I couldn't believe it. My little sister has a daughter. I am an uncle. It just make me realize how long we'd all been out of contact with Alex. After the wizard competition, Alex had decided to run off with that guy, Trent. I didn't trust him based off the things I heard and his general vibe. She had been head over heels in love with him and refused to listen to us. They ran off to Detroit of all places and we stopped getting calls and letters from her. Harper was the only person she still kept in touch with. Harper always refused to give us information on Alex, saying something about a promise. The best we got from her were pictures of Alex. That's how I recognized her in the street. Harper had been smart and didn't include any pictures of Lexi.
"Daughter? With Trent?" I stutter out. At the sound of her dad's name, Lexi shrinks back behind her mother.
"Yes," Alex replies, looking as if she is contemplating something. I want to know the full story, but Alex doesn't seem ready to tell it to me.
Lexi tugs on her mom's dress. Alex looks down at her daughter affectionately. "Mommy, who is that?" she asks softly, pointing at me.
"Lexi, it's not polite to point at people," Alex gently scolds her daughter. I'm amazed by Alex's manners; five years ago she would've thought nothing about telling a bunch of kids to point at me and laugh.
"Sorry," the little girl apologizes with a giggle. Alex just grins and picks up her daughter.
"This is your uncle Justin," she tells the little girl enthusiastically. Alex's energy shocks me, especially after hearing how many hours she works and how little sleep she gets. I always knew that Alex would be a good parent; she's just a kid at heart.
Alex puts her daughter down and Lexi runs over to me and give me a hug. "Yay! I have an uncle! I have an aunt but I've always wanted an uncle. They sound like fun." the little girl tells me, words flying a mile a minute.
"She's definitely your daughter," I whisper to Alex, who just laughs. Alex was an enthusiastic little girl when we growing up, and became the person she is today at the age of eight.
"She already steals my accessories and can be devious when she wants to be," Alex adds proudly. I just roll my eyes at her. "Hey, Lexi, why don't you go see if Tommy wants to play? Uncle Justin and I have catching up to do." Alex asks her daughter sweetly. Lexi's eyes lit up with the mischievous shine I recognize from Alex, and the little girl runs next door.
"Who's Tommy?" I ask cautiously.
"Her version of you," Alex replies slyly. I stared at her. She shrugged. "Can't fight genetics." she adds with a smirk.
My sister walked over into her kitchen. "You still like tea, Justin?" she asks while grabbing a kettle from a shelf.
"Yeah," I reply casually. My sister, the coffee addict, drinks tea now. Wow, a lot can change in five years.
"I still drink coffee," Alex says, sensing my shock. I sign. She makes a face at me. It's like we're teenagers again, sitting in the lair learning our wizard lessons.
Once the tea is done, Alex walks over with two cups. She carefully hands me one. I notice my sister looks thinner and a little worse for wear.
"You okay, Alex?" I ask her carefully. She can get defense about the littlest things, and I don't want to push her away now that I've found her again.
Alex just shakes her head, a tired smile on my face. "I'm a single mom, Justin. I'm raising a five year old all by myself, with the occasional babysitter, and trying to run a business. I love my life, but it's harder than it looks." she tells me wearily. I can tell that she doesn't sleep much from the bags under her eyes.
I ask one of the biggest questions on my mind. "Why didn't you tell anyone?" I know I would've done anything to make Alex's life easier and more comfortable, our whole family would've done anything they could to help her out. Yet, she didn't tell anyone.
"I didn't want to drag anyone else into my mess. I couldn't ruin anyone else's life. Harper just so happened to be visiting one day and saw me throw up. She wanted to know what was wrong, so I told her. Then she made me promise to tell her whatever else was going on and she promised not to tell anyone about my life. We've both kept up our ends of the bargain." Alex responds sheepishly.
"How you would have messed up any of our lives? Mom and Dad would've been thrilled to help you. We all would've pitched in. We're a family, Alex." I tell my sister, starting to be confused by her reasoning.
"I don't really know. I was mad at all of you about Trent, especially for being right. And I just felt really isolated and alone. Plus, you all had your own lives going own. You and Max were both in school, and I was confused. I didn't want to go to Mom and Dad only to have them turn me away." Alex answers, tears starting to fill her eyes.
I try to comfort my sister. "Max and I would've jumped at the chance to help you. You're our sister, after all. And do you really think Mom and Dad would've turned you away? After all the time they spent looking for you?" Alex takes this in and manages a small smile. I could tell the last thing I said shocked her. Then I thought back to something she said about us being right.
"Alex, what happened with Trent?" I ask my sister worriedly. She said that we had been right about Trent, and Lexi seemed to be scared of the mention of her dad.
Alex seems to contemplate my question and carefully responds, "I just got sick of his crap. So, one day, I packed my stuff, took Lexi, who was probably nine months old, and hopped on a random bus while he was at work." I'm shocked by my sister courage; it would take a lot of guts to run away to a foreign city with a child, knowing no one. Still, I could sense Alex's nervousness and I press the subject.
"What did you do to you?" I ask forcefully. I can tell just by the fear in her eyes that the punk did something to hurt her. Knowing Alex, I'm going to have to coax it out of her.
"Not now, Justin," Alex responds softly. I know when she's had enough for the day, and she looks too fragile for any more pestering. We sit in silence, drinking our tea, when Lexi bursts in.
Alex instantly brightens up, something I've seen her do every time her daughter entered the room. Lexi, practically a clone of Alex without a trace of Trent, runs over to her mom and jumps in her lap. "Mom?" the little girl asks sweetly.
"What do you want, sweetie?" Alex responds patiently.
"I'm hungry," Lexi declares with a pout.
Alex seems to think about it. "Do we have any Chinese left?" she asks the little girl, who shakes her head no. "Okay then. How about Monty's?" Alex asks cheerfully. Lexi starts nodding her head and jumping up and down.
"Can Uncle Justin come?" she asks Alex with a puppy dog face. Alex laughed.
"If he wants to. And by the way, that face doesn't work on me. I invented that face." Alex replies with a smirk.
"I'd love to go out with such two lovely ladies," I tease kindly. Alex just rolls her eyes at me.
"You're still a dork," she says bluntly. I hate to admit it, but I actually missed Alex's nonstop mocking.
"But what a great dork I am," I add jokingly. Lexi starts yanking on me hand. I take the hint on lift her onto my shoulders.
"Off to Monty's!" she commands. Alex and I both laugh. It is great to see my sister again and meet my niece.