6. Chapter 6

Six years ago, I lost my father in a farming accident. Two years ago, I lost my mother to suicide."

Come to find out, I'd lost a brother years before, as well. There were secrets in this town, and they only started coming to light after my mom took her life. That wasn't something I addressed in my speech though. Instead, I continued with what I knew back then.

"Their deaths left me with no blood relations. I had been an orphan for all of two minutes, until the man from across the street, who lost his wife the same year I lost my dad, came to my rescue. He had become my surrogate grandfather from the time I was 12 until two years ago. Then, I became his ward, and he my surrogate father. I am standing here today because the strength of that one man, who held me up all these years.

"Thanks to our shared experience, I can also tell you that life will throw you curveballs. Sometimes, it feels like too much to bear, but there are people out there who are willing to catch you and pick you up when you fall. Our successes don't belong to us alone. They belong to everyone who helped prop us up on our journey toward our goals. This celebration is as much for them as it is for us, and I wanted to acknowledge that.

"I learned far too early and often in life that tomorrow isn't promised. It's great to have goals and achieve them, but not at the expense of living. When you leave here today, do so with joy in your hearts for the accomplishment you achieved, and go celebrate before moving on to the next goal. These milestones mean nothing if we're constantly chugging forward to the next one and the next without stopping to appreciate what we've already done. My parting gift to my fellow graduates is to impart a little bit of wisdom my Pops, Jack Carter, has instilled in me. "Live for the moment while you learn for tomorrow."

"I'm so proud of you, my little Petal."

Jack pulled me in for a hug to go with his praise the minute we got back to his house after graduation. I held onto him as if my life depended on that hug, and for a while there, he had been my very literal lifeline.

"I sent the video to Max to guilt him into coming home and spending more time with family when he has leave."

"You sent what video to Max?" I asked.

"The one I took of your Valedictorian speech."

I ran a hand down my face to hide the embarrassment that stained my cheeks red. "Why on Earth would you do that?"

"Are you kidding? Max has always fought for the "favorite" spot amongst my grandkids. If he thinks there's stiff competition, he'll haul ass back here and show his face."

"You're a bit of a nutter, Jack."

"A nutter who loves you to pieces, Petal."

"Thank you-" I started to say more but was interrupted when a cheer broke out in the house that had been steadily filling with the Carter family.

"There's our other graduate!" Jack called to his youngest grandson. "Get over here, boy." He flung his arms wide open to welcome Evan and give him the same congratulatory hug he'd offered me moments ago.

"Hey, Evan. Congratulations."

When Evan was done hugging Jack he turned and wrapped his arms around me. "What in the hell are you congratulating me for? That speech brought tears to my eyes. This old coot needed you just as much as you needed him. Never doubt that." The last bit was whispered into my ear conspiratorially.

Since the day my mother took her own life, I'd been coddled by the Carter family, most of them anyway. Michael had been away at Boston University, but whenever he came home, he was always standoffish and avoided me where possible. Devon and Evan, the oldest and youngest of the Carter boys, had become like brothers to me. I wasn't sure where I'd be without them. Jack kept me afloat, but they managed to make me smile again, even if it did take a while.

Then there was Max. I'd like to say I knew where Max stood, but the truth was, he hadn't come home since the day he left for the Army. Part of that was simply bad timing, since he went to basic training, advanced individual training, and then was shipped off for a year to South Korea so fast that the whole family had whiplash trying to keep up with his fast-paced schedule.

I read up about some things, though, and knew that he probably had an option to take leave before heading out of the country. Max opted not to take it for some reason, and I worried that it might have had to do with me. Not that my head was so big that I thought the world revolved around me. It just had to be somewhat surreal for him to leave in the middle of his Pop's involvement in my family tragedy.

"What are you two doing hiding over in the corner?" Greg Carter, Jack's son and father to the four Carter boys, asked.

"Well, after that stunning speech she gave earlier, I was asking Posie for some life advice. She should be one of those wackadoodle types who people pay good money to, just to dole out common sense to everyone in our generation who doesn't have it."

Greg rolled his eyes at his youngest son. "And you should have studied harder, then maybe you could have made it another family business."

