Promise This (English Version)

43. Grace

Her hand instinctively reached out for the warmth of his body lying next to her on the bed. It took her moment to become aware of where she was and what she had done. Sarah opened her eyes and in the dark room she saw the dollhouse her grandfather made for her tucked away in a corner. It was beautifully detailed, with green shutters for the windows and a pink roof. She remembered spending countless hours playing with it during her Summer visits, pretending it was a perfect home full of love, with lots of babies and a dog like Rooster and a loving imaginary husband. Just like Hamdan. 

She curled up into a ball, gripping the quilt that covered her between the hands, she started sobbing again, after thinking she had run out of tears before falling asleep. Slowly, her tears faded away and her breathing went back to normal, not that she felt any better inside. Through the window shades she realized it was dark outside too. Thirty hours of airports and planes, time change, jet lag and heartache made it hard to tell what day it was and without her phone, she did not have any idea what time it was either.

Sitting up on the bed, foggy flashes came back of aunt Lilly bringing her a grilled cheese sandwich and a glass of milk that remained untouched on the tray she placed on the bedside table. She stretched her arms over her head, her whole body ached and it could not stand staying in bed anymore. Sarah got up, took the food and went to the bathroom. With toilet paper, she wrapped the sandwich and threw it into the trash can and emptied the glass of lukewarm milk in the sink. She could not stomach anything at the moment, only water, but she did not want to raise any more questions than the ones she had already raised with her sudden visit. 

She washed her face, faked a smile and walked out of the bedroom with the tray in her hands. Looking both ways on the long corridor, she heard voices coming from downstairs, apparently it was not very late into the night. She followed the voices until she found aunt Lilly and uncle Bob sitting in the family room adjacent to the kitchen area, watching the news on the T.V. 

"Thank heavens the old man is not around anymore to see this joke of a president we have now," Uncle Bob complained, pointing at the flat screen with the remote.

"I think he could've turned your dad into a democrat," aunt Lilly pointed out, not noticing Sarah's presence.

Sarah placed the tray on the counter and that made them turn their heads.

"Well, look who's up!" Uncle Bob exclaimed.

"Hi, doll! Did you get enough rest?" Aunt Lilly asked, with that big smile of hers. She had cut her hair to a blonde bob that Sarah thought made her look ten years younger.

Uncle Bob was Pat's younger and only sibling. He married aunt Lilly and had two sons; Luke and Matt. They both had families of their own but still worked on the ranch with their father. When Sarah was born not only was she a blessing due her parents fertility issues, she was the only girl in the family. When Pat's father held her in his arms for the first time, he said she looked like a doll and the nickname stuck with her since then.

"I think I had more than enough," Sarah smirked. "Is grandma still up?"

When she and uncle Bob got home from the airport it was late and grandma Fay was already asleep. Only aunt Lilly stayed up waiting for them.

"Yes, you'll know where to find her," Lilly winked.

"Uh, doll? Your dad called. He left a number for you to call back," Bob said pointing — again with the remote — to the kitchen counter where a piece of paper laid with numbers written down.

Seeing him was almost like seeing her dad. Many times she heard the stories of people often mistaken them for twins when they were young. As time passed by, the only difference was that the ranch's arduous job had helped uncle Bob to stay in better shape than Pat.