.:Author's Note:.

Winston's mom calls him Winnie, and the rest of his family calls him Pooh.

I'm too creative for my own good. 🤣 *pats myself on the back*

Please excuse any mistakes.

***

Winston's POV:

"It feels good to be home," my mother said softly as Dad wheeled her into their bedroom. My heart tightened at the peaceful look on her face when she caressed the familiar bedding. "Right here."

"Right here what?" I asked as I set her bags down. My brother, Conrad, helped her into the bed since my dad's back had weakened on him ages ago. Once she was sitting comfortably, my mom glanced over at me with the best possible smile she could manage in her condition.

"Right here is where I want to go."

Beside me, my sister, Francine, choked on her own breath. "I can't do this," she sobbed before quickly leaving the room. We watched her go before my dad, brother, and I all looked at Mom with obvious frowns

"Honey, can you at least try not to be so morbid?" Dad questioned, releasing a deep sigh afterward.

"I'm not being morbid. I'm sorry if it comes off that way; but I am at peace with dying, and it's not something I fear anymore, especially when I'm surrounded by my family." It was uncomfortably silent after her statement, but she didn't seem to notice – or she was blatantly ignoring the feeling. When no one moved to say anything else, she sighed. "Fine. I won't say anything morbid again."

"Thank you," Conrad spoke before kissing her cheek. "I'm going to make sure Franny is okay."

"Tell her I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Mom."

Conrad quickly went in search of our sister while I stayed exactly where I was. I didn't know what I should be doing with myself. There were bags that needed to be unpacked as well as funeral plans to start preparing, but none of those tasks seemed important at the moment. If anything, I was deliberately trying to withhold on working on the latter.

"Winston?" Mom called out to me as another few quiet minutes passed. It was then that I noticed I had been buried under my own thoughts. Dad sat in a comfy chair beside the bed, holding onto Mom's hand as they both looked at me with concern. "Why don't you give Jonathan a call? Let him know that we've reached home safely."

"Who's Jonathan?" Dad asked, causing the tiniest bit of color to fill my cheeks. His eyes widened in understanding at seeing the red tint on my face. "Oh, what do we have here? A new boyfriend?"

"Dad!" I groaned in embarrassment. "Now is not the time."

"Now is always the time, Pooh. Honey, do you approve?"

"I more than approve." My mom smiled teasingly. "Jonathan and his daughters are truly Godsent."

"Daughters?"

"Twin girls. When you meet them, you'll know what I mean when I tell you that they are angels."

"Well, I can't wait to meet them."

"I'm going to give them a call now," I mumbled, feeling just a tad embarrassed. My parents smiled playfully at me, and I took that as my cue to leave. I stopped in the living room to collect my bags but paused at the sight of Franny chewing on her nails aggressively as she stood by the window.

"I thought Conrad was coming to check on you," I spoke, causing her to jump before turning around to face me. My sister looked at me with red puffy eyes and a runny nose. There also happened to be small specks of blood at the corner of her mouth from all of her nail biting.

"Wife called," Franny replied with a shrug before looking down at her hand. "I guess old habits die hard, huh?"

"You don't have to explain that to me." I chuckled lamely. "I know all about bad habits."

Franny grinned slightly before it fell quiet between us. I haven't seen my sister in months and being in her presence again made me nervous for some unknown reason. We didn't have the close relationship that Jonathan and Macy had, seeing that she was ten years older than me, but I still loved her dearly, and I knew the feeling was the same.

"How have you been?" We spoke at the same time, causing the unnecessary tension to dissipate as we laughed. Franny sighed before she took a seat on the long sofa, and I decided to sit right beside her. She placed her head on my shoulder and clasped her still slightly bleeding hands together.

"This whole thing with Mom is literally making my hair fall out," Franny said with a sigh. "I've never in my life seen someone so ready for death."

"That's Mom for you." I shrugged. "Even on her deathbed, the lady has everything thought out. I actually can't help but admire her."

"It's admirable as it is heartbreaking. What are we going to do about Dad?"

"That's something I was fixing to ask you and Conrad. You two are the oldest after all."

"Yeah, but all three of us are his kids who all happen to live in different states. It wasn't an issue before since he had Mom, but when she's gone, there's no way in hell I'm going to let him live alone."

"Making Dad live alone hadn't even crossed any of our minds. We're not monsters." Conrad spoke suddenly from the living room entrance. Franny sat up straight to look between all of us as our brother took a seat. "And we're not putting him in a nursing home either."

"Of course not! Those places cause more harm than good."

"Okay then," I cut in. "So, what are we going to do? You two are more focused on what we aren't going to let happen when we should be coming up with a solution."

"Well, there is one option. One of us can move back in with Dad." Conrad said, pointedly looking at me.

"What's that stare for?"

"Come on, Pooh. You don't have a husband or kids yet. You'd be the perfect person to take care of Dad."

"Excuse me?!" I questioned in bewilderment. "First of all, you're talking as if Dad would be a burden to you and Franny because you're both married with kids."

"I wouldn't call him a burden but uprooting everyone in the family to move to Indiana for Dad would be a little much," Franny said thoughtfully.

