Chapter 5

Adelaide breaks down in front of an interesting family's house.

Later that day, Adelaide was hunched over her car’s steering wheel, trying to see into the night through the waterfall that had become her windshield. “What the f**k is this is?” she yelled to nobody in particular. Adelaide checked to make sure that her windshield wipers were set to highest setting, which they were, but did not appear to be able to make a dent in the never-ending waterfall that was covering her entire windshield.

As Adelaide was carefully driving down the narrow road, her old car began to sputter. “M**********r! Don’t you dare do this to me, Cindy!” she yelled as she banged on the steering wheel. As the old, black car continued to make strange noises, Adelaide maneuvered the car into a large patch of grass at the bottom of the large hill.  The care immediately stopped any activity moments after she threw the vehicle in park. “Damn it!” she screamed over the sound of thunder. After she had failed in attempted to restart the engine, she reached over through the dark into the passenger seat to grab her bag. She blindly dug through it in search of her phone. Once she felt the familiar, bumpy texture of her case, Adelaide quickly grasped it and yanked it out of her bag. She pressed the home button but the screen remained dark. She then attempted to press the power button, but it only ended with the same result with the exception of the message: please connect to a charging device. Well, I’m fucked, she somberly thought, not even trying to find the energy to be furious. Adelaide lightly tossed the phone back into her bag.

Adelaide sat in the driver’s seat, attempting to find any nearby houses or cars, yet she found nothing. “This day just keeps getting better and better,” she mumbled sarcastically to herself as she leaned back into her seat. I might as well take a nap since there’s obviously nothing better to do, she thought wordlessly.

As soon as Adelaide was about to close her eyes, she saw a faint light at the top of the hill that she had parked at the bottom of. Thank God! she thought, immensely relieved. She quickly packed anything that she might need into her small, navy blue backpack and pulled up the hood of her grey hoodie. She checked twice to make sure that she had shoved a pair of glasses into the side pocket of her bag before taking the keys from the ignition. She mentally prepared herself as she opened her door, exposing herself to the onslaught of freezing rain, strong wind gusts, along with mighty booms of thunder that came before the bright flash of lightning. As soon as Adelaide was out of the car, she was immediately soaked to the bone. I f*****g regret this terrible decision, she thought to herself as she trudged up the slippery hill as quick as possible.

Once Adelaide had finally gotten close enough to the faint light, she discovered that it belonged to an old farm house. At this time, her teeth were rattling around in her head. She attempted to stop the annoying clicking sounds by locking her jaw and tightly clenching her teeth together, but she only succeeded in painfully biting a chuck of flesh out of her cheek.

When she finally reached the old farm house, she firmly gripped the wooden railing as she ascended the steps that lead to the front door, stepping though the waterfall that was running down the roof of the porch’s steps. “Here goes nothing,” she whispered to herself before taking a deep breath and lightly tapping her knuckles on the door three times. Adelaide stared at the roof of the shielded porch, repeatedly following each of the wooden beams from one side to the other as she desperately hoped that someone would answer.

After what appeared to be ages, the door finally opened. “Who in the hell are you?” a rough voice immediately demanded.

Adelaide’s ultimate thought was, Maybe this wasn’t such a fantastic idea after all. She tilted her head upwards, moving her line of vision from his tight, black shirt to his face. The extremely tall man had obsidian hair with blue, crystal eyes and a hint of a five o’ clock shadow.

“Are you going to answer or are you just incompetent?”

Adelaide’s face immediately turned into a bright tomato. Her teeth continued to repeatedly rattle as she tried to clearly answer, “I-I’m Ade-l-l-laide. I-I w-was w-w-wondering i-if I c-could use y-your p-p-p-phone. My c-car is b-b-broken d-down at the b-b-bottom of your-r h-hill-l-l.”

