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as saturday rolled around, taylor knew that he wanted to do something special for sutton and to make it her day. after spending so much time with her since he returned from new york with his brothers and dad he realized how much he missed her company and spending time with her, especially with their families had lost touch for several months. he woke up early, when most everyone in his family was still sleeping, and crept out of his room and down the stairs. “hey taylor,” jessie called from the adjoining living room as taylor entered the kitchen. “hey jessie. what are you doing up so early?” he asked as he looked at the clock on the oven. 8:26am. he looked over to her and then quickly began pulling various items out of the cupboards - a breakfast tray, plate, glasses and silverware. “what are you doing?” she asked. “ah, i asked you first.” taylor grinned at his younger sister and began preparing an egg batter and mixing together ingredients to make scrambled eggs. “i just woke up so i came down here to watch tv,” she replied. “i wish i were that lucky, to be able to pull myself out of bed the minute i wake up.” taylor said as he poured the egg batter into a waiting frying pan. he dug several pieces of bread out of the bread basket and set them in the toaster and popped them down and flipped the eggs. “i’m making breakfast,” he added to answer her previous question. “i can see that,” jessie inquired as she wandered over and sat upon a stool in front of taylor. “who’s it for?” “its for sutton,” he replied as he placed the eggs on the place and buttered the toast. “for sutton? what for?” taylor poured a glass of orange juice and one of milk and thought a minute before answering. “because today is sutton saturday.” he replied simply as he pulled grapes and strawberries out of the fridge and placed them in a bowl and on the tray. “okay...” jessie said and ran back to the couch as her cartoons resumed. taylor shook his head and laughed, and lifted the heavy tray and made his way softly up the stairs to sutton’s room at the end of the hallway to the left of the stairs. he gently pushed her door open with his foot and winced as it made a small creak, and entered the sun light room quietly, thankful that she was still sleeping. taylor placed the tray on the floor near her bed and straddled her desk chair and gazed at her sleeping, uncovered to her waist with one of his mother’s handmade quilts. he rested his chin in his hand and thought about how he would wake her up before her food turned cold. “well, i could crawl on her bed and gently press my lips against hers,” taylor thought to himself and smiled, and suddenly shook his head. a few moments later sutton stirred in her bed and said, “hey taylor,” back still to him. she softly rolled over and looked at him. “how did you know i was in here?” he asked, surprised. sutton sat up in bed and sat indian style, facing taylor as she noticed the breakfast on the floor. she scrunched the covers around her body and looked at him, smiling. “i heard you come in here. what is this?” he returned her grin as he lifted the heavy tray and placed it on the bed in front of her. “breakfast in bed?” “for you,” he smiled and sat next to her as she looked at the breakfast in front of her. “you made this for me?” she asked as she took a sip of the orange juice. “of course. for you. today is your day,” he replied. “are you going to eat with me?” she asked as she picked up her fork and popped a grape in her mouth. “nah, its all for you.” “gosh, taylor, this is so sweet.” she said and began eating the warm scrambled eggs. “i didn’t know you were such a good cook.” “well, it comes with having five younger siblings. my mom kind of expects us to fix breakfast for them.” sutton laughed. “i didn’t do anything like this for taylor tuesday, though.” “i didn’t expect you to, but i wanted to do this for you, and to let you know that i am happy you are staying with us and are a part of our family for a year. i know i never really told you that and i know you wondered what it would be like and all, but i am glad that you’re here.” taylor looked down to the floor, and then back to sutton’s waiting eyes. “really?” she asked. taylor slowly nodded. “yeah, of course.” he grinned and rubbed her back as she continued eating. “i am glad your family has been so inviting. i...i know this situation is really weird and uncommon, and i know my parents probably wondered why i didn’t go...with them...” sutton’s voice trailed off as she finished her eggs. “why didn’t you go?” taylor hesitantly asked as he leaned forward against his knees. “i’m...i don’t quite know. well, i do know. its...” taylor leaned back again and looked at sutton, encouragingly. “you know how if you desperately want something and you pray for it for so incredibly long and for something to happen and you know that what you’ve been wishing and praying for is true and you know it needs to happen and just has to happen to complete your life?” sutton held her breath as she looked at him. taylor exhaled and smiled. “yes. definitely. that’s all we’ve ever really wanted with our music. we’ve all prayed for so long and hoped for the longest time and throughout all of the indies and festivals that we would be noticed by someone, anyone, so we could make our dream a reality. through all of the rejections and disappointments we prayed, knowing this is what we wanted to do; what we needed to do. we knew if it was meant to happen, He would make it happen and we just had to trust that and have faith. but it was really hard