Saving the Heart

♥ Chapter Eighteen ♥

♥ Chapter Eighteen ♥

    We parked on the road outside of aunt Angie’s house, and that was when it hit me.  We were there.  We were finally there.  I sucked in a deep breath.  Hopefully she wouldn’t go over the top this year, she’d probably scare Sam away for life.  Sam.

    I looked up in the rearview mirror, catching his distant brown eyes.  Last night I had sent in my paper.  After this, it was all over.  Everything we had been working for was over.  I would pick up the papers when the city opened up again after Christmas, we would both sign them, and that would be that.  We would go our separate ways.  I was no longer sure that I wanted that, in fact, that was exactly what I didn't want to happen.

    I got out of the car and opened up the door for Sam and Derek.

    “Remember,” my dad started as Reagan parked the van up ahead of us, helping Patrick out and into his chair.  Patrick had Osteogenesis Imperfecta, basically glass bones.  He was extremely fragile and it got worse with age, my dad insisted that we get him a wheelchair so he wasn’t putting so much pressure on his arms and legs when he used his cane.

    “You’re my kid,” my dad told Sam, gripping his shoulders.  “And you love your siblings, and your aunt Angie very much.  Got it?” Sam nodded slowly before my dad huffed and started to straighten Sam’s hair.  “Just, try and be nice.” He told him before heading over to the house.  Sam gave me a crooked smile and I stifled a laugh as Reagan wheeled a jet lagged Patrick around the car and up the sidewalk, the rest of the family tailed along behind him.

    “Don’t worry about aunt Angie,” I told Sam quietly as we started up the path to her front door.  The door opened and my family started to travel into the abyss.

    “Then what should I worry about?” He asked.  I smiled.

    “Everyone else.”

    “Kennedy!” Screamed Lydia, the youngest of my cousins as I entered the house.  She latched onto me in a tight hug.  Sam awkwardly shifted behind me from foot to foot, taking in all of the people crammed into the small entryway of my aunt’s house.  There wasn’t much to her home, but it was the easiest place for everyone to get to.  Our home was really out of the way.  The tree in the corner didn’t help alleviate the congestion.

    Lydia broke away from me before looking up, her eyebrows drawn.

    “Who’s that?” She blurted.  The twelve-year-old was rather blunt.

    “This is Sam,” I introduced as I took a step back.  He gave Lydia a small wave.  

    “Is he your boyfriend?” She asked, looking him up and down with a judging eye.  

    “No,” I blushed.  “He’s my new brother.  Sam, this is Lydia, Lydia, Sam.”

    “What’s wrong with you?” She asked, still standing partially behind me.

    “My heart’s broken.” He told her and she rolled her eyes.

    “What a romantic,” she seethed before going further into the house to steal some cookies.  Well that was one way to put it.

    “Your heart’s broken?” I asked as we weaved into the house, squeezing between people in an attempt to find some place to sit down.  Sam simply shrugged before sitting down on the couch.  I squeezed in next to him, nearly falling off the armrest as I tried to fit on the couch.  He laughed at me, earning an elbow to the side.

    “So this is what a family gathering looks like,” he noted in awe, watching everyone interact, the adults hug, the children shove.  Derek and Cooper included as they went nuts for the cookies.  Everyone loved aunt Angie’s cooking.