At the same time the handsome man opened his mouth, a feminine voice shouted, “Sam, who’s at the door?” Suddenly, the ginormous man was slightly shoved out of the doorway and a gorgeous woman with fiery red hair and eyes that captured every shade of green known to man. “Oh dear! Come inside and let’s get you warmed up,” the woman said as she grabbed Adelaide’s arm, pulling her into the warm house.

The man simply rolled his eyes as he closed the door.

“Guys! We have company!” the woman shouted as she dragged Adelaide into the house’s large living room, that contained a burning fire within the large fireplace along with numerous couches scattered across the room, most facing the flames.

Three other men were sitting around the fire. Once of them had hair the color of dark chocolate paired with eyes that were such a light grey that they almost appeared white, and his skin was the color of snow. He appeared to be even grumpier than the man who originally answered the door. He seemed to be even grumpier than the male who originally answered the door.

The other man who was sitting on the couch next to the deathly pale one had sandy blond hair and fresh caramel eyes. His body must have been kissed by the sun.

The last male had rich coffee hair and eyes that possessed the color of fresh mint. He immediately approached Adelaide, silently offering her a large, wool blanket, which she gratefully wrapped around her shivering body. “Hello, I’m Andy. You’ve obviously met my siblings, Arielle and Samuel. My other brothers who are sitting on the couch are Michael, the blond, and Ray, the dark haired one.

 Michael kindly waved while the other with nearly transparent eyes rudely grunted.

Adelaide poked one of her small hands out of the ink-colored blanket and waved. “I’m Adelaide. I only want to borrow your phone for a minute or two, just enough time to call for a tow truck. Then, I’ll be out of your guy’s hair.”

“Nonsense!” the crimson-haired woman, Arielle, exclaimed. “Stay here for the night or at least until the storm calms.

 Adelaide smiled but then shook her head. “I don’t want to intrude. I’m perfectly okay with waiting in my car.”

The dark-haired man with nearly white eyes yelled, “Just let the girl do what she wants!”

Michael, the sun-tanned blond, glared at Ray. “No, let her stay. I’m with Arielle on this one.”

“Me too,” Andy agreed.

Ray looked at Samuel and groaned, “Please tell me I’m not the only one against her staying, Sam.”

The man with azure eyes shrugged with his hands tucked into the pockets of his black sweatpants. “I don’t really care as long as we don’t keep her against her will and she has a place if she decides to stay.”

Adelaide released a loud sigh. “Just in case any of you forgot, I’m still here,” she sarcastically reminded the family.

Samuel stared down at the petite blonde. “I’m well aware of that. I thought everyone should at least have a say since you did, you know, knock on our door out of nowhere.”

“Hey! I didn’t say that I wanted to stay here. In fact, if I recall correctly, I basically said that I want the exact opposite of that,” Adelaide growled. She roughly pulled the now drenched blanket from her damp shoulders and handed it back to Andy. “Thank you for the heat and all, but I’ll take my chances with the elements right now. What’s one more night to almost being late to a funeral?” she said, mumbling the last sentence to herself. Adelaide attempted to walk out the door but Samuel stopped her, grabbing her arm.

“I never said you couldn’t stay.”

The petite blonde glared up at the abnormally tall man as she jerked her arm out of his light grasp. “You didn’t have to. The message was received loud and clear.” She stomped out of the house and down the steps.

“Just wait a damn second!” Samuel yelled as he ran after the woman, quickly shutting the door behind him. He followed her as she stomped through the pouring rain.

Adelaide turned to face him as she continued to trudge through the muck. Over the loud pounding of the rain, she bellowed, “Why in the hell should I do that?” She threw her hands up in the air, exasperated.

“Maybe because I’m trying to talk to your crazy a*s!” Samuel yelled back at her, running up to catch up with her. He then easily matched her pace as Adelaide continued to walk backwards.

“Then talk.”

“Couldn’t we go inside first?” Samuel asked, annoyed.

“Nope, you have until I reach my car to talk,” Adelaide disagreed as she continued to make her way down the slippery hill.

