Initially, Louise thought that she was going to only stay in Maycomb for perhaps two weeks and then return back to Montgomery. However, a little over a month had passed and she still found herself waking up in Maudie's house, having an early lunch with the neighbors, and playing with the children all afternoon. While Edith found it downright deplorable that Louise had no set schedule for her life, Louise for once was ecstatic. Each day she had the opportunity to watch and play with Jem and Scout, a privilege that Jean had wrongly been denied. She cherished her niece and nephew's imagination and thoroughly enjoyed watching them bring their stories to life with limited personnel and resources. At first she had felt guilty, for always showing Jem and Scout more devotion than she did towards Clara and Libby. But they were different, though she couldn't explain.

On one of her first nights in Maycomb, Atticus had told her that she was more than welcome to use his car if she ever wanted to take the children anywhere. He preferred walking to work rather than driving, so he left his key for her to use whenever she pleased. She seldom ever used it, she was a terrible driver. If she had decided to take the children anywhere, they would walk. Though the days were hot, she figured walking would be better than nearly killing the children with her awful driving skills.

When August rolled around, Louise decided she would make her trip back to Montgomery once school began. When she told Jem and Scout of her decision, they looked at her with sad eyes but once she insisted that not only would they see each other around Christmas, but that she would come back again in the summer, their eyes seemed to light up. Since that day, they took full advantage of the remaining time left in the summer. Louise felt like a child again, playing outside and feeling seemingly careless. If it wasn't for Maudie and having daily lunches with the ladies in town, she would probably never remember what day of the week it was.

After lunch one sunny afternoon, Louise had grown tired of watching Jem and Scout sigh, not knowing what to do with themselves. Dill hadn't been with them that day, and the absence of their friend made it seem as though the other two children had absolutely nothing to do. "Go get dressed in swimmin' clothes," she said quickly. "I'll take y'all to the Barker's Eddy."

Excitedly, Jem and Scout hurried into their house to get ready while Louise went back to Maudie's. Looking around for her cousin, Louise deemed that Maudie must have still been at Miss Stephanie's place. The two of them had gotten into a heated debate during lunch, and it must have still been going on. Shrugging to herself, she climbed up the steps to find something to change into. She ultimately decided to wear a stupid old dress (if she was thinking correctly, it was an old gift from Alexandra) that she hated. Retrieving some towels from Maudie's linen closet, she returned to the children, who were clad in old t-shirts and boxers of Jem's.

"You're really wearin' that?" Jem asked in disbelief.

"Aunty, your dress is gonna float all over the place." Scout added.

"Well, what do you two suggest I wear?"

"I'm sure Atticus has some old things you can borrow!" Scout said.

"Oh hell no." Cal had once told her to mind her cursing in front of the children, but Louise paid no attention to that. "I am not wearin' your daddy's underthings."

"He won't care!" Jem said as he and Scout ran back into the house.

"Don't you dare!" Louise said.

They didn't listen, but Louise didn't expect them to. They were, after all, related to both her and Jean so Louise figured that Jem and Scout were born with some degree of rebellion in their blood. Moments later, the two children came running outside, carrying one of Atticus' undershirts and a pair of boxers. Louise couldn't help but to feel awkward by this.

"I'm not wearin' that." She said firmly, crossing her arms.

"It ain't a big deal, Aunty." Jem said, thrusting the garments at her. "When we're done swimmin' you can just throw your dress on top of it and he'll never know. We left his room exactly the way it was."

"Aunty, your dress will get all in the way if you wear it swimmin'!" Scout added.

With her hands on her hips, she looked at the children (feeling especially like Edie at that moment). Jem was still holding out the clothes for her to wear and they matched her gaze with looks of persuasion. Sighing, she threw her arms down and grabbed the clothes from Jem. "Give me a hot minute," she grumbled, making her way back to Maudie's. There was no way in hell she was going to risk Calpurnia catching her putting on Atticus' clothes. From behind her, she heard Jem and Scout snicker to themselves.

