Leah slowly drove down the street in Smithville, and parked her car near the beautiful, small, but beautiful entrance to the sidewalk leading to the house.

Ramona Calvert, Leah's mother, was sitting on a homemade chair on her front porch. She lifted her hands up suddenly and exclaimed slowly, "Oh! You're here! You're actually here!"

She stood up, stomping her foot, which were hidden inside her cowboy boots, down on the porch to show her excitement. Her slightly curly blonde hair was resting right on her shoulders and sitting behind her ears. Her button up red shirt was tucked into her blue jeans, held up by a brown belt with a small gold buckle.

"Oh, my baby!" she exclaimed again, "My BABIES!" she corrected, when she realized that her two granddaughters were there too. She stepped down the two stairs and walked down the small sidewalk to greet them.

"Brooklyn. Here baby." Leah said, hanging Brooklyn a large suitcase, "Bernice." she said, hanging her the white TV.

"Look at me," Ramona said to Brooklyn, "You are absolutely gorgeous! Oh!" she exclaimed, putting her hands around Brooklyn as she hugged her sweetly. She tapped her on the nose as the hug broke.

Brooklyn smiled as best as she could with the weight of the suitcase, shifting it over to her other side, and said, "Hi Grandmama!"

Ramona gasped when she Bernice, "Wow darling you look even better than the pictures! You look just like my mama, you know that?" Ramona said, putting each of her hands on each side of Bernice's neck and kissed each of her cheeks.

"And Lea-" she stopped when she saw Leah.

"Hey, Mama." Leah said happily, rubbing Ramona's arm.

The look on Ramona's face was a look of shock, as she asked worriedly, "Leah, you take up drinkin'?"

"No I have not," Leah answered, and ushered her two girls into the house, "Go inside." she said softly.

"You mean this is you, stone sober?" Ramona asked, still looked at Leah, "You look just awful!"

"Well, I….FEEL…awful, Mama." Leah said, carrying her purse and a bag in one hand, and two boxes full of her belongings in the other.

"Well, you look it." Ramona said again.

"Well, I feel it!" Leah said once more.

Well…." Ramona sighed, looking down and shaking her head, "You look it." Leah just starred at her.

"Here, let me take one of those." Ramona said, taking one of the boxes from Leah.

"Come on honeys I got a present for both of you!" Ramona exclaimed to Brooklyn and Bernice, "Come on."

"Here, Mom." Bernice said, hanging Leah the white TV. Brooklyn just kept walking in with the suitcase.

"I just can't believe you're here!" Ramona said excitedly, "Ok, now…" she said as she opened the screen door that led into her old-fashioned, cute little home. There were dimmed lights all around, some were driven by electricity, others lit by candles. There was a couch, a coffee table, and a comfy chair with homemade quilts on them, making the living room all the more welcome.

Leah hurried to the screen door before it closed, "Oh, oh, oh, oh!" The door shut right as she got to it. She sighed, and somehow got it open with her full arms.

"Okay, these are presents from your Grandpa and me." Ramona said proudly, handing Bernice a paper bag with something in it, and Brooklyn a small sized box.

Brooklyn sat down the suitcase she was holding and took the present, smiling a thank you.

"How is Daddy?"

"Oh, he's fine," Ramona answered, "He has a little cold this week, so we can't see him till Saturday, but…he's, uh…you know, he's fine."

"Good!" Leah sighed, setting down her things.

"Wow Grandmamma!" Brooklyn exclaimed as she opened the box, using her name for Ramona, 'grandmamma'. "They're beautiful!" she said, with a huge smile on her face as she looked at the dangly earings that were made from real stones.

"Ohhh, really, you like them that much?" Ramona teased, "They're homemade."

"Thank you! I absolutely adore them!" Brooklyn said, as she took out her own earings and put in her new ones.

Ramona smiled gratefully.

Bernice took her gift out of the bag and looked at it oddly. It was an adorable brown bunny with a cute green dress.

"It's a bunny purse!" Ramona said encouragingly, "You don't like stuffed animals?" she said as she saw Bernice look at it up and down, and turning it around to look at the back.

Bernice just looked at Ramona.

"That's all right, come on. We'll get you settled first okay? But be very quiet" she said, putting her finger up to her lips, "Because we don't want to wake up Travis." she said.

"You remember your cousin, don't you?" Ramona said, reminding Bernice of who Travis is.

