Aurora's Point Of View

Dacie reached the end of the staircase in a bubblegum pink dress, her long hair in ribbon curls, monkey securely in hand. The monkey clattered to the floor as her jaw hit her collarbone as she saw me.

"Princess!" She cried in shock, sprinting to me.

"Hi, Dacie!" My voice broke slightly.

In that moment my eyes overfilled with tears as I broke into a smile, crouched down, opened my arms.

She collided into my body as I squeezed her in as tight as I possibly could in a hug. A great tremor took over her body as she began crying hysterically. Her hug was even tighter than her mother's. I didn't even care about holding it in anymore. Hearing her crying made me cry, and the tears sloped down my cheeks rapidly. I coasted my hand soothingly and gently over her hair.

"It's okay, I'm here," I whispered, concealing my sobs quietly. "I'm right here."

"I missed you," She sobbed.

"I missed you so much, too. So, so much sweet girl."

Over Dacie's cries I heard her parents sniffling and looked over, finding Alice dotting a tissue under her left eye.

"I-I thought I-I'd never see you 'gain," She sobbed, head buried into my dress.

"I know, baby," I sniffled loudly, hugging her tight as regret filled me. "I know, but look," I gently separated her from me and gave her a wobbly smile. "I'm here. I'm right here. I missed you so much."

She gave me a wide smile back and immediately ran back into my arms, crushing me. I giggled and her parents laughed as I hugged her tightly again.

"Dacie, we wanted to surprise you, sweetheart," Her father crouched down, rubbing her back. He continued to soothe her as she cried. "Is it okay if Aurora spends ThanksGiving dinner with us?"

Dacie nodded vigorously with her head hidden in my shoulder causing everyone to laugh loudly.

Dacie lifted herself off me and Alice handed me a tissue, which I used to carefully clean Dacie's soft cheeks.

"What a beautiful dress!" I complimented.

"What do we say, Dace?" Her father gently reminded.

"Thank you," Dacie blushed and said sweetly. "Come on, come on, I gotta show you my room! I gotta show you everything!" Dacie hopped up and down, taking my hand.

"Okay, I can't wait to see!" I climbed up, excited.

"Arlan, you can stay here while I go," I played it off as a suggestion, but he knew I was telling not to come with us.

He nodded.

"Of course, I'd love to stay with the Blake's and chat while you two have your girl time," He grinned warmly at Dacie's parents.

I follow Dacie dragging me away.

"Careful not to run too fast up the stairs, Dace!" Her father called from behind us.

"Woah, these are a lot of stairs!" I joke, following Dacie up a long and winding staircase.

"Yeah, mama says they're Princess stairs, and it's like entering a castle. B-but I told her you're a real life Princess. She still calls me Princess, though," She rambles and I laugh quietly to myself, missing her babbles and rambles when she speaks.

We approach a door covered in taped-on drawings of cats and princesses and she pushes open the door. A large, plush carpeted room reveals a Queen sized bed and toys lining the perimeter of the room. The wallpaper was pink and white striped with cute bunnies all over it. It was surely nicer than the damp, cold, small room with flickering lights in our foster home. I exhaled in disbelief.

"This is beautiful, Dacie."

"So thiiiis is my bed," She clambers on and starts hopping up and down, giggling, before landing on her bottom, breathless.

"Careful there," I warn, cackling.

"And, and thiiiiis," She scrambles up and dashes to the far side of the room. "Is my Barbie vanity where I do my makeup! You got me this Princess! B-but I never saw you in it. Will you sit?"

"Of course," I nod, smiling preciously at her. Seating myself down, the seat just barely fits. I shift uncomfortably and laugh under my breath in ridiculousness.

"I think these are meant for mini-princesses, hm? I'm a little big for this, don't you think?" I joke.

She cackles blissfully in a fit of laughter and covers her mouth, amused by how I don't fit.

"Definitely too small for me," I add, increasing her giggles.

"Ya, come on, come on," She drags me out, leading me to the Barbie car. Squeezing herself in, she moves her hands quickly on the fake wheel. "Beep beeeeep, signal on the freeway!"

My eyebrows shoot up.

"How do you know all that, Dace?" I say in surprise.

"Daddy yells it a lot in the car on the way to first grade."

"Ah," I laugh, shaking my head. "How is first grade? Are you in a different school now?"

