Lesley was asleep, dreaming about Morgan when the phone rang, she reached out in the darkness for the phone. “Hello?” she answered groggily.

“Miss Arrington? Lesley Arrington?” a man asked.

“Yes, this is Lesley Arrington.”

“This is Sam Johnson at St. Louis University Hospital.”

The mention of the hospital made Lesley jerk up in bed. “Is it my mother?”

“Yes. I’m sorry to tell you this, but she passed away a few minutes ago.”

“What happened?”

“She had been drinking at a local bar, then got into her car, ran off the road, and crashed into a tree.”

“Was anyone else hurt?” Lesley asked, a sick feeling of dread filled her.

“No, just your mother.”

She was relieved to hear that at least. “That’s good to know.”

“Do you want us to make funeral arrangements for you?”

“You can do that?” she asked, relieved that she wouldn’t have to take care of that for her mother.

“Yes.”

“It would probably be easier for you to do it from there. Would you mind?”

“Do you have a preference of her burial?”

“She wanted to be cremated. There isn’t any family left but me, so there isn’t any need for a service.”

“I’ll call you later when everything has been finalized.”

“Thank you so much for calling and letting me know about my mother. I’ll need to arrange for time off at my job, and then I’ll be down.”

She gave the man her cell number, and then hung up the phone. She felt she should have cried when she heard the news about her mother, but her hatred for what she’d done to her and her sisters prevented her from feeling sad about her death.

She called the HR department at work, leaving a message to explain about her mother’s death and that she wouldn’t be in for the rest of the week. She quickly packed a suitcase, then went into the kitchen to make sure the kitten had enough food and water to last her until she could return home.

Lesley headed out for her trip to St. Louis and depending on traffic and the number of times she stopped, the trip would take her five hours, she stopped in Columbia to eat a late breakfast and to stretch her legs. When she reached St. Louis, she went straight to the funeral home to take care of her mother’s cremation, bought a plot for mother’s ashes, then went to a restaurant for lunch. She wanted to order an alcoholic drink to calm her nerves, but because of the babies, she didn’t.

After lunch, she drove to a public storage facility to buy boxes, then she drove to her mother’s apartment to begin cleaning it out. She opened the door and stepped inside, as she looked around the only home she remembered, she began to cry.

After she had a good cry, she took some trash bags and began piling her mother’s clothes into them. Then she started packing the rest of her mother’s belongings into boxes. She had originally thought she would dispose of everything, but then decided that someday when she didn’t hate her mother as much as she did right now, she might want some of her personal items.

There was an empty beer bottle on the living room floor, and because she was so angry with her mother, she kicked the bottle with her foot, then watched it spin underneath the couch. Now she was angry with herself for her actions.

She walked over to the couch and knelt down to retrieve the bottle. Her hand reached under the couch, but instead of feeling the bottle, she felt a smooth, flat object. She pulled it out and looked down at it, surprised to see a picture of her and Lindsay, covered with many years of dust. She quickly sat down of the floor, letting her tears fall as she looked at the picture she had lost so long ago. After she had a good cry, she stood to finish want she was here to do.

She took the clothes to a nearby thrift store, then returned to the apartment for the rest of her mother’s belongings and packed her car. She was sitting on the couch, trying to decide what to with the furniture, when someone knocked at the door. When she opened it, Martin Webber, her old classmate, who lived in the building was standing there. “Hello, Martin.”

“I heard on the news about your mother. I’m sorry about her death.”

“Thank you. Do you want to come in?”

“Thanks, but I can’t stay.”

Lesley noticed that Martin seemed a bit nervous. “Martin, is something wrong?”

“No,” he replied slowly, as if he wanted to say something more. “I have a question to ask,” he said, staring down at his feet, refusing to look her in the eye.

“What is it?” Her eyes watched him as he struggled with what he wanted to say. “Martin, please tell me. What is it?”

Martin looked up at her. “I don’t know how to ask it.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“We’ve known each other for a long time, just ask.”

“Can I have some of your mother’s furniture?” he asked just above a whisper.

She reached out for his hand. “Martin that would help me greatly. Take anything you want.”

Martin smiled. “Really? You sure you don’t want any of it?”

“I live in Kansas City now. I don’t have the room for any of this stuff. Anything you take is less for me to have to deal with.”

“Can I have all of it?” he asked slowly, afraid she would think he was being too greedy.

“Why would you want it all?” Lesley was surprised by his question, as she had been thinking he might want the couch or maybe the bed, never dreaming he would want everything.

“Cindy Adams and I are going to be married,” he quickly added.

“Congratulations,” she told him, squeezing his hand.

“I do have one more favor to ask.”

“What’s that?” Since he was already getting all the furniture, Lesley couldn’t think of what that favor could be.

“Can we have your mother’s apartment?” His eyes watched hers, waiting for her anger.

Of all the things he could have asked, this question had floored her. “I guess so,” she replied, a bit stunned by his request.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that. It’s just we can’t get married until we find a place to live. This place is perfect since it’s close to my parents, our jobs, and has a two-bedrooms.”

“Let’s go talk to the landlord. If he doesn’t mind, then you can have the place today.”

Martin leaned over and kissed cheek. “Thank you.”

Lesley was actually relieved the way everything had worked out today. Now all she had to do was go home and call Morgan to tell him about the baby, but good luck didn’t stay with her for her return home.

