Finding my Forever

4

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Now

Preston never missed the woman known as Delilah West, his mother. He was too young to miss what his elder siblings had. He never knew the affection of a mother, the hug of safety, the kiss of love. He had never had his hair stroked away from his forehead or his tears wiped from his cheeks. Never had he experienced a Mother's Day. None that he could remember anyway.

Whilst he showed no care for the issue, he hated how he missed out on having a mother. There were no motherly figures in his life; except Owen who would show him daily how their mother would have cared for them. But Owen was Owen, and he could never be a mother, as much as he thought he was.

"Hey, bud." Owen walked into Prestons' room, a nervous look on his face. Preston looked up from his laptop and looked at the crease between his brothers' brows.

"Sup with you?" Preston asked without skipping a beat. Owen sucked in a breath and climbed onto the green bed in front of Preston. Alexander always left Owen to break the news to the younger boys; said he could handle it better and explain things clearly. Normally Owen was proud to have that role. But he would do anything to not be the one to tell Preston about his sister. A sister he probably had no recollection of.

"How's college?" Owen asked instead of his original question. He was testing the waters of his brothers' mood. Preston looked at him with a brow raised knowing Owen was there for something else.

"Great. So, what's up?" Owen examined his little brother. His hair was messy from running his hand through it and his eyes were curious. Hazel eyes were almost identical to Elisa. The difference being that while Prestons' eyes were bright with childish energy and mischief, Elisa's were empty and had an almost sinister look to it. Eyes that had seen far too much of the world and knew it's true face. He sighed in nervousness and nodded his head as he got ready to say what needed to be said.

"What do you remember about mum?" The question caught Preston off guard, and he looked at Owen who looked curiously at him. They never talked about their mother, something he was both glad about but also disappointed over. He used to ask as a child but as he slowly grew older, he realised their mother was a taboo subject and it was best to avoid asking questions.

"Nothing? I don't know anything about that woman. Why?" Owen scratches the back of his neck realising this was going to be much harder to explain. He pursed his lips as he tried to figure out what he could say that may trigger a memory from their childhood.

"What do you remember about our childhood?" Preston gave Owen a weird look and laughed slightly at all the random questions.

"What's with all the questions teach?" Owen just stared at him, begging him to comply with his somewhat strange behaviour and he rolled his eyes as he thought about his past, giving into Owens's strangeness.

"I remember going to the beach with you, Roman and Alex. I remember playing hide in seek in the woods with Andre, hiding while you guys, Finley and Karson would look for us. I remember stupid things and ooooh remember the forts we used to build in-"

"YES, but do you remember anyone else? Like a little girl?" Owen interrupted desperately. He hoped that he had some sort of memory of their baby sister, some sort of remembrance that there was a fifth West sibling. Preston chewed his lip out of habit as he tried to figure out what his brother was trying to get out of him, what his brother was wanting- no needing to hear from him.

"I don't know man I don't remember. What girl? Is she an old childhood friend that I don't remember? I'm really confused about why this is so important."