Quickly, she went back into Maudie's house and since nobody was there she carelessly changed into Atticus' things, feeling quite awkward about doing so. Before she left, she pulled that stupid dress on top of her new swimming gear and huffed towards the children. "You're still wearin' the dress," Jem said, not believing that Louise had actually changed. Giving them a defeated look, she pulled the dress up high enough for them to see what was underneath, making Scout giggle.

"Are we gonna go or not?" Louise teased, again putting her hands on her hips. "'Cause I'm just about to change my mind…"

"Aw, c'mon Aunty!" Jem said. "We're all ready."

The walk to the Eddy was nice, despite it being so hot that day. For half a second she had been tempted to borrow Atticus' car, but quickly decided against it. Anyway, the walking would probably do them good. "Are you a good swimmer, Aunt Lou?" Scout asked as she trotted alongside her aunt, her messy tresses of hair bobbing up and down.

"I reckon so," Louise shrugged. "Your Aunt Charlotte would take your mama, me and your Aunt Hattie swimmin' every summer."

"I don't remember Aunt Charlotte," Jem said thoughtfully. He was walking a few feet ahead of Louise and Scout, and had to walk backwards every time he wanted to talk to them.

"You were a baby when she died," Louise explained. "She was our oldest sister."

"Was she nice?" Scout asked.

"She was nice enough," Louise smirked. "She was a typical big sister, she teased us a lot but she always included us."

"Did mama tease you a lot, since she was your big sister?"

"Your mama teased everyone, even your daddy."

Jem turned around again, with a smile on his face. "You mean mama teased Atticus?" He asked, making Scout giggle.

"She sure did. Why, she told me when he asked her to marry him she teased the heck out of him before she said yes." Louise laughed. Jem and Scout giggled to themselves.

"Did Atticus like her teasin' him?" Scout asked.

"I reckon he must've, why I don't think he would've fallen in love with her if he didn't like her teasin'." Louise responded.

"Did they love each other a lot?"

"Mm hmm," Jem said, slowing his pace to be closer to his aunt and sister. "They used to kiss all the time and sometimes Atticus would come home with a book or somethin' for her just 'cause he loved her and she used to have lunch with him at his office and things like that."

Louise ruffled Jem's hair and wondered if he ever got sad when he talked to Scout about Jean. Right now, he was smiling and seemed happy to talk about his mother, which made Louise feel relieved. "I can't imagine Atticus kissin' anyone." Scout said, scrunching her nose.

"That's 'cause you're just a kid," Jem said. "When you get older, you'll get it."

Louise couldn't help but to laugh to herself, Jem was only ten but sometimes he talked to his sister as though he was twenty. It reminded her of how Charlotte used to talk to her and Jean when they were younger. "I still think it's funny." Scout said, smiling.

When they got to the Eddy, both children went running to the water almost immediately while Louise watched. "C'mon, Aunty!" They shouted as she watched their heads bobbing up and down in the water. After a few moments, she took off her dress and went running after them. Although the Eddy was Maycomb's swimming hole, there was hardly anyone there besides the three of them. Louise didn't mind much, she was still quite embarrassed over the fact that she was in her brother-in-law's undergarments.

She wasn't sure how long they'd been swimming, but once their skin got wrinkly from all the moisture and they were feeling downright exhausted, they made their way back to land to rest on their towels. For a short while they lay there in silence, looking up to the sky and minding themselves. After a short while, Louise propped herself up on her elbows and asked: "Are y'all excited for school to start?"

"I reckon so," Jem said dreamily, still lying flat on his back. "I like school."

"I'm excited," Scout said as she rolled to her side in order to better look at her aunt. "Did you like school?"

"You always have so many questions." Jem said, though Louise couldn't tell if he was annoyed or not.

"It's always good to ask questions, it's how you learn things." Louise told her niece. "I liked school until I was eight."

