Till Death (Quadrilogy)

Chapter 49

I put the inhaler in my back pocket and motioned for her to come further in the house. "AJ's in the kitchen having breakfast." She nodded and followed me back into the kitchen.

I closed the door and walked with her into the kitchen. "Grandma!" AJ looked up from his plate and smiled. "Hey sweetie, I came by to drop the rest of your things off, and to say goodbye." He stood up from his seat and sighed.

"Do you have to go grandma?" She sat her hand on the top of his hand and nodded. "I do, I thought I explained this to you bubba." "You did." He mumbled.

She pulled him into her and sighed. "Im getting really sick, and I need someone to look after me." "I can look after you." She chuckled. "Thank you, but it has to be a doctor, they're gunna take good care of me and make sure I get help with my sickness." He slowly nodded.

"Can I come visit you?" She rubbed his chin and let out a small smile, fighting back her tears. "Of course you can, Im sure August or Simone would bring you to the hospital." I nodded. "...Yeah, I can take you if you want AJ." He looked at me and then looked back at Maragret.

"....Okay..." She sighed. "Look, in the meantime, you should get to know everyone, they're your family too you know." He looked down at the ground and nodded. "Okay grandma." She kissed his forehead and gave him a really big hug. "You be good okay? I love you."

"Love you too." He mumbled. She let him go and turned to me. "Thank you so much for this, I know it's alot to take in right now, but I really appreciate the both of you for doing this." I nodded and let out a small smile. "It's no problem, really....right August?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it's fine." She wiped a fallen tear and cleared her throat. "Okay well, I should get going, thank you guys again." She smiled at August and I before showing herself out. I watched AJ climb back into his seat, staring into his plate, continuing to eat, going back to his normal silent self.

************

"Mommy!!" Chills went through my spine once I heard Aliyah's voice booming through the house. I could hear her small feet getting closer and closer to me. Once she found me, she ran straight over to me and jumped in my lap. "I had so much fun with Auntie Stasia and Amara." I chuckled.

"That's good baby." She turned to her right and immediately pulled away from me once she seen August sitting there. "Daddy!!" She ran over to him, sitting in his lap. "I was wondering when you were gunna notice."

"When did you get here??" She wrapped her arm around his neck and looked up at him. "Yesterday afternoon." She nodded. "Oh, okay...are you staying?" August looked up at me, before answering. "....Uh yeah, I think so." Her face lit up.

"Yay!!" She climbed off his lap and slid to the ground. "Im gunna go put my bag upstairs, and we can have a tea party." She turned to run off towards the stairs, but I called her back. "Li-Li wait." She turned back around and walked over to me.

"Before you go upstairs, daddy and I have something to tell you." She nodded. I looked up at August, trying to find the words to explain this to her. "...Someone's gunna be staying here with us for awhile." She frowned. "Who?"

I swalloed hard before continuing. "...He's family." She nodded. "..Oh, is he here?" She asked looking around. I nodded my head yes. "Yeah...he's upstairs."

"...He's gunna be going to the same school as you starting next week." August added. She nodded. "Is he gunna be in my class?" I sighed. "I don't know, probably not, but that's not all." I looked over at August, motioning for him to tell the rest.

"Li-Li come here." She walked over to August, silent. "....Now like mommy said, he's gunna be staying here for awhile...so I want you to be nice to him okay?" She slowly nodded. "Okay daddy."