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Star
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I was in my room trying to write my vows for the wedding. I was told I didn't have to if I didn't want to, but Artem had said such beautiful words to when he proposed to that I wanted to do sothing just as special for him on our wedding day. I felt that he deserved my heartfelt words of love and appreciation.
While I was trying to think of what to say to him, the door burst open, and he ca running inside. I could tell that he was excited about sothing just by the look in his eyes.
"Artem? What's going on?" He was running at with a smile on his face.
"Co with , Star. I need to show you sothing."
"Co with you where? I thought you went to LA with the boys. Did sothing happen?" I was starting to get nervous now. If sothing happened, sothing bad, then I don't know what I would do. Did sothing happen to one of my children? Did sothing happen to my dad? I am looking at Artem so I could tell that he was fine. So what had happened.
"Artem, what is it?"
"I have sothing important to show you. Please, Star, co with , baby. This is a surprise that you will want to see. I promise you it is nothing bad. This is a joyful occasion."
"OK, I will co with you. I know you would never do anything that would hurt so I don't have a reason to be afraid. I may be nervous, whatever it is, but I will at least know that I am safe no matter what."
"You don't need to be nervous. I promise you, sweetheart, you are going to be happy."
Artem took my hand then and led from the room. He didn't let go of my hand at all as he hurried though the house. He was like a little kid that was excited for sothing they wanted.
I could sll that everyone was all gathered in the dining room when I got downstairs. There was also the sll of food, lots of food, coming from the room. It slled like soone had prepared a feast for us for so reason. I don't know why, there was no reason for us to be throwing a party right now.
I heard the sound of happy voices as well. There were a lot of people that were talking at once so I couldn't make out who all it was that was talking or what they were saying but I knew that it was all positive. I guess Artem was right, it was all positives for this impromptu surprise he supposedly had for .
I followed after my mate as he pushed the door to the dining room open. He was still pulling so I really didn't have a choice but to follow him inside the room anyway.
What I saw when I went into the room didn't make sense to . There were too many people, and there seed to be soone here that looked too familiar.
I saw the usual people that were always here. The normal brood that made up the family that I have co to know and love. I saw my dad, who was looking happier than I ever saw him. And I saw a woman who looked like a ghost.
The new woman in the room, the one that wasn't usually here, looked just like my mother. She had the sa hair, she had the sa eyes, and she looked to be almost the exact sa age as in the pictures that I have studied recently. But I know it wasn't her.
I knew it wasn't her because one of my oldest mories from when I got locked up as a child had been of Uncle Howard dragging outside to show my mother's dead body. He told that she had died because I had been bad, and that if I didn't want more people to die I needed to be good. That was the worst thing that I had seen in a long ti. I had run to her side and cried while holding onto her. I begged her to co back. While I was still sobbing, Uncle Howard had pulled away from her and thrown into the basent. That had been the first day that I was locked up.
Had my mother's ghost co back to see my dad? Did she want to be reunited with him that bad?
"Star?" The woman's voice called out, and it was alien to . I had long ago forgotten what she sounded like. I only had her face in my mories now because of the pictures that I had been given recently.
"Yes, my na is Star. Who are you?" I refused to accept what it was that my heart was trying to tell .
"Star, she's your mother." Artem's voice was soft and quiet as he whispered to , but the room was so quiet now that I am sure everyone heard what he had said.
"No, she's not. My mother died when I was two. I saw her."
"He did it to you too?" Artem sounded like he wanted to cry, and I saw a misting in his eyes.
"What are you talking about? Who did what?" I tilted my head in confusion and raised one eyebrow.
"Howard." The woman spoke in a soft voice. "He showed your dead body, he told that you were murdered. He told that he killed you himself." She sobbed as if she was having trouble with a mory.
"I am not dead." I shook my head at her. "But you are."
"No, Star, I am not." She rushed toward , and I flinched reflexively, but she just took my hand and held it tightly. "I'm no more dead than you are. We're here, together. Howard lied to both of us. He wanted to separate us, but he wasn't strong enough to kill either of us. He was a coward and a wimp. Please, Star, you need to believe . Rember who I am."
I slled her then, a soft sweet scent of cinnamon and sugar. It was the sll that I would sotis rember in the middle of my dreams. It was the scent of my mother that would calm down when I had bad dreams. I would sll it when she held close to her chest.
That sll, that face, the explanation, could they all be real. C..could she really be my mother. My heart begged to believe it, and the problem was that my mind was starting to believe it too.
"I..I..I..I don't know." I was still in denial.
"Please, sweetie, rember." She pulled into her arms and hugged tight. While she squeezed tight, she sang a little song. A song that I had thought I forgot and would never rember. "Star, Star, Starry, Star don't you fret you're going to go far. Mommy's going to love you no matter what you are. So calm that frown and turn it upside down. Smile for mommy and let's laugh for a while."
The words clicked into a long lost mory from my childhood, and I finally understood it all. I believed what she was telling , but that didn't make it easier on . The mory opened the floodgates, and the tears started to fall down my cheeks.
"Mom?" I sobbed as I wrapped my arms around her. "Momma?"
"Yes, Star, it's ." She cried right along with . "It's , baby. Oh how I've missed you. I am so sorry that I left you. Please forgive . Please forgive honey."
"Momma."
That was all I was capable of saying at the mont. I couldn't get past what was happening right now. After a mont of just Mom holding tight, Dad ca over and wrapped his arms around the two of us. He held us both securely in his arms, and I felt as if the whole world might finally be falling into place. Slowly, the three of us sank to the floor, kneeling and sitting, just letting the weight of the whole situation sink in.
"Why? Why did he do this to ? Why did he take the two of you away from ?" I sobbed into my mom's chest for the first ti since I was a very small child.
"He destroyed us all for so long. He stole everything from us, but he couldn't keep it that way. We found each other. The love of a family won out in the end, and we're finally together. I finally have my baby back, and the mate that he kept from . Aaron has and the daughter he never knew, and you have the two parents that he robbed you of."
"This is the best way this could have ended. If I can't change it and stop it from happening, Star, then I am glad that this is the way that it all cos to an end."
"Artem?" I reached out for his hand, and as soon as he took it, Dad pulled him into the hug as well. The four of us sat there like that for several minutes, unable to let go of each other; most likely afraid that the person we just found after so long would disappear once again. I don't think that I will ever let go of them again. I would keep them close to for as long as I could. I had missed so much, we had all missed so much.
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