"Why?"

"Well, when I was eight your granddaddy died and your nanny sent me, your mama and your Aunt Hattie off to this all girl's boarding school way up north to learn how to be ladies. I went there for ten years but never fit in there."

"Why did you fit in?" Scout asked curiously.

"Honey, I am no lady."

"I think you're a lady."

"You're one of the only gals who does, then." Louise smirked.

"Did mama like school?" Scout asked.

"I reckon the two of us were in the same position, but she got along better at that school than I did." Louise informed her niece.

"Was mama a lady? Everyone in town says she was."

"Your mama was the jack of all trades," Louise responded, smirking. This made Jem sit up. "She could sew and cook just fine, and was quite pleasant for company. However, she hated missionary teas, goin' to church and she cursed just like I did. Yet, that cranky old neighbor of yours down the street never had anything bad to say about her."

Jem chuckled. "Mama cursed?" He asked.

"She said hell and damn almost as much as I do."

Jem and Scout laughed again. "She seemed funny." Scout said as she rolled onto her stomach.

"She was, baby."

Again, all three of them grew quiet. Jem remained laying on his back, his arms propped behind his head and his eyes closed. Scout was nearly falling asleep on Louise's other side, and for a few moments Louise watched as her niece struggled to keep her eyes open. Closing her own eyes against the harsh sun, Louise thought back to her childhood in Montgomery. Even when Charlotte was nearly an adult and beginning her life with Big Simon, she always took the time to take her younger sisters swimming a couple times a week when they were home for the summer. Then, it was like their ages didn't matter, they all acted equally childish as they dunked and splashed each other for hours upon hours.

"Aunt Louise?" Jem asked groggily, sitting up.

Slowly, Louise opened her eyes. "What, honey?" She asked.

"How did Aunt Charlotte die?" Beside her, she could hear Scout waking up.

She rubbed at her eyes as they burned adjusting to the sun and paused for a moment. Swallowing, she said: "She had a heart attack." She had immediately decided that it wasn't the time to tell Jem and Scout about the drunken state their oldest aunt was found in.

"Did mama have a heart attack?" Scout mumbled tiredly.

"She did, baby."

"And didn't your daddy have a heart attack?" Jem asked, beginning to sound concerned.

"He did."

"Are you gonna have a heart attack?" Scout asked. Louise had expected Jem to shoot his little sister a glare for asking that, but instead his eyes remained on his aunt.

"I don't know, baby."

Louise noticed that both children were beginning to look at her with solemn eyes. Sighing, she forced herself to smile at them. "I haven't been feelin' anything funny goin' on with my heart so I'm quite certain that everything will be fine."

Jem swallowed. "It didn't seem like there was anything wrong with mama, either." He said sadly as his sister watched him intently.

Louise pursed her lips, knowing that Jem was probably right. Even once she was married and had children, Jean and Louise had remained in constant communication. Louise had even talked to Jean on the telephone two days before she died, and she didn't complain about feeling sick or her heart bothering her or anything. It just sprung out of nowhere. Just like it had sprung out of nowhere with Charlotte and their father. Louise wondered if this was something that could be detected, or was something that hid within the Graham ancestors. Not knowing what to say, she again forced a smile and asked: "Do y'all wanna hear a funny story?"

The pair nodded, though they were still looking at her funny. "Growin' up, there was a bunch of kids in our neighborhood that we used to play with when we came home in the summer, and one of your mama's little playthings was this boy named Emmett," she started. "Emmett's mama's family came from England or somethin' so she had this funny little accent whenever she talked, and whenever we'd all get in her hair she would yell: Emmett and you Graham girls, I'm gon' take you to the home!" Louise began to imitate the accent, making Jem and Scout laugh.

"What's the home?" Scout asked as she and Jem looked at their aunt curiously.

