Journey – Chapter 1

HAPPY NEW YEAR to my faithful readers. I want to wish you, your family and friends a bright and prosperous 2017 and beyond. This is a new story that I have been working on. I hope that you will read, like, review, follow and favourite.

Thank you all for being so supportive of me and my writing. I am so blessed to have each and every one of you. To all my new and potential readers...welcome. Please enjoy! :) :) :)

The students in the class were getting restless as the time drew near for the last school bell to ring to signal the closure of school for the summer vacation. The teacher Mrs Bell raised her voice to speak over the loud chatter.

"You all will have a project to do over summer vacation and it will be going towards the class assignment grades."

There was a loud, collective groan from the whole class and Mrs Bell smiled.

"You are required to choose two people of your choice and chronicle their life in a book report to be presented. These persons could be deceased or still living."

The students groaned again. A student put up her hand.

"How long does the book report have to be?"

"Minimum…15 pages. The maximum is up to you."

The bell finally rang and everyone began filing out of the classroom. Larah and three of her friends Hannah, Kia and Megan walked out together. They hugged and kissed their other friends and began walking home together as they all live on the same street.

"I can't believe Mrs Bell gave us homework!" Megan complained.

"And a book report with the minimum of 15 pages no less." Larah added.

"Where are we going to get two people interesting enough to do this?" Hannah asked.

"We could do family members. That would be easy." Kia suggested.

"Easy yes…interesting…I don't think so." Larah reasoned. "Besides, it would be too obvious and I bet half the class would be doing that as well. We need to choose people who are not too complicated but will stand out."

The girls walked along the road in silence each deep in their own thought as they search their brains for anyone who could remotely qualify for their book report.

"I'm drawing a blank." Kia finally said.

"Me too." Hannah said nodding her head, agreeing with Kia.

"Don't worry. We will find someone and it would be great."

Larah was optimistic. Suddenly a car pulled up beside them. It was Megan's mother, Mrs Carey.

"Need a ride?"

Smiling, all four girls jumped into the mini-van. Megan's little sister Nicole was in the back seat. A minute later, Mrs Carey pulled up into her drive way. Larah, Kia and Hannah got out. Saying their goodbyes to each other they began walking to their homes. Larah lived next door to Megan and Kia and Hannah lived across the street next to each other.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Max, the family dog, was the first to greet Larah as she walked through the door. He jumped up and down excitedly on her all the way to the kitchen where her father Julian was standing by the counter, preparing for dinner. Olivia, her mother hadn't arrived at home as yet.

She sat down at the kitchen counter looking on as he expertly cut up the carrots and other vegetables and her six year old brother Jayden was helping him wash them in the sink. Her father owned two of the best fine dining restaurants and lounges in the country.

He owned La Claire' in Atlanta which catered only to large corporations, government ministers, diplomats and other dignitaries who needed to conduct luncheons and dinners for clients and business associates. Reservations needed to be booked at least three months in advance.

He also owned Peri' Peri' in Virginia. This restaurant caters to members of the public and reservation must be made six weeks in advance. Her father is a professional chef who studied in Italy, France and India and served under some of the world's legendary chefs.

Her mother had her own real estate company O.G Associates and it was registered with the different embassies in the country. The company had homes scattered all over the country that was specifically tailored to diplomats and other visiting dignitaries needs.

O.G Associates also bought and sold high end and low end, dilapidated homes and sold them on the market. The company also has rental properties all through-out Michigan, New York, Florida, Detroit and Ohio. Larah wouldn't call herself wealthy but she does live a very comfortable life style.

"Hey dad."

"Hey. How was school?"

"It was ok. School's out for the summer. I have a school project to do."

"What is it?"

"A book report with 15 pages mimimum. I have to narrative the lives of two people."

Her father turned to her smiling. She knew what that meant.

"No dad. I'm not doing you and mom."

"Why not?"

"Because dad…it's you and mom! I want to do someone interesting."

Her father cocked his head to one side, hands on his hips eyeing her.

"You think your mom and I are boring?"

"No! It's just too cliché. I am sure half the class is going to do their parents or some other family members. I want to do something different. I want to stand out. The marks go towards our mid-term grades."

Julian looked at his 13 year old daughter as her deep blue eyes stared right back at him. It was one of the traits that were most prominent throughout their family generation…from her great grandfather to his father to him to her. His son Jayden also has blue eyes.

"Well. If you are not going to do us, do you have someone in mind?"

"No…but I'm thinking about it."

"Ok. Let me know what you come up with."