"Ya, but come push me, Roura!"

I giggle and shake my head at her demands, getting behind the car and pushing her all around the room.

"Weeee! Oh, watch out, dere's a bus comin!" She gasps, spinning her wheel.

"Oh no! Vrrrrmmm!" I play along, quickly spinning the car and running across the room as she squeals and giggles.

"I'm at a new school in Bell's Hair," She says and I giggle at her mispronounciaton of Bel Air. "We're learning about triangles. The kids are really nice. My best friend's name is Annabell, we have sleepovers. She has a puppy named Popcorn."

"That's so adorable! Do you like dogs?"

"A-huh! Mommy says we can't get a puppy, though." Dacie suddenly squeals. "Could you convince mommy to let me get a puppy??!"

"Uhh..." I trail off.

"Oh, please, please, please Princess! You're magical, I know you can do it."

For some reason, Dacie believing I'm this magical being gave me more confidence than anything else.

"Okay, sweet girl. I'll talk to her after dinner," I say, still wheeling her Barbie car across the room.

"Roura?" She asks in a small voice.

Breathlessly, I pause and slowly turn her car around to face me.

"Yeah?"

She looks down and plays with her small fingers. Then, her large, innocent eyes meet mine.

"W-where'd you go?"

I gulped and tried to resist tears from entering my eyes as I felt myself get choked up. I never thought I'd see Dacie again, so I never thought I'd hear a soul-crushing question like that and be put on the spot.

"Well, I went to boarding school, remember?" I awkwardly lie, the words sounding so weird leaving my mouth.

"Oh yeah...well, what does that mean? You look at boards? My school teacher Miss Ashwood has a chalkboard."

I giggle and smooth the crown of her hair soothingly.

"No, silly. It's like..."

Well, what was it like? I honestly had no idea what boarding school was really about, seeing I had no plans to ever go.

"You go away from home, so you're ready when it's time to go away for college."

"Do you miss home?" She questions, cocking her head to the side.

The foster home...?

"A little," I lie, only because the real answer is far too complicated for a seven year old to understand.

"I-I just really wanted to say goodbye to you, you know. And my birthday passed. I didn't get to see you. I thought I never would."

"Oh my gosh, well, happy late birthday!" I take her hands and rattle them to get her to giggle, which works. "Why don't you show me all the presents you got and tell me all about it!"

"Okay! Mommy and daddy brought a petting zoo to the house and brought the whole class over, I'll show you the scrapbook!"

After looking over the scrapbook, playing some more, and hearing about the day she got adopted, I was just about exhausted. A knock on the door broke me from my thoughts, the bedroom door creaking as it opened.

"Knock, knock," Alice giggled, nose scrunching. "Sorry to interrupt, girls, I just wanted to get a picture before dinner," She held up her camera.

"Oh, sure," I nodded, happily climbing off the floor and onto Dacie's bed. I helped Dacie climb on up as we hugged each other.

"I'll take two, Aurora, so you can keep one," Alice promised with a soft smile, raising the camera up. "Say gobble!"

"Gobble!" We both sang out, smiling big. The camera snapped twice.

Alice peered down to examine the photographs.

"Ah, so beautiful, I love it! Thank you girls," She smiled, looking back up.

"Let me see, let me see!" Dacie squealed, shimmying off the bed as I yawned and rubbed my eye.

Alice bit her lip with a bit of concern as she smoothed Dacie's hair.

"Aurora, you woke up early and had such a long drive. Why don't I show you to the guest room, you can take a nap?"

The day had been quite exhausting, so I nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, Alice, I'd really appreciate that."

"Dacie, honey, we'll be right back," Her mother patted her daughters head as she lead me away.

After closing the guest room door, Alice laughed.

"It amazes me how a little girls energy will never run out. You must need a good nap."

"Thank you so much again for inviting us, Alice. I've missed Dacie so much. It's a dream come true getting to run around and play with her. She's grown up so much and it's so clear you and Denver are raising her so well."

Alice smiled sympathetically and squeezed my arm.

"I'll send Arlan up when dinner's ready."

Nodding, I sat on the bed while Alice softly closed the door. I collapsed onto the soft bed and sighed, quickly dozing off. The day had been overwhelming and a nap would be perfect before dinner.