A mile out of town a drunk driver rammed into her car, causing her car to run off the road and slam into the concrete barrier. She was rushed by ambulance to the hospital and monitored overnight to make sure the babies were okay. She was released the next day, and since her car had been totaled, she took a taxi to the airport and got a seat on the last flight to Kansas City.

* * *

Casey was returning home from Oklahoma, but because of a severe thunderstorm just out of Little Rock, his flight had arrived in Kansas City thirty minutes late. Lindsay had been upset with him leaving town since their wedding rehearsal was scheduled for tonight, but his sister’s house had sold, and he’d gone there to sign the contract on it.

He was supposed to meet her and her sisters at the church at six and it was almost that now. He figured he’d better call to tell her that he was going to be late and had just pulled out his cell phone when he happened to glance up to see Lindsay ahead of him. When he didn’t see either of the children with her, he figured she had left them with Mariah.

“Lindsay,” he called out, but she didn’t respond. He was puzzled why she hadn’t turned when he’d called out her name, then realized that she hadn’t heard him over all the noise in the airport as she continued to walk away from him. He didn’t want her to get out of his sight, so he started to run after her. He saw her stop at another baggage claim, but before he could reach her, she picked up a suitcase off the carousel and started walking away. He was confused to why she was taking someone’s luggage with her.

“Lindsay,” he called again, but this time louder. Still she didn’t acknowledge him. Casey started running faster to meet up with her. “Lindsay,” he said as he gripped hold of her arm and turned her towards him. “Didn’t you hear me calling you?”

“Excuse me?” the woman asked, frightened by the stranger’s rough treatment of her.

“Why are you here? Where’s Austin?”

“Take your hands off me,” she demanded.

“Are you still mad at me about leaving on this trip?” He didn’t think she would be, but who knew how a pregnant woman would act half the time.

“I’m sorry, but you have me confused with someone else. I’ve never seen you before in my life. My name is . . .”

Before she could finish her sentence, he interrupted her. “You’re Lesley!” he replied excitedly, grabbing hold of both her arms.

She looked at him with surprise. “How do you know my name?” she asked, pulling away from him. Was this man some sort of stalker? As she studied him, she became aware that he reminded her of the man from the hospital parking lot and even a bit like Morgan.

He reached to the back of his pants, pulled out his billfold, and opened it up to show her the picture he had of Lindsay, Nicole, Austin, and himself. “I’m engaged to . . .” he stopped and smiled at her, “your twin sister,” he said.

“You know my sister?” she asked tearfully, while looking at the picture in his hand.

“Yes. Your three sisters have been looking for you for the last few months.”

“You know all three of them?” she asked tearfully.

“They are all living here in the Kansas City area.”

The tears began falling down Lesley’s cheek. “Growing up, I didn’t know what had happened to them. It wasn’t until recently that I found out that they hadn’t died as I had been told when I was a child.”

“Lindsay didn’t remember that she even had sisters until she met Mariah’s husband a few months ago and Whitney had been told that all of you were dead. Do you live here in town?”

“I do now. I had been living in St Louis until just recently.” She looked down at the picture in her hand and then back at him. “Are these your children?”

“The baby is my nephew and the little girl is Lindsay’s daughter from her first marriage.”

“She’s divorced?” she asked, hoping that was the case.

“No, her husband died.”

“How awful. The last time I saw Lindsey, we were only five years old.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself, I’m Casey Pennay. Lindsay and I are getting married this weekend, and I’m already late for my wedding rehearsal.”

“Congratulations. You better get going, I would hate to make you to be any later.”

“Come with me and surprise the family.”

“I can’t crash your party,” she cried.

“Don’t think of it that way. Consider it as making it the happiest day in Lindsay’s life.” He took hold of her hand. “It will be the happiest day in all three of yours sisters’ life. Please come with me,” he begged, grabbing hold of her hand.

Lesley jumped in surprise when Casey seized hold of her hand. “Thank you, but I need to take care of some personal business first. Maybe I could just come to the wedding tomorrow.”

“Actually, the wedding isn’t for another four days. Tonight was the only night this week we could all get together for the rehearsal. If I don’t bring you with me tonight, your sisters will be angry with me. One thing I have learned recently about your twin sister is that you don’t want to make her angry.”

Lesley laughed. “I guess I could make my phone call from here and then I’ll be able to join you.”

“I’ll go get my luggage while you make your phone call. Did your park your car here?”

“No. While I was in St. Louis, I was in an accident and my car was totaled. So I decided to fly home and buy a new car here.”

“Is someone coming to pick you up?”

“No, I was going to take a taxi home.”

“I’ll meet you back here and then I’ll take you to see your sisters.”

Lesley smiled at him. “I can hardly wait,” she muttered breathlessly.

Casey waved as he hurried away, dialing his cell phone as he returned to claim his luggage.

“Hello?”

“Lindsay, I’m sorry, but my flight was running late and I’m just now picking up my luggage. I hope you aren’t mad at me.”

“You can’t control the airlines,” she replied, hiding her anxiety from him

“I know, but I still feel bad for being late. To make up for it, I’m bringing you a surprise.”

She smiled at his comment. “Honey, you don’t have to do that.”

“This is one surprise you’re going to love, I guarantee it.”

“Okay. I’ll see you when you get here.”