Larah nodded and went upstairs to shower and change.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Larah passed her parent's picture in the corridor upstairs. She didn't mean to say that they were boring. It's just that she has heard the story of how they met hundreds of times. Her mom first met her dad briefly in Italy while he was studying and she was vacationing with her parents.

He was 19 and her mother was 17 at the time. They lost contact for four years and eventually met again for the second time when he catered one of her boss's parties. Surprisingly, they remembered each other and exchanged numbers. They began officially dating after 9 months and got married 2 years later.

She could write a book report on them in her sleep. She needed a challenge, something that she would have to do research on…something that will shock her and even her parents when they find out. Quickly, she took a shower and started googling on her computer.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dinner was excellent as usual and it was made more fun because Kia, Hannah and Megan were there as well. After dinner, Larah parents retired to their room as her mother has a long stressful day at work and was feeling quite tired.

Jayden begged to go to his friend Anthony's house next door and their parents conceded, leaving the four teenagers to themselves. They liked it that way. Kia brought over some new movies her older brother Chad bought and she popped one in.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Olivia sat perfectly still as Julian massaged her slightly swollen feet. She was moaning which was a huge turn on for him. However, he willed himself some will power to control his urges as there were four teenagers in the house.

"How was your day?" he asked.

Olivia's eyes were closed when she responded.

"Hectic. I went to look at another house I want to buy and turn it into a rental. It has serious potential. I just need to get the owner to be more reasonable in his asking price."

"Ok."

"How was your day?"

"I hosted a Japanese Embassy diplomat today at La Claire'. It went well. Plus, Morgan said he saw the perfect spot for us to open another restaurant. He wants to meet with Vanessa to go over the figures for a new opening."

Olivia smiled.

"That's good."

"Maybe. We were going to work on having another baby…remember?"

"We talked about it but we didn't make a decision."

"Well let's make a decision now."

"Ok. Do you want another baby?"

"Yes. Jayden is six. It's time we had another pair of baby feet around here."

Olivia smiled. Julian has always made it abundantly clear from the get go that he wanted a brood of children. He himself came from a large family.

"Ok stud. Let's have another baby. That means that we are going to have to cut back on work. The both of us."

"Agreed." Julian pulled Olivia into a breath-taking kiss. "I can't wait to add to our family."

Olivia giggled.

"How was school for Larah?"

"She has a book report to do over the summer holiday. She has to pick two people and chronicle their life story." Julian saw his wife's face light up. "No. She's not going to do us. She thinks we're boring."

Olivia sat up in the bed.

"She actually said that?"

"Cliché is the word that she used."

"Wow. My child thinks we are cliché."

Suddenly a thought hit Julian and jumping off the bed, he ran out of the room.

"Where are you going?!"

"I'll be right back!" he called out to her.

Olivia said nothing as she lay back in bed.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Julian was rummaging through different boxes in the artic. After ten minutes he found what he was looking for. Smiling, he descended the artic and went back to his room clutching precious memories of the past.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Olivia watched as Julian came back into their room and sat down on the bed next to her. She recognized the box that he was holding in his arms.

"Those are the letter…from your grandfather to your grandmother."

Julian nodded.

"This is just some of them, my sister Heidi has majority of them with the journals. She reads them over and over. I read it once or twice but it was too depressing for me. Finding and keeping love shouldn't be so hard."

"True but what are you going to do with them?"

"Give them to Larah for her book report."

"I thought you said she wouldn't do family."

"She wouldn't do us…not family."

"It's the same thing Julian."

"No…it's not."

Olivia looked at him confused.

"Think about it Livvie. Remember the times my grandfather and grandmother grew up in. You know what that mean. They had to fight hard for their love and that took courage. That is something you and me and Larah and Jayden and any of our future grand and great grandchildren will never know about. Things were different back then…real different. The things they had to do and endure to keep themselves and their family safe…."

Julian stopped speaking as he was beginning to get emotional. He remembered some of the things he had read in the letters and the one journal he had. He felt their frustration and anger and fear through the words. Olivia pulled him close to her hugging him.

She knew about the letters and journal and heard the passion in which his sisters Heidi, Roslyn and Anastasia spoke of them. Their brothers Francis and Carter refused to read the letters or the journals.

Olivia wanted to read them but she felt that she would have been intruding on a treasured piece of Julian's family history. She cupped Julian's face in her hands and kissed him gently on the lips.

"You should give these to her and the ones from Heidi. Larah needs to know about her family history. She needs to know the love that she came from. She needs to understand that the love that created her was far from boring and cliché."

"You're right." Julian said smiling. "If it wasn't for them, none of us would be here."~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~