Chapter 13
Rosalina walked down the stairs slowly. Nat walked behind her carrying Dylan. When she reached the bottom she saw Mr. Wolff standing in front of her adopted brother, Josh Tai. He had changed drastically since the last time she had saw him. His brown hair which was normally neatly cut now had grown out and was so tangled it seemed impossible to pull a comb through it. His clothes were tattered to coming apart and every visible part of his body was smudged with brown dirt.
"Josh!" she exclaimed in surprised. "Hi Rosalina," he said hoarsely. His strong masculine voice had been replaced by the voice a sickly, frail person. "Josh what happened?" she asked. He shook his head, "I don't want to talk about it now," he answered then turned back to Mr. Wolff, "Can I use your phone to make a call; it's long distance." "Yes of course if it's important," he answered. "It is," he said. Mr. Wolff led Josh to the kitchen so he could talk privately. "What happened to him?" Rosalina muttered to Nat. Nat had an odd look on his face. "I don't know," he replied in a low voice.
Josh took the piece of paper out of his pocket and dialed in the number that was written on it. The paper was worn and browned with age and constant handling. He listened to the phone ring until finally someone picked up and a female voice said, "Hello?" Josh bit his lip, "Mother?"
A 45-year-old man had rushed home as quickly as he could. Only 40 minutes ago his wife had phoned him in full hysteria. She had delivered to him the most devastating news. He parked his car in the garage of his home and rushed inside the house. He found his wife in the living room. She was sitting on a couch with her face in her hands. He sat down next to her, "Darling?" He put his arm around her shoulders. She lifted her face from her hands revealing her red, tear soaked eyes. "It's going to be okay," he said. "How can you say that when your brother is-" "Because I know he's in a better place," he cut in. "The letter said we can call them and give them an answer," she told him, "I don't want anything to happen to them?" "Happen to whom?" the man asked. "Well to Rosalina and Dylan of course. The letter wanted to know if we would give up custody," the woman replied. The man stared at his wife flabbergasted for a moment, "But Holly," the man said slowly, "They would never ask us that. After what happened Christopher wrote in his will that if something were to happen to he and Julia the custody of their children goes to the Wolff family."
Josh returned to the living room with a look of content on his face. Rosalina, Nat, and Mrs. Wolff all sat on the couch waiting quietly while Dylan tried to crawl around on the floor and Mr. Wolff was pacing. "Josh is everything okay?" Mrs. Wolff asked. Mr. Wolff stopped pacing and Rosalina and Nat looked at Josh. Josh nodded, "I-I called my mom." Rosalina stood up, "Why would you do that?" she asked. "Because I'm moving in with her in Connecticut," he answered. She stared at him, "Why would you do that?" she asked again. Josh and his mother didn't have the best relationship of a mother and son. Rosalina never found out why this was because Josh didn't talk about her much. When her dad was married to his mom he mostly kept to himself.
"Because I've never really given my mom credit for what she's done for me. I just want to show her that I care," Josh said. Rosalina chewed her lip trying to think of something to say. "Is she coming to get you herself?" Mr. Wolff asked. Josh nodded. Dylan let out a squeal, drawing all attention to him. He was staring at Josh from the floor with his arms raised in the air. "Hello little man," Josh said to him but made no move to pick him up.
"When will she get here?" Mr. Wolff asked. "She's flying here tomorrow with my grandmother. She wants me home for Thanksgiving," he answered. "Well you can stay with us until then," Mr. Wolff replied. "Rosalina will you help me feed Noah and Dylan?" Mrs. Wolff asked. Rosalina nodded. Rosalina picked up Dylan and then followed Mrs. Wolff out of the room, through the kitchen, and into Mr. and Mrs. Wolff's room.
Noah was lying in an old crib in a corner of the room. Mrs. Wolff picked him up. His face read a look of distress as he clenched his eyes shut. "Come on honey, time to wake up," Mrs. Wolff said a soothing voice. Slowly Noah calmed down and opened his eyes. His green eyes seemed paler than usual to Rosalina. "Mrs. Wolff," Rosalina said slowly. "What is it dear?" she asked as she wrapped Noah in a green 'Winnie the Pooh' blanket. "Is Noah sick?" she asked. Mrs. Wolff looked at her then Noah. "He does look ill, doesn't he? His blood tests come back tomorrow. I'll check his temperature, you go feed Dylan."
Three hours later Josh had showered and was now wearing Nat's clothes which Nat had generously lent to him. It was almost noon so Nat and Rosalina were preparing lunch while Josh watched TV with Dylan, Mr. Wolff went to work, and Mrs. Wolff took care of Noah, whom had a slight fever.
"When will Alex be home?" Rosalina asked Nat as she finished Josh's sandwich. "I think my mom said four, but I'm not sure," Nat replied. He finished heating Dylan's bottle then sat down as he waited for it to cool. "I tried talking to him the other night, but he's so angry with me," he said. "Angry? Why would he be angry with you?" Rosalina asked as she came to sit with him. "I think it's my fault. He hates Noah because of me," he said. "No he doesn't and it's not all your fault either," Rosalina told him. "I know that's what I tried telling him. Maybe after the move he'll feel better about it," Nat said hopefully.
