"Callie! Are you ready?" Maggie called through the closed bathroom door.
"Um, yeah." Callie stepped out of the bathroom and looked at her mom nervously. Half of her long brown hair was pulled back and twisted into a bun and light makeup was perfectly applied. She looked down at herself and marveled again at the beautiful floral dress she was wearing.
Callie had been surprised when Sam had picked them up and drove to Wordy's house. Allie and Shelly were waiting at the door for them. Allie took Callie straight up to her room and let Callie pick whatever dress she wanted.
Callie had been overwhelmed. Her new friend's generosity was amazing. Allie had shrugged and said, "if I needed a dress you'd let me borrow one, wouldn't you?" Callie had nodded and hugged the younger girl. The younger girls, Holly and Lily ran in and asked if they could help. Callie had laughed and said, "of course!"
It'd taken some trying on, but Callie had ended up with three choices, the floral, a red velvet with a black sash or an emerald green dress with sparkles on it. After she made her choice, Shelly had told her to follow her to the bathroom.
While Shelly was applying Callie's makeup, Maggie walked in wearing a blue sundress.
Callie looked at her mother in surprise. "Mom! You look beautiful! Where did you-"
Maggie pointed shyly at Shelly and pushed her short blond hair behind her ears. "Shelly and her girls are very generous."
Shelly looked at her, smiled and said, "anytime!" She finished Callie's make up and asked Maggie if she wanted make up. Maggie looked undecided so Shelly waved her over.
Maggie moved to the toilet, sat down and let Shelly do her makeup. I haven't worn makeup in years, she thought. I don't even own any!
Callie stood by the sink and watched. When Shelly was done, she asked Callie if she wanted her hair done. Callie was again surprised by Shelly. What had she done to deserve all this? Maggie said she'd wait outside and give Shelly room to work.
"You look beautiful, my girl." Maggie exclaimed when Callie had emerged. she was glad to see Callie's nervous look spread into a smile. She looked beyond her daughter to Shelly and said, "thank you."
"You're welcome." Shelly smiled.
Allie, Holly and Lily emerged from Holly's room in dresses, their hair done as well (luckily Daddy is good at doing hair!). Shelly waved them over and they all walked downstairs together.
Sam and Wordy were talking at the bottom of the stairs, but they stopped when they saw the six girls coming down the stairs.
"You ladies all look beautiful!" Sam smiled at them, stopping at Callie. He could see that she was nervous. The four girls surrounded him and all started talking at once. "Uncle Sammy! Look at the ribbons Daddy put in my hair." "Are you going to da moozeem Uncle Sammy?" "when are we leaving?" "I want Callie to ride with us!" Callie said, "do I really look ok?"
Sam laughed at the cacophony that was the Wordsworth girls, plus one. "I love the ribbons Holly. Yes I am Lily. I think we're leaving soon." He looked Callie in the eye. "You look great!"
"Ok girls." Wordy smiled at them. "Let's get in the van ok?" He looked at Callie. "You look beautiful." He hugged her. "If you want to ride with us you can."
Callie looked from Shelly to Wordy, "thank you for everything. You guys are so awesome."
They both moved forward and pulled her into a hug. "Anytime." Shelly said sincerely. "Absolutely." Wordy added.
When they broke apart, Callie turned to her mom. "Can I ride with them to the museum?"
Maggie smiled and nodded. "Sure honey."
They piled into the vehicles and headed to the museum. When they were walking up, Callie was amazed at all the people and hung back a little bit.
Sam saw this and walked beside her. "Nervous?"
"Yeah." She looked at all the people walking into the museum. "So many people. What if they don't like it? What if they say I suck?"
"They're going to love it. There may be a few that don't like it, but don't worry about them. You have a bunch of people that love it and love you."
She looked at him and smiled, "I do don't I?"
He chuckled. "No doubt about it." He put an arm around her as they walked through the doors.
Callie took in the scene in front of her. There were people milling around everywhere looking at the art set up around the room. But there, in the middle of the room with a sign that said "featured artist" was her painting. She put a hand to her heart.
My painting, featured, she thought. Oh my god. Oh I hope they like it. It was hard to see the painting because there were four people standing in front of it. As if they knew she was looking at them, one by one they turned to look at her. Spike! Greg! Ed! Leah! They all came?
She walked to them. "You came?!"
All four smiled at her, but Ed spoke first. "Of course we did. We wouldn't miss this."
"Did you know?" Greg asked pointing to the sign.
"No." She shook her head. She couldn't keep the smile from her face and her eyes from watering.
"It's so beautiful Callie." Leah said. "Very impressive." She put a hand on Callie's back and rubbed.
"Thanks." Callie breathed. Her mom stepped forward and coughed. "Oh, mom. These are my friends." She looked admiringly at them. She pointed to each of them, "Spike, Greg, Ed and Leah."
