Rose petals

Chapter 20

"I'm in New York baby!" I heard her yell from across the airport as I held up the yellow and purple glittery sign that the twins had made.

"Careful kiddo!" Ben yelled from behind her as she ran through the large crowd of people and squealed as she threw herself at me and wrapped her arms around my neck. I certainly didn't expect that.

Quickly recovering from the surprise hug, I wrapped my arms around her waist and gently squeezed her. It took everything in me not to kiss her but after pulling away she looked down at the sign and burst out laughing.

"Don't tell me you made that Mason because if you did then I think you need to go back to kindergarten." She snorted as she looked at the misspelled words written on the large white board.

I let the kids go wild with how they wanted to decorate or write the board since they couldn't do it for me. When I had told them their uncles and grandpa were on their way back, they instantly got to work and made this their main project. They had written 'welcum bak papa & unkls & islind' when I had told them my friend 'Isla' was joining them.

"I'm going to frame this." Ben sniffled as he held the sign out at arms length, holding back his tears. If there's anyone more emotional about the twins than I am, then it's their four grandparents, including Henry. Despite not having a biological connection to us, he's probably the best partner my mum could ever have and the fact that he makes such an effort with every single person in our large family makes him even better.

"Did you tell them my names 'Island'?" Everly laughed as I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"They said island sounds cooler so I guess you'll have to change it." I shrugged as she stared at the sign and took a picture of it. "How was the flight?" I asked as I took both her suitcases and duffel bag while she carried her purse.

"It was good, Ben upgraded me to first class and I felt like a celebrity there. You really didn't have to Ben, I feel bad." She frowned as he rolled his eyes in amusement.

"Don't worry about it, you're like my kid." He smiled as her frown disappeared and turned into a full blown grin. Despite the smile on his face, the pain in his eyes was blatantly obvious. The four brothers have quite literally raised her into the woman she is yet she doesn't know it. No one can understand that kind of pain, not even me.

Once we got to my car, Elijah and Austin took their keys from me and said their goodbyes before driving off. Ben, Aiden and Everly climbed into my car just as I closed the trunk and made my way to the drivers side. I could feel the excitement radiate off of her as she went on and on about how excited she was.

"Ben you have to make sure I don't get bullied or anything by the big boys." She said seriously as he chuckled and shook his head in amusement.

"No one would dare bully you." He reassured her.

"True, I can be scary." She shrugged as I rolled my eyes. Scary my ass.

It wasn't long till we arrived at the apartment building she'd be staying in. The second her eyes landed on the tall building, her smile slowly faded and she looked confused. I drove down into the parking lot before parking in the spot I always used to park in.

The four of us got out and Everly looked more confused by the second. I didn't have the heart to sell our apartment and so I kept it. I'm glad I did because it's where she's going to be staying till she gets her memory back. Ben said it shouldn't have much of a negative impact because the apartment doesn't look exactly the same, however there's a high chance she'll get flashbacks. The only problem is that despite Ben's many years of medical experience, something like memory issues aren't predictable. We can't quite anticipate what will happen during the time she's here are Isla Grey.