Gabriel (Book 1)

Precious...

JUNE 15th, 2011

So it took about a day until Alec and Faine realized I was home. Chelsea and Afton welcomed me back warmly, but when Faine walked through the door, I felt a weight being lifted off my shoulders. She knew I was alive and that I was sorry for treating her rudely all those times, and that's what mattered the most.

She came over and hugged me and for the first time ever, I didn't run from that hug. I'm not saying I gave her a real hug, I'm just saying that I let her hug me. Alec opened up his arms for a hug too, why not since I was on a role? Since I didn't make a huge rush of hugging him, he kind of embraced me.....and then pulled me into a head lock (that's a wrestling move for those of you who don't know). I growled a little and he released me. We both laughed and shook hands. We talked a little as they got me up to speed with what I've missed. Apparently, Demetri and Valentina took off on a holiday to London, Lottie left and got a baby named Vera, Bastien is being hunted (it was only a matter of time until that happened), Jordan had a fight with the Cullens and banished them from her and her child.

I held my breath until Faine finally said, "Its a baby girl. Jordan named her Sophia."

I sighed. Jordan must love it, I know I would.

Well, that's all it took. I pretended I was running away again and Faine got nervous. But I peered back around the door frame and said, "Sophia needs a present from her Uncle Gabriel."

With happiness in my heart, I made my way back to Russia. It felt weird being back home after 621 years, but everything looked the same, believe it or not. I wanted to buy the only thing I could think to buy a baby girl, a necklace. I found an antique store and started looking. As soon as I saw It, I knew that was the one. I knew I wanted to watch Sophia growing up wearing that necklace. How could I want that for a child I didn't know? Easy. She was family.

The necklace I chose was from the late 1300s (when I was human), it had a worn iron chain, and it also belonged to my little sister. That's right, Galina wore that same exact necklace every day of her life. It had a sparrow at the end of the chain and the sparrow was holding a rough cut diamond. I started smiling at the memory of it, its a fuzzy memory from my human days but I can't forget it: Galina was turning 10 years old and I wanted to get her something special. Nikolai agreed to help me by raising money with me. We did it all on our own, no help from our parents, and with our own money we bought her that necklace. I remember my 16- year old self walking through her bedroom doors the morning of her birthday, with 21- year old Nikolai. She was still in her nightgown, sitting at her vanity and brushing her soft golden hair, I remeber walking across the marble floor with a real smile of love. She sets down her silver hairbrush and looks at me in the mirror.

"Gavril-" she says.

I kiss her cheek, "С Днем Рождения, Галина." (Happy Birthday, Galina." I whisper in her ear. I pull the jewelry box from behind my back and before she can peek at it, I have it in my hands and am draping it around her neck, finishing by hooking the clasp in the back. She squeals with delight and screams that she loves it. Nikolai gets her to quiet down and then we tell her a story about it.

I get pulled out of the memory and hand the gentleman a stack of money, it counted out to a thousand dollars but I would have payed much more for It. I would have payed the world to hold this little bit of my sister.

I have the necklace in my hand as I race back home and prepare to give it to little Sophia. I already know that I will tell her the same story that I told Galina, and I know that I will feel just as happy giving it to Sophia as I did giving it to my sister.

I came back to Ireland and was soon facing Jordan's finished home. I closed the distance at a walking pace and admired the rest of the work they had done on it. If this were just a visit I would be admiring the inside as well, but this is so I can see Sophia. I knock three times on the door and Jordan has it open in 4 seconds. She is holding a duster and smells like baby powder, "Your back!" She yells. She pulls me into a hug and I wrap my arms around her as well.