Feels Like Home

Part One

Letty's POV

Letty's POV

I stood on the doorstep of 1327. This was the place I was supposed to have called home for fifteen years of my life. The night air was sharp and nipped at my face and hands. Dom carefully unlocked the door. There was a flutter of excitement in the air. Mia stood close to Dom cradling her sleeping son, but she was practically bouncing on the spot. Brian stood behind Mia and even he looked excited. There was a real atmosphere of coming home, of returning to somewhere they never thought they'd see again.

Dom opened the door then stood back for Mia, gesturing for her to lead the way. With her typically gentle grin she stepped into the hall, her low heels clacking on the tiled floor. Brian was swift to follow, carrying a Moses basket for Jack. Dom waved me forwards but I hesitated. While I'd jumped at the chance to go with them, to be a part of their family, nothing could replace the unease which lingered in my mind, the unshakeable doubt that despite their kindest reassurances I wasn't really a part of this anymore. I was a different person now, well I didn't know who I'd once been.

I stepped into the narrow hallway. The air was musty. It was the air of a house that had been too long locked up. Hot and dry. A stale, choking air. The dim light illuminated the pale cream walls. Every wall was thickly covered in pictures. Frames lined the wall and the little hall table. They were coated with a thin layer of dust. I was drawn to them and lifted one at random, a heavy glass frame. I held the frame tightly in my grasp, afraid of dropping it. I wiped the dust from the surface to see a photo of Dom and I when I looked about seventeen. I frowned when I saw the picture. I was wearing a white dress, it fell to my knees and was tied around my waist with a little black ribbon belt. My hair and makeup had been done properly. Dom was wearing a black shirt and dress jeans. It was nothing like me now. Had I once been girly? Enjoyed doing makeup? I doubted it. If I once had been like that, it hadn't stuck with me now.

Dom inched up behind me. "That was your eighteenth birthday party. Mia picked the dress and did your makeup. She wanted you to have one day in the whole year when you weren't covered in grease or had your hair tied up in a ponytail. Mia talked you into the dress and the makeup. You played along to make her happy."

I smiled at him. "There was me thinking I'd once been a princess type." My words were cutting, scathing, they reflected my personal loathing for the airhead princess girls of the world. Roll your damn sleeves up and get the job done. We didn't fight for independence to waste it fearing what might happen if we break a nail.

"You were never girly," he murmured. "Closest you've ever been to the princess type was the warrior princess. You were a new breed, a misunderstood breed. People didn't understand you cause your archetype hasn't been born yet. They all think you're just the tough chick but you're more than that. You're the chick who knows how to throw down, how to stand by a principle, make a promise and swear blind to keep it and stick to it. Yet you know how to step back, be empathetic, how to love deeply and passionately." He trailed off. His tone was gentle, almost nostalgic. His brown eyes had a distant look in them like he'd just remembered something.

I felt myself sigh. What he said was beautiful. His words held that ring of truth where I knew I couldn't not believe him. He spoke with a deep rooted care for me but also with a fear he'd unnerve me.

"Thanks," I murmured in gratitude. He was giving me parts of myself back. Things I'd thought I'd lost long ago.

Slipping into the kitchen Brian was unpacking the necessary groceries we'd bought. Then he had to make tea for everyone. An odd ritual for this family but it seemed to their time together. It was the one moment in the day when they got ten minutes to just be. They ate dinner together but usually had phones ringing or texts beeping or some other interruption. This was their time to just be together.