––––––––
I woke up startled and my breath was short. The nightmare was so real that it frightened me, something changed in the dream however.
I clearly heard myself yelling at a man Dan don’t do it...and his answer was It’s for her own good and you know it.
I opened my eyes stunned and realized I was alone, I stayed there for a while remembering Dan’s voice. Now I was sure I wasn’t alone in the car and that my companion’s name was Daniel. Chills ran down my spine and fear invaded me completely, my heart was pounding just to think about him. Who was he?
And why just the thought of his name made want to run away from here?
Everything was so strange and disturbing, I wished I could remember everything as soon as possible.
I stood up and went to get a quick shower, and then I got dressed with something simple and comfortable. Cottoned shorts and a blue short sleeved shirt. I looked in the closet and found all kinds of shoes, sandals, and even new high heels. I took white running shoes and I was ready. I let my hair down.
Where is Noah? I asked myself. I hadn’t seen him in a while and I missed him. I stopped in the hallway realizing that I indeed missed him.
That’s when I heard his voice:
“Thomas, don´t be nosy, do you mind?”
But who was he talking to? I got closer to the stairs, went down a couple of steps and I stood there quietly. I knelt and looked attentively, from where I was, I could see Noah with two other men and two women, and on the other side I recognized my parents-in-law. The tall and strong man with his eyes opened wide looked like a guy from a magazine, he was huge.
“I got you! I knew she got something.”
I was surprised by his response, a small girl with short hair jumped between Noah and the huge guy; she seemed to be upset, small but dangerous.
“Not even close, Thomas the bear!”
The look on so called Thomas was challenging and he continued:
“Well, I’m sure she bought something, the guilt on her face the next day confirmed it.”
The guilt on my face? What did I get that Thomas was so eager to know about? I asked myself, feeling so frustrated. This time, shorty stood mischievously in front of him.
“I know things about you too, Ashley tells me everything.”
And without hesitation she grabbed the arm of the beautiful blonde girl, taking her towards the door and screamed:
“I know you suck your thumb in your sleep! And that you drool like a baby...”
Oh my God! I couldn’t believe what I heard. I took my hand to cover my mouth to stop me from laughing but it was too late, both of them froze at the end of the staircase. The blonde that looked from a magazine smiled at me, but looked upset and gave the other girl killer looks. The shorty however gave a huge smile, I couldn’t help return the gesture and smiled back, and she went up the stairs like a tornado and hugged me.
“Alison, I´m so happy to see you!”
Her familiarity surprised me, but it didn’t bother me at all. She stood aside, and I could see a strange look on her face, very sneaky, she looked into my eyes and asked:
“Alison, when Noah and Jeffrey go out the porch, can you go out and ask who sucks his thumb, please?”
I looked at her hesitating.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
This time her face was serious, then she made a puppy face.
“Please sis-in-law, it will be fun.”
Was she my sister-in-aw? I looked into her dark and mischievous eyes and her puppy face, it was really familiar, I had no doubt about it, suddenly images came though my head.
We were both sitting in a room, sitting on a huge bed and her voice echoed in my head. She said: “Alison, I love you like a sister, you’re much more than a sister-in-law to me...” Which I answered: “Of course, Ann, without a doubt we were meant to be sisters...I love you too” And there we gave each other a hug, crying.
I came back to reality in a jolt and looked at Ann with tears in her eyes.
“I’ve missed you too, Ann”
She gave a huge smile, and kissed my cheek loudly.
“I knew you couldn’t resist.”
And she quickly made her way to the porch with the blonde by her side. I looked when Noah and the other man ran in the same direction.
How did she know they were going to do that? I didn’t want to give it much thought.
I went down the stairs and headed to the same direction. I stopped beside the window and stared at that sexy man that was my husband.
I felt butterflies going crazy inside my stomach when he looked at me and my heart was pounding. I held my laugh in just as I knew what I was going to do next and went by his side, I grabbed his hand and he took it gently. His eyes looked at me with tenderness.
“Who sucks his thumb?” I asked aloud just like Ann asked me to.
“Nooo! No one tell Alison anything...”
Oh wow! I noticed he was scared. I couldn’t resist and kept going.
“You’re the one who sucks his finger in his sleep, that’s sweet!”
“No.” he answered quickly and looked away. He looked at his brother with an I’ll get you back look and he said mockingly. “It’s Noah who does that, no me.”
Noah seemed very upset, I thought his jaw was going to fall off.
“That I do what?”
Oh God, problems, I thought, and my husband warned him calmly
“Thomas...run.”
He turned around and with very exaggerated gestures he said:
“Woah, I’m scared!”
I looked at Noah and I wasn’t sure how he was going to react over this, he let go of my hand and went after him, with all of his weight he pushed him into the water. He fell and everyone laughed, but Ann, she was on the ground holding her stomach with her hands and even crying from laughing so hard. I got closer to my husband, put my arm around his waist and told Thomas:
“And that was nothing cutie bear! Next time you want me to believe a lie, I’ll push you into the water myself, and I know perfectly that my husband does not suck his thumb in his sleep.”
I was sure of that, I leaned against him. His eyes were deep and I could see he was surprised; he leaned over and kissed me softly. That kiss made everything spin and if we were alone, I would return it and more, but the sound of a car approaching shook those thought off. My heart sunk and it was as if he was reading my thoughts and Noah answered my unsaid question.
“Yes, it is her.”
I looked at him excited and guessing what I wanted, he smiled and took me with him.
The car stopped so close to us, a woman got down and waved at me with her hand, I couldn’t even raise my hand, I was too nervous.
He went to open the back door and helped my daughter down, I thought my heart was going to stop beating right there.
And I saw her, my daughter, Ayleen. Her black long hair with copper highlights just like her father’s. Her eyes locked on me. She had her father traits without a doubt; the only difference was her eye color. Her rosy cheeks and eyes looked at me impatiently.
I fell on my knees, my body couldn’t take it any longer, and it was unbearable. Everyone ran towards me alarmed, but Noah stopped them with a gesture. He leaned over.
“Alison, are you alright?”
I raised my head, he looked worried, I nodded and with his help and stood up again. With hesitation I let go of him and walked towards my daughter. Something was not right, why wasn’t she coming towards me? She was standing there beside the woman I supposed was my mother. I stopped only a couple of steps away, the look on her face was deep and I saw tears coming down from her cheek, I knelt to be at her height. She was tall for her age; she was up to my waist. I couldn’t wait any longer and I opened my arms to hug her, smiling full of love and her face lightened, she jumped to my arms, surrounded my neck with her tiny arms and screamed joyfully.
“Mommy!”
“My beautiful girl! Mommy has missed you so much, you know?” I told her crying as well.
“So have I, don’t ever leave, I have missed you way too much.” She responded.
“I promise.”
She backed off without letting go of my arms and looked at me in the eyes. Her dark brown eyes reflected relief and smiled, she put both hands in my face with tenderness, feeling her warm hands filled my heart with love. I gave her a small kiss on the cheek and it made me remember another familiar face that looked like her, but smaller and rounder.
The images came to my mind yet again, I closed my eyes to not miss a thing and I remembered the day my daughter was born. It was a very hard birth at the Denver church, it was blurry but I could see everything and I leaped to find out that she was born through a natural birth. I took my hand to my lower abdomen, where the scar was and I understood quickly, I remembered. I stop up in a jolt; I took my daughter and turned to see where my husband was with a puzzled face.
“Where is out son? Where is Aaron?