This chapter is for Cupcake, to celebrate the occasion of her 16th Birthday. Happy birthday Cupcake, I hope you enjoy it.
Sang crept quietly down the stairs of her Grandparent's place very early the day after they had arrived at long last in Massachusetts. No one else was awake and she really wanted to look around by herself. She was very happy to share her memories with her family, but she wanted to look at it all herself first. Just to get her head around everything.
Turning left at the stairs she walked into the library and gazed happily at all the shelves filled with books. She had to remember to thank Mr and Mrs D for organising all the furniture to go back in here she thought.
Even the old sideboard had its bowls and trinkets in the right places, and the photo frames on Grampa's desk were in the right order too, she thought to herself, sitting in her old blue chair near the front window and gazing reminiscently around.
After satisfying herself that everything was as she remembered, Sang then practically bounced into the kitchen and gazed happily out the large window overlooking the back garden. Her eyes lit up remembering the fun times she had had with Grammy and Grampa.
Knowing everyone was still sleeping Sang crept quietly out the back door in her sleep shorts and top. She'd be back before anyone else woke up, she thought to herself. She just wanted to explore a little by herself. She had had enough drama to last a lifetime, and she didn't need anyone seeing her if she got a little emotional over nothing in particular.
Sitting on the grass and looking down at the fish pond they had built all those years ago, Sang heard a faint noise past the dull red brick fence hiding her Grampa's old vegetable patch. Rising slowly to stand silently Sang heard a faint clinking sound again. Eyes narrowing, she realised it was still too early to wake anyone. Besides, it was probably a neighbourhood cat or something. What could go wrong if I just take a little peek? She asked herself, before she took a running jump and quietly pulled herself up onto the top of the fence.
Sang quickly gained her balance and shading her eyes from the early morning glare of the sun she looked around quickly before spotting a man working in the vegetable patch. Sang blinked and then grinned to herself before jumping down and creeping up behind the man. "Good morning Robbie, are you having fun?" She burst out, before giggling when the tall man stiffened suddenly before spinning around and staring down at her.
"Little Rose!" The man called Robbie exclaimed, blinking once before throwing down his spade and holding out his arms.
"How'd you know it was me Robbie?" Sang grinned, before giving a quick hug to her Grampa's old student and stepping back. She still wasn't completely comfortable with anyone much, and it had been years since she had seen him after all.
Robbie's face split into a smile "Well, Rosie. You know you're the only person who could ever sneak up on me in here, and you always asked me if I was having fun," he said, his speech slow and correct. "Besides, Mr Drummond let me know you were coming to visit." Robbie looked around carefully "I thought your friends were coming with you?" He asked looking slightly confused.
"They're all still asleep Robbie. Would you like to meet them? We can have breakfast all together a bit later." She asked kindly.
Robbie thought the offer over carefully. "Aw, little Rose. I'm not really keen on meeting people without warning. You know that. I like everything planned." He said in his slow manner of speaking.
Sang smiled gently. "That's okay, Robbie. Maybe another time," she said before changing the subject as she spotted the strawberry patch. "Do you have any spare strawberries?" she asked hopefully.
Robbie grinned. "Of course. When Mr Drummond mentioned he hoped you would come visit I made sure there were as many growing as I could fit in. I had too many seedlings so I made sure not to plant too many beans and used the space in a better way. The shelters won't miss them, I promise." He said, referring to the main benefactors of his hard work.
"Oh good." Sang and Robbie grinned at each other, before picking up a basket each and collecting their bounty.
...
Mr Blackbourne stood at the kitchen window looking out over the back garden thoughtfully. Sang was out there somewhere he would bet his car on it. He just couldn't see where. He knew she was up, because she had left a book on what he remembered her telling them was her chair in the library and the back door was unlocked. He wondered briefly if she wanted company, but he rather thought she might be taking a little trip down memory lane and she deserved privacy for that.
Just as Sean joined him at the window and passed him a freshly brewed coffee he spotted Sang coming through the timber gate in the old brick fence ..... with a young man. "What the hell! Care to explain who that is with Pumpkin." Sean exclaimed.