"An orphanage. Well," Louise continued, chuckling. "One summer when I was eleven, so your mama and Emmett must've been around thirteen or so, we found this old fashioned pram that Emmett's mama had in her family for a long time. We took the pram to the park by your nanny's house, the one with those nasty metal slides, and your mama and Emmett thought it'd be a great idea to put me in the pram and pretend I was their baby."

Jem snorted. "You were older than I am, why'd you let them do that?"

Louise chuckled. "Your mama was probably the only person I ever listened to when she told me to do somethin'," she responded honestly. "Plus, they told me they would push me down the slide in the pram, which I thought would be fun."

"What happened?" Scout asked, her face flushed from laughing.

"Even though I was short and little for my age, I was still too big for that damn pram." Louise said, smirking. "But they pushed me down the slide anyway, and I fell off of the side of the slide, breakin' the pram and sprainin' my wrist. Right as it happened, Emmett's mama came by the park with his baby brother and saw the whole thing happen. I've never heard that woman scream as much as she did then!"

"What did mama do?" Scout asked, highly amused.

"She ran!" Louise nearly shouted. "Your mama saw the entire thing happen and ran for the life of her. I thought she was gettin' Edie or somethin', but she hid at our Aunt Bea's house tryin' not to get in trouble!"

Scout and Jem both roared with laughter. Wiping tears from her eyes, Scout said: "Aunt Bea always said mama would come to her whenever she was in trouble."

"We all did," Louise said, smiling fondly at the memories of her childhood. "We were all too scared of Edie to go to her."

Scout propped her chin in her hands, a mischievous smile on her face. "Aunt Bea said mama once hid at her house because she snuck outta nanny's house with that Emmett. Did mama sneak out a lot?"

"Both your mama and Aunt Charlotte snuck out all the time," Louise responded, smirking. "They never learned their lesson, because Edie always caught 'em."

"Did mama kiss Emmett like she kissed Atticus?" Scout asked, a sheepish smile on her face.

"Scout!" Jem said, his face turning red. Louise laughed.

"She did not," Louise said matter-of-factly, though she was quite aware of the fling Jean had with Emmett before she met Atticus. "Your mama loved Atticus, but she didn't love Emmett."

"Then why did she sneak out with him?" Jem asked.

"'Cause she was young." Louise said simply.

"Jem's gonna get girls to sneak out with him." Scout decided, making her brother grow redder.

"Cut it out, Scout." He grumbled impatiently. Scout did not seem intimidated by her brother's moodiness, and instead she laughed at him. At least they weren't thinking about heart attacks anymore.

-o-o-o-

Exhausted from the day's excursion, Louise opted to go back to Maudie while Jem and Scout had supper with Atticus. When she walked through the door, slightly damp and sunburned from that afternoon, Maudie thought her cousin was the funniest sight. "Look at that dress," she laughed. When Louise returned she found her cousin sitting on her plush chair in the living room, flipping through a magazine.

"You should see what I have on underneath it," Louise winked. "Atticus' underclothes."

Maudie nearly stopped breathing from laughing so much. "You're kiddin'," she said, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Wish I was, Jem an' Scout said I had to swim in 'em." Louise said as she lifted her dress so her cousin could see her attire, making Maudie laugh even harder.

"I never imagined myself ever seein' Atticus Finch's underclothes," she gasped, grinning. "Are you gonna give 'em back."

"Hell no!" Louise cried as she climbed up the stairs to get changed. "He's never goin' to know I had these."

If there was one thing that Louise truly enjoyed about staying with her cousin, it was how incredibly normal things were day after day. While she surely enjoyed not having a routine for the past two years, she found herself instantaneously comforted by the monotonous routine that established itself for her as soon as she came to Maycomb. Originally, she feared that each day she spent there would be the same, and while that was mostly true she found that the simplicity in helping Maudie with her flowers or playing make believe with her niece and nephew day after day was satisfying enough for her.

