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THE LAUGHTER OF children infiltrated the walls of the Grimes house. It was a welcome contrast to the emptiness that had been felt in the years before their arrival.
Freya was listening to them from upstairs in a room that was not her own- a room that had become her one place of solace in a place that never stopped taking her will to live.
"Lori drew our 'family portrait' last night, she heard Brodie saying that we don't have one, so she thought it'd be a nice thing to do. It was nice, she drew all of us cramped together- you and Mom and Dad too. She put you next to Brodie and drew you the same height as her, I haven't cried in a long time but I just couldn't hold it back. The only picture she's ever seen of you is from when you were eleven and Brodie's twelve, so she wasn't wrong. It just hurt."
His window to speak passed silently as always.
"She got all upset, thinkin' I didn't like it, so I had to tell her I was upset that she didn't put me next to her and then she redrew the whole thing, stayed up past her bedtime to do it. She's a great kid, I think you would've loved her- I know you would've. Mom and Dad would've too. Mom especially, she used to give me these not-so-subtle hints that I should use her name as a middle name. Guess I did one better, huh? I don't think I could've used your name. It's different with Mom, she was just 'Mom' to me but your name is yours and I couldn't ever say it again to someone that wasn't you."
A crash resounded from downstairs and Freya leapt to her feet, rushing out of the bedroom to descend the stairs and reach the kitchen.
A frantic Siddiq was sweeping up a shattered plate on the floor whilst Lori and RJ sat on the kitchen counter, taking turns licking a spoon covered in cookie mix.
"I turned my back for thirty seconds," Siddiq explained, shaking his head in disbelief. "He gave her a leg up, and then she pulled him up and they put their hands in the bowl and voila." He waved his hands at the cookie mix splattering the floor. "I should not be left alone with children, it seems."
Freya grinned and stepped towards the sheepishly smiling children. "And whose idea was this, huh?"
They immediately pointed at each other.
"He's a liar, Mommy," Lori claimed, yanking the spoon out of his hand.
"Are you?" Freya asked him, reaching out to ruffle his curls. "Are you the monster who ruined my cookies?"
RJ shook his head adamantly. "Not me."
Of course, Freya already knew exactly which one of them it was- Lori, who'd inherited her uncle's penchant for trouble. "Lori Rose Grimes, I think you're guilty."