Samuel rolled his eyes but resumed to allow his sweatpants and his matching tight shirt to get soaked with the onslaught of rain. He continued to match pace in bare feet with the stubborn blonde. “Why are you even here in Nighting Gale?”

Adelaide shrugged. “Why do you want to know?”

“There are rarely any ever people who simply visit this town, and even less drive down this road. There are only two places on this road, this house and a mansion with acres of property at the very end of this road. The elderly lady who owned all of the mansion’s estate recently died, so there should not be anybody driving down this road until tomorrow afternoon, which is when the funeral is scheduled.”

Adelaide attempted to hide the smirk on her face, hoping that the darkness would mask any falter in her stoic appearance. “I’m the person who is inheriting the estate.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said before shouting, “Hey! Watch out!” as Adelaide tripped backwards.

Adelaide instinctively clutched onto the first thing she could grasp, which consequently happened to be Samuel’s black shirt. Samuel quickly managed to loop his arms around Adelaide’s waist, fighting to keep her from rolling down the kill. He desperately struggled to keep his footing on the slippery slope, yet he miserably failed most likely due to the endless rain and the lack of footwear. The giant came tumbling down with the petite blonde still clinging to the front of his soaked shirt. The pair continuously rolled down the large hill, taking turns bouncing off the muddy ground.

As they finally landed at the bottom, Samuel used his body’s momentum in order to take the majority of the final and most forceful impact, keeping Adelaide safe in his thick arms. They were laying in a puddle of mud beside Adelaide’s old, black 1967 Volkswagen Beetle. Her tiny fingers were still intertwined with the black, cotton material of Samuel’s shirt. The pair laid in the mud for a few minutes, both of them repressing the shock. Adelaide could barely hear the loud pounding of the rain over the rapidly beating sound of her heart that was still pumping adrenaline into her veins. She tentatively set her head on his chest only to discover that his heart was beating a little faster than hers and heat seemed to radiate off of him.

After a little bit of time passed, Adelaide slightly lifted her head up to glance down at Samuel. Her stormy grey eyes stared down upon his closed eyelids. He appears so angelic, she quietly thought.

Almost instantly after her mind said this, Samuel revealed his piercing blue eyes that nearly stole Adelaide’s breath away. He merely glanced at her before turning his attention to the seemingly empty space behind her.

Adelaide turned her head, following Samuel’s stare but did not see anything. I know I’m not going to win first place in any beauty pageant, but am I really that ugly so he has to stare behind me? she asked herself. Adelaide attempted to stand up, pushing her hands against his rock hard chest, but Samuel tightened his arms around her before he finally returned his gaze to her round face. “What in the hell do you think you are doing?” Adelaide growled as she tried to stand up again which was futile against his python arms.

Samuel stared into her eyes as he uneasily questioned, “Do you by any chance have a dead mother who died early in your life or a recently deceased older sister?”

Adelaide peered down at the raven-haired man like he had just spontaneously sprouted three extra heads. “My mom has been dead since I was little, but I don’t have a damn clue on what that has to do with you.”

Samuel shrugged as he crushed the petite blonde closer to his sculpted chest and quickly flipped them over to where Adelaide was now laying in the mud puddle. “It’s not important.” He swiftly stood up while continuing to tightly grasp Adelaide. He began to trudge up the hill with her still imprisoned in his arms.

Adelaide squealed as her legs dangled in the air. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?” she squeaked as she hurriedly wrapped her ankles around his waist and tightened her wrists around his necks as she felt herself slipping.

Samuel simply chuckled and commented, “You seem to say that a lot.”

Adelaide growled in reply but allowed him to continue carrying her up the steep hill that led back to his family’s house. She stubbornly grumbled, “My legs work. I can walk.”

“Do you ever quit complaining? Just let me carry you. We’re both in need of a change of clothes, and it’s not like you can successfully retrieve any from your car right now because of the thunderstorm.”

Adelaide simply glared up into his ocean eyes before she gently rested her head against his warm chest. She subtly loosened the grip of her ankles, allowing them to dangle a little bit. “Thank you,” she whispered, barely audible over the incessant patter of the heavy raindrops.

