A Time For Love (A Time For Love Series-Book 1)

The End of 1982

LENA POV

The Christmas week had been a mixture of emotions for all four of us and as we approach New Years day tomorrow, I am hoping Mike, Stef and Bird can find a bit of relief from all the pain they have been feeling.

Ever since Bird broke down Christmas night along with Stef, Mike had been staying over off and on to offer additional support. Tonight was one of those nights as he continued to use the pullout couch in the PT room to sleep on.

Thankfully, Bird found comfort in Mike, and the three of us would often rotate who would stay with Bird when she was having a difficult time falling asleep or going back to sleep. But mostly, it was only Stef that she'd end up falling asleep on night after night.

We all just wanted her to be okay, but the trauma of that night seemed to be hitting her in the face along with the constant fear about her birth mother being in hell.

That was no easy pill for a nine year old, and this week was the first time Bird had ever spoken about the shooting to the extent she had.

It even brought me back to that night when the four of them were being wheeled into the ER. I just remember all the blood. There was so much blood more than I had ever seen as I had walked over to Bird, and she looked so terrified. All I wanted to do was hug her that night, the same with Mike as he just kept asking for his sister as he had tears in his eyes from pain and worry.

At the time of course I had no idea who his sister was and when they wheeled Stef in I remember looking right into her terrified eyes that were tearing as her uniform shirt and pants was soaked in blood and ripped open.

I remember them trying to revive Tess not too long after right in the middle of that waiting room as they rushed her and Stef into surgery.

From that moment on, I just felt some type of connection with them, and I would never in my life think that they would be my family now. But, they were, and I loved all three of them a great deal. And I think I always did.

Boiling a pot of tea, after having taken a quick shower, I had peeked in on Stef and Bird to see them sleeping soundly in each others arms as Mike sat in a chair holding Bird's hand I had quietly closed the door, hoping they would get a little bit of sleep because they all needed it terribly. So do I if I was honest, and with Mike being here, I might possibly sleep in tomorrow morning.

Grabbing my favorite mug, I was hoping to write down a few resolutions for the New Year, which was only about an hour away. I was never a big fan of the ball dropping, and I always skipped watching New Years Rock and Eve, and this year was no different.

But I was, in a sense, grateful for this year to be over, for more than one reason, and I was hoping to god that 1983 would be much kinder to the four of us.

Biting into my cookie, I called my mother earlier today to wish her a happy holiday since I had not heard from her on Christmas day. Not that I expected to, considering she had not spoken to me since the reading of my uncles Will. I just didn't understand her, and I had tried to do most of my life, but it didn't seem she understood me either or the love I had for my Uncle Alvin. She wasn't shy either about expressing how silly it was of him to leave me everything, considering I wasn't his real daughter.

What could I say? Besides nothing, since she was hell-bent on dumping on me and was so damn persistent about me selling his place and saying I didn't need such a large apartment. I really couldn't take much more of it especially when she styarted to go on and on about some new man she was dating and telling me it was ridiculous that I was fostering a child and how it was not a smart move from me.

My father was his usual self as well and looking to move out of state, which somewhat surprised me. But, not at the same time. He really was never the same since my parents divorced, and I wondered at times if he would ever move on from it and from my mother. Possibly not.