Don't Close Your Heart

"And if it all falls apart, I will know deep in my heart, the only dream that mattered had come true. In this life, I was loved by you"

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Dixie drove into the small town of Westchester Pennsylvania. She was really excited about the move because she would be seeing her sister, her brother in law, and meeting her three year old niece Violet for the first time. Yet in the midst of the excitement, she was sad. Sad that her daughter would never get to meet her wonderful father and know how great of a man he really was. She remembered the horrible day just like it was yesterday. The two red cars that she had been dreading to see showed up at her house. She literally dropped down to her knees when she found out that her husband Kris Miller had been killed by a road side bomb in Iraq. He had only been stationed there for nearly six months. He would be coming home for leave in the next month and finally get to meet his daughter Harlow, but in the tragedy of the events he never got to meet his daughter.

And the sad thing was, Harlow looked just like her daddy. It hurt Dixie so much but she knew it was time to get over it. She knew that Kris would always be with her and Harlow. He was watching over them from Heaven. Kris's mom Mary wanted Dixie and Harlow to move in with her but Dixie denied the offer stating that she had already made plans to move in with her sister. She also knew that if Dixie moved in with Mary she would be taking more care of her and Dixie didn't really want to do that. She wanted to be a mother to Harlow 100%.

She glanced in the rearview mirror to see the movers following her. They had to stop a few times on the way to Westchester. But, thankfully Dixie only lived in Ohio so it wasn't that far of a drive probably eight hours in total. She glanced down at her GPS system to see that she needed to turn left in a mile. She turned on her blinker signaling for the movers that she would be turning left. She got in the center lane and waited for the traffic to clear before she turned. She was surprised that Valerie and Grant lived down a dead end road. But, when she pulled up to the house she smiled. It was a beautiful log cabin type house with an arched roof, and a balcony that overlooked Westchester.

"Welcome to your new home Harlow" Dixie said. She looked back to see that Harlow was fast asleep. She was surprised that during the trip that she had been really good. She hasn't screamed in the car like she usually does mostly because Dixie put on her numerous HIM albums. The sound of Ville's voice made Harlow fall asleep instantly.

Dixie got out of her car and went around to get Harlow. She opened her eyes when Dixie lifted her out of the car seat. She glanced around then whined a little bit. Dixie calmed her down and looked to the front door to see that it opened. Valerie and Violet stepped out and ran over to greet her.

"Oh my gosh, Harlow is so beautiful" said Valerie. She gave Dixie a hug and lifted Harlow out of her arms. "I missed you so much little sis"

Dixie laughed. "I missed you too." She turned to look over at the elder mover. She was surprised that a man his age could move heavy items but he got the job done.

"Aunt Dixie, can Harlow stay in my room?" asked Violet. She was hugging onto Dixie's leg. She smiled down at her niece.

"I'm sorry hun but Harlow needs to sleep in my room. She wakes up quit a lot at night and I don't want her waking you up"

"She won't wake me up"

"Violet, you heard your aunt" Valerie replied firmly.

"Fine" Violet stomped her way back towards the house.

"Ma'am where do you want everything at?"

"Just put the items on the porch and we'll carry them in" said Violet.

"Are you sure ma'am we can take the items inside" said the younger mover.

"It's alright, thanks though" Violet looked over at Dixie. "I'll show you around the house"

Dixie followed her inside the beautiful house. It was decorated with a western theme, Valerie had always loved horses and the type of theme. She showed Dixie around the house, and then led her into what would be her and Harlow's room.

"I thought that maybe we could go to the store later and buy some paint and decorations for your room. Would you like that?"

Dixie looked around the plain room that contained nothing but a hard wood floor and white walls. She agreed to later go to the store so she could fix up the room. It seemed to have enough space for her bed, along with Harlows crib and rocking chair. She already knew what color she wanted for the walls, a soft pink color with black and silver accessories and a bedding. She also thought a black chandelier would be beautiful. She went over the details with Valerie who just smiled.

"You're worse than Violet. She adores pink"

Dixie laughed. "It's my favorite color"

"Do you have a bottle for her?"

Dixie noticed that Harlow was getting quit fussy. She knew that she should probably change and feed her before she got to involved with getting everything moved in. Dixie headed out to the car where she got the diaper bag. She handed the items to Valerie who began to change Harlows diaper.

"How are you holding up?" she asked while feeding the baby.

Dixie shrugged. "It's still hard but I'm learing to cope with it."

"No one said it would be easy"

"That's for sure. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a bad dream, I pinch myself just to see if I'll wake up but then I realize that it's real. Kris is dead and he's not coming back"

"Aunt Dixie, I drew you a picture!" said Violet. She came from her room with a piece of sketching paper in her hand. She gave it to Dixie who smiled. It was a picture of stick people who Dixie assumed to be Violet, her parents, Dixie, Harlow, and up in the corner was an angel.

"Who's that Violet?" Dixie asked while pointing to the angel.

"It's Uncle Kris, he's looking down on all of us from heaven. He's your guardian angel"

Dixie felt her eyes water up. She reminded herself that when she went into town she would get a frame to put the picture in.

"Thank you Violet. I love it sweet pea" she gave her niece a hug. She brushed away the tear rolling down her face before anyone saw. She was so glad that she had decided to move in with her sister and her family. She was already starting to feel at home.