SHE FOLLOWED ME HOME

SHE FOLLOWED ME HOME – ch 4

Mo deas

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Morena rarely met her husband at the door when he came home from work. He knew her habit. If she wasn’t at the hospital where she worked as a nurse, she’d be in the kitchen whipping up a delicious dinner. Seeing the van from the animal hospital parked in front of his house caused him to hurry inside a bit faster. Morena met him at the door.

“Hi honey,” Brian said quickly as he walked through the doorway. Leaning in, he kissed her cheek “Is everything ok?”

Morena smiled and said, “I guess that depends on what you mean by everything but let me quickly explain. And, in no particular order.”

She led him to the entry bench near the stairs, reached for his hand and said, “First of all, Mo deas is fine. One of the vets came to check on her. His name is Ian Diehl. Ian is your brother. We’ll explain that in a minute. Mia is, I guess you could say, evolving. I invited Ian, his wife, Liz, who should be here any minute, and their son Mickey to dinner. Whew! I know, that’s a lot to take in but so much has happened in the past hour!”

Morena stood and said, “Come in the kitchen and meet your brother.” Brian stood but befuddled with all he had just learned.

While she was speaking to her husband, Mia kept staring at Ian and finally said, “Uncle Ian, you look almost exactly like my dad. You said you were older but if I didn’t know better, I would say you could be twins. How much older are you than dad?”

Ian smiled and replied, “Three years. I can’t imagine the shock you’re da will have when he meets me.”

“Shock?” Brian asked with a laugh as he entered the kitchen. “That’s a mild word for it. Ian! How I wish I could have known you or at least known about you years ago. We now have so much to catch up on. But, first, let me look at you! My Lord, I have a brother! So, tell me, where have you been living all these years?”

While the brothers talked about their lives past and present, Morena walked to the door seconds before the bell rang. She opened the door and welcomed Ian’s wife.

After introducing his wife to his brother, Liz helped Morena with dinner. Mia and Mickey amused themselves with a game of Uno and Mo deas slept peacefully on her soft cushion in the corner.

Everything seemed quiet and ordinary until Mia let out a loud gasp. “Oh, oh mom, that itch! It’s back! Please make it stop!”

Morena quickly walked to her daughter’s side. “What itch? Where is it? How bad is it? You never mentioned it before.”

“Mom, it’s my back. It feels like I have a gazillion bugs crawling on my back. I want to scratch it so bad, but I can’t reach. Mom, can you do anything?”

“Oh Mia. Come upstairs with me. I have cream I can put on you. Also, it’s time for a mother and daughter talk.”

Morena looked at Brian and her guests and said, “This won’t take long. Please help yourselves to the salad.”

When Morena and Mia were leaving the kitchen, Brian couldn’t help but laugh at what he heard his daughter say with exasperation, “Mom. We already had that talk. AND did you really need to mention that in front of our company?”

Morena placed her hand on Mia’s back and said, “Honey, it isn’t that kind of talk and I’m sure everyone knows exactly what I’ll be saying. Come. Let’s go to my room and I’ll get that cream.”

Mo deas followed them upstairs and jumped in Mia’s lap as soon as the girl sat on the vanity chair. As Morena began lifting the back of Mia’s shirt, she said, “Honey, I want you to hunch over as far as you can without falling. That’s it. Your back will be a bit tender when I rub the cream in certain areas, but the tenderness won’t last long.”

In the kitchen, Ian noticed the look on Brian’s face. He placed his hand on his brother’s shoulder and said, “I know that face, Brother. You’re not sure whether you should be amused, relieved, or worried. I’ve been there with Mickey. Only he was much younger. Mia will be fine. She’s just a late bloomer and now needs time to adjust. That’s all.”

Liz walked behind Brian and kissed the top of his head while she called to her son. “Mickey, come here please and how Uncle Brian your back.”

Standing at the side of the chair where Brian sat, Mickey pulled his shirt up and over his shoulders. “See, Uncle Brian? There’s nothing to worry about. There’s nothing to see, well, not all the time, anyway.”

Brian put his arms around his nephew and asked, “Mickey, I know Morena will do her best to explain all of this, but it might help, since you’re her cousin, if you’d speak with her. Let her know that she’s not alone and that she has someone close to her age to help and guide her. It’s going to be a long journey.”

“Not as long as you’d think,” Morena said humorously as she reentered the kitchen.

Brian looked around and asked, “Where’s Mia?”

She was still in her mother’s room but with her new acute hearing that developed within the past fifteen minutes, she heard every word spoken from the kitchen.

Suddenly, Brian heard his daughter shout, “Dad, I’m here!”

As he turned, he saw his eight-year-daughter cuddling her pet, while flying into the room with small, thin, shimmering wings on her back.

“Dad, isn’t this the coolest thing? This is going to be so much fun.”

She looked at her cousin, smiled and said, “Mickey, I’m just like you. I’m an Elf!”