I opened my eyes slowly, taking in the filtered light from the small window in the corner, and the crack of the door. I yawned, and shivered, rising up to find my sweatshirt. Taylor yawned too, but his eyes were wide open, so I could tell he'd been awake. I slipped the shirt on, and ignored the rest of the clothing strewn about the room.

"Good morning," he said, his voice sounding a bit lower than it had the night before.

"Good morning," I blushed, as if he was implying something more than your standard greeting.

"You sure didn't blush last night," he winked. Ugh, I knew he'd have to throw in a bad comment. Taylor couldn't be sweet for too long.

"Shut up. You know how to ruin a moment."

"Come here," he smiled, and I joined him. He slipped his arms around me, and I backed into his chest, still sitting. Something about his arms, so comforting, warm. It just felt right to be in them.

"I've still gotta' find that letter. I think we can go through the pictures, too, so we can show a few to Karen."

"We're going to have to go back to Oklahoma in a few days, Haley. The wedding's next week."

"Oh my God, really?" My eyes wide, I turned to face him. "It doesn't feel like it's been that long." I hadn't really let myself believe that the summer was rapidly disappearing. The wedding, Mackenzie and Zoë's play. And I'd have to go back to school. I groaned at the thought.

Taylor cracked a smile. "I didn't mention Haley, but you should've known. You really like it here, don't you? I didn't want it to hang over your head, but I just think it's time to go. Isaac called. He's excited . . . everything's ready. The rehearsal . . . I need to be there for him. And the bachelor party, heh, we've got something special."

"Taylor, I don't think I trust you at a bachelor party. Alcohol and strippers. Be careful. Poor Isaac doesn't know what he's getting into."

"Nah, he's worse than he actually lets on, Haley. And besides, I don't want to hear anything out of you. I've heard that you know exactly what gifts to give young brides-to-be."

"Taylor, one of these days, when you're least expecting it, I'm going to get even like you've never seen before. You're going to be crawling on your knees, and wishing you were never born."

"One of these days . . ." Taylor clicked his tongue, not believing I could do it. I ignored him, and just got up to push through the boxes. I needed the letter, and I needed to get home as well.

"Here, search through these. If you see anything cute, keep 'em for Karen. Don't mess them up to bad, though." I shoved a box of photos over to him, and I crawled around in search of the cedar chest. I don't know where Mama had that thing hid, but she'd done an excellent job of it. Fifteen minutes had past before I heard another word out of Taylor.

"Oh my God," Taylor's eyes grew, and his jaw dropped. I instantly sank, wondering what on Earth he'd found. I got up to go after him.

"What is it? What is it?"

"Haley Sue . . ."

"Taylor, you know I hate that, now what do you have?"

"Tsk. Tsk. Look." I picked up the picture. It was just one of me sitting on my bed, looking casual. I had a cheesy smile on, but it was probably just one of the snapshots Mama always did right before we went on vacations, to ensure the film was in right.

"It's just me in my room. What do you see?" I copped an attitude.

"Oh, I beg to differ. Just you in your room. What's behind you?" I looked at the picture again.

"The wall."

"What's on the wall?" He grinned like he couldn't have been any happier. I looked again, and realized what he was talking about. I'd been found out.

"Um . . . a few posters." I was guilty.

"Posters, huh? What kind of posters?" He pushed the photo in front of my nose, and declared his final victory.

"Hanson posters," I whispered, and closed my eyes.

"Ah ha! It's over for you, Haley Morgan. You've confessed. You're nothing more than a teenie."

"You dork! I was never a teenie. Yes, I owned the CDs, but I always wore bras with my tank tops."

"Damn," Taylor smiled. I nudged him on the shoulder.

"Shut up. I send you to look for meaningful pictures, and you find the one with a Teen Beat poster behind me."

"Teen Beat? You got that out of Teen Beat? I thought you might've bought the posters from somewhere respectful, but you got them out of a Teen Beat magazine. Oh, you don't know how good this feels to hear you say that."

"Taylor, shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" I yelled like I used to do to my sisters. "Well, at least I didn't decorate my walls with pictures of myself, you freak!"

"Can I blame it if I'm beautiful?" he smiled.

"Look. Look for our pictures, or I'm taking you home."

"Yes dear," he let out the last word, before I whopped him with an old newspaper.

"Taylor . . . this is it, I think."

"The letter? Read it."

"Um . . . okay."