"I was never going to make Salutatorian, let alone Valedictorian with Mitchell Graves and Posie Gamble as my competition, Dad. Let's be realistic." Evan wasn't wrong about that. Mitchell and I had been competing for those honors for our whole high school careers. My dear, pseudo-brother was more worried about football and girls, though I'd admit he was smarter than most people gave him credit for.

Greg turned his attention back to me. "Sharon has a gift for you."

"You guys didn't have to get me anything," I protested. The Carter family had already done far too much for me.

"Petal, when are you going to understand that you're family?" Jack asked as he joined our little huddle.

I leaned into his side and smiled up at the man who had become a second father to me. Times like these, I couldn't stop the tears from building in my eyes, though I did my best to keep them from falling because the Carter men did not do tears.

"Peace! I'm out. I see crocodile tears on the way. You know that's not my scene." Evan kissed me on the top of my head, squeezed my arm affectionately, and then he raced off toward the front door.

"I guess he didn't want his present," his dad teased. Maybe we should give it to you, since you're the one who always sticks around when the Carter boys are hot footing it out of here like their shorts are on fire."

"Their shorts might just be on fire. Your boys do tend to get around," I joked back.

Greg and Jack both scrunched up their noses at me and tried to shake off my comment. "Nope. You can't say things like that."

"What? Evan says things like that all the time."

"Yeah, but you're our sweet Petal," Jack announced. "We'd like to at least have the illusion that you will always remain sweet, innocent, and untainted by the world."

Sadness swept through the center of my being and bowed my shoulders with its weight. "That ship sailed years ago, Jack." It was my turn to walk away from the Carter men.

"Maybe we should have let her have a tiny, dirty joke at our boys' expense," Greg mumbled to his father.

"She'll be okay. That one has strong bones and a solid soul." I had no clue what that meant, but every time I doubted myself or things went wrong, it was something Jack used to tell me. I had strong bones and a solid soul.

I was a tiny, petite thing who never really did get that growth spurt everyone kept promising me. So, I was fairly certain I didn't have strong or sturdy bones. As for the soul, mine had been pierced by the darkness of what my mother did when I unknowingly stood feet away from her body as I read her goodbye to me.

My own mother took the time to say goodbye, but not once did she mention that she ever loved me. I had already told Jack, that very day, that I still felt invisible to everyone, but having my mom fail to acknowledge her love, or the loss I would face when she was gone, made it that much harder to overcome that feeling.

I moved in with Jack after what happened to my mother. The property across the street sat, waiting for me to become an adult and figure out what I wanted to do with it. Technically, I became an adult three months ago. It was still hard for me to even allow my gaze to fall on the house. That property had both of my parents' deaths staining it.

I made my way to the bedroom that had become mine two years earlier and found a box, two cards, and a giant teddy bear sitting there with a graduation cap parked on its head.

On closer inspection, I noticed that the package was postmarked from South Korea and my heart ticked up a few beats. Was it possible, after all this time, that Max Carter acknowledged I was a real living and breathing being?

Ignoring everything else, I dove into the package and found a treasure trove of things inside. There were Couque D'Assi White Torte Cookies, a box of Pepero sticks, and Korean Sweet Cakes. I pulled each of the sweet treats out of the box and set them aside.

There was another box to open. Inside that was a black lacquered music box with a gorgeous mother of pearl inlaid scene consisting of a moon in the top left corner, trees in the lower right that bled into water and two cranes taking flight near one another, as if one was chasing the other. It was stunning. Once I took it out, and got the jewelry box open, there was a letter waiting for me inside.

Posie,

It feels weird writing this because technically, we don't really know one another. I'm sorry that it wasn't possible for me to stick around after what happened my last day in town. I've thought of you, that day, and what must have transpired for you many times during training.

Oddly enough, you're the reason I had the strength to keep going, even on the days when I felt like I bit off more than I could chew and wanted nothing more than to come home.

Is that weird?

Everyone gave me updates on how you were doing, and I always thought, if she can handle that, then this is nothing.

In a way, you gave me strength to keep pushing forward. I've wanted to thank you for that, but honestly it never seemed appropriate. I thought it might be now, considering you're graduating at the top of your class. Your strength amazes me. Congratulations on everything you managed to accomplish and welcome to the family – though according to everyone else, I'm far more than just two years late on giving that welcome.

