Edited 2019

AN: I am so, so sorry for not posting sooner. I hope some of you are still with me. I do have some excuses for not posting. I had been without internet for a few days in my new apartment. I also have been busy with school. I have time that I can write tomorrow and hope to get another chapter done. This chapter has not been betated so if there are mistakes they are all mine. I will have another note at the other end. So thank you for not giving up on my story. Read, Enjoy and Review Please.

Disclaimer: I have missed playing with Charlaine's toys so much.

Chapter 32

Sitting at the table calm as could be, was someone I had not seen in years. It was my older cousin, Hadley. The last time I had seen her was when I was nine. She had come to the house to borrow money from Gran and we never saw her after that. Hadley was ten years older than me. Her mother was my aunt Lynda. Aunt Lynda had died of cancer when I was really young, and Hadley's daddy had left soon after that. Hadley had been staying with an uncle on her daddy's side of the family up until she disappeared. We all had thought that she had died or something. So to say I was shocked to see her was an understatement. Hadley was a tall slender girl, or should I say, woman. Her hair was long and blonde and she had bright green eyes. She was wearing a really nice dress that looked to be designer, but I would not know. I didn't notice right away but sitting in the chair next to her was a small boy that I did not recognize. He had Hadley's same blonde hair. I could not see his eyes cause they were closed in sleep. Still being as shocked as I was, I had not moved out of the doorway so when the boys had tried to follow me in, they knocked me over. John scoped me up right away and put me back on my feet. "Sookie I am sorry we didn't mean to knock you down. Why did you stop?" John asked looking me over to make sure I was ok.

All I could say was "Hadley". That got his attention. Both he and Jason whipped there head in the direction of the table. Gran and Hadley just sat there smiling at us.

Eric still confused asked "Who?"

"My cousin Hadley, she disappeared the year before you came," I said in a monotone voice.

"Come on in and close the door before you let all the cold out," Gran said. We all proceeded into the room. The boys let us girls sit in the chairs taking up residence around the room leaning on the counters. Both John and Eric stayed near me. "As Sookie said this is her cousin Hadley and this is her son Hunter." Gran introduced them smiling.

In his usual tactlessness Jason asked: "Where have you been and when did you have him?"

"The where is a long story, the when is easier. Hunter is four years old." Hadley said quietly looking down at her sleeping son.

"Why did you leave and why are you back now?" I said in an almost hurt voice. John had come forward and put his hand on my shoulder. Other than Gran and Jason, Hadley had been my main support when Mama and Daddy died. She understood what it was like to lose her parents. She had been a big comfort and when she left it was like she had died too.

"I left because I was scared and ashamed. I am back because I wanted Hunter to meet you all. We are only here for a few days I have to get back to my job." She answered cautiously.

"So you are not back. What do you do?" Jason interjected.

"Not prenatally no. I am a legal aid in New Orleans." She said.

"You have been this close and not called to say that you were ok or anything? I thought that you had died, everyone did." My voice shook. I was trying my hardest to hold off the tears that were welling up in my eyes. "I am tired right now and I don't want to say anything that might hurt your feelings, so I am going to go to bed," I said getting up and walking to the stairs to my room John and Eric were not far behind. When I got to my room I was almost mechanical in the way I got out my sleep clothes to get ready for bed. The guys had both sat down on my bed waiting for me to break down. I took my clothing with me into the bathroom and showered. Once the hot water hit my skin I lost it. I sunk to the floor of the tub and cried. I could not believe that first Hadley was alive and second she had a son. That had to have been why she left. Gran had always said that we should wait to have children until we could support ourselves and married. I could understand her being afraid of how Gran would react but she had to have known that she would have had support. I stayed on the floor of the tub crying and thinking for a good fifteen minutes. I made a decision that I had to get up and go to sleep crying in the shower would do me no good. I stood up turned off the water and got out to dry off. I put on my pajamas and brushed out my hair. I took me a while to find all of the pins in my wet hair but I did it. I got it all untangled and put it up in a messy bun. I then brushed my teeth and went back to my room. It must have taken me longer then I thought because both boys had gotten changed and were now asleep on my bed. It was funny to see such big guys sharing a small bed. I could not help it I laughed so hard and loud that I woke them up.

