Breaking Through These Walls

Chapter 13

Rian's POV

Patrick pulled the car into a neighborhood. There were kids outside running around and playing. He pulled the car into a driveway towards the end of the neighborhood.

"Home, sweet home." Pat looks at me and smiles. His house wasn't huge but it wasn't small. It was a good size house for a family of six. He got out of the car and came to open my door. "You ready?"

I take a deep breath readying myself for what's to come. "I guess so. No turning back now." I say quietly.

Patrick grabs our bags from the back and carries them to the door. He knocks on the door before opening it himself. "Hello?" He yells through the house.

"Patrick!" His mother comes to the front door to greet her son. The women looks so familiar, but I don't know where I've seen her from.

"Mom this is Rian, Rian, this is my mom." Pat introduces us.

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Kane." She pulls me into a hug.

"It's nice to see you again Rian." She gushes. "And please call me Donna."

Then it hits me. The family I sat with when I went to Pat's game, is the same family I will be spending Christmas with.

"Where's everyone else?" Patrick asks looking around.

"Your father is out at the hardware store and the girls are shopping. Last minute Christmas shopping and grocery shopping." Donna rolls her eyes.

"Figures they would leave some of their Christmas shopping until last minute." Pat laughs.

"Do you mind if I use the bathroom?" I turn to Donna.

"No! Not at all! You want to follow this hall straight, it will lead you to the kitchen. Take a right down a hall that is off the kitchen, take a left at the end of the hall and the bathroom is on your left." She smiles at me.

"Thank you!" I dismiss myself from Patrick and his mother. I follow the directions Patrick's mother gave me. Once I got out of the bathroom, I stopped to look at the pictures that hung on the walls. Some where actual paintings and artwork pieces, while others where actual pictures of the Kane children. I came across a collection of pictures. One was the four kids at a hockey rink. Patrick had a medal around his neck, dressed in a suit and tie. His sisters gathered around him. They all look so young. The next one, Patrick was in a Blackhawks jersey while his sisters were all dressed up. It looked like it was taken after the draft. The third picture was the four of them gathered around the Stanley Cup on the front stairs.

"There are more pictures around the house if you'd like to see them." Donna says from behind me.

"I'm sorry. They just caught my attention and-"

"They are supposed to. I didn't hang pictures up and tell people they could look at them." Donna laughs. I look away embarrassed. "There's no need I be shy, honey. I won't bite." Donna comes over to me.

"You have a beautiful family." I say looking at a picture that looks recent of all six of them.

"Thank you. I'm proud of each one of them. I like to look at the pictures in each room, all from different times in their life and just think back to that moment." She looks at me and smiles. "Patrick tells me you have a large family."

"I'm one of 10, but there are only 9 of us now. My older brother died 11 years ago." I respond.

"Car accident right?"

"Hit by a drunk driver, yeah." I respond.

"I couldn't imagine what your family went through. Were all of you close?" She looks at me.