Julia Hoffman

Chapter 37

Hey this is a little flash forward, like a month, so it's Shelby's first birthday and Maria is like 3 months pregnant :)

Everyone was sitting in the sitting room, the TV was on but no one was watching, it was Shelby's first birthday and the little girl was surrounded with big boxes in colourful wrapping. "Okay Shelby, do you wanna open your first present?" Julia smiled, picking up the first gift and taking the card off. "This one says, dear Shelby...who is this? Oh, it's from your aunty Angela. Who would have thought she's actually get you a present?"

"Angela got Shelby a present?" Hunter asked. "She never got me or Erica anything, I am offended."

Julia gave Shelby the present, but the one-year-old didn't really understand what she was doing with it, so Erica ended up having to open it for her. Inside was a necklace, it looked really expensive, it had blue sapphires up against a sliver chain. Julia recognised it strait away, Kathleen Hoffman, had worn it every day until her daughter had died. Julia has two sisters; Angela and Shelby, Shelby had been her big sister but had died when she was six. Julia's mother never took the necklace off after Shelby died, and had never really moved on from it, after that she had been quite cold to Angela and Julia. Angela was just as cold, but Julia had left for medical school and tried to re-start her life. Kathleen Hoffman had died about six years before that moment, Julia didn't go to the funeral, she couldn't deal with facing all of her cousins and family. But now, Angela had delivered the necklace to little Shelby. Why?

"Mom, this necklace is beautiful, but why would Angela give it to Shelby?" Erica asked.

"It's...because her names Shelby I think..." Julia stuttered. "She...gave it to her because her name is Shelby."

"Why does Shelby get something for being called Shelby? Does Hunter deserve nothing?" Hunter laughed, not realising that it was really throwing Julia back. Hunter and Erica didn't actually know anything about Julia's past, only about Alyssa and that Julia didn't really get along with Angela. The names Kathleen and Shelby had never come up, when talking about her past, obviously Shelby had come up in other circumstances.

"Yeah...I don't know...Can I have it please?" Julia said, biting her lip and putting her hand out. "Like now?"

"Don't you want to open some presents before you start stealing them?" Erica laughed, handing her mother the necklace. "Though seriously what's up with you? Are you alright?"

"Lets just open a different present!" Julia said, a bit to enthusiastically. She picked up another small one, and looked at the card. "Dear Shelby, happy birthday and lots of love, from Carolyn and Elizabeth." Julia looked up and tried not to let the tears come out. She missed Carolyn and Elizabeth, Lizzy in particular, they had been very close and Julia had cried for weeks when they left. "I'm sorry, I need to leave for a minute." Julia said, running out of the room sobbing.

"Should someone go after her?" Maria asked.

"You don't know Elizabeth and Carolyn. I'll catch you up." Erica explained. "Mom lived here before we were born, she lived with very different people, all different apart from dad. Her and Elizabeth were really close, Aunt Lizzy was like a second mother to us. She moved away to New York with her daughter, Carolyn, when we were fifteen, and we haven't seen her since."

"That's really sad." Maria nodded.  "What about the other thing? The necklace, that kind of shook her up too, can I see the card?"

"Yeah, it's over here." Hunter said, picking it up and passing it to his girlfriend. "What does it say?"

"It just says, Dear Shelby, I hope you can wear this in memory of those who would have loved you to moon and back. It's a shame you never met your grandmother, she would have loved you more than the other two combined. Angela." Maria read out.

"Hey!" Erica said. "Seriously though, how come everyone loves Shelby more than me and Hunter? Is she an angel or something?"

"I don't know, it doesn't say anything else." Maria shrugged. "Did you know your grandmother? Why would Angela talk about her?"

"No...Moms never brought her up. Maybe that's why, maybe it all just brought back some bad memories or something. I really don't know." Erica said. "Someone should go find her. She's normally back by now after one of her dramatic crying fits."

"I'll go." Barnabas said, speaking for the first time. "I'll find her."

The vampire walked out of the sitting room, he knew exactly where his wife had gone. She said it the west wing, under the staircase, where she hid cigarettes, about twenty bars of chocolate and a bottle of whiskey. She couldn't really hide either, her hair stood out like red rose in a bush of white ones. "Hey." He said simply, sitting next to her.

She looked at him and put her cigarette out. The necklace was placed neatly on her lap, the sapphires stood out. On the silver chain there were the words 'Shelby Catherine Hoffman', Barnabas didn't pick it up, if he touched silver his hands would burst into flames, but noticed the name. "Who's Shelby Catherine Hoffman?" He asked softly.

"Have a guess." Julia said, letting out a forced laugh.

"I have no idea, but I know very little about your family." Barnabas said. "Would you care to explain?"

"We were a family of five." Julia started. "My dad, Joseph Hoffman, walked out when I was four, so it was just me, my mum, and my two sisters. My younger sister, Angela, was two, and my older sister, Shelby, was six. Shelby died from an illness, we were never told what it was, my mother said we were too young to understand, but we knew that she was gone. My mother took Shelby's necklace, the one I'm holding, and never took it off. She never got over Shelby, me and Angela barely ever saw her after that, we had a stronger relationship with our nanny. Shelby was so perfect, she had the blonde hair and blue eyes, she was funny and friendly, she was my mother's favourite. But she died, I heard my mother say sometimes, Why Shelby? Dear Lord, why couldn't you take one of the others? Angela is a bit like my mother I guess, but ten times better than her. But my mother was so beautiful, she was a fricking angel, she looked a bit like Maria. But she was so cold and isolated...I hated her by the time I was twelve. She'd love our Shelby though, she's just like my sister. Blonde hair, blue eyes, adorable. And I understand it, you know, if any of my children died I'd never recover. But I wouldn't shut the others out, if anything I would just hold them closer, to make sure nothing ever happened to them. I see this necklace, I see her. And I can't see her. I want to get rid of it."

Barnabas was silent for a minute. "This necklace does not represent your mother, it represents your sister."

"I know, but my sister wore it maybe once? My mother wore it everyday. She pretty much claimed it." Julia said.

"You just need a friend, my dear." Barnabas said. "And you clearly don't have any."

"I have friends..." Julia said. "Like you...and Maria...and uh..."

"You need to talk to a friend." Barnabas repeated. "So pack your bags, we are going to New York to see Elizabeth and Carolyn, it'll be most of our first trip out of Collinsport, and you'll see your friend again."

"You really mean it?" Julia asked, blinking back tears.

"Well if didn't, I wouldn't have said it."