Samuel simply offered her a small smile as he momentarily glanced down at the petite blonde. “Don’t you worry about it, princess.”

Adelaide gave him a confused look. “Princess?”

She felt Samuel shift his shoulders before he answered, “I thought it was fitting since you are most likely going to be living like one tomorrow.”

Adelaide giggled. “I can’t deny that one. Great Aunt Irma does have quite an extensive amount of money,” she agreed.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” he mumbled.

“It’s okay,” she replied. “It was more me than it was you. My nerves are stretched to the max at the moment from all the mounting stress that comes along with inheriting all this s**t.”

Samuel clambered up the wooden steps, causing Adelaide to slightly shift.

Before the man even had the chance to open the door, Arielle rushed out and thrusted enormous towels in their faces. “Don’t even think about stepping a single foot into this house with your soaked, muddy clothes. Those will run the carpet that I just shampooed yesterday,” she barked as Adelaide leaned back with one hand stretched out to grab the fluffy jade towels from the ginger’s hand before Arielle closed the door.

Samuel shook his head at his sister’s antics with the corners of his lips slightly upturned. “Ready to jump down?” he asked the blonde in his arms.

Adelaide simply nodded her head.

Samuel carefully released one of her thick thighs and cautiously lowered her until the entire bottom of her foot was completely parallel to the porch’s floor. He then let go of the other one, allowing her to set it down herself. He rested his large, rough hands on the exposed skin of her waist from where her hoodie had ridden up from her sliding down his chest, helping to keep her steady.

Damn, his hands are so f*****g warm, Adelaide automatically thought. She glanced up to see Samuel already staring down at her. Stormy grey eyes clashed with sky blue once again. This time, she was the first to break the intense staring by awkwardly asking, “Do you want your towel?”

Samuel shook his head almost unperceivably, trying to clear his thoughts. He matched Adelaide’s awkwardness as he took the towel from Adelaide’s outstretched hand and roughly thanked her.

The pair stood in the dark on the large, wooden porch while drying themselves off. Both of them stole glances from each other while they thought that the other was not paying attention. He has some magnificently defined muscles, Adelaide thought as she observed him attempting to dry his black shirt that was sticking to him like a second skin.

As Adelaide had her fingertips on a bobby pin in order to begin taking down her messy bun, Samuel gently lowered her hand to pull a few trapped leaves out of the wet mess. He held up an eccentric purple leaf in front of the blonde’s ashen eyes. “There were leaves stuck in it,” he monotonously explained.

“Thanks.” Adelaide began to pull the many tiny pins from her hair, causing the normally straw-colored strands to fall piece by piece. She caught the dark-haired man staring at her. “What? Is there something on my face?” she asked, minutely panicked as she patted the entirety of her face.

Samuel snickered as he rudely pointed at her with his index finger. “Yeah, there’s a bunch of mud all over it.”

Adelaide rolled her eyes. “It’s on yours too, dumbass.”

“I know. I was only kidding. The real reason why I was staring at you is that I didn’t think your hair was that long.”

Adelaide carelessly shrugged. “It ends right above my butt plus I’ve seen longer.”

Samuel thoughtlessly muttered, “Whatever.” He tossed his soaked, mud-covered towel at the woman, hitting her directly in the face. “I’m sorry,” Samuel apologized with a chuckle.

Adelaide flashed him a blank expression with her eyes slightly glaring from under her eyebrows before she bent down from the waist in order to pick up the towel from the floor of the porch. “Really? In the face?”

Samuel continued to shake with laughter as he attempted to explain, “I’m simply used to throwing things at people and hitting them in the chest, not the face.”

Adelaide sat each of her hands on the coordinating hip with the towels still in hand. “Was that a short joke? If it was, I’m not that short. You’re simply freakishly tall.”

“That’s exactly what a midget would say.”

Adelaide huffed and chucked both of the dripping towels at him. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Just remember that short people are closer to hell,” she said, trying to keep a straight face.

