The strangest thing happened when was cleaning my house. As I did my usual picking up, the mail slot in the door opened and as usual the bills showed up but also a letter. The name said Holly Jones on it, and that was both my and my dad's last name which made me even more confused because my parents never spoke about having siblings or anyone apart from my grandparents. The whole day I spent time rereading the letter and trying to wrap my head around this and then James came over and read it too.
"Are you happy about it?" He asked me as he put the letter down on the table.
"More confused than happy, she gave me her address. I wanna meet her," I said to him. From there the plans were arranged.
That weekend we traveled down to Brighton where Holly lives. It was strange, very strange...well to me. When we arrived at her home, I was a bit in shock to be there.
"You ready to do this? We could always call this off," James said to me. I looked at him, our eyes staring into each others.
"I want to, I have to." I said taking hold of his hand, in search for comfort. As we neared to her front door my heart raced. Then I found myself knocking on her door and she was there.
"Oh my, Bunny. I haven't seen you since you were a baby. Come in, please come in." She said standing aside allowing me and James into her house.
We sat in her living room, mugs of tea on the coffee table and an awkward silence filling the id. But I had questions I wanted to ask, and I expected answers.
"Holly, please don't take this the wrong way, but who are you exactly?" I said taking another drink of the tea she had given to us.
"I'm your aunt, your father, he was my step-brother. He never mentioned me because never did quite like his mother remarrying and didn't want anything to do with my father. But I did get to meet you, because your wonderful mother, she'd changed his mind a bit. I only met you twice though, I understand why you don't remember me." She said, her eyes deep with emotion and sadness.
"Is there anybody else?" I asked her, she sighed.
"Well, from your mother's side I'm not sure, but from your father's I know we have another brother but he lives in America now. After our parents passed away, he needed to get away from Britain." She said and then there was a knock heard.
"Were you expecting someone else?" James asked her.
"It's most likely my husband with the kids." She said getting up and going to the door. I looked at James still confused, when we heard laughter and speaking. A man with three kids came into the living room.
"This is your cousin, Bunny, say hello." Holly said to the kids.
"Hi. Hey. Afternoon," they said. All of them were around the same age or at least that's how they looked.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Bunny and this is my boyfriend James." I said to them, offering a smile. These kids looked nothing like my father, but then again they were still family and I was thankful for that.
"Nice to meet you too," the little one said, her fingers in her mouth and a toothless smile on her face.
The kids left upstairs and both couples were left talking and trying to catch up. Holly is trying her best and I loved her for that. I knew in time that things were going to get better and James could sense that I was happy. Leaving Brighton there was a sense of need in my life now. I almost stayed but James was also my home, and Scotland was especially my home. Once I made it back to the house my father gave me I found a sense of gratitude to it and was thankful now more than ever.
"So, now you know you have family and people who care about you. Do you think you're worth it?" James said to me, and with a small smile and a giggle I agreed. He took me in his arms and spun me around, that night was the happiest for me.