They each said hi and shook Maggie's hand. She was in awe of the four of them. They exuded confidence without even saying anything. Something both she and her daughter could use more of.
"You have a truly amazing daughter." Spike said to Maggie. "I'm honored to know her."
"Thanks." Maggie out an arm around Callie proudly. "She makes me proud every day."
"I do?" Callie looked at her frowning.
Maggie pulled back a little and looked at her, surprised. "Of course you do. Oh my baby. I thought you knew?" She pulled Callie back into a hug. "The way you take care of yourself. You take care of the apartment. You take care of me when it should be the other way around. You are beautiful inside and out. I couldn't ask for a better daughter."
"Oh Mom." Callie hugged her tight and let the tears flow. After a minute she wiped her face and went to the bathroom to blow her nose.
Leah followed her as she had gotten teary too.
"You're mom is great." Leah said in the bathroom as they blew their noses.
"Yeah she is." Callie nodded. She eyed Leah, she saw a little sadness on her face. "I'll bet your mom is great."
"She was." Leah agreed. "She died in the floods in Haiti."
"Oh." Callie walked to her. "I'm sorry."
"Thanks. She was a wonderful mom. She loved to bake. She was always baking stuff and bringing it to neighbors. The house always smelled so good." Leah smiled at the memory.
"I'll bet she's still doing that in heaven."
Leah looked at her. "I'll bet you're right." She pulled Callie into a hug. "We better get back out there. I'll bet there are some people who want to talk to you about your painting."
Callie nodded. They went back out and as they got back to their group standing off to the side, the curator made an announcement.
"Thank you all for coming! As you can see, we have some amazing local artists. Our featured art tonight is by a local teen, Callie Marksen. Callie, come up here will you?"
Callie turned red and didn't move until Spike and Maggie both gave her a little push.
When she reached the curator, he said, "ah, thank you Callie. How are you tonight?"
He put the microphone to her face. "Good." She nodded. "Thank you all for coming."
"Do you mind if I ask what inspired the painting?"
"Well, they did." She pointed to the group of people she'd just walked from. Everyone turned to look. "See I was just some kid, wandering around, lost. Then an amazing thing happened. I got a Big Sister. She didn't have to, but Jules Callaghan took time out of her life to hang with me. And whether I thought I wanted it or not, she became my friend.
Luckily for me, that came with a bunch more friends I didn't know I needed." She smiled at them and waved when Lily waved to her. "They've helped me a lot." She took a shaky breath and looked into the crowd. "So I wanted to paint something that represented how I feel about them because they aren't only my friends, but my heros." A tear slipped down her cheek. "I love you guys."
The group raised their glasses to her. Each one had tears in their eyes.
"Wow. Thank you Callie. What an inspiration!" Everyone clapped as Callie returned to her friends and hugged each of them. The girls were especially exuberant with their hugs. "Well, thank you again for coming and enjoy!" The curator turned off the mic and put it down on a table. He walked to Callie and the group.
"Callie. What an inspirational story! I had to come meet these muses of yours." The curator said excitedly. Callie introduced him to the group. He smiled and shook each of their hands which the little girls loved. He looked at Callie again. "So what is the name of this piece?"
She looked at the group and said, "heroes."
"Perfect." He smiled. "Well, enjoy!" He moved off.
Callie spent the night hanging with her friends and talking to people about her painting. After her speech, people wanted to tell her how much they loved her painting and the story behind it.
Wordy and Shelly were the first to leave because they had to get the girls home to bed. The girls were upset by this, but Callie promised they would get together again soon and they calmed.
People started filtering out of the museum and by 9pm everyone else had left. Sam, Maggie and Callie were left standing in front of the painting.
"What a great night." Maggie sighed contentedly, her arm across Callie's shoulders.
"Mmm." Callie had her head on her mom's chest and was having trouble keeping her eyes open.
Sam looked at Callie and smiled. He caught Maggie's eye and tipped his head towards the exit. She nodded and they steered Callie out to the car. They were only a few minutes down the road before Callie was asleep in the backseat.
Maggie looked at Sam. "I don't know how we got so lucky." Sam looked at her. "How's Jules?"
"I stopped in between work and tonight. The antibiotics had finally started to kick in and she was improving. They're hoping to take her off the vent tomorrow."
"Oh good. Callie will be glad to hear that." She looked at her lap.
Sam could tell she was making small talk and had something else to say. "What's wrong Maggie?"
"I just-. I hope you all don't think I'm a terrible mom." She looked back at Callie who was still sleeping. "I try. I have to work two jobs. I know it leaves her alone a lot-"
"She's not alone." Sam gave her a serious look. "That's what we're here for. And we know how hard it's been-" he looked back at Callie. "Since Keith got sick and passed. Believe me when I say that any time you need anything, just ask. We're here for you too."
"Thank you. No wonder she calls you her hero." Maggie sniffed.