Samuel chuckled and shook his head in amusement as he opened the door with a grin spread across his face.

Arielle was already standing there with her hands resting on top of her hips. She gently grabbed Adelaide’s hand and led her up the wooden stairs with Samuel closely following behind. Arielle strolled into a decent sized room. It has luscious green carpeting that reminded Adelaide of her family’s house back in her hometown and sky blue walls that closely matched the color of Samuel’s eyes. There were plants placed nearly everywhere they could fit. There was a fern placed at each corner of the queen-size bed, passion fruit vines on each side of the door, and a few various flower plants scattered throughout the bedroom.

Arielle seems to have quite the green thumb, Adelaide thought to herself as she trailed behind the slender ginger with emerald eyes to a large closet, eyeing the fabulous flowering plants.

Arielle held up a pair of light grey sweatpants to the blonde’s waist. “These might be a little too big for you but it’s the shortest ones I have beside shorts.” She handed them to Adelaide and stared at her ginormous brother. Her hands were resting on her narrow hips once again before questioning, “Don’t you have anywhere else to be, like changing out of those nasty clothes or maybe making a snack or something?”

Samuel crossed his arms. “Not really, and I happen to like my clothing the way it is.”

Arielle closed her eyes, deeply inhaled, and slowly released it before opening her eyes once more. “Samuel, I’m giving you to the count of three to be out of my room or our guest will see something she most likely has never seen before.”

The man held his large hands up in the air, surrendering as he slowly backed out of the room. “I’m going, I’m going. There’s no need to strangle me.”

As soon as the abnormally tall man with hair the color of ebony had both feet off of the carpet and onto the hardwood flooring of the hallway, Arielle slammed it in his chiseled face, wiping her hands off on each other like she had dirt on them. “Now that he’s gone, let’s see if I can find you a shirt comfortable enough for you to sleep in.” She walked over to her dresser made out of cherry wood and bent down to sift through the contents of the bottom drawer. She pulled out a white t-shirt. “This might work but just let me know if it doesn’t,” she informed as she handed it to Adelaide, which she gratefully accepted. Arielle walked out of the bedroom, firmly closing the door behind her.

Adelaide quickly stripped out of her wet clothes as soon as she heard the door click close. Well, that’s f*****g fantastic, she sarcastically thought after she discovered that both her bra and underwear were soaked. There is no way that hers are going to me so I guess I’m going to have to go commando. The blonde swiftly slipped on the sweatpants, which were only a little long at the bottom, covering her feet completely, and the t-shirt refused to slide completely over her chest. “Damn you, organic milk bags,” she hissed as she ripped the shirt off over her head. Adelaide stomped toward the door and opened it just enough to peek her skull out of the entryway. She assumed her eyes were going to see the generous fiery-haired woman; instead, she saw Samuel leaning against the wat directly next to door with his arms crossed and his eyes luckily closed.

Panicked, Adelaide squeaked and would have successfully barred the door if it would not have been for the enormous foot stopping it. She pressed her entire weight against the separating slab of wood.

“Hey! Quit crushing my damn foot! Aree sent me up here to make sure you found your way back to the living room,” Samuel yelled, grunting a little bit.

“Then move your f*****g foot because I’m not coming out there!” she shouted back.

“Why?”

“Because, oh, let’s see, um, I DON’T HAVE A DAMN SHIRT ON, YOU MORON!” Adelaide screamed at the top of her lungs, extremely frustrated. She heard the man laughing through the door as he yanked his foot out of the crack.

“Then why didn’t you just say so? I’ll be back in a minute.”

Adelaide firmly crossed her arms over her exposed chest as she leaned her full weight against the door once more, causing it to finally close with a satisfying click. She huffed as she banged the back of her head against the wood. Stupid b***s, complicating everything, she angrily thought.

A light knock on the door jolted the blonde out of her silent rant.

“Here, you can use this,” Samuel offered, shoving a black mas of clothing through the small crack Adelaide had made immediately after she had heard the knock.