"Dad is family!"

"You know what I mean. What's the big deal, Pooh? Other than your job, what do you have in New York?"

"I have a boyfriend and two little girls who would all be devastated if I decided not to return home." I snapped, causing my brother and sister to stare at me in shock. "Just because I'm not married doesn't mean I don't have my entire life in New York. And how is it fair that you'd both ask me to move back to Indiana when you both know the reason I left in the first place?!"

"Why don't you all ask me what I want?" Dad's voice sounded from the spot Conrad had been standing in a few minutes ago. His sudden appearance made all of us jump before we looked at him apologetically. Without it needing to be said, none of us wanted him to hear any parts of this conversation, especially when we all sounded so ungrateful of him. "I don't want any of you kids moving back home."

"Dad."

"Just listen," Dad said sternly. "Constance is the only reason I have stayed in this house for as long as I have. She has been and will continue to be my wife and the love of my life, even in death. However, it's going to be painful staying here when she's gone because of all the memories we've shared. Because of this, I'm going to sell the house."

"What, Dad? Are you sure about this?" Conrad worriedly questioned out loud although we were all thinking it.

"I'm as sure as your mom is on her deathbed." Dad joked lamely. "Constance wants to be cremated, and I've decided to take her ashes with me when I travel the world."

"You want to travel the world?" Franny asked.

"I do; so did your mom, but it just couldn't happen until now, unfortunately."

"And you're going to do it by yourself?"

"Not by myself, with Constance, just not in the way we had imagined."

"You've thought about this for a long time, huh?" I muttered, feeling my throat tighten up at just the thought of my parents.

"I have. I figured it's a win-win for all of us. I could never – would never ask any of you to move back to Indiana for me. You all have your lives to live, and as a parent, I just want you to be happy. You all definitely wouldn't be happy stuck here with me. I for one know I wouldn't be."

"Should we take offense to that?" Franny laughed while crying.

"No." Dad shook his head. "Never be offended by honesty. Happiness is a state of mind, and although I love you all very much, I am the happiest when I'm alone with my wife. You've all left the nest and have found exceeding happiness elsewhere. There's no way I'm going to ask any of you to throw that feeling away for me."

"Even in our own old age, the man is still lecturing us." Conrad joked, making us laugh, Dad included.

"So, when you're traveling the world, will you keep us updated, just so we know you're okay?" Franny inquired.

"I'll call each of you every day if it'll calm your nerves," Dad replied. "But I'll be fine. I may be old, but I still have a lot of living to do, and so do all of you."

***

Dad talked with us for a bit longer, getting the details on all of our lives before returning to Mom's bedside. I decided to take my leave as well. The conversation with Franny and Conrad before Dad had stepped in hadn't left my mind. For some reason, their words got under my skin.

What do you have in New York?

Everything! My whole life was in New York, and for them to think that I had nothing going for me after moving from Indiana over ten years ago pissed me off. Did I really seem that pathetic?

Deciding not to think myself into a bad mood, I sighed as I stripped out of my clothes and prepared for bed. It was almost one in the morning seeing as Mom and I had taken a late flight to Indiana and I had spent what felt like minutes – but was really two hours – talking to my dad and siblings. Fatigue was catching up to me.

However, a text message from Jonathan wiped all of the sleep from my eyes.

The simple message made me smile as I responded.

***

For the first time since finding my mother in the bathroom, I had a peaceful sleep.

I don't know why that was, but I wasn't going to ponder on it.

I stretched out my muscles before rolling out of bed and heading to the bathroom. In there, I did my morning routine, however leaving the shower for a later time. Once I was done, I went to the kitchen, saying a quiet good morning to Franny and Conrad who were sitting by the island.

They glanced up at me, replying in hushed tones themselves before the kitchen fell into an awkward silence. I went about finding something to eat. Only the scraping of metal spoons in glass bowls could be heard, seeing as we all decided on some cereal for breakfast.

The time seemed to stretch on before Conrad finally spoke up.

"I'm sorry about last night," he said to me apologetically. "I honestly meant no offense, Pooh."

"I know your intentions were pure, Conrad," I replied after giving it some thought. "If the roles were reversed, I would've thought I'd be the best person to take care of Dad too."

"Not only that." My brother mumbled. "I'm sorry about forgetting the trauma you experienced here. It really just slipped my mind at that moment. If I had remembered, I wouldn't have even volunteered you to move back to Indiana."

"It's okay."

"It's really not. I should've been way more considerate."

"Really, it's fine. I'm okay. I'm actually doing so much better since then, and I don't even know why I brought it up. I guess it just came out in the heat of the moment."

"Well, it needed to be said. I was an ass last night."

"You were." I paused before glancing at Franny with a playful smile. "You both were, but you're forgiven. I'm not one to hold a grudge when it comes to family."

"You didn't even apologize, and you're still forgiven?!" Conrad whined childishly as he looked at Franny.

"Pooh knows that I'm sorry with every fiber of my being." My sister replied. "We have a connection."

"Not better than ours!" My brother stuck out his tongue.

I chuckled as I watched the two playfully bicker like old times, letting all of my worries slip away as I was being reminded of what it meant to be family.