in a couple of months. You’ll celebrate both days with us.”
She pulled away from me, putting figurative and literal distance between herself and my belief. Before she turned her head to the side, I caught the wince that flashed across her pretty face along with her quivering bottom lip. Her devastated expression made my heart drop to my ankles. “Let’s just take it one day at a time.”
The week I turned twenty-one, Mom had her lawyer push the guardianship papers through the courts as quickly as possible. When I stood before the judge to answer questions about why I was petitioning for guardianship and how I planned to support us, it relieved me to find she was sympathetic to our plight. Turns out, had I not been exactly ten years older than Juliana, I couldn’t have taken legal custody of her.
If we’d waited those couple of months until Juliana’s birthday, I would’ve lost her too.
Mom knew long before I did.
Three weeks later, Juliana and I stood side-by-side, our heads bowed while tears flowed from our eyes like a Georgia flash flood. When her little hand slid against mine, I entwined my fingers with hers. She looked up at me, the light in her eyes dimmed by the tears that trickled onto her cheeks.
“What happens now, Rod?” Her chin quivered as much as her little voice. “Will we always be this sad?”
“No, little bird. We’ll have all blue skies from now on. Just wait and see.” I had to give her hope. She was too young to lose her faith in humanity, her belief there was good left in the world, and her childlike innocence. Life has a way of making us grow up all too soon. But I would’ve walked through hell alone to defend Juliana from reality for a while longer.
We said goodbye to Mom for the last time, then went home to a quiet house. The kitchen was full of casseroles and desserts from Mom’s coworkers—enough to freeze and last for weeks. They’d also taken up a donation for us, though I hated accepting charity from anyone. But when I saw their faces, I realized they loved her too, and offering the financial help was their way of honoring her. The gesture was as important to them as it was lifesaving for Juliana and me.
Four weeks after Mom died, the first app I launched hit number one in all the online stores and stayed there for months. Each subsequent release outperformed the previous one. All the fears I’d kept locked deep inside about whether I’d be able to support Juliana evaporated with every dollar that filled my bank account. As a family, we’d struggled financially since the day my dad walked out and left us without a second thought. Having complete financial freedom out of the blue opened so many doors I never even knew existed.
Yes, my success was sweet. But it was also bittersweet. What if I’d introduced the apps and hit multi-millionaire status earlier? Could I have saved Mom? Were there procedures they could’ve performed if we’d had the money to pay for them?
Those questions haunted me when I tried to fall asleep at night. Mom’s assertion of it already being too late returned to me, but my doubts and feeling of failure overruled them. I vowed to shield and protect my sister because she was the only family I had left.
If anything happened to her, I’d never forgive myself for letting both Mom and Juliana down.
CHAPTER TWO
Rod
Present Day
“Rod, I need to talk to you.”
The hesitancy in her voice grabs my attention immediately. I look up from checking emails on my laptop and give her my undivided attention.
“Of course, little bird. Have a seat.” I close the lid of my computer. Nothing in there is as important as the people in this house.
She sits on the corner of the bed, gnawing on her thumbnail, but she can’t quite make direct eye contact with me.
“Juliana, what’s on your mind? Talk to me.”
She releases a long breath before raising her eyes to mine. “Gosh, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I don’t know if I can say the words.”
“You are kind of freaking me out, Jules. Just blurt it out and get it over with before the suspense kills us both.”
Her features soften. “For the record, I wasn’t planning to have this conversation with you until after the holidays. But after the way the trip down here wiped me out when all I had