“Thanks,” the short, blonde woman murmured as she took it from his large hand. Adelaide quickly pulled it over her head and through her arms. She smelled something similar to a combination of the scent of outside right before the rain falls, fresh trees, and something else she could not quite place. As she tugged the hemline downwards, it was discovered that the shirt was long enough to cover the seat of her borrowed pants. This definitely is not Arielle’s shirt, Adelaide reflected wordlessly before she walked into the hallway to see the annoyingly gorgeous man leaning against part of the second floor’s railing.

“Better?” Samuel asked.

While trying to stop her blood’s rush to her cheeks, she simply nodded while rubbing her fingers along the hem of the cotton shirt.

“Good, now let’s go get some food.” The giant began to walk down the stairs, not bothering to glance back to make sure that she was following.

Adelaide attempted to keep pace with Samuel but only ended up tripping over her own pant leg. She landed on her face at the very top of the steps, narrowly stopping herself from slipping down them with her momentum. She used the carpet to muffle her loud sigh. I think I’m just going to lay here for a while. Yeah, that seems like a fantastic idea.

It was not long before Adelaide heard stifled laughter coming from in front of her. She lifted her head just enough to catch a glimpse of Samuel sitting a couple of steps away from her. Her eyes sent a malicious glare at him, which only caused him to roar with amusement.

“Did you fall?” he infuriatingly asked once he had pulled enough oxygen back into his lungs.

“No, I just thought that the floor needed a hug. YES, I FELL, YOU IDIOT!”

Samuel chuckled and stood up. He held out his hand, offering to help her stand up off the floor.

Adelaide batted his hand away, using the floor in order to help keep her balance. She tried to stomp away from him but only moved a couple of steps ahead of him due to her foot getting caught in her other pant leg, successfully tripping herself once again. Adelaide automatically held out her arms to the rapidly approaching floor, instinctively snapping her stormy cloud moons closed. She felt thick arms wind around her waist and pull her tight against a rock hard chest. She dropped her hands on top of the ones on already on her stomach and slowly peeled her scrunched eyelids from her eyeballs. Her chin gradually tilted upwards to glance at Samuel’s smirking face. Ash collided with cobalt for the third time since the pair had met just a couple hours ago.

The duo continuously stared into each other’s eyes until Samuel finally broke it by taking her hand and slowly twirled the blonde around until her body was completely facing his, her body pressed up against his due to them both staring a single step on the stairs. His hands placed themselves onto the back of her curved waist. He then effortlessly picked her up and walked the couple steps up to the floor before carefully setting her down on the dark, wooden railing.

Adelaide’s eyes never let the mesmerizing oceans that were his eyes. A hint of smile graced her soft features while she wordlessly complied to his hands.

Samuel kneeled down in front of her with one knee on the ground in advance to tenderly grabbing one of her small feet and setting it on his thigh. He began to roll her pant leg up and commented, “So you don’t fall again” with a grin plastered on his chiseled face.

Adelaide lightly kicked her free foot at Samuel’s shoulder. “I’ve only fallen twice,” she groaned, her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

Samuel replaced the immaculately rolled pant leg with the other one. “It was actually three times, but who’s counting?”

Adelaide crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the head full of jet black hair. She mumbled, “Well, you are obviously.”

“You’re good,” Samuel announced before towering over the woman once again, deliberately ignoring what she remarked. He held out a hand, offering to help her off the railing.

Adelaide reluctantly accepted, nonetheless letting go as soon as both of her feet touched the cool, hard flooring.

“Now let’s grab something to eat, princess,” Samuel said as he descended down the steps.

Arielle greeted the pair at the bottom of the stairs, holding two plates with identical sandwiches on them. She handed them each a platter. “Here’s a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich for the both of you. The rest of us has had ours.” She led the way to the living room, where everyone else was already sitting. She sat down in an empty chair while Samuel sat next to Andy on the couch.

