Among The Roses

Chapter 40: Saying Good Bye to Noah

The time for Noah to go home and head back to school came all too soon.

Chiara knew she would miss the blond boy who was so unlike his brother, but who already felt like family to her, very much. They ordered his favorite Indian takeaway the night before he would be leaving and sat around, eating and laughing.

"It's hard to picture you as a regular student at school, when I've only ever known you here and in London," Chiara said, smiling at Noah. "You seem too old, too worldly, somehow, to be at school."

"Thank you," Noah responded, smiling back.

Chiara could see traces of Drew when he smiled. "I am nearly fifteen, you know."

"Right, practically an old man," she teased.

From the next room, Sienna began to cry.

LeeAnne shook her head in irritation, though she did put her utensils down and rise. She'd gotten better about tending to her child's needs when she realized that her attitude wasn't winning her any friends among those staying at Langton. Drew's opinion, in particular, seemed to matter to her a great deal.

"No, let me, I'm finished, anyway," Noah said. "Tonight will be my last time to spend time with her, I'd like to."

"Go ahead," LeeAnne said, gesturing toward the lounge. "I can tell from her crying that it's her diaper, though."

"That's okay," Noah assured her. "It's something I should get used to, anyway, right?" He glanced between Drew and Chiara. "It's one of the duties of being an uncle, right?"

Drew wadded up a napkin and threw it at his brother. "Bite your tongue, brother. You've got a long wait ahead of you if that's what you're waiting for." He leaned over and kissed Chiara's temple to take the sting out of his words.

Noah returned in a few minutes with a freshly changed baby and began preparing her bottle while he cooed to her.

"I'm going to miss you so much," Chiara declared, feeling tearful.

"That's such a nice thing to say," Noah replied from his place in front of the microwave. "Don't worry, I'll be back for my mid-term holidays."

"Who says you're invited?" Drew retorted. "All joking aside, we'll have to see how the writing's going," he added.

Noah nodded his understanding. Things were fine so far, but they could hit a snag at any time.

"Speaking of which, I want to play something for you later, yeah?" Drew addressed these words to Chiara.

"Just her?" Noah asked.

"Yes," Drew answered, nodding. "It's something I've been working on, but I'm not sure how I feel about it. It might be good on the album, or it might be something I want to keep private, I haven't decided yet." He rubbed Chiara's shoulder. "It's about her, so I'm going to ask her opinion, and if she's good with it, I'll play it for the boys tomorrow."

Luke, Gary and Ned were nodding. They'd done something similar themselves, so it made sense to them.

Mara sighed. "Ah, the early days, when everything was romantic."

Ned eyed her ring. "Yeah, Mara, you're really suffering."

"Shut up, you," Mara fired back with a grin.

"I wish someone would write a song about me," LeeAnne said wistfully.

Mara turned to her, eyes wide with disbelief. "Have you looked at your wrist today?" she asked.

On her wrist was the more expensive, rose gold version of the watch Drew had given Chiara for Christmas.

"It's a push gift," she said defensively.