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𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 her brothers and mother sat in the family room. The paintings her mother made were beautiful. Her heart felt broken. The Conklin's were upstairs crying, and the Fisher's were downstairs in the family room, finally breaking down. Flora felt horrible. She felt awful that the whole summer, she'd been worried about herself, too much to see her mom was sick, she didn't care if that was exactly what her mom wanted, she felt horrible that she'd never fully found out. And there Flora sat, crying in her beautiful dress, with her brothers and mother, who were crying too.
"I'm sorry, mom. I was too worried about my own problems that I didn't even notice. I should have noticed." Flora cried.
"No, no, Flory please don't be sorry. I'm so sorry the night turned out like this." Susannah spoke. "That's not how I wanted you to find out." She said to her kids. Jeremiah sitting on one side, Flora and Conrad on the other.
"You're gonna do the trial, right mom?" Jeremiah asked. Tears spilt over Susannah's face.
"Uh, no honey. I'm not. I can't." Susannah shook her head. "The chances are very slight, non-existent, really. And.... I just can't go through that again. It was too hard the first time." She said sadly. Flora let out a small sob into her hands, unable to hold it in.
"But- you could try?" Jere pleaded.
"I just wanna be me when I go. Does that make sense?" She asked, tearfully.
"No- no none of this makes sense-" Jere cried.
"I know. I know." Susannah cried. "I'm not good at this. Mommy's not good at this." She whispered, squeezing Jere's hand, then Flora's and then Conrad's. "I should have known you knew. I just didn't want to believe it." Susannah said.
"Mom if there's any chance, you have to." Jere pleaded. "You have to, please. C'mon, tell her Conrad, Flora!" Jere pleaded again. "Why aren't you saying anything!?" He cried to his siblings who sat, crying too. "Mom this is crazy; you have to try! Y-you can't just give up on us!" Jere cried.
"Mom?" Conrad spoke, softer than a mouse, his voice raspy and soft from the cries. "Can't you just- can't you just try?" He pleaded. "For us mom?"
"Please?" Flora added, her voice sad and quiet. "Please, mom. I still- we still need you." She cried, her words crackling and breaking at the end. "Please, will you just try?"
Susannah burst into more tears, pulling her kids in, as they all cried and hugged. They all felt like little children again, crying in their mom's lap, holding each other's hands.
----///----
"Hey." Flora spoke, standing in the doorway of Belly's room. Both of their eyes red from crying. Belly's hair was down, messy around her shoulders, Flora's was the same, both of them still in their beautiful dresses.
"Hey, Flory." Belly greeted softly with a sad smile. "Can I hug you?" She asked. Flora didn't say anything, but sat down on the bed with Belly, sinking into the embrace they both needed. Eventually after a few minutes of just being in each other's embrace, they both snuggled up under the covers, laying on their side's facing each other.
"My uh, mom said she'd do it. She's doing the trial." Flory said.
"Oh my god, that's amazing!" Belly breathed, smiling. Flory smiled back, holding Belly's hand tightly. "Thank you." Belly whispered, kissing Flory's hands. "Thank you for being there for me tonight." She whispered.
"Of course." Flory said softly back. "Always." She said with a small smile. "I'll always be there for you, Belly."
"I'll be there for you too. Through it all. You're my person, Flory." Belly smiled. Belly was about to speak again when they heard Laurel call from the kitchen, calling everyone down to the kitchen for dinner.
There were times during the summer when Flory felt as though she didn't know her own heart. Didn't know herself. But one thing she knew for sure was that no matter what was next, no matter what life would throw at her, as she looked around the table, everyone she loved the most sat there, she knew she would always come back to this place. These people. And they'd be there to help her pick up the pieces whenever things broke. They'd help her find herself when she got lost.
𝕊𝕠𝕟𝕘:𝔽𝕦𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕝-ℙ𝕙𝕖𝕠𝕓𝕖 𝕓𝕣𝕚𝕕𝕘𝕖𝕣𝕤
A/N: No joke, i cried writing this chapter. I'm so sad but excited because this book is coming to an end, and I have loved every minute of writing it!
