Chapter 15: Surprise!

Riley's POV:

We had been driving all night long, and I felt nervous the closer we got to Philadelphia. I wonder if she even knew about me. After hours of driving, we finally arrived at her home. This was it. But I couldn't seem to get myself to move. "Okay, were here." Lucas said as he turned off the engine of the car. "You nervous?" he asked as he took my hand and cuffed them into his. "Yes." I said. "It's going to be fine, I'll be by your side through it. Come on." He said as he unbuckled my seatbelt for me. "No, ten more seconds." I said. "Alright." He said as he kissed my hand. I took a deep breath. What if things didn't go as planned? What if she isn't even home? "Okay, let's go." I said. Lucas got out of the car and made his way over to my side and opened the door for me. "You're going to be fine." He said as he noticed I was still in the same position. I looked at him and nodded. He helped me out of the car and we walked up the front door. "Ready?" he said as he was about to press the doorbell. I nodded. He rang the doorbell and it seemed like hours were going by, it felt like we were standing out there forever. But a minute didn't even pass, I was in my head too much. Pretty soon a green eyed lady opened the door, she had long blonde hair, she was wearing a white collar shirt, with black slacks, and black flats. "Hi, can I help you?" she asked. All of a sudden I forgot how to speak, "Are you guys mimes?" she asked.

"H-hi, you may not know me. But I'm Riley. Riley Matthews." I said. Her face turned pale. She looked down to the ground and then back up to me. "Topanga's daughter?" she asked. "Yes, I am." I said. "And this is?" she said as she pointed to Lucas. "Oh this is my boyfriend, Lucas." I said. "How you doing?" he said as he shook her hand. "Come on in." she said. We walked into her living room and made ourselves comfortable on the couch. "Would you two like anything to drink?" she asked. "Some water would be nice." I said. She left to the kitchen to go get our drinks and of course I had all these thoughts in my head. Like what if she drugs us and then keeps us locked in her basement forever. But I had to shake it off because things were off to a good start so far. "Alright, here you are." She said as she put them down on the table. "Thank you." I said. "Alright, so what can I do for you?" she said. "A couple days ago, I was going through my closet and I found a small brown box." I said. "So you found the broche and the letter I wrote?" she asked. "Yes I did and I came all this 0way because I wanted to meet you. I was just a baby when you last came over and I also want to hear your side of the story." I said. "My side of the story?" she asked. "Yes." I said.

"There's nothing much to the story. Your grandma gave me up for adoption and I never forgave her because I believed that she didn't love me. I believe she gave me up because she was disgusted by me. Then your grandma came over one day, I was about 16 years old. She gave me the broche. At first, I didn't want to accept it. Why would I want something from someone who didn't care about me? But my mom, well the woman who adopted me persuaded me to keep it. So I did, then a year after that your mom came to me. She wanted me to be a part of the family, she wanted to make up for those lost years. I tried to do it. I tried to become a part of that family. But it was just too hard for me. I felt like an outsider and I am always going to feel like an outsider. So I gave the broche to your mom because she deserved it more than I did. I wanted her to pass it on to you, because it's not my place to have it. My kids have their own traditions and we have other stuff that we are going to pass on to them. But this broche, is something that I want you to keep." She said.

"How long did you spend time with our family?" I asked her. "For about a week or two. But then I said my goodbyes because I couldn't take it." she said. "Two weeks isn't enough. You can't make up for lost years in just two short weeks. It takes time to adjust to it. You gave up on us too quickly. I'm not forcing you to become a part of the family, you already are. But I want you to be there at events, parties, baby showers, weddings. Okay maybe it does sound like I'm forcing you. What I'm trying to say is, I want your kids to know about us and I want my kids to know about you. Come and spend time with us and as the days, months, and years go by. You will be comfortable around us. Don't shut us out completely, because you never know when you're going to need us." I said. My aunt sat there in silence, she was messing around with her watch, and finally she spoke up. "Okay, but I want you to keep the broche." She said. "I will." I said. "And I hope one day you'll be able to forgive your mom. She only did what she thought was best and look how everything turned out." I said. "Yeah that's true." She said with a smile. "My kids are going to be home in about twenty minutes. Would you guys like to stay for dinner?" she asked.

