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“You’re everything I could have hoped for,” I whisper back. Embracing her back, I enfold us in a deep kiss.
It’s our first welcome home to each other, as we finally start our life together.
29
SOPHIA
The house is a flurry of activity as movers and delivery drivers bustle in and out with our new furniture. We left Armstrong with little more than the clothes on our backs, so the past week had been spent shopping as we rushed to buy everything we needed for the new house. Axia and Kex have been kind enough to share their home with us, but we don’t want to overstay our welcome.
At this point, all we have are the barest essentials. Beds, tables, chairs, a couch, dishes, a changing table, and cribs for the twins. His parents provided the couch, chairs and tables, and we shopped for the rest.
Once we get more settled, we can start turning this house into a real home. After all, we have full futures ahead of us.
“I can’t believe this is our life now,” I say as Drex comes up to hug me from behind.
The twins are at his parents’ house. We figured that it would be better to have them out of the way while we got everything in place. They’re coming back for dinner, and we’re all planning to share our first family meal in our new home.
“It’s the life you’ve always deserved,” he replies, kissing the top of my head.
I’m once again stung by a sharp melancholy when I think about the urn still in my suitcase. The grief is not as overwhelming as it was, but I still wish my mom was here to see all this.
“I have a surprise,” he says. He grabs the urn and leads me out of the house and into the back garden. Isa is in the guest cottage directing the movers, but when she sees us, she joins our trek to a quiet spot in the back corner of the yard.
A stone bench is surrounded by Lethe Lillies, and beside it is a metal box with the name Bianca Honey carved on it. I glance up at Drex, confused. “What’s this?”
“Before we left, I managed to save a data stick with a lot of your old pictures and videos of her on it,” Isa says, producing a small stick. “But the rest was Drex’s idea.”
Drex smiles and opens a panel to press a series of buttons. The box opens. “On our planet, this is called a Memory Box. When we lose a loved one, we store their ashes in here, plug it in, and, well, you should just see.”
He hands me the urn while Isa hands me the data stick. She smiles. “Go on. You’re gonna love it.”
With a lump forming in my throat, I set the urn inside and plug the data stick into the slot right above it. I shut the door, and Drex presses a few buttons.
Suddenly, the metal box hums to life and a hologram of Mama appears on top of it. It’s an old baby video. She rocks me and hums a lullaby.
“There’s my two beautiful girls,” Dad says offscreen. He must have been the one holding the camera.
Mama rolls her eyes. “I just pushed a baby out of my hoo-hah. Beautiful is the last thing on my mind.” She presses a kiss to my baby self’s forehead. “Welcome home, Sophia.”
I laugh through my tears. That’s Mom. It’s how I want to remember her, and how she would’ve wanted to be remembered.
“Watch this,” Drex says. He waves his hand, and the years pass by before my eyes, both in static images of her smiling at dinners and in front of the landmarks we visited while on vacation, and in videos of her goofing around with me as a child and celebrating special occasions with me and Isa as adults.
The twins will never meet their other grandmother, but with this, they’ll at least be able to know her.
Isa gives me a tight squeeze, and I feel her sniffle against my shoulder. “We made it, Sophia,” she whispers. “Bianca would be so happy.”
Letting go, she steps back and waves her hand in a shooing gesture. Though tears still stream down her cheeks, she has a mischievous glint in her eyes. “What are you waiting for? Kiss him.”
I turn and pull Drex down by the horns so that my lips could reach his. He hugs me close and picks me up, twirling me until I resurface for air, giggling breathlessly.
“I’d say get a room, but that’s kind of what we’re doing here already,” Isa snarks playfully.
Drex huffs a laugh, rolling his eyes as he sets me down. “Our room isn’t set up yet, do you mind if we use yours?”
She wrinkles her nose in mock disgust. “Not for anything in the universe.”
He smirks. “That’s what I thought.” Then Drex turns to me. “The movers should be done soon. We should get to setting things up.”