The Chief's eyes narrowed in on the man in question. "I have no idea, Sean. Perhaps .." he started only to be interrupted by Gabe, who had obviously just woken up and wandered in looking for coffee also. "Morning" he grumbled before his eyes widened as he saw what they were looking at. "What the fuck! Who is that with Trouble? What is she doing with some stranger and why the hell is she wearing her pyjamas outside at the crack of fucking dawn?" He shouted as his eyes bulged.
"Calm down, Mr Coleman." The Chief growled. He hated it when he didn't know the answers to things, and for some reason this was really bothering him. They'd been here less than a day and already people were paying attention to their Sang. He didn't like it one bit. This .... person .... was unknown to them. Although apparently their girl did know him. Whatever. He thought, he needed to get his hand off Miss Sorenson's arm and stop smiling at her like that. He wasn't family.
"Calm down? Fuck that." North declared joining them at the window and watching as the pair went around the side of the house. "I'm going to find out who that is right now," he added before marching to the back door.
"Guys. Calm down." Sean almost shouted "Do you trust Sang or not?" he frowned, stopping Gabe and North in their tracks. "In case you didn't notice, Sang was smiling. She obviously knew who that guy was and she in no way appeared scared. Trust her to know what she's doing, please."
"Not the fucking point, Doc. We don't know who he is, do we!" Gabe exclaimed before the Chief sighed.
"Enough. As much as I also am unhappy with this little development as you, I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why Miss Sorenson is running around in the garden at the crack of dawn with some stranger."
"Yeah, there probably is." Nathan said from the doorway, where he and the rest of his brothers were watching everything unfold.
"Can't wait to hear it." Luke grinned, poured a coffee and promptly sat down happily. "If I remember correctly, the last time Cupcake ran around outside in her pyjamas she shot you with a water gun Mr Blackbourne." Luke smirked as Silas and Kota chuckled softly.
"I miss all the fun," Sean complained softly, before his smile widened as Sang danced in the back door. "Hey Pumpkin, where've you been?" He asked quickly, before his more territorial brothers could hound Sang for the full story.
Sang pulled up quickly and clutched her basket to herself in surprise. "Hi guys." She exclaimed happily. "Guess who I just met in the garden?"
"We don't know Miss Sorenson. Who did you meet?"
Sang blinked at the tone of voice the Chief used. She wasn't sure exactly what was wrong, if anything was, so she decided to let it go and figure it out later if necessary. "Robbie. An old student of Grampa's."
Victor stepped forward and took the basket gently from Sang. "Why don't we give the strawberries to North, he can make breakfast and you can sit down and tell us all about Robbie." He said kindly, before glaring around at his brothers. "Get a grip" he mouthed at them over Sang's head as he held a chair out for her.
Sang smiled sweetly at Victor. He was always so kind she thought to herself, before launching into the story of Robbie.
"Robbie was Grampa's best student the second year I was here." Sang recollected thoughtfully. "I can remember how upset and worried Grammy and Grampa were at the time. He had a car accident you see, and it didn't look like he was going to survive. He was in therapy for months afterwards. It caused him some minor brain damage, and it was apparent he wouldn't be able to get a job in the future in his chosen field. The poor guy couldn't even finish his degree." Sang took a sip of the iced coffee Sean had passed to her and continued.
"Grampa always knew lots of things about his students. He really cared about them and he knew that Robbie always had an interest in horticulture in general. So Grammy and Grampa helped him set up a gardening business. He was the first person to benefit from the Kismet Rose Foundation that they created from the profits of those books they wrote." Sang shrugged and kept talking softly as though she was speaking her memories out loud.
"It started off small with mowing lawns and grew to maintaining gardens and landscaping as his health improved. These days he has people working for him. He gained his independence and is a valued member of the community. He gives the vegetables from here to a local shelter, and the ones he grows for himself in his garden he sells at the open air markets on a Saturday morning. If there's any extra from here he sells them too. He does that for the fun of it. He's very happy, and the Foundation keeps a look out just to ensure no one tries to take advantage of him." Sang grinned suddenly as she looked around at the now silent group "He's got the greenest thumb I've ever seen. If you can kill it, he can revive it."
"We all good now, boys?" Sang asked. It had taken her a while but she had finally realised what some of them had had a problem with.
Kota smiled at her softly "Always, Sweetie."