"Should we?" I asked Lucas. "We can. It would be a great opportunity to meet your half cousins or your cousins. I don't remember how it is." He said. "We would love to." I said to my aunt. Twenty minutes had passed and her kids came through the door and stopped right when they saw us. The shortest one had small curly brown hair, green eyes, and she was little chubby, but very adorable. Next, there was a boy standing next to her, who looked about 5 ft. He had blonde hair, brown eyes and freckles on his face. He looked very lean. Last but not least, we had the oldest ones. The teenagers. The oldest daughter looked about 5'4, she had light brown hair, with blue eyes, and she was very curvy. The oldest son had dirty blonde hair with green eyes, he looked very fit for his age. "Mom, who are they?" the oldest daughter asked. "Heather, be nice. This is your cousin Riley and her boyfriend Lucas." my aunt said. "Hi, I'm Riley." I said as I walked over to her and stuck out my hand. After realizing she wasn't going to shake it, I put it down. "Hi, I'm Jamie." the little girl said as she walked over and hugged me. "Hi, it's nice to meet you, Jamie." I said.

"This is Jacob, he's 7." My aunt said as she introduced me to him. "And you already met Heather, who is 16. This is Matthew, he's 18." She said as she turned me to face him. "Hi." He said with a smile. Lucas quickly walked over to me. "And I'm Lucas." he said as he gave Matthew a firm handshake. Jealousy at its finest, but I don't know what he was so worried about, we were family. "It's nice to meet you guys." I said, "Well, hi I'm Heather." She said as she walked over to Lucas. "Hi, nice to meet you." he said. "So how come we've never heard of you?" Heather asked. "Heather!" my aunt snapped. "I'll explain this all later, everyone go upstairs and freshen up for dinner. Go now." she said. They obeyed and went upstairs. "I'm sorry about that, ever since she hit her teenage years, she's been a pain." My aunt said.

"Well, this is pretty interesting so far." Lucas said. "Hey, are you okay?" he said. I began to feel weak, and all of a sudden I was losing sight of everything. Pretty soon all I saw was black.

Lucas's POV:

"Riley!" I yelled as I caught her fall. "Riley, baby!" I said as I looked for a pulse. My whole world started to crumble all around me. Tharitea came running into the room. "Oh my god, what happened?" she said as she saw Riley on the ground. "I don't know she just collapsed! Call an ambulance!" I yelled. "So if she's dead, does this mean I can have you?" Heather asked from the staircase. I gave her a look. Riley's aunt had called the ambulance and they were on their way. I kept Riley as close to me as possible. "Come on, wake up. I can't lose you. Not now." I said as I kissed her forehead. "Riley!" I yelled again. Tears started to fall down my cheeks and I was scared that I lost her in that moment.

Minutes had passed and the ambulance had finally arrived. I didn't want to let go of her but they took her from me and put her up on the gurney. I wasn't able to ride in the ambulance with her, but I followed them with my truck. It was hard for me to concentrate while driving because my eyes were beginning to fill up with tears again, once we got to the hospital I followed the paramedics into the ER and I called Riley's grandparents. I couldn't even think straight or talk right, I was all over the place. Ten minutes later Riley's grandparents and Josh had arrived. "What happened?" Alan asked as he walked over to me. "I don't know. We were at Tharitea's and she just collapsed. I couldn't even find a pulse." I said. Amy pulled me into a hug. "It's alright son. She's going to be fine. But I have to call Cory and tell him what's going on." She said. Josh came over and gave me a hug. "Is it just you?" he asked. All of a sudden Tharitea popped up, Alan looked like he had just seen a ghost. "What did you do my granddaughter?" he asked. "Alan. I don't think she had anything to do with it! Don't go pointing fingers just yet." Amy said as she held him back.

"How is she?" she asked as she made her way over to me. "We don't know yet. They just took her into the room." I said. "I hope she's okay." She said as she rubbed my back. We all went and sat down but we are filled with anticipation. Cory was texted me to make sure I was okay and to keep him updated on how Riley was. It surprised me because he would usually yell at me. After an hour, the doctor had come into the room. "Can have the family for Riley Matthews?" he called out. We all stood up. "You guys are all family?" he asked. "Were her grandparents." Amy said. "And the rest of you?" he asked. "I'm her boyfriend." I said. "I'm her aunt." Tharitea said. "I'm her uncle." Josh said. "You two are married?" the doctor asked Josh and Tharitea. "Oh no, this is my sister." Josh said. I saw Tharitea's face lit up. "Oh I'm sorry that was unprofessional of me." he said. "So what's wrong with Riley?" Alan asked. "She is conscious right now, we were able to find a pulse. But she hasn't opened her eyes, or said a word yet. We ran some tests on her and we found some sort of chemical in her body and it formed a lump in her chest. Now it could be nothing. But were going to run a few more tests just to be safe." The doctor said. Right when the doctor said they found something wrong with her, I felt like I would collapse at any minute. I couldn't lose her because then I wouldn't be able to live knowing that she won't be here with me.

Not my best but I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I know I keep bringing up prom but you have one more chapter to go until prom night! Do you think Tharitea had something to do with Riley's collapse? Or do you think it could've been the lump? Chapter 16 and 17 is are on their way! xx