"Passport."

Ember handed over her passport, watching as the man revised it and finally slapped his stamp on it. Once she passed every checkpoint, she rolled her suitcase out of the airport and got into the nearest taxi. It had been so long since she was home; everything was foreign to her.

Honestly, she wasn't sure why she returned after she missed the wedding. Samuel didn't mind that she did, so she could have stayed back, but something wouldn't let her leave things as they were. Back in Germany, she had a life. One built as a safe space to grow when she was a young adult. After so many years, she suddenly felt alienated from her family.

A stranger living on the outside, looking in. No one cared that she didn't attend the wedding. They were used to her living apart from them. It unsettled her greatly.

Ember didn't want to get back into her mother's hysterics, but she didn't want to become a ghost to her family. She had already missed a wedding; the next thing would be to miss the birth of a niece or nephew. One miss would lead to another, and with time everyone would be alright with her living thousands of miles away.

Her heart drummed as the taxi pulled up to the gates of the house, and one of the guards stepped forward with an outstretched hand, imploring the driver to stop. He came around, and she peeked at him from her window, smiling with pleasure when he greeted her with familiarity. At least he still remembered who she was.

After she made her payments, the guard took the bags and helped her carry them into the house. He left her in the hall, standing by her suitcases, admiring the room with fresh eyes. She definitely felt like an outsider.

"Excuse me?" Ember looked over her shoulder, turning to face the maid that walked out to speak to her. Recognition was slow to set in, but her eyes widened when it did. "Miss Ember."

"Yes, that's me." She walked further in, stopping in front of the staircase. "Is my father home?"

"Your father is..."

"Ember?" She looked to the stairs, and Giovanna was skipping down, hair flying across her face. "Mom didn't say you would be back."

"Mom doesn't know. No one does." She replied sweetly, kissing Giovanna's cheek and squeezing her hand. Ember addressed the maid again. "My parents, where are they?"

"Your father is in his study."

"And mom is in her room." Giovanna supplied before the other woman could finish.

"Okay, please set up any room for me. I'd rush up to say hello to my mother."

"Did you get a present for me?"

"Not a single thing." Ember rushed out before walking up the stairs.

She ran up the curved steps and into the stretch of the hallway on the first floor. The paintings on the wall were different than when she lived in the house, but she could still see her father's signature on most of them, so it meant he was still working on them. She touched the carved frame of one of the portraits and smiled at the painting of her mother with a large blue scarf over her head.

When she got to the thick ebony doors and knocked softly. Her mother invited her in, and she entered.

"Ember?"

She spread her arms out nervously on a shrug as if to say 'yes, it's me.' As her mother stood from the chair, Ember kept her back straight, her arms returned to her side, and she managed a smile just before her shoulders were sized in a tight grip.

"Your father and I didn't believe you would ever be coming back."

"I didn't think I would be coming back either. Samuel sent me so many wedding pictures. I honestly felt like I missed an event. You went all out on the wedding; I feel terrible for not being able to make it."

Her mother looked better than she imagined. Her hair had some highlights that made it look warm in the sunlight. She had changed the colour of her contacts from clear to another colour that accentuated the natural colour of her eyes. Her dimples were deeper, mainly because of her softening skin. She looked at ease, but it did nothing to lessen Ember's unease.

Her mother had not been the worst mom. She was never violent or abusive, but somewhere along the line, Ember grew out of feeling comfortable around her mom.

"I asked a maid to prepare a room for me. I hope that is alright."

"That's fine. Your father would love to have you stay with us instead of renting an apartment."

"Where is he?"

Her mother shook her head. "I haven't seen him since I came in here to work. I am sure someone in the house would know where he is."

"Okay, I am going to find him." The door opened, and her father walked in. He swept her into his arms before she could utter a word. "Dad! I am so happy to see you too."

Her father squeezed her so tight that even breathing became a problem, but when she choked out her next laugh, his hold loosened, and air filled her lungs. It was difficult to keep herself from bursting into tears, looking into his creased face.

Giovanna sauntered in after a rushed knock on the door. Ember looked past her dad and towards her sister. "I am guessing you told him?"

"Not like I was spreading the news. He came in to see the bags, and I explained that his little girl was home."

"What made you decide to come?" Her father asked sounding genuinely surprised. "When you said you couldn't make it to the wedding, I thought you wouldn't have any more reason to visit."

She rubbed his arms and heaved a dramatic sigh. "I decided I missed home a bit. I want to take the chance to finally get to know the newest addition to our family. Kali, right? I wanted to surprise Samuel. I felt horrible after missing the wedding."

"Samuel is no longer a child, you know?" Giovanna nonchalantly scoffed, hooking her thumbs on the belt loops of her shorts. "You don't need to keep acting like his mother."

"Giovanna it's been barely twenty minutes. Twenty minutes. I don't need this until I am rested and in form."

"Both of you stop." Her father ordered. He stared at Giovanna and said, "behave."

"That's my cue to leave. I am going to hang out with some friends, I'll be back for dinner."

Giovanna hugged their parents and blew Ember a kiss before fluttering out of the room. Ember only sighed, she was used to Giovanna's childish behaviour, and she couldn't judge when she had been more or less the same. Well, she had been the same when she was ten. As Giovanna was eighteen, Ember reasoned that the girl was more than spoilt.

"I want to go and see Samuel before someone spoils my surprise and informs him that I am here," Ember said to her mother. "I need his address."

"Let me get it for you."

Her mother picked a piece of paper from her and bent over to write the address down while Ember stood by her father. He tapped her arm gently to get her attention.

"You just arrived; shouldn't you rest a bit?"

"They are preparing a room for me. I'll be back before it's done, and then we can chat up afterwards."

Her mother came back with a piece of paper. Ember rushed out after promising not to take too much time. She took one of the family cars and entered the address into the GPS. The house wasn't too far from the mansion. It was actually a reasonable distance between the city and the town area.

When Samuel told her he was getting married, to another woman, out of the blue, the news came as a shock. There were too many oddities, and Samuel did not give much information on his new wife or how he felt about Flora.

The location of the new house was how he had planned to live with Flora. Close to the town so she could visit her father, and close to the city so he could stop by the family mansion. Ember didn't know what to make of Samuel's sudden change of heart.

When she arrived at his new house, she parked outside the gate and entered the compound through the wicket gate.

When she rang the bell, she heard it ring through the house. Her excitement was mixed with apprehension.

She didn't have to wait too long. There was a thud on the other side of the door, and the handle bent before the door was thrown open. A young woman walked out. She wore jeans and a t-shirt with an apron hanging down her neck. It was no one but her new sister-in-law, Ember had seen too many pictures not to be able to tell.

"You must be Kali. My new sister-in-law." Ember jutted her hand out between them.

"And you..." Kali shook her hand. "You must be Ember."