"No I won't." Nat and Rosalina looked up and saw Alex standing before them with his backpack and a box in hand. "I'll never be okay with losing my friends. Do you know how hard it is for me to make them?" he asked hotly. "But Alex you will still go to the same school," Rosalina pointed out. "That's not the point! I can't invite them over to my home and I can't go to theirs and we can't go anywhere together on the weekends anymore. I don't know why none of you can get this. It's so unfair!" "Alex that's enough; you don't have to raise your voice at her like that," Nat retorted. "You've always taken her side for everything even if it means you're against me," Alex snapped. "That's not true Alex and you know it," Nat argued back. "It is true!" Alex cried out. "What is going on in here?" Mrs. Wolff asked as she came in the kitchen. "Nothing," Nat replied quietly as he stared at Alex. "Can you two please settle what you are arguing over; Noah is sleeping," she said then quickly walked out the room. "And now mom cares more about a baby that's not even hers than us and it's all your fault," Alex said darkly. Before Nat could reply Alex exited the room. "He hates me," Nat said, heart-broken. "He does not; it's the situation he hates. It'll all be over soon," Rosalina promised. She gave him a comforting hug.
Alex went up to his room. Shutting the door behind him, he dropped his backpack on the floor and went over to his bed to place the box on it. "How dare he take her side on this," he thought, "How dare he?" Bentley was his only friend, besides Juanita, of course, but she had moved to New York City last autumn. He missed her dearly. She would call him once a week so they could catch up. He would've been completely lost after her departure if it weren't for Bentley. He had wanted to tell Nat how he felt about her moving from the start, how he really felt.
Alex opened the box. There were a variety of things inside. All of them had to do with his friendship with Bentley. The one thing he focused on was the picture in the gold and black striped picture frame. The picture was of Bentley, Alex, and Juanita at a summer camp together two years before. He stared at the picture until he heard a knock on his door then he placed it back in the box.
"Come in," he said. Nat opened the door. "What do you want?" Alex demanded. Nat looked at Alex, hurt written on his face, "Time for lunch Alex." With that Nat's head disappeared from the doorway and the door closed silently behind him. Alex bit his lip it wasn't Nat's fault he was losing his friends so he knew he had no real reason to blame him for it, but he felt a lot better when he was able to blame someone other than himself.
Rosalina sat next to Nat at the kitchen table. Alex and Josh were sitting across from them. While Nat was feeding Dylan, Rosalina realized she had forgotten to call her aunt. "Nat do you remember when I said I'd call my Aunt Mary this morning?" she asked. Nat looked up from where he was sitting at the table. "Yeah, did you ever get around to it?" he asked. "No," she admitted, "do you think she's home now?" "Well it's only 12:45. I don't see why not," Nat said. She didn't know why, but she was kind of afraid to call her aunt. The few times she had met her were okay. Her aunt didn't talk much and had to be introduced to Rosalina by her Uncle Kennedy.
Rosalina went to the living room and picked up the phone. She dialed in the number slowly. After it rang four times someone answered. "Hello?" they asked. She indicated immediately it was her 10-year-old cousin, Lila. "Hi Lila," she said, "Can I talk to Aunt Mary?" "Um…okay," Lila answered, "hold on a moment." Rosalina heard her place the phone down while she went to go get her mother. A moment later the voice of a woman greeted Rosalina. "Hi Aunt Mary," Rosalina greeted, "how are you?" "I'm fine and so is everyone else. We're finally out of mourning, at least almost. It's getting easier with time. So how are you doing?" "We're all fine to. Josh came back today." "Oh, did he? That's wonderful news. How is he?" her aunt asked. "He's okay now that's all that matters," she said, not wanting to mention Josh's appearance. "Well I guess you're right," her Aunt Mary said, "I'm sorry I would love to talk more but I'm busy at the moment." "Oh okay, but I was calling to tell you I got a package from you. Why did you send Julia's diary?" Rosalina asked. It wasn't until a moment later she realized she'd called her step-mom Julia, the first time since her father's marriage to her. "Because with Kennedy gone I thought it would benefit you and Dylan more," her Aunt Mary said. "Thank you, I'm sure Dylan will say the same later on in his life," Rosalina replied. "You're welcome but again I have to go," her aunt said. They both said farewell to each other and just when Rosalina was about to hang up the phone she realized her aunt hadn't. "She must have forgotten to hang up," Rosalina guessed.
Rosalina could hear her Aunt Mary talking to someone; certainly it couldn't have been one of her children. "That was Rosalina calling me to thank me for sending Julia's diary. I was more than happy to get rid of it when I found it. I know she was Kennedy's sister, which is why it makes me sad to think such a good person got involved in such dreadful things…" "Mom you left the phone off the hook again." It was Lila again. There was the sound of footsteps then murmuring. Rosalina could make out her own name in the whispering then the phone on the other end was slammed down causing the call to end.
Rosalina placed the phone back in the receiver in bewilderment. She went back to the kitchen. Nat was still there, but Josh and Alex had gone upstairs. Nat was burping Dylan now. "How'd it go," he asked as she entered the room. "She said she sent it for Dylan and me," she answered. Nat gave her a look of concern, "Are you okay?" he asked.
She didn't know if she should tell Nat about what her Aunt Mary had said or not. It was always possible that she had heard her wrong and as for the murmuring and the slamming of the phone maybe her Aunt was only telling Lila why she had called and during so the phone fell somehow. Within a minute she had convinced herself that this was all true and it would be silly to mention it to Nat. "Yes I'm fine," she answered
A.N.- Happy late birthday to Alex Wolff! :)