She and Maudie ate a light supper together, and all throughout it Maudie expressed her deepest wishes to maim Stephanie Crawford and how she went around talking as if she knew everybody and everything. After they had finished eating, Maudie sighed, saying she was tired and was going up to bed (and if Louise was in the right mind, she'd go to bed too after all the activity she had today), and went upstairs. Louise lingered in the kitchen for a while, but once she decided she wasn't going to bed just yet, she went outside.

The night was humid and still, and there were hardly any noises coming from the neighborhood. Settling herself on one of Maudie's rocking chairs, she looked around. She had thought she was the only one out, but quickly noticed her brother-in-law sitting on his porch swing alone, looking like he was thinking about something. Slowly, she stood up and walked towards his house.

"Mind if I sit with you?" She asked, smiling at him as she approached his porch. He smiled in return and nodded.

"I wouldn't mind it at all," he said pleasantly as she sat next to him. For a moment the two of them were silent, which Louise now found to be completely normal. When she first met Atticus Finch, his constant silence set her on edge a little bit. She was the type of person who enjoyed talking, and whenever she met someone as thoughtful as Atticus, she felt out of her element. The more she got to know her brother-in-law, however, the more she realized that this was just his nature and slowly grew accustomed to it. Out of nowhere, he cleared his throat.

"I reckon you'll be leavin' for Montgomery soon," he said.

"I was goin' to stay for their first day of school, but I'll probably leave shortly after." She told him. She had come from Montgomery for Jem's first day of school, so she only thought it appropriate that she do the same for Scout.

"They'll enjoy that," he said, a small smile on his face. "They've really enjoyed your company."

"I've had a good time with them." She responded truthfully. "I'll probably come back next summer."

"That'd be nice." Atticus said thoughtfully.

He went silent for a moment, examined his sister-in-law and then let out a chuckle. "You look more like Edith every time I see you."

She scoffed, making Atticus look amused. "I've been told that far too many times. Jean had Edie's nose before she went and blew it up, you know."

Atticus smiled to himself. "She looked like your mother whenever she was mad."

"It didn't help that she always put her hands on her hips just like Edie did." Louise laughed to herself.

"I told her that made her look like an old woman once, and I thought I was done for." Atticus chuckled.

"I'm surprised you're here to tell the tale." Louise said.

"I heard the infamous pram story at supper tonight." Atticus said with a laugh. "You had Jem and Scout awfully amused."

"Did Jean ever tell you that story before?"

"She did," Atticus responded thoughtfully. "Zandra had given her the pram she used for Henry when Jem was born, and Jean couldn't look at it without laughing. She said it made her think about pushin' you down the slide and how she highly considered runnin' away afterwards."

"Did she tell you about the time she actually did run try away?" Louise laughed.

Curiously, Atticus looked at her. "She did not," he said, smiling again.

"I think Edie was gettin' on her nerves or somethin' one summer so she "ran away" by goin' to church camp in the middle of nowhere but I refused to go with her because it was so stupid but she was adamant on runnin' away, so she went alone." Louise laughed.

"What on earth is church camp?" Atticus asked.

"I don't think it was actually called that," Louise said. "But it was a camp for kids where you go to learn about Jesus and everyone prays with you, over you, for you, about you, you name it."

"She didn't believe in any of that," Atticus said, raising his eyebrows. "She probably went crazy."

"Three days after she got there, she sent a letter begging Edie to take her home." Louise laughed. "It turns out she wasn't tough enough to run away."

Atticus smiled to himself and looked towards the other end of the porch. That must be where he found her, she thought to herself, noticing that the rocking chair that had once sat there was no longer on the porch. She swallowed, thinking of Atticus coming home from work one day, expecting everything to be normal but finding his wife dead. She felt bad for him. "Jem looks like her," she said softly.

"He does." Atticus said, still looking away.

Atticus went silent again, and Louise wondered if she should leave him to his thoughts. However, after a moment he shook his head slightly and looked at his sister-in-law again. "I've realized we haven't talked about your trip." He said, looking at her curiously.

