The Idiot

Epilogue

"Hey, I'm not old!" Patrick kind of yelled which made the whole table except Patrick to burst out laughing. "What, I'm not!"

"Says the guy who has three adult children who are leaving him tomorrow."

The rest of the dinner, we joked around and just had a good time. Sadly though, we all had to go to bed early since tomorrow is going to be an early, sad day.

The three of us had our rooms packed up and ready to go.

It was six in the morning, when I made my way downstairs with my last box. Man, I have collected enough crap over these last three years.

"Wow never thought this day would come," I heard someone say this, which caused me to turn around to see the one and only Jonathan Toews.

I smiled at him, sadly, before I said, "Me either. I was so ready for this day to come when I first arrived, but now..." I looked around the foyer seeing all of the family photos that were all around the room. "Now... I don't want to go."

Jon took the box from my hands. "I figured you didn't want to. We don't want you to go either."

"God," I said rubbing my eyes. It's too early to cry! "Stop that! I don't want to cry!"

He just nodded as he carried my box out to my car. As he did that, I made my way into the living room, where the rest of my family was.

When Jon came back in, he hugged each of us, wishing each of us luck and that if the boys make their NHL team that they are going to get their asses kicked by him and Dad. If that is the case, I better watch those games.

Right after Jon left, William, Wyatt, and I piled into my car, while the rest of them got into Patrick's. First stop, airport.

When I had to hug my brothers for the last time before they went through security made me cry. Those two... There are no words to explain the two of them.

"Oh, Winter, don't cry," William whispered as the two of us hugged each other. "You are going to make me cry."

"I don't know why I'm crying. It's not like I like you... guys." That earned me a laugh from both of my brothers.

Wyatt hugged me while I was still hugging William.

"Just think, little sis, we will watch as many of your games as we can. Just don't get into fights since you know that you girls are sissies."

I let that slide since I was too busy crying.

I don't know how long we continued to hug before Amanda told us that the boys are going to have to go.

"I love both of you," I whispered before the three of us let go.

Then before I knew it, they hugged Patrick, Amanda, and Amber before they were gone.

Walking back to the car was very hard. I already missed my brothers so much.

Patrick drove my car with me, while Amanda drove the two younglings. Our next stop, Madison, Wisconsin for these two to drop me off at college.

Before I knew it, it was my turn to say goodbye to everyone. Luckily, I did have some time with them as we worked with my roommate to set up our tiny room, but that wasn't long enough.

The first person I said goodbye to was Tyler. That little runt didn't know what was going on, but I still was going to miss him. He's my brother regardless.

Then it was Amanda. The two of us quickly hugged. Our relationship had improved over the years, but it was even weaker than Patrick's and mine.

Amber was already crying by the time I hugged her, which made me start crying again. "Don't leave, sissy."

I lifted her up in my arms and brushed a couple of the tears off her face. "Hey, come on. It won't be that bad."

"I'll miss you!"

"I'll miss you too, but you can write me some letters if you'd like."

She sniffled a couple of times before she asked in her little adorable voice, "Would you write me back?"

"I defiantly would. You are my sister." I squeezed her, saying, "I love you," before I put her on the ground next to Amanda.

Finally, I turned towards Patrick. His bright, blue eyes were cloudy. Throwing my arms around him, I cried.

Neither of us said anything as we continued to hug for several seconds until Patrick said, "I'm going to watch your first game." I already looked at the schedule and saw that you would be in a middle of a Canadian road trip. "I'm going to be there."

"Dad... you don't have..."

Before I could finish, he already started to talk. "Don't worry about that. I already talked to the coaching staff that I have to be there. I have to... I... I can't that long before seeing my little girl. I love you so much."

"I love you too, Dad."

We held the hug for a little bit longer before he let go. Once they left, I rubbed the tears off of my face as I laid on my bed.

I didn't think that this was going to be this hard. Only three years ago, I wanted more than anything to leave those idiot that now I proudly call my family. It may have been because of a sad reason that we got to meet Patrick, but I'm glad that we did get to know our father.