"Dear Haley,"
You're in your crib now, and fast asleep. I feel sort of strange writing this to you, judging as how I didn't even do it for your sisters, and it'll be a several years before you can read. But I saw this on TV, and I think it's an excellent idea. I'm just supposed to write you a letter now, and you'll read it when you're much older. "By then, you'll be smart, and mature, you might even have a bunch of boys hanging out by the door, wanting to take you places. And if it's true, your father is judging them by his strict rules. Just ignore him, he's not ready. But you are. If your father and I can wait long enough without having the urge to go ahead and give this to you, you've graduated from college. My baby, the college graduate. I want you to go places, and I'm sure you've already gone pretty far in the first place.

The thought occurred to me, that maybe Daddy had told me about this letter early, because he didn't know if he'd be around much longer. Mama's death had made him wonder about that.

I want you to know that everyone thought you'd be a boy. The doctor swore the whole time that you would be. We all got a nice surprise when you graced us with your presence. Forgive me, you'll be wearing blue on up until you're walking. Then I might splurge, and get you something bright pink. Daddy was pretty excited that he was having a son, too. But, no, you didn't disappoint. He's got all of his miniature sports equipment, but if you ever get sick of football, come to me, and we'll be girls.

You're so small, Haley. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to have a child that didn't talk back when you told her to do something, let alone one that couldn't speak at all. You've got time left for that, though. You've already gotten quite a bit of attention. Visitors coming in and out to see the new Morgan girl. Your sisters are awful protective, but watch out for Karen; I think she's a little jealous.

I want you to know that we love you, your father and me. We love you very much, and we want to stand behind you all the way. You go make something of yourself, because Lord knows you're strong enough to do it. You're going to have many a memory as you grow up, and we want to be there the whole time. Always. We'll be with you always.

Love,
Mom and Dad

"Taylor," I blinked away a tear.

"It's okay. Come here." He held out his arms, and I collapsed in them. I think that's when I made peace with Mama. She'd be with me always, no matter if I could touch her or not. She was in my heart.

"We're back, Karen." We stepped through the doors, carrying a few boxes of photographs each. Karen surveyed the view, with a smirk on her face.

"You're hair's all messed up, Haley. I'm sure that it took all night to find all those photographs," she sympathized with an annoying tone.

"You're right, Karen. It's tough in that attic. With all the dust, it was lucky we came out alive." I matched her sarcasm.

"I'll bet," she gave Taylor a once over, and smirked again. "I bet you're exhausted from the search," she told him pointedly.

"I am. I was just getting ready to go on to bed."

"That's nice. Haley, why don't you follow him up?"

"Karen! God, you're one to talk!" Taylor excused himself, and she grinned.

"How was it?" Karen's the nosiest sister ever.

"Everything I'd ever hoped for," I smiled, "and more."

"Oh, I see. Did you find that letter Daddy was talking about?" she changed the subject.

"Yeah, I did."

"Oh, can I see it?"

"Actually, it's sort of personal, if you don't mind."

"Oh, that's okay." She looked a little hurt, but didn't press things.

"But I did bring home a lot of old pictures. I'm pretty tired, too, but we can go through them once, before I hit the hay."

"Sure, let's go into the dining room.

"Finally wake up?" Daddy asked when I came downstairs around ten o'clock. "It's just my bedtime, now," he smiled.

"Good morning and good night, Dad."

"You've got some messages there by the phone. Some boy called for you all day. Still got all those boys," he winked. He liked to tease me, but he knew full well that most of those boys were just friends through high school.

"Thanks, Daddy. Night night." He walked on down the hall, and into his bedroom. Stretching, I made my way over to the phone. Mike's name was written down a few times, matched with various times of the day. His number was scribbled across the top. The idea to ignore it, came across, but I thought I owed him as much as a phone call. I dialed the numbers, and ripped the top page off the message pad.

"Hello?" his voice prompted. He knew it was me, I could tell by the way he smoothed all the imperfections out.

"Hey Mike." I used the low, soft tone of voice that often comes from someone that's just woken up.

"Hey Haley. I've been calling all day."

"Well, I was at the old house for a while, and I've been sleeping all day. It's nice to get a break, you know?"

"Yeah, I know. Well, I can't really talk, but I was wondering if maybe we could hangout tomorrow, you know?"

"Um . . . tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I was talking to Karen, and she mentioned something about you having to go back to Tulsa, soon. I thought maybe we could spend the day together."

"Mike . . ."

"What? Just as friends. Completely. I mean, Taylor gets you all to himself all summer, and I just want to spend the day with you. You know, catch up? It'd be cool."

"Okay," I gave in. His intentions were purely innocent, and I did miss talking to him. We used to have the best talks. "Where do you want to meet?"

"Well, actually, I was thinking I could pick you up. I've got a few places in mind of where we could go, Haley."

"Like where, Mike?"

"That's a surprise. It'll be like old times."

"Yeah, old times," I sighed.

"Well, I'll catch you tomorrow. I'll be there after lunch."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye." I hung up the phone. Just like old times . . .