Little Swift

Part 19/Last Part

A great many years down the road.....

MAISIE POV

"I've got it mom! Trust me, please." I told my mom as she tried to interfere with my packing for the hundredth time.

"I know, I know.... It's just...." Mom said, standing in the doorway of my bedroom leaning on the doorframe.

"I know mom, it's hard for you to see me so grown up and all that stuff." I said, rolling my eyes slightly, "But it's not like I'll be gone forever. It's only until winter break. And you and dad have snazzy jets so I know you won't go two-week without visiting or getting me home."

"Well.... We'll miss you that's all." Mom said, her voice wavering slightly as I turned to look at her. She looked smaller as she stood there looking at me.

I knew this was a big change for her. I was off to study pre-med at the University of Pennsylvania and it would be the first time we would be apart for an extended amount of time.

"I'll finish packing these bits and pieces and then come down for dinner.... Okay?" I said, smiling at her and getting a small smile in return.

"Yeah, um, sure. That's fine." Mom said, turning away and heading to the stairs.

I sat back, staring at all the packing I had done so far, and contemplated how much my life had changed since I got adopted by Taylor.

I went from having little to nothing to having a wonderful mother. I barely remember those first few years, let alone anything before that, but we have all the photos and videos to prove that I had an awesome childhood. Adam came along soon afterwards and he was immediately my best friend. It didn't take long for him to become my dad – both emotionally and legally.

Then came my siblings. Finley was first, when I was 6. He was basically a living doll for me and I adored him, dressing him with mom every day and helping to feed him as soon as I could. He is the musical one – on track to be famous like mom and dad one day. We have always been very close, despite him being closer in age to the twins. They were born when I was 10 years old, Amelia and Timothy – or Milly and Tim. They are 8 years old now and little firecrackers. They are the jokers in the family and are always together. They still share a room, even though we have rooms to spare in our house, and always set traps to stop us getting in. Finally, there is little Isabella – or Bella as we all call her. She is only 2 and I still maintain that she was a total (but lovely) accident as they always claimed to have the perfect number of children with 2 boys and 2 girls, but my parents will dispute that fact until the cows come home. I've been like a second mother for Bella, looking after her when my parents go out to events, babysitting her while mom is ferrying around the rest of the clan to extracurriculars or driving my siblings around to avoid mom and dad having to do it.

Mom has taken a definite step back from music, releasing her final album the year before the twins were born – in fact I do believe they were conceived the night of her album release party, but you didn't hear that from me. She toured a little before they were born and then we went on the road as a family over the summer after Milly and Tim arrived and she continued touring for 3 months. Since then she's been really involved in writing for others, producing music, and running her own record label – giving up and coming artists the same chance she got all those years ago or whatever.

Dad also took a step back from performing around when Finley was born, stating that the strain of clubs and travel was too much and he wanted to be home with his family. He's still a big shot producer though, as he can do all that stuff from home, and goes on glamorous trips to host events every so often.

Mom and Dad made sure we had as normal a family life as we could, despite the extraordinary circumstances of our family. It was the little things like sitting down for dinner all together at least 4 nights a week, all going away for at least a month of the summer vacation as a family, and spending Christmas either in Tennessee or Scotland to alternate between grandparents and extended families that they valued a lot and made sure happened.