"Babe are you ok why are you laughing?" John asked getting up and coming over to me pulling me into a hug.

"Not really, I am so upset with Hadley, I feel like she abandoned me. I mean she was only a few hours away and she could not call or anything. I was laughing because you two were just adorable laying there fighting over my pillow." I said catching my breath. "Are you staying too John? I knew that Holly and Alcide were, but I didn't know that you were too."

"Yeah Gran had asked me if I wanted to go to church with you all tomorrow. I think Alcide might come to if his Ma will let him miss mass. You should not be so hard on Hadley. I know how you feel but think about how she felt. Being a single mom in this town is not something that most girls would want. I think you should talk to her before she leaves again it would be good for both of you." He smiled down at me moving a stray piece of hair out of my face. I knew he was right and nodded my head against his chest. I tried to stifle a yawn but it came out anyway and he said. "I think it is time for us to leave you so you can go to sleep." He kissed me full on the lips. It only lasted a few seconds but it was lovely. As he pulled away I leaned closer to him not wanting it to stop. He kissed me one more time and then left the room. Calling over his shoulder he said, "Sleep well, Babe." My hand had gone to my lips they were still warm from his kiss. I had forgotten that Eric was still in the room and flopped down on my bed landing on top of him. He froze under me.

"Ah... I should go." He said shifting out from under me and standing up going across the hall slamming his door. His voice was cold and distant. I felt bad that I kissed John in front of him. I stood up to shut my door and then clicked off the light. I lay back down. I was asleep in no time. I woke to the sound of water running. I laid in bed just looking up at the ceiling. The longer I stayed put listing the more I realized that I really needed to go. I hoped whoever was in the shower would get out soon or I was going to have a problem. After another few minutes, the door to the bathroom opened and the occupant exited going downstairs I shot across the room out the hallway and into the bathroom. Once I had relived myself I washed my hands and got my curling iron out and plugged it in to warm up. I then went back to my room to find something to wear. I picked out a navy blue dress that had white piping around the hem of the skirt and under the bust. It had short cap sleeves and a high square neckline. It was a modest but pretty dress. I got out underthings and a sweater just in case. Some days the church was so cold that I was convinced that they were trying to freeze the hell out of us, quite. I got changed and went to the bathroom to do my hair. I curled my hair and then went downstairs for breakfast. I had almost forgotten about Hadley and her son. Hunter was running around the living room chasing after Alcide and John. They were all dressed in their Sunday best minus their shoes. He was a cute little boy, he kind of reminded me of Jason with his energy and enthusiasm. John came to a skidding halt in front of me when he saw me with a broad smile on his face.

"Good Morning, Sookie. You look just as lovely as you did last night if not more." He said pulling me into a hug as Hunter came up behind him grabbing his leg. I blushed and mumbled my thanks. He kissed the top of my head. I went into the kitchen to find Gran and Hadley cooking away. It was like she had never left. They were working on a batter for pancakes and I could smell the sausage frying up in the pan. I sat down at the table and pick up an orange to peel and eat. They turned around at the sound of my chair moving on the floor.

Gran smiled at me and asked, "Did you sleep alright?" I nodded my head mutely. "That is good Hadley and Hunter are going to go to church with us along with the boys and Holly. You should go see if your brother is up yet I know that Holly should be just about finished in the shower. Oh and see if Eric is dressed yet too. I need him to go get his father's SUV so we have more room to drive everyone." I agreed and got up to do as she asked. I went to find Jason first he was passed out on his bed still in his tux, his crown lying near his head. I had a wicked idea and went to borrow Hunter from the boys. They all thought it was a marvelous idea and agreed to help. I ran and got the camera from Gran's room before we woke him. Alcide held Hunter over Jason's head balancing him so that the cup in his hand would not spill all at once and then on the count of three he had Hunter dump the water right when I snapped a picture. Jason shot up out of bed screaming like a little girl, he was drenched. We all laughed ourselves into hysterics.

