Page 19 of Where Darkness Falls

It’s only then that I notice that everyone’s looking at me, or that my eyes have glassed over with tears.

Apparently, I’m also still holding onto Cara and Aine’s hands, though the blessing is over. I let go, hastily wiping the tears from my eyes.

“Is everything okay, Darling Flower?” Amelia asks, concerned.

“Of course,” I say, smiling. “I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have you all as my family.”

Amelia and Rolph exchange glances as they look at me. They know how much I have struggled with abandonment. They’ve seen the good, bad, and ugly of this entire process. Yet, through it all, they’ve never wavered.

“We’re just as fortunate to call you family, Maeva Cale,” says Rolph.

“We love you, Darling Flower,” Amelia replies, emotion thickly coating her voice.

She glances around the table at the life and family she and Rolph have built. “We love each of you with all of our hearts. I thank Siorai every day for blessing us with all seven of our children,” she says.

We return the smiles as we gaze at one another for a few moments—thankful for the family that we have found.

“Well,” Aidan claps, “if we are done saying that we love one another, could wePLEASEeat?”

On cue, Aine’s little tummy rumbles loudly, which causes us to break into fits of laughter.

As the dishes are passed around, we chat about our days and laugh at the antics of the twins—who are currently in the middle of a food eating competition.

Family.

This is my family.

I wasn’t born into it, but it’s the family that chose to take in an orphaned fifteen-year-old girl. A part of me will always miss the family that I don’t remember, but the other part of me loves being a Cale.Sometimes, family isn’t made from a connection forged by blood. Sometimes, it’s the bond that connects us together through love.

And I love them most dearly.

To me, family are those who choose to stand in your corner day in and day out. They’re the ones who’d take the cloak off their backs to shield you from the frigid winter air. The ones to make sure you have a warm meal every day or make you laugh so hard you throw up. The ones who obsess over art and literature with you. The ones that simply love you because you are you.

I may not have all the answers to my life, but for now, this moment is enough.

I plan to soak up every moment while it lasts.

Terror seizes me.

I’m paralyzed by fear.

Screams fill the air.

“RUN,” a voice begs me. “RUN AND DON’T LOOK BACK!”

I only have a split second to decide.

Someone with black gloves reaches for my arm.

I slip out of their grasp, running into the woods.

My lungs and legs burn, but I have to keep running.

I jump over fallen limbs and tree roots.

The woods seem stranger now—darker.

I hear screams in the growing distance behind me.

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