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Vespyr was mine, and I wouldn’t have accepted anyone else touching her.

“How are you holding up, Mama?”

“Oh, I’m just fine. But I have a lot to tell you guys.” She smiled, then looked past me to see Papa walking toward us, and when he reached us, I stepped aside to let him greet her.

“So good to see you again, Judd,” Mama said.

They kissed, and I turned to look at Jason who was setting down our duffle bag next to the front door.

I nodded at him as I realized Mama and Papa would be occupied for a while, and after he nodded back, he told Sitka to get in the car so they could drive home.

“They missed each other,” Vespyr whispered next to me.

“Yeah, they sure did. I missed her too.”

She leaned against me as we watched them enjoy an intimate moment in front of the house we grew up in, and once they woke from their trance, they turned to look at us, both smiling.

“It’s so good to have you all home again. Vespyr, sweetie. You look pretty,” Mama told her, making her smile.

Ves stepped closer to her to give Mama a hug, and while they talked, Papa and I went inside with the duffle bag.

“Missed this place. You’re planning on spending New Year’s here too, right?” I asked, trying to get the conversation going.

“Now that we’re here, I don’t think she’ll let us leave anytime soon. Not sure I wanna go around town though.”

That was the end of our conversation since neither of us made an effort to keep it going.

I walked over to my bedroom to find it the way I left it two years ago.

I loved this place because of the memories I had made, but the forest would always be my home.

“I didn’t touch a thing. I just go over and clean your bedrooms once a week,” Mama assured, standing behind me.

I turned and smiled at her. “Thank you, Mama. Happy to be back for a few weeks.”

She smiled and placed her hand on my back, leaning against me before pointing toward my bed.

“I found this box downstairs and thought you might wanna look through it and see if there’s anything you’d like to take with you when you leave. Just some toys and drawings.”

I nodded, looking at the box with my name written on it in thick, black letters.

“I’ll look through my stuff later tonight. Anything I can help you with?” I asked.

“I was thinking of having dinner at Brian’s tonight. How does that sound?”

Papa immediately stopped going through the duffle bag to get his few clothes out, and we turned to look at him to see what his response was going to be.

“Tonight? Already?”

“I know there won’t be too many people, Judd. It’s just dinner, and after that, we’ll head back home,” Mama said hopefully.

Papa let out a heavy sigh and looked down at the clothes in his hands, then sighed again before gazing back up at us.

“All right. Just dinner.”

I smiled at Mama, knowing how happy it made her to go out as a family again.

It’s what she missed most.

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