Chapter 5 – A Texas Homecoming

Author's Notes:

There is a National Forest in Texas Called Sam Houston National Forest. The Sam Houston National Forest is 161,508 acres.

Lake Livingston is on the opposite side of the Sam Houston National Forest. If you look at the map - imagine that the property that is owned by Amber's family is all on the right side of the forest and that all of the water that is shown including Lake Livingston is in the center of the property. So imagine that there is a big circle around the lake and that connects to the National Forest. All of that is the property.

-There is some mention of child abuse and violence in this chapter-

Amber's POV

Just a few more minutes then I'll officially be on leave. Within the next 7 or 8 hours I'll be touching down in Texas. I'm hoping that Margaret, my Grandma Mags, will have cooked up all my favorites and I know that Rory, my Grandpa Roar, as I've affectionately nicknamed, will have a list of things that need to be done around the property.

They bought this old summer camp property about a year ago. When they moved in I helped them fix up the few cabins left on the property and the main house. Even though they didn't want to re-open it as a summer camp, they didn't want to pass on the opportunity for buying such a beautiful piece of property to retire to.

I absolutely fell in love with it the first time that I set my eyes on it. There is a lake and the rest of the water was surrounded by a little over 1.400 acres that butts up to the Sam Houston National Forest. To me it's paradise.

As I thought of my Grandparents I also think about how they truly aren't my "Grandparents". I actually don't have anymore blood family. Maybe that's why the people that I do consider my family I hold extremely close to my heart. It's rare that someone has made it passed all of my walls and actually stuck around. For me love is forever and anyone that knows me knows that I don't throw that word around. When I say it, I mean it.

I guess I should start at the beginning. My dad was an Air Force Firefighter, so we moved around a lot, but I spent most of my life in Texas. When I was about ten my parents died in a car crash while we were still living in Texas. Unfortunately I didn't have any family, because both of my parents were only children and their parents died either before I was born or not too long after I was born. So without any family left I was sent into foster care. I was bounced around from home to home. I was sent back for bullshit reasons, like the couple finally got pregnant or I didn't look enough like the couple. Most of the homes weren't too bad. I had gotten smacked around quite a lot and most of the homes didn't feed me on a regular bases but I made do with what I had. Though the last one was by far the worst. The last couple that adopted me were drunks and drug addicts that only wanted a check so they could go on benders. On more than one occasion they beat me almost to a pulp. I have a few scars from their family bonding time as they liked to refer to it as. The worst scars are the 2 lash marks on my back from a branch that they had found. The rest of the lash marks thankfully healed. They also liked to farm me out for manual labor to make even more money off of me. It was at one of these farm hand jobs that I decided to runaway.

That's how I stumbled upon Rory and Margaret. They had a small ranch in Amarillo, Texas. I had been working my way up to Northern Texas on foot for about 3 weeks when I had stopped in a small town and had seen a help wanted sign for a ranch hand. Something had told me to take the job. That's how I stumbled into Rory and Margaret. They saw right through me and I ended up telling them everything. Rory was a retired Navy Admiral so he had some pull and had me placed in their care after turning in my deadbeat "foster parents". I had never been more thankful for my "knowing thing" that lead me to my Grandparents. My knowing thing is what I like to call my just knowing things about things. My mom used to say it was, because I was empathic. Come to think of it I've seen Jasper do the same type of things. I guess I'll have to keep an eye on him to see if I can figure out if he can do the same thing.

Thanks to my Grandparents I was able to find happiness again. They encouraged me to finish my education and with a lot of enthusiasm from my Grandpa I was able to follow my dreams of following not only in my father's steps, but also all my family members that had signed up to defend our country, as well as my new grandfather's legacy and signed up to serve my country as well.

As I'm grabbing my last bag off of the conveyer belt, I can hear my grandma yelling and waving at me. As I throw my bags down I rush to her and grab her into a huge hug as she cries happy tears into my chest. When she finally lets go my grandpa pulls me into a bone crushing hug. It's times like this when I know that I have been truly blessed with a loving family. As I gather my bags back up my grandma grabs my arm as she goes on about all of the latest news that I've missed. As my grandpa pats me on the back and tells me how much he's missed me and that he's so glad that I'm finally home. Being surrounded by this much love bring tears to my eyes, and I want nothing more than to hold onto this moment forever.

As I predicted grandpa had enough work for me to do that helped to burn off all of the food that grandma kept stuffing me with. I loved it.

My latest project was a very special one that I've been working on since they bought this property. My grandparents wanted me to pick a spot on the property for just me, a place that I can find refuge and solitude, and that's what I built. I know that it sounds ridiculous, but I built an almost replica to Percy's quarters that he had at Camp Half-Blood in the Percy Jackson Books.

I've always loved being outside and when you add the lake to the equation it was paradise. Becoming a Sere Specialist only enhanced my love and desire for wide open spaces. Of course I had made a few adjustments and customizations. I made it so that any rain that we got wouldn't be able to get into the building. I also added a gaming area with a pool table and an entertainment area, as well as some fire pit areas. I also added a lot of seating for lounging around, as well as a deck and a massive deck that I use for late night guitar playing and star gazing.

It doesn't seem like it's been a week, but it seems like the next day has me boarding a plane back to Washington. As I'm driving back to my house I can't help but reflect on my life and what has happened to get me to where I am now. I know that my road hasn't been an easy one, but I don't think that I would trade any of those bumps if this is where the road lead me to.