It's Not That Easy

Prologue

It's Not That Easy

Prologue -

10 years old (Almost 11):

My shoe is missing. I know I put it beside my bed so I could get dressed fast today, but I can't find it. I hike my skirt up enough so I could sit on the floor to look under my bed...nothing. "Honey, are you almost ready?" My Aunt Emily asks as she picks up her 3-year-old son Peyton.

"Look, Addy. I got my new shoes on. Where's your new shoes?" He asks leaning over from her hip, hoping to get out of her arms.

"Well. Buddy, that seems to be the problem. I can only find one." Aunt Emily smiles at me, and tells me to check the corner of the bed. Sure enough it was at the corner, wrapped up in the blankets.

"How did you see that?" I look at her in awe, trying to figure out how she knew where my shoe was hiding. I wonder, when I get big, will I be able to do that, too?

"I didn't, it was a logical guess." She watches me put on my shoe. "I'll see you down stairs in a few minutes."

My shoes are on and I'm frantically trying to tame the mess of blonde curls on my head. I have already spent time fixing it, but I messed it up again when I slipped on my shirt. I should know better, but today is a big day, and I can't think straight right now.

There's a soft knock on the door, and I open to find Mason standing there with a huge smile on his face. He looks like he's up to something with his green eyes shining as he hands me a small box. "Here this is for you." He quirks his eyebrows at me like he does sometimes. "In just a little while everything changes, even though it will still feel the same."

"I know. I'm so excited."

"I know you are. I'm excited for you. I know this is what you've wanted, and now you get your wish." He's been my friend since I met him, over a year ago, even though he is more than four years older than me. And now, his mom is married to my mom's older brother, Uncle Cooper.

"Are you two coming? We're going to be late," my Uncle Cooper calls for us from downstairs. "The judge won't wait forever."

"Just a minute. She's almost ready." Mason calls to him, and then turns to me. "Go ahead open it up," looking back at the box in my hand.

I open it and it's a silver ring with my birthstone, a peridot, right in the middle and light blue stone and knot on each side. "It's our birthstones, mine, yours, and Peyton's. Nana called it a sibling ring. I think she made it up, but I liked the idea. I hope you like it."

"I love it. It's beautiful." I give him a quick hug, and he leans his almost six-foot tall body down to hug me back. I laugh when his shaggy dark hair tickles my neck.

"Read the inside," he tells me. Sister. "In just a little while, that's what you're going to be." I slip the ring on my middle finger, because that's the one it fits, and he puts his hand on my back as we walk down stairs.

My Uncle Cooper and Aunt Emily are holding hands at the front door, waiting for us. My soon to be brother, Peyton, is rocking on his feet beside them. She smiles at the two of us as we head out the door. She has a poochy belly where a baby is growing, and she and Uncle Cooper look happy we are going to be a family today.

I show them my ring, and we talk about it in the vehicle. Aunt Emily tells me that the brothers' birthstones are called aquamarine. They were both born in March...12 years and one week apart. All I know is that this is the prettiest ring I've ever had.

I woke up this morning as an only child with no parents, because they both died, and I will go to bed tonight as a sister with two brothers and with a new mom and a new dad. Now they will have to keep me.