond."

"I take it you are not close with your brother."

"No. We used to be but...well...stuff happened and now we aren't anymore."

"What about your father?"

"I never knew my father. He left my mother and brother before I was born."

"I'm sorry."

"There you go apologizing again." Ellena scolded.

"Sor- I mean - I don't understand how some men can leave their families like that."

"He wasn't a man. He was something less. Real men...don't leave." Ellena tried to hide the bitterness from her voice but Kevin still heard it. "My mother worked herself into an early grave, making sure Eric and I had everything we needed. I took it all for granted until Lacey was born. Then I realized just how difficult it must have been for her. She had two small children and no one to help her. It's very hard to be a single mother. You have this stigma attached to you and every one assumes the worst."

"How do you mean?"

Ellena thought for a moment. "Well, for example, last week I took Lacey to the grocery store with me. There was an older woman behind us at the checkout counter. She must have noticed that I wasn't wearing a wedding ring because she starting shaking her head and muttering about young girls these days and how they hopped into bed with anyone before getting married and yadda yadda yadda. I just wanted to scream at her. I mean that is NOT at all what my life is about. She doesn't know me. She doesn't know my story. She just assumed that I was some teenage slut who got knocked up."

Kevin slid forward in the chair, rested his elbows on his knees and stared at Ellena curiously. "So what is your story?"

The question caught Ellena off-guard and she squirmed under his inquisitive stare. She smiled nervously. "It's a very long and pathetic story and I don't think you really want to hear it all."

Kevin shrugged. "Sum it up for me."

"Lacey is my brother's daughter. She's my niece. He was not ... able to take care of her after her mother died."