Chapter One

Five years earlier...

     November 22nd, it's Thanksgiving Day and Emily Hart has been awake since 4 a.m in preparation for her family meal. She loves to hear the silence throughout the house as her 3 children lay peacefully in their beds. Sometimes with the commotion of 3 very active kids, she can barely make out her thoughts. With the silence and only the sound of the blissful birds chirping her mind starts wandering away with itself. She's brought back to a time when her entire family all gathered around her mother's kitchen laughing and catching up with each other as the year always kept them much too busy for family reunions. She could feel something was off about today, something left Emily feeling extremely unsettled. Brushing it off, she decided it was probably the fact that her very ill mother was states away from her for the first Thanksgiving down in the Sunshine State of Florida.

       By 7 a.m Emily couldn't shake her uneasy feeling and decided to phone her sister Erika that was caring for their mother. "Hello", Erika answered sounding terrified. "Is everything okay with mama", Emily choked out. "It's not looking good", Erika replied in a low voice. " Erika continued to say " let's keep this between us for now, we wouldn't want to upset anyone on Thanksgiving without a cause." "Alright, just keep me posted then", Emily states to her closest sibling. She hung the phone up with a heavy heart, an aching feeling inside of her. Emily was always good at letting her gut feelings guide her, something she got from her mother. It was now approaching 9 a.m but Emily had completely lost track of time busying herself with a last-minute dessert. She sobbed as she put together a pineapple upside-down cake, her mother's dessert of choice from her daughter, the pastry chef.

     The phone rang jerking Emily right back into reality. Her heart sank, she knew it was Erika on the other end. She picks up shouting to her kids in the next room to quiet themselves for her to hear their auntie Erika's s update on Nana. "Hello", Emily's voice cracked into the phone. Erika was crying trying to force the words out of her mouth but Emily didn't need to hear it to know what was happening. Emily's sobs echoed through the entire community. The rain poured down and she knew her mother (now an angel) had been crying too. She placed the phone down with very few words spoken. Her brother Eric was with her mother and sister along with another older sister Emilia. The phone continued to ring that entire day although Emily just lay there pining, wishing she had a chance to give her mother one last hug and give her, her final goodbyes. She couldn't possibly speak with any of her older siblings, being the youngest they always felt Emily was the weakest link.

     Emily now had to break the devastating news to her 3 children who were very close to their Nana. Dakota spent the most time with her being in her nana's house until she was 2 years old. For Dakota, nana would always be there. The boys were also very sensitive about the fragile little lady. She was the only other constant in their lives except for Erika. For all 3 of her children, nana meant the world.

   Emily stepped out of her bedroom attempting to dry her tear-soaked face. Seeing her children's innocent little faces staring back at her with wonderment brought the tears back heavier and heavier. Before Emily could open her mouth to speak Dakota, wise beyond her years was already badgering her. "Nana's dead! Isn't she?", Dakota shouted in a harsh tone. "I'm sorry baby", were the only words Emily could manage. Muffled cries came out from her babies embracing each other on the floor. Emily felt helpless knowing that there was absolutely no way to take this pain away from her grieving children. Emily knelt beside them tears falling from her face holding them wrapped in the tightest hug she could muster out of her emotionally spent body. The 4 of them stayed there all day trying to take comfort in one another. The Thanksgiving dinner they were excited to share was now obsolete.

     Emily lay there still embraced with her children that were now sound asleep watching the sun come up. She hadn't managed to get a wink of sleep the entire night. Her restless body didn't want to keep going but her mindset to autopilot said you've got to get up. She knew in her heart her mother wouldn't want this. Her mother was the strongest woman alive in all of her children's eyes. They referred to her as "The strong one". That woman raised 7 kids all by herself being both mother and father all of their lives and she made it look easy. None of her kids ever felt as though they were lacking anything in life. Not to mention she also helped raise a number of her grandchildren all while having lupus plus C.O.P.D. Emily, as I'm sure the others did as well already felt like their mother was an angel. She wept slightly remembering a quote she heard a while back. "God gives his hardest battles to his strongest warriors."

    The days following seemed to drag on although Emily couldn't stop moving. She was afraid to settle down and give herself time to think. She couldn't bear the thought of her mother's passing so she tucked it away. Over the next couple of days, she had finally been in touch with Erika, Eric, and Emilia but hadn't yet spoken to Elaine, Evelyn, or Elizabeth. The memorial preparations had to get done and Eric being the oldest sibling was making the arrangements. Emily contemplated her 18-hour drive the next day but quickly shook off the thought. She was conscious but her mind brought her to a whole different place. A place where the pain and grief of losing her mother and father that Thanksgiving day couldn't touch her.

   Her kids slept most of their days away proceeding to the memorial. Waking them was traumatizing for Emily when Dakota and Damian wouldn't stop puking the second their eyes were open. Lucas always had a thousand questions, his mind never turned off. Dealing with her 3 heartbroken kids was almost worse than dealing with her grief. The 18-hour drive went quicker than expected even though every bathroom break she spent scrubbing the remnants of throw up off of her seats. The children were eerily quiet not wanting to spend any of their time awake dealing with their own emotions.

    When they arrived Erika was a wreck, the only one that was still staying in their mother's house. They didn't waste much time on chit-chat, Emily only had 3 days to go through her mother's things and pack up the house. Erika was obviously in no condition to handle any of that. Emily knew no matter how badly her heart hurt she had to be strong for her kids, Erika, and Erika's young daughter Cloe. Her mother raised Cloe from birth up until her last breath. Cloe needed someone more emotionally stable than Erika to be there for her. Emily and Erika's daughters hugged just letting their tears go for what seemed like hours but finally, all the kids fell asleep together on a pull-out sofa in the living room.

    Following the memorial service, Emily dreaded the fact that she would be taking on 2 more people to care for yet it was something that had to be done. A long time before her mother's passing Emily made a promise to always look after the 2 of them in her mother's absence. Months and months passed by and Emily Hart remained on autopilot generally just going through the motions of life. She didn't let herself stop to think, feel, or even grieve. She had a job to do and that was her only focus for the next few years.