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I wandered into the room in a daze. As soon as I saw Savannah lying on the bed, I felt myself stand a little straighter and put on a brave face. “Hey, baby girl,” I said quietly.

Savannah turned away from Addy’s mom and her entire face immediately lit up. “Sissy! I thought you’d never come. I was so scared.” As quickly as she had lit up, her eyes began to well up. “They won’t tell me where Mama is.”

“Oh, baby,” I responded, feeling tears of my own coming on. “We need to talk about Mama and Jer.” Addy’s mom came over and gave me a quick, very comforting hug before pulling Addy and Ellie out of the room.

“We’ll come back in an hour or so,” she assured me. “You guys have a lot to talk about.”

As soon as they closed the door, I got Savannah to move over and climbed up on the bed next to her. Holding her close, I slowly explained to her what had happened.

After crying for a while, she finally drifted off to sleep. A few minutes later, Ellie, Addy and her mom peeked in through the door. I extracted myself from Savannah’s arms and went to meet them in the hall.

“How’d it go?” Addy asked, hugging me close.

“Alright,” I muttered. “About as good as you can expect I guess.”

“I hate making you do this, Riley, but there are a lot of things we have to talk about,” her mom cut in. “Would you mind if Addy and Ellie stayed with her for a bit and we went somewhere to talk?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Somewhere close though. I’m not leaving this hospital.”

We went to the cafeteria and grabbed a coffee each. We sat for an hour or so and discussed funeral arrangements before approaching the real core issue.

“You know how thankful I am for all your help,” I said, cautiously. “I just feel like we’re talking around the real issue here. I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do with Savannah,” I continued. I could feel the tears starting to build. “That sounds harsh and I love her and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure she’s okay but I don’t know how I’m supposed to raise her from this. The thought of dropping out of school really scares me.”

“You don’t have to drop out of school Riley,” Ms. Wright said quickly. “I’ve talked it over with my husband and you know we’ll help you out. You’re 20 years old and making something of yourself. You aren’t equipped to raise a 10 year-old. She can live with us until you graduate and can take her on your own. That’s not the real issue here. We’ve got your back on that. The issue here is you. You’re talking like a person still in shock. I’m worried about your mental health and how you’re dealing right now.”

“I’m handling it,” I muttered. “I don’t know what else to say. I don’t even think it’s hit me yet. I’m still in survival mode. I know the steps of what comes next. I need to bury my mother and my brother. I need to watch my father go to jail. I need to make sure my little sister can handle this. I’m coping.”

“Alright. When you’re ready for your breakdown? Come to me. I’m here for you. As of right now, I have to go by the funeral parlour and let them know what you want. They said they can release Savannah tomorrow. You’ll both come stay with us then.”

“Thank you, Ms. Wright,” I said quietly. “Without you I don’t know how I would deal with this.”

“Oh, baby,” she said, tears starting to well up. “You’re family. You’ll always be family.”

I went through the next couple of days barely thinking. We slowly got Savannah settled into the Wright’s house while we prepared for the funeral. I convinced them to put it off until Monday rather than Sunday as they wanted, for the sole fact that I didn’t know if I could get through it without Tyler by my side. I didn’t hear from him until Sunday afternoon. When I told him about the funeral arrangements he promised me he’d drive up after the game. With that confirmation I decided it was time to tell Savannah.

I went in and sat on her bed, pulling her close. “Hey, Sav.”

“Hey sissy.”

“I’ve got a very important question for you, okay?”

“Mmmhm,” she responded, going back to her colouring.

“Who’s your favorite hockey team?”

“Boston.”

“Thought so. Wanna break the rules tonight and stay up past your bedtime?”

“Why?”

“Well Boston has a game so I thought we could stay up and watch it together.”

“Will Ms. Wright be mad?”

“I’ll talk to her. I’m sure she’ll be okay with it this once.”

She shrugged her shoulders, essentially ending the conversation. It was the closest thing to interest I had gotten out of her in days, so I took it as a success and went upstairs to discuss my plan with Addy and Ellie.

It wasn’t long before the game was starting and we were all crowded around the TV. I sat next to Savannah and handed Addy my cell phone. Once I saw that she had the video set up I pulled Savannah in my lap and looked at her seriously. “Who’s your favorite player in the whole world?”

“Brad Marchand,” she said, starting to giggle.

“MARCHAND!” I exclaimed, trying to sound scandalized. “What about Tyler Seguin?”

“Seguin is dreamyyyy,” she replied, giggling as I tickled her. “But Marchand definitely plays better.” I couldn’t help but laugh at that before I looked at her seriously again and told her to wave towards the phone. “Who am I waving at?” she asked excitedly.

“You’ll find out soon,” I replied, kissing her cheek before blowing a kiss towards the camera. “Now get comfy and get ready to watch the Bruins kick butt.” She cozied up to me while I sent the video off to Tyler. The game flew by, with all of us getting way too into it. Luckily, the Bruins came out on top so Savannah was bouncing off the walls by the end of it.

“You stay hyper, baby girl. You’ve gotta stay awake for another couple of hours okay?”

“Why sissy? Hm? Why?” she asked through giggles.

“Well, sissy has a bit of a surprise for you.” Addy helped me set up a game of Monopoly to bide the time and keep Savannah awake while we waited for Tyler. As we were setting up I got a text from him.

“1. Marchy is definitely not more talented than me. 2. I am totally dreamy. 3. Your sister is probably the cutest kid I’ve ever seen. 4. I’LL SEE YOU IN TWO HOURS. <3 : )”

“Put your phone away and drive safe! Can’t wait to see you. xx”

It seemed like forever, but I eventually got a text from Tyler telling me he was in the driveway. “I’ve gotta go to the bathroom, baby girl. Play nice with Addy for a minute okay?”

“Kay sissy. Is that surprise going to happen soon? I’m getting very tired.”

“Yes,” I said, laughing a little. “Your surprise will arrive very soon.”

I walked out of the house to see Tyler leaning against the hood of his truck smiling up at me. “Is it even possible that I missed you this much and I’ve only known you for what, five minutes?” he asked, shaking his head and smirking.

I climbed up on the hood as he stepped back and turned around so I could sit in front of him. I wrapped my legs around his hips. “It’s completely possible,” I muttered, rolling my eyes. “I missed you just as much.” He leaned in and kissed me for what felt like forever. I could feel myself starting to get emotional again so I cut it off. “You need to go meet the munchkin. She’s been up for hours past her bedtime waiting to see what her surprise is.”

“You didn’t tell her about me?!”

“Hell no,” I scoffed, sliding off the truck. “This is going to be way more fun.”