"It was quite nice." She said. "I acted like a complete fool but since I was a 'tourist' everyone thought I was normal."

Atticus chuckled. "Where was your favorite place?"

"Either France or Spain," she said, smiling as she thought of those countries. "They were quite nice."

"You know," Atticus said slowly, as if he was thinking a great deal about what he was going to say. "Many people were surprised you came back."

"I didn't give anyone much notice." She responded.

"Do you mind me askin' why you decided to come back?" He asked carefully.

"You know, I just got tired of runnin' around…" She said before she stopped herself abruptly. "Scout sent me a letter."

"She sent you quite a few." Atticus pointed out.

"She asked about Jean," Louise elaborated. "I got it and it was as if I had one of those dumb moments where you look at what you're doin' and decide that maybe you should change somethin'. So I decided that I was goin' to stop pretendin' that Jean was travelin' with me and I was goin' to come back and talk about her. It turns out talkin' about her is better than pretendin' she's still here."

"You pretended she was with you?" Atticus asked. Louise had expected him to look at her strangely, but he wasn't.

She felt her cheeks flush and she looked away from him, slightly embarrassed. "I used to pretend that we went on our own separate excursions and that we'd be comin' back to the hotel to tell each other about our adventures in the evening."

"Sometimes I pretend she'll be here when I get home," Atticus confessed, making her feel better. "But then I think about…" he coughed.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"It's been four years and I can still imagine her lyin' there," he said softly, his eyes going back to the other end of the porch. "I apologize, that's probably not something you want to hear."

"I don't mind."

"Do the children ask about her a lot?" He asked, bringing his attention back to Louise.

She smiled, thinking about the stories she'd been sharing with Jem and Scout. "Mainly Scout, but Jem does too. Sometimes he'll even tell Scout things about her."

Atticus gave her a small smile. "I'm glad she's askin' someone." He admitted. "Sometimes I think she's afraid to ask me about her."

"Why's that?"

"Sometimes Jem has these days where he gets real upset because he misses her," Atticus explained. "I think Scout believes that I'll get the same way if she talks about her mama to me."

"I think it's real difficult for her," Louise said, sitting up a bit. "She's young so she doesn't quite know what death is, but at the same time she's been forced to try to understand it."

"I wish there was an easy way for me to tell her that I love talkin' about Jean." He said thoughtfully. "I could talk about her all day and still not run out of things to say. You know, you and Harriet are the only ones who'll talk about her without gettin' all stiff."

Louise smiled at him. "Talkin' about her makes her feel closer." She explained, and Atticus nodded.

"I've got a question for you." Atticus said.

"And what's that?"

"Why," he said, thinking about how to phrase is question. "Why don't you call her Jean Louise like all the other adults?"

"Well," Louise said slowly. "I don't call her Jean Louise because every time I say it, I honestly feel like Edie or one of the aunts callin' after us and it honestly makes me feel strange."

Atticus laughed. "That's why I named her that."

"You named her?"

"Don't you remember when Scout was born and Dr. Reynolds thought that Jean was bleeding too much so while he was checking on her, I named her Jean Louise?" He chuckled, looking highly amused with himself. "From the time even before Jem was born, Edith was telling me that she felt bad for me because if Jean and I ever had a girl she'd wind up being just like you and Jean. So I thought it fitting that she'd be named after the two women she took after."

Louise laughed and stared at him with her mouth slightly open. "I'm surprised Jean didn't make you change it."

"I originally wanted to name her Eugenia, and she wanted to name her Louise, so that was our compromise. Though, she did hold a grudge about it for a few days." He chuckled.

"I can't believe it! She was the master of teasing people, and you pulled this one over her." She responded, still laughing.

"Nobody can deny that her name's definitely fitting." Atticus told her with a slight smirk on his face.

Louise chuckled and shook her head, getting a tremendous kick out of picturing Jean's reaction to her daughter's name.