Leah stretched her back and neck as she looked around her old home, that she has missed so much since being in the city.

"He got so excited waitin' for yall to arrive, he just pooped out." Ramona explained, plopping her hands on her thighs. She motioned for the girls to follow her as she climbed up the stairs. Halfway up, Ramona stopped and looked down at Bernice and Brooklyn, who looked right back up at her.

"You see those?" Ramona asked as she pointed to two stuffed kitties, real ones who used to be alive, in dresses on the railing of the stairs.

Bernice nodded, and Brooklyn watched.

"They're Scaredy-Cats," Ramona said with a smile, "You get it?"

Ramona chuckled as she lightly pushed the cats, which in result, the cat yowled back.

Bernice jumped and moved backwards slightly. Brooklyn forced back a smile, whilst Leah started picking up her things again to bring up the stairs.

Ramona laughed loudly as she made her way up the rest of the stairs.

She took a breath, "You're Grandpa and I made a fortune off of them! Leah!" Ramona shouted at the top of the stairs, "Lock the door! You want to be murdered in your bed?"

Leah looked up and sighed as she went to the door, and shut and locked it.

She looked at Bernice who was still shock-stricken, "Don't worry sweetheart, if they bite you, they got rubber teeth."

Bernice turned to Leah and said, her eyes wide, "Did Grandma kill those animals herself?"

"No honey," Leah said, winking at Brooklyn who brushed her hair past her face to look at her earings in the mirror, "They come here already dead." Leah closed the curtains.

Brooklyn smiled and picked up her suitcase.

"See this way, they live forever." Leah said to Bernice, taking another look at the suffed cats.

"As Scaredy-Cats," Bernice said.

"Yeah, Scaredy-Cats." Leah answered as they both climbed the stairs with Brooklyn following.

Leah walked out of the bathroom in her pink night-gown and opened the door to Brooklyn's room.

Brooklyn was in her pajamas, on her bed, turning a gold chain watch around in her fingers. A pillow was underneath her arms as she lay on her stomach.

"Where did you get that, sweet heart?" Leah asked as she sat down on the bed next to her, putting her hand on Brooklyn's back.

"It's Daddy's," Brooklyn said, "It was his promise that he'd never leave us. It was grandmother's," she said, referring to Dale's mother. "And Dad said that since Grandpa promised him with that watch that he'd never leave him, Dad gave it to me saying he'd never leave us."

Brooklyn looked up at Leah and gave her a sweet sympathetic smile.

Leah was about to speak when Brooklyn said, "I'm okay Mom. Really." she nodded, "I think I'm gonna like it here."

Leah shut her eyes and nodded with a smile. She patted Brooklyn's back as she kissed her forehead, "I love you baby. I promise we will work this out."

Brooklyn nodded, "I love you too. 'Night Mom."

Leah smiled and got up and shut Brooklyn's door to a crack.. She walked across the hall into Bernice's room, where Bernice was lying flat on her back, clutching her bunny purse, starring at the ceiling.

"It's a nice room, isn't it?" Leah said to Bernice as she put some clothes in a drawer.

"See that door right there?" Leah asked, pointing to a door in Bernice's room, "Leads right into mine. Joined rooms. Is that neat?" She grabbed a bag at the end of Bernice's bed and took some things out. She put them into a small chest at the end of her bed.

"Okay," Leah whispered, "That about does it. Oh! I got a little surprise for you." she said, grabbing something off of the night-stand. Leah took something off the end of it and a light shined onto Bernice's nose. It was a tiny, long, flashlight.

"So you don't bump into doors at night," Leah explained, hanging the flashlight to Bernice. Bernice tucked it into a pocket in her nightgown and kept a straight, serious face.

"Okay," Leah said, grabbing the covers, "Feet in. Arms in or out?"

"Out." Bernice said as she lifted up her arms. Leah covered with the blankets and looked into her eyes.

"There you go." she said tucking the covers underneath Bernice, making her look all rolled up.

"Snug as a bug in a rug." Leah said, "Goodnight, baby." She kissed her forehead, turned out the light, and walked into her room.

She grabbed a small pillow off the floor and sat down in the chair next to her bed. She heard Ramona's light go off.

Leah sat there, rubbing her arm nervously, and looked down. She held back her tears as she climbed into bed and turned her light off. Though she tried, she could not get Dale off her mind through the whole night…