The Last Spark

Chapter 19

The rest of her week was stressful. Thanks to their social media posts, Emily's followers increased, and that brought in a range of new clientele. They had their hands full and worked from early morning to late into the night.

On Thursday, her phone rang. Looking at the caller ID, she quickly picked up, "Hey Felicity! How are you? Are you back in New York?" She tucked her phone between her ear and shoulder and continued working on her design.

"Hi Emelia! I'm good! I'll be arriving on Saturday evening with dad. He just told me we were invited over for dinner on Saturday, so I wanted to get in touch with you!" She answered excitedly.

Felicity had kept in touch with Emelia since the gallery opening. They'd not had a chance to meet yet, so Emelia was looking forward to meeting her. She has sounded like an adorable person so far.

Emelia was impressed with her. Felicity had been accepted into the Architectural College at Columbia and was starting in the fall. She had been looking forward to exploring some of the iconic buildings in New York when she finally moved here. Asking Emelia about stuff only a local would be aware of, she'd maintained constant communication.

After having some more casual talk, she disconnected the call.

This reminded her of Arron. She'd been so swamped, she had forgotten to thank him for the flowers. She made a mental note to text him soon and resumed her work.

Finally, dawn broke out on Saturday, bringing the arrival of her entire family under one roof.

xxxx

Chaos. That's the only word to describe the afternoon in the Strong House. 7 grown adults, 2 rambunctious dogs, and staff running around preparing for the party.

Madeline was frantically whipping up all sorts of treats for the family and their guests. There were dishes all over the counters, and lunch had been canceled. So they decided to order pizza. One sneaky golden retriever had managed to run off with an entire pepperoni pizza and was currently in time out. Betty was the golden child in the family, dozing off upside down in Clara's lap. Emelia watched soft snores escape the loopy dog's face and immediately whipped out her phone to record.

"Hey mom, what time do the guests arrive?" Duncan looked up from the game of chess he was playing with their dad. Adrian was showing Abigail and Em pictures of their Bali villa and views, and they ooohed and aahed at all the beautiful sunsets.

"Well, they should start arriving by 7." His mom answered while still looking down at the book she was reading. "I want everyone to be down here by 6:30," she added, looking up and glaring at the lot.

"Yes mom!" They all answered with a military salute.

———

At 6:30, Emelia made her way down, dressed in a white tweed blazer over a cream silk dress paired with Chanel ballet flats. Abigail and Clara were behind her, talking and discussing plans for their trip. They had decided to go dancing at one of the popular clubs. Emelia had already gone ahead and booked a table for them.

As they reached downstairs, her parents, along with Duncan and Adrian, were already seated in the second, smaller living room. Abigail walked up to where Duncan was, and he stood up to drape his arm around her wife.

"Hey guys, we have some gifts for you!" he said, walking to the corner of the room to pick up a bag with gift-wrapped presents. He immediately started handing them out to everyone with the correct name tags. "Now I want you to open them all up together." He said it, his voice dripping with excitement.

Everyone looked at each other in confusion and started unwrapping the boxes. Suddenly, her mother screamed. "Omg, what do you mean? Is this for real?" And got up to run over to Abigail.

Confused, Emelia hurriedly opened the box to see a Polaroid. It was a sonogram image with the words 'See you soon, Aunty Emelia'.

And with that, everyone rushed over to congratulate the expecting couple. Tears were shed, mostly by her mother, and everyone just shared love with Duncan and Abigail.

Soon, the guests started arriving, and the party commenced.

Uncle Jack, Louie, and Felicity were the first to arrive. The party then became louder, with laughter and conversations echoing through the rooms. Her mother's friend also came over, and so did a few more people. Madeline was now serving snacks, and Richard, the bartender, was serving drinks to everyone.

Felicity was a sweetheart. She wore spectacles and had her hair in a ponytail. She was pretty and dressed in simple jeans and a top. Emelia was conversing with Louie and her when she remembered her dogs were with her. She led them to her floor, which was secured with a small gate to keep them out.

As if he were a dog whisperer, the dogs were completely at his feet. Felicity petted them both and asked her about her atelier. Emelia proceeded to give her a tour of her room. Felicity was looking around her closet in awe. I mean, it was art. She had so much stuff that her apartment wardrobe was full, so 70% of her stuff still remained at the townhouse.

"I love everything! Can you help me sometime with style?" She added, hopefully. "Mom passed away when I was young, and I haven't had the chance to be close to many female relatives since I'm always around dad and my brother."

Poor girl Emelia thought and said, "Of course! Tell me whenever you need help! Whether it's hair, clothes, a boy, or whatever, I'm here for you!" She said it sweetly. It felt as if she had a younger sister who she would spoil to her heart's content.

Felicity beamed at that and began looking around once again. "Oh my! Hydrangeas! My brother is obsessed with them." She said. At that, Emelia's head perked up. "Oh really. I haven't heard of many men having a favorite flower," she said, rolling her eyes now.

"Oh yeah! After dad's heart attack a few years ago, he would fill his room with so many of them. I remember it was after he returned from the wedding he attended. I can't recall exactly, but, oh, that was an extremely stressful and difficult few weeks for us. Thankfully, dad pulled through, but Arron had been so busy since then." She added sadly and moved on to look at her perfume collection now.

Wait. Wedding. Heart attack. What.

Adrian hadn't mentioned anything. Well, he hadn't mentioned anything about Arron at all since the wedding. Emelia's heart was racing now, and her head was blank.

Felicity was 18 now, and she must have been 15 when this happened. They'd lost their mother when she was 10. Oh god. Emelia felt her heart ache for them.

Soon, the pieces started falling into place. Why he hadn't called or texted her.

Her conscience just repeated the words oh god in her head for a few minutes and snapped when she realized Felicity was asking her something.

Putting her feelings aside, she continued to act fine in front of her. She corrected her expression and went back down to the living area with the dad and daughter.

After a while, Adrian Duncan and Emelia, along with her dad and Louie, headed upstairs to the terrace.

Her dad lit up a cigar, and the rest of them followed suit. Emelia watched them smoke while sipping on her wine and observed the night sky, paying attention to the conversation strictly involving politics now.

She sighed.

Then she heard Adrian scream, "OMG BRO!! You made it!" She looked around to see someone in the terrace doorway, but Duncan's body was blocking her view partially. She could not make out who it was. Then, standing on tiptoes, barely peeking over his shoulder, she saw him.

Adrian walked over to hug him, and then his head whipped in her direction.