Adelaide decided to sit on the carpeted floor beside the couch where Andy and Samuel were sitting. She began to eat her sandwich as the family began talking.

Arielle asked, “Adelaide, do you want to make sure you know our names correctly? You can also ask a few questions if you want to. I know it’s not the most fun way to do things, but I thought it might help.”

Adelaide nodded as she chewed the rest of the sandwich. “Sure, sounds great.” She them pointed both her thumbs behind her. “Samuel and Andy.” She did the same gesture but in the opposite direction where an identical couch was placed. “Michael who is the blond one, awesome hair color by the way, and Ray.” She smiled at the only female. “Finally, Arielle.”

The entire family smiled and nodded with the exception of Ray.

“I am able to ask questions, right?” Adelaide asked.

Michael shook his head up and down slightly. “Of course.”

“I know that you guys are brothers and sister-“

They all simultaneously nodded once again.

“-and that you all are living in this house together, correct?”

Adelaide received more nods in response.

“Last question for now, well, it is more of a guess. Michael and Ray are twins?”

Ray grunted, “Yeah.”

“Awesome guess!” Andy complimented, offering Adelaide a high-five.

She slapped her hand against his after twisting around a little bit. “Thanks, I try my best.”

The small blonde set her hands in her lap after she had placed the empty plate in front of her body. She glanced at the two men behind her before skimming the rest of the family. “Before I can think of anything else to ask, is there anything some of you would like to ask me?”

Samuel immediately asked, “How old are you?”

“I’m eighteen.”

The raven-haired man’s eyes widen slightly. “You sure don’t look your age.”

Adelaide rolled her the clouds in her eyes. “Gee, thanks for the compliment.”

Samuel simply groaned and crossed his arms over his large chest. “Whatever, I’m not even going to try to explain what I meant.”

Ray cleared his throat. In a rough, gravelly voice, he questioned, “Do you have any siblings?”

Adelaide nodded as she leaned back onto her hands that were practically attached to the ground. “Yeah, I have a little brother whose name is Eric. He is two years younger than me.”

“Where did you work before you came here?” Arielle asked.

“I was one of the librarians for the local library.”

Michael wondered aloud, “What is your mother like?”

Samuel sent a malicious glare to his sandy-haired, chocolate-eyed brother. He then kindly laid a hand on Adelaide shoulder and whispered to her, “You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to.”

Adelaide tilted her head back and patted his hand with her tiny one. “It’s okay. He doesn’t know, therefore it’s a harmless question that I’m going to answer,” she whispered back to him.

Samuel simply grunted and leaned back into the couch with his arms back in their previous position, glaring at his slightly older brother.

“She was wonderful. She would always make sure that both my brother and I were always taken care of. She never put herself first when it came to family. Mom found amazing ways to entertain both us kids, repeatedly putting Dad in a fit of laughter on more than one occasion. She was also super creative when finding ways to get us to achieve some kind of goal. When it came to us learning, she helped us extremely. In fact, I could read when I was just three years old, and Eric was four when he finally was able to. Her storytelling was exquisite. She would change the pitch of her voice and sometimes added an accent in order to represent the different characters in the story,” Adelaide softly said.

“What do you mean by ‘was’?” Andy asked with his eyebrows furrowed together and his head tilted to the side.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Samuel punched his brother in the arm. “Seriously?! Don’t any of you know how to keep your mouth shut?” he shouted, exasperated.

Adelaide once again twisted the upper half of her body toward the giant man sitting behind her. She stared up at Samuel with wide eyes. “It’s fine, Samuel. There is no need for you to flip your lid because Andy is asking a question he doesn’t know the answer to.”  She then adjusted her body to face the youngest member of the family. “My mom died when I was a kid.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

Adelaide smiled as she shrugged. “Don’t be. It’s not your fault, plus you couldn’t have known.” She leaned her back against the bottom of the couch.

Michael and Ray started to tell a story from when the family was little, but Adelaide could not will herself to listen. The words floated through her head as her eyes became heavy.