I tried closing this letter out like ten different ways in my head. Not knowing what you are to me is weird. Did Pops adopt you? No one ever said. So, I guess you could be like my aunt – wow, that's too weird. You can see what I went with instead.

Before I sign off, you have my new address (at the bottom of this letter). It won't be good for another two weeks (by the time you get this, I might already be there, now that I think of it), but that's my next duty station. I expect at least one awkward letter back before you head off to college and the rest of your life.

Your friend,

Max

I had absolutely no idea what to do with his letter. This was the boy I'd always had a crush on, and he acknowledged that we don't really know one another. It was somewhat heartbreaking that he acknowledged he didn't even really know I existed prior to the day my mother died. Unless you counted the barn incident, which he obviously did not. That was a crushing blow to my ego, not that I had much of one to begin with.

To know I was a source of strength for him when just being me was a struggle… That part was nice, I supposed. At least my pain was inspirational to other people, I guess. And then he ended the letter with a roundhouse kick to my heart by wondering if I was his aunt now.

I growled out loud as I flung the letter down beside me.

"Everything okay?" Greg and Jack stood there in my doorway with mirrored amused looks on their faces.

"Max sent me a package," I explained.

"Did he send something foul?" Greg asked, and the menacing look he gave, said if his son sent anything inappropriate he'd be on the next fight to South Korea to put a boot up Max's ass.

"No." I started to show them my haul and they both seemed puzzled by my reaction, so I flung the letter out toward them.

Greg held onto it, but Jack proceeded to read over his son's shoulder. They both got a little teary-eyed when they no doubt read the part about my strength inspiring Max. Then they started chuckling and I assumed that was over the part at the bottom about me being his aunt now.

"Which part did you have a problem with Petal?" Jack asked as he came to sit down next to me.

"Honestly?"

"Always."

"First, he said he never knew who I was. That's weird because I was at your house a lot when he was around."

"True, but you always hid whenever he showed up."

"Oh." I had forgotten that part and my cheeks flamed in response and worsened as Jack chuckled, clearly amused by my humiliation.

"Why did you hide from my son?" Greg asked, genuinely curious.

"Um, no reason."

"She had a crush on the boy," Jack ratted me out.

"Jack!"

Greg stayed silent, thankfully.

"So, in the wake of that resounding revelation, I'm assuming the growl was more than likely as a result of the ‘aunt' thing," Jack surmised with a grin on his face after scanning the letter.

"Ah, I see where that could be upsetting," Greg concurred.

"Please, don't placate me. It was a stupid girl crush. Honestly, I think I just envied his boots. No offense, Greg, but your son was a bit of a moron when it came to girls."

"Obviously, if he failed to ever notice you," he offered and winked as he turned to leave the room. "I'll leave you two to this discussion. There's a reason I never had girls."

"That's biology, not because you didn't want them," I called out to his retreating back. I heard his laughter echo down the hall.

"Don't let my son fool you. He'd trade places with me in a hot second. He always wanted a daughter to dote on."

"You have both been very kind to me over the years. He's a lot like you."

"The real estate mogul is like the farm boy, huh?"

"Are you kidding? The only thing not alike about you two is your jobs. You passed on the very best things about yourself to your son. He's a good man."

"Aw, Petal, you're really itchin' to make an old man cry today."

"Maybe the estrogen is catching," I teased.

He poked me in the ribs and we both laughed before he lifted a sealed envelope up. "What's the rest of this?"

"I don't know. Call me greedy, but I opened the package first."

"I doubt greed had anything to do with that. I'm betting the return address on a flat envelope would have made you open it if that package had a different postmark on it."

He had me there. One of the cards was from Devon, and surprisingly the other had been from Michael. It didn't say much, just congratulations on graduating, and he included a hundred-dollar gift card with it. The giant bear, along with the card and gift card that was hidden underneath the graduation cap, was from Sharon and Greg.

I sat down and wrote them each a thank you note that night. Then I wound the music box and fell asleep listening to the sweet little tune it played as I thought about Max. If he saw me now, would he think of me as his newly minted aunt or a woman worthy of a second glance? There was no way of knowing and it didn't seem likely to happen anytime soon.

He was still in another country, and I was off to college in a couple of months. Our paths back home would probably narrowly miss one another. So, I sat down and wrote my first letter to Max.