"That was not funny," Jason said pouting.

"It was pretty great from our side of things. You need to get up and get cleaned so we can go to church." I said calming down and leaving the room. I was just about to go upstairs and get Eric when he came down. "Gran wants to talk to you about using your father's Cadillac to go to church so we have more room and fewer cars." He walked past me like he had not heard what I said and went off to the kitchen to talk to Gran. I guess he was still mad at me since he did not say anything. We all ate breakfast and then piled into the SUV. Hadley had moved Hunter's car seat to the SUV in the back. Eric drove with Gran in the front. I sat in the middle with John and Alcide and in the back were Hunter and Hadley. Jason drove himself and Holly. I did not pay a whole lot of attention to the sermon that day as I was sat in between John and Alcide. John would subtly touch me on my shoulder or my knee knowing I could not yell at him, it was driving me nuts. I wanted to tell him to stop but I liked the attention. Eric was being really moody. I get that he did not like that I was accepting of the attention I was getting from John but what did he think that I would just ignore attention or advances from other guys just because he liked me. He would scowl at me every time John's hand came in contact with my body.

The service was over none too soon and I was sitting in the SUV on the way home. Gran was making fried chicken with all the fixings for lunch. She had put the chicken in seasoned buttermilk to soak. She was even making apple crisp for dessert with cinnamon ice cream. She had the guys take turns churning the ice cream when we got home, I was glad that I did not have that job. Hunter wanted to help he was just so cute trying to turn the crank. Gran put Holly and me to work peeling and chopping the apples. It may have been a more tedious task but it would not make my arms hurt the next day. Hadley was helping Gran with everything else. We got the crisp done and in the oven just as Gran pulled her mac and cheese. The boys were still cranking away when Gran took the last piece of chicken out of the pan. She had us set the table before she told the guys to bring the ice cream in so it could finish freezing. Lunch was fairly quiet not because we did not want to talk, but because the food was so good that we didn't want to put our forks down.

After lunch, we sat around the living room in talking. Mostly it was Gran, Jason, and Hadley cause I was still not sure how I felt about her not being here for so long. I knew that I was not really mad at her, I was more hurt than anything. I felt like I was not important enough to talk to. I understood that she probably felt like confiding in a nine-year-old was not the best idea. I got lost in thought thinking about the last time we had spent time together. It had been a couple of weeks before she had left. It was a weekend that happened to be a pageant weekend. I had gotten Grand Supreme and Most Photogenic. It had been a great weekend. I won five thousand dollars which Gran made me put in the savings account she had set up for all of my winnings. It was meant to be my college fund. We had over the years had to dip into a few times when finances got tight but Gran would always try to put back as much as she could. Hadley had taken me to Dairy Queen to celebrate. We had talked and laughed about silly things. Thinking about that day had me realize just how much I had wished she had stayed. I was pulled from my thoughts by John. He had been sitting with me on the sofa. "What has you looking so sad, Babe?"

"Just memories" I mumbled quietly.

"Well, maybe I can cheer you up." He stood up and took my hand pulling me off the sofa. He walked me outside to the porch swing to sit. "I want to ask you about how you fell about last night?"

"Do you mean the kiss, the dance or seeing Hadley again?" I countered.

"All of it."

"I had a lovely time with you at the dance. I think you know that I liked the kiss just as much as you did. I don't know what to say about Hadley. I get why she left but I feel like I was not important to her. She could have come back sooner or at least called." My voice cracked and I started to cry. John pulled me on to his lap. He rubbed my back.

"Ah, Babe don't cry. You know that you are important to her. I am glad that you had a good time with me and that you liked kissing me. I really like kissing you and I want to do it more often. Sookie, will you be my girlfriend?" I was going to respond when the front door opened and someone stepped out.

AN #2: I promise this is still a Sookie and Eric romance story. Just remember that not all high school relationships last. I will try my hardest to get another chapter up in the next couple of days. Let me know what you think of what is happening. Please review I love to know what you all are thinking.