Chapter 8

As Audri unpacked her things, and Ava brought her some pajama's, her mind went back to what Audri had said earlier,

'I remember you Ms. Gregory, and Susannah, if you're a friend of Uncle Johnny's and Aunt Ava's then I trust you.'

"Susannah?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you notice, after we offered to leave before she told us about…you know, everything, she called me Aunt Ava."

Susannah smiled, "I noticed. I think maybe she assumed that you guys had gotten married."

"But how? I just," Ava closed her own sentence as Johnny entered the room.

"Hey, I think she's almost ready for bed."

"Oh, okay, I'll bring her these. I'll be awhile, I'm not going to bed myself until I get her settled," Ava emphasized awhile and Susannah got the hint.

"Right, uh, I'll go with her," Johnny said, following right behind Ava.

Susannah chuckled and shook her head, "Good night, then."

"Night!" Johnny called back.

Ava and Johnny came down the stairs, and noticed Audri observing the pictures of the Westerly children on the mantle.

"Are these the kids?"

"Well, um," Ava stammered, setting down the pajama's on the couch, "their my sister's kids, the one's there and upstairs."

"So who's who?"

"Um, this one is my niece, Nikki and her friend Cameron. We just took that one a couple days ago. And this one, is Derrick."

"He's the youngest?"

"Yes."

"Is this the older one?"

"Oh, yes, that's Bradin. He's around your age actually."

"He's cute."

Ava smiled.

"How come there are no pictures of you and Uncle Johnny?"

Ava shot Johnny one of her, 'Help Me!' looks.

"Well, Audri," Johnny said, taking Ava's place.

"Didn't you two ever get married?"

With that Ava said, "It looks like you guy's have some catching up of your own to do, so I'm gonna go to bed, and I'll see you in the morning. Audri, your clothes are on the couch along with some pillows and blankets."

"Okay, thank you very much."

Ava nodded, and fled as fast as she could, away from what Johnny was about to explain. She made a stop to Bradin and Derrick's room, and gently shook Bradin awake.

"Aunt Ava?"

"I'm sorry for waking you."

"No, that's alright, is everything okay?"

"I figured I'd say something to you since you're going to be up before Nikki, Derrick and Jay tomorrow. Um, Johnny's niece stopped by, and it looks like she's going to be living with us for a while. She's around your age, and she's very nice. So, if by chance she's up when you are or when you get back, please help her out. She has no family except for Johnny and no friends at all."

"Alright, Aunt Ava, it's okay, you don't have to worry. I'll take her under my wing."

"Thank you, this means a lot to me and to Johnny, and I know this will mean a lot to her."

Ava kissed his forehead and exited the room. Bradin turned over on his back and stared at the ceiling, he was to tired to form a thought at the moment, and within minutes, was fast asleep again.

"Listen Audri, Ava and I never got married."

"But why? You guys were so much in love."

"I don't know it just didn't work out I guess. However, she and I have remained friends for years, and we really don't like to talk about what could've been, I mean, maybe someday, we'll give it another shot, but not right now."

Audri nodded, "Okay, so what do all of you do here?"

"You mean as a job?"

She nodded again.

"Well, Ava and Susannah are partners as fashion designers. They work on their own clothing lines here, upstairs opposite of Nikki's room. Jay owns a surf shop a couple blocks away and I work for Playa Linda reality."

"Wow, sounds like you guys are doing just fine."

"We are."

"So, what about the other kids, why are they here and not with their parents?"

"Well," Johnny said, running his fingers through his hair, "um, about a month ago, their parents were, uh, well they were killed in an accident in Kansas."

"Oh my God, so now they live here?"

"Yeah, Karen wanted Ava to take care of her kids."

"Wow, uh, I had…no idea."

"I know. It's okay."

A moment of silence passed before Johnny broke it.

"It's late, you better get some sleep."

"Okay, where's the bathroom so I can change?"

"Up the stairs, first one on your left."

"Thanks."

She picked up the clothes and headed for the bathroom while Johnny made her a bed on the couch. He took her coat and hung it up by the door, checking the pockets to make sure they were empty. Suddenly, his fingers came across an object in the inside pocket. He fished it out, and examined it. It was the roll of money, tied neatly together with a faded red rubber band. He brought it down and tucked it safely away in her backpack, not wanting to invade her privacy. She came down, her previous set of clothes folded up neatly in her arms. 'She looks a lot more comfortable,' Johnny thought. As she laid them down beside her backpack, then stood up and stretched, Johnny noticed the faint roundness of her stomach.

"Audri, um, I hung your coat up over there, and uh,"

"You found the cash didn't you?"

"I did, I mean I wasn't trying to be nosey or anything, but,"

"Uncle Johnny, it's okay. Where did you put it?"

"In your bag."

"I told you it was a lot. I spent only about fifty of it to get here, for food and gas and everything. It was my savior."

"I know, it saved your life."

There was another moment of awkward silence, but nevertheless, they both said good night, and parted ways. Audri turned out the light, and got comfortable on the couch. It wasn't hard; it felt like she was sleeping on a fluffy cloud. The bed she had slept in back home, just that morning, now seemed like a million years ago.

'I did it. I'm here, and everything is going to be okay now. My baby is going to have a good life and I'm not going to waste one minute of mine.'

With that final thought she drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face.