Imperfect

S I X T E E N - M A S O N C L A R K

Johnny watched as I headed up to the ex-wife's door. I knocked on it; but then, my brother decided to get out of the car.

"What are you doing?" I whispered to him.

"Here I come..." a voice from inside said.

"You are not about to go through this a second time," Johnny stated as he walked up to me, "so I'm joining in this time..."

I smiled at him; he was the best brother that I've ever had.

The door opened, a woman opened the door, who I supposed was the ex-wife of my father.

  It was strange, it was very strange. Not only was the woman, but Johnny and I were also speechless at the fact that we've known this woman for a full day...

She looked at us, "Stranger," she said, "and-and Johnny, what are you two doing here? How did you know where I lived?"

"Can we talk about something for a minute?" I asked the woman kindly.

"Sure," she smiled, inviting us into her house, "come on in. You can't stay long though, because my children would be back from school in a few minutes."

"This won't take long..." I told her as both Johnny and I entered inside the house.

The house looked amazing inside. Family portraits was on the wall, including a wedding picture of my sister and my brother-in-law.

"Can I ask you something?" I questioned the woman as I sought down on her living room couch.

"You can ask me anything..." she smiled as she sought down on the couch as well.

Johnny was sitting right beside me, so I was comfortable asking the woman the question that was on my mind—not the question about my father.

"Why do you have a wedding picture of my sister and my brother-in-law?" I asked her, pointing at the photo behind her.

She looked at the photo, and then she looked back, shocked.

"You are Abigale's brother?" she questioned me.

"Yes I am..." I said with a smile.

"Don't worry," she said laughing and joking, "I didn't steal the picture from their house if that's what you're thinking."

"How did you get the picture," my brother asked the lady, "are you close friends with her husband?"

The lady laughed, as she crossed her legs, "No not friends," she explained, "that's my nephew..."

This would've been less confusing if I had asked the woman her name in the first place—she never told Johnny or me her name at the wedding.

"I'm his Aunt Joan," she smiled, "what did you two want?"

I choked as she asked me my reasoning for visiting her.

  My brother looked at me to see if I was alright while Lawrence's aunt was waiting for a response.

"I came to find out some answers..." I tried to explain, while I was sweating bullets—really nervously.

"Answers about what, sweetheart?" Joan asked me as she got up from the chair.

"Do you guys want some tea?" she asked us both...

I couldn't speak; I was frozen, I was nervous to ask the question—believing that she would do the same thing as my father's mother did when I came on her steps wanting answers.