Have you ever noticed that nurses always smile? Even in the darkest of moments. Here I sit on the floor of the hospital room sobbing. Just seconds ago I said my last goodbye to my best friend, my mother. Yet, there in the hallway stands a smiling nurse as they wheel away my mother's body. Now I am alone. I get up and walk out to the waiting room. There sat my mother's life long friends. Who she reconnected with when she found out she was sick. They are an interesting group, but not even Emily, Hanna, and Spencer can bring her back. "She's gone." I whispered as I yet again hit the floor.
Ezra POV
Dear Ezra,
I writing this to you knowing that my days are numbered. I know there is a very good possibility that I will no longer be here by the time you read this. That is why this is so important. I have so much I have wanted to tell you. First, I always loved you. Our relationship was in no way some school girl crush to me. It was real. I would have killed to spend my life with you. To get married. To have a large family. You never know how much I want you here right now. Don't get me wrong I have prepared my self to let go. Yet, you know me goodbyes aren't real unless their in person. I miss you. Second and most importantly, I have a secret that needs to be told. When I left Rosewood so many years ago I took someone with me. Your daughter. Her name is Willow Marie Montgomery. And seeing that things have fallen this way, I want her to be with you at this point in her life. I have to warn you though she is…something else. I have entrusted this information with someone close to me. They will make sure my last wishes are followed. I love you. Always have and Always will. Goodbye my love.
Love,
Aria
I read her letter at least a hundred times. Then the call came from Hanna Marin. That's when it became real. "Dude, why are you still hung up on this girl?" My college roommate turned best friend asked.
"Oh, I don't know maybe because I have a daughter." I said as I pack a bag.
"How do you even know if she is yours?" He asked.
"I trust Aria." I said.
"You still love her." He said as he looked at my face. "I told you, you were screwed."
"Please just leave."
Willow POV
"Emily please don't sit on the sofa." I said as I watch more people come and leave. Each one telling me how great my mother was. Like I didn't already know that. I watched as Emily sat down on a wood rocking chair that sat by the front window. "Thank you." I said as I stood by the staircase. I watched as Hanna walked a girl from the bridal shop my mother worked at to the door. I was becoming use to this and we haven't even had the service yet. That is tomorrow.
"That's everyone for now." Hanna said as she came in and sat down on the steps.
"Thank you for staying with me." I told them as I started to walk up stairs.
"You do know that we will only be here until he comes." Emily said.
"You didn't." I said as I looked down at them.
"It's what your mother wanted." Hanna said. "But, I'll be just a call away." She said as she got up.
"He hasn't been in my life for the past sixteen years. Why bother now?" I asked.
"Your mother wanted you to go to family. Your family. This is what she wanted." Emily said.
"She has been wrong about what's right before." I said as I walked up the stairs.
Ezra POV
Small towns seemed to be her scene. First, Rosewood. Now, Jasper. Two hours apart. Yet, the same. I had no time to stop before the service. I changed clothes in a bathroom of a local diner. Then I headed toward the church. Hanna met me at my car. "I see you made it here in one piece." She said.
"Yeah." I answered.
"She doesn't want you here." She said.
"Aria did though." I said as we walked in.
"Don't hurt her anymore than she already is." Hanna said. Her face cold. Her voice flat. I saw a young girl overwhelmed by people. Aria always did have a way with people. Her brown eyes caught mine and at the moment I could see her pain. She looked like her mother.
"And you must be Ezra." She said as she reached us.
"Willow." I said. I started to open my mouth to say something else.
"Save your words for later." She said. "We need to take our seats."
Willow POV
I need space after the funeral. So I sat in the attic and painted. That is what brings peace to me anyways.
Ezra POV
I knew just as well as they did I didn't belong here. "Don't sit on the sofa." Hanna said as her, Emily, and Spencer came in.
"She wants it to keep the smell of her mother." Emily finished.
"Why don't we have a chat in the kitchen?" Spencer asked.
"Why not?" I asked as we walked into the kitchen. We all sat down at the table and I knew they had something on their minds.
"We know that Aria left behind several letters and that sort stuff. And most likely they detailed some things that none of us are proud of." Hanna said. "All we are asking is that you keep secrets secret." What do you say to this?
"Aria and Allison took them to the grave." Emily said. "And for good reason."
"Okay, I keep your little yah-yah sisterhood secrets. Whatever." I replied.
"I thought you would." Hanna said. "After all you don't want anyone to know all of Aria's secrets." None of them have really changed.
Willow POV
"I think we should talk." The voice from behind me was the one I wanted to go away.
"Talk. Then." I said as I focused on the piece I was working on.
"Did you paint all of these?" He asked as he moved closer.
"What does it matter to you?" I asked.
"Okay, I get it. You have every reason to hate me." He said. He was right. "I know I wasn't in your life, but you know that is because your mother never told me about you."
"If you loved her so much, why didn't you look for her?" I asked him.
"I did look for her, but I stopped because I knew I couldn't offer her anything." He said.
"She waited for you." I told him.
Ezra POV
He words didn't surprise me, but the tone did. There was some emotion behind them. "I watched her for sixteen years hold on to the dream that you would come. But, you didn't."
"I am sorry." I said.
"It's too late for that." She said. "She is gone. And I assume that you will move me to Rosewood and since you're single probably with a one room apartment, I will have to decide what is important as you make me pack up my whole life."
"No. I am looking for a house and until then we will remain here." I told her.
"I guess I could make Rosewood work." She said. "Then again I know the reasons my mother left." She then walked across the attic and picked up a sketch off a desk. She handed it to me. "I know everything." She said as I looked at the mixture of Allison's grave stone, messages from A, a high school, a couple together, and a burning shed. "My mother was good at hiding things from the outside world, but I was another story." She said.
"You are very talented." I told her.
"I knew that." She said. "But, thanks anyway." It was silent for a moment. "I hope for both of our sake that you learned to cook more than three things." When she said everything, she meant it.
"I am up to five." I said.
"Lovely." She said.
"I loved your mother." I told her.
"I am sure you did." She said. "A woman doesn't hang on that long if there wasn't emotion." Just sat there for a few minutes. "She told me not to hate you." She said as she looked at me. Tears began to fall at this point.
"Why?"
"She took the blame for herself." She said. "In sixth grade there was a father daughter dance. She didn't want me to miss it because of her choices so she had Steve from the bridal salon take me." I could tell that the memory meant a lot. "She told me the next father daughter dance there was my real father would come."
"Is this one of those moments where you tell me that it is next week?" I asked.
"No. That was the only one we ever had." She said.
"Anything else you want to tell me."
"Not really. Everything else was me and her." She said. "We had my sweet sixteen at the hospital. It was just me, her, and her doctor. I will always remember the tiny little cake she ordered for me and the way she sung 'Sixteen Candles' to me."
"Sounds like her." I said.
"We might be able to make this work." She said.
"I am glad you said that."