sometimes.” taylor stopped suddenly and grinned at sutton who was smiling at him. “i guess i kind of went off on a tangent there.” “no, no. i can’t believe someone can relate...knows what i meant.” she paused for a moment and finished her orange juice. she continued, looking at the floor. “my parents...they’ve always had a love of faith and spreading the word of their savior, but being missionaries...becoming one kind of takes the route of a long process. not everyone that wants to be one can be, which seems kind of weird in a way. they never gave up hope and continued trying and working out arrangements and they became so caught up in it and so frustrated when nothing was being answered that they kind of...i guess, that they kind of forgot what their original purpose was.” sutton paused for a moment, and gently leaned into taylor’s shoulder as he put his hand on her back. she felt tears coming out of her eyes, but she continued. “so they began fighting and argued so much that i wondered how they ever could be missionaries, their dream seemed so hazy and they never thought that all of their hard work would lead to anything and they would be able to practice their mission. nothing was working out for them at all and they had made requests to go all over the country and it seemed like nothing was working out in their marriage either and it got so bad and there was so much anger about every little petty thing and they just wanted to end it all. end their mission, end their marriage. then they got the letter to go to italy...” sutton looked up to taylor to see if he understood and quickly wiped her eyes dry. he nodded, and smiled as sutton looked down to her lap as new tears formed. “i just stayed awake at night and prayed, prayed and wished and hoped and did everything i could, praying that their mission would work out and that they would stay together, start to love each other again. it hurt me so much and i was so scared and didn’t know how to deal with it and there was nothing i could do which is the most unbelievable and horrible feeling in the world. even when i began to give up hope about everything and didn’t think things could get any worse the letter came. they were able to go to Italy to be missionaries.” sutton let the tears fall from her face as taylor pulled her closer to him, and let out a small laugh. “i’m sorry. i’ve just never told anyone that before or talked about it aloud. i knew you’d understand. you’ve kind of been through the same thing.” taylor leaned over and hesitantly put his arms around her waist, feeling she needed comfort from someone. she sniffed and slowly put her arms around his neck and sighed as her tears fell. “shh, cry sutton. you need to cry, get it all out.” taylor said quietly. sutton dug her nose into his shoulder and tightened her grasp around his neck as he added, “its okay now. you received your wish, your prayers were answered.” sutton slowly parted from taylor’s arms and wiped her eyes. “it kind of reaffirmed everyone’s beliefs. my parents seemed to realize what their purpose was and they knew immediately that they had to push their anger aside and do this to save their marriage. they knew it was a calling from god, they knew they had been selfish and he was giving them another chance.” “i understand now, why you didn’t go. i’m sorry...i know it hurts for you to talk about it.” “yeah,” sutton said as she ate a piece of toast. “i’m... i feel relieved now that i told someone. i don’t think a lot of people would understand though, or why all of this happened. i am glad that you did. i knew you would since you’ve had such a strong upbringing of faith.” “my parents have always relied on their faith and knew their children needed it in their lives as well. we’ve always clutched to it during the hardest times.” taylor paused. “did you write about any of that in the letter you wrote to your mom?” sutton looked into her lap and nodded, and then looked back into his eyes. “i know that she knows that i knew what was going on, but I’m apprehensive. scared as to what she’ll write back. i don’t want her to feel guilty about anything.” “she won’t if she knows that you still care about her and your father and you love them and understand.” “i know,” sutton faintly smiled. “its just still kind of hard,” she nibbled on a piece of toast and taylor put his arm around her waist. “thanks for understanding.” “i’m glad i could...” sutton nodded, and quickly changed the subject as he removed his arm from her back. “do you want anything to eat?” he shrugged and sutton picked up a strawberry and held it in front of his mouth as he gently ate the berry from her fingers and blushed. “mmm.” they shared smiles, knowing they now had a special bond that would be hard to break and would make it harder to keep them apart taylor reached for a piece of toast as sutton asked, “what are we doing today? do i need to wear my dancing shoes?” “if you really want to. i don’t think that we’re going to hit the club scene tonight, though,” taylor laughed and helped sutton eat the rest of the food. sutton lifted the tray and set it on the floor as they both simoltaneously stretched and stood. “thank you for everything; everything. i’m glad that i can confide in you.” taylor nodded and held out his arms. “you’re welcome, sutt,” he said as he gave her a hug. sutton rested her chin on his shoulder as he rubbed her back. “you’re so cuddly,” he grinned. “aren’t you cold?” she asked and reluctantly released from his grasp. he shrugged, dressed in a simple tee shirt and running shorts. “thank you, this is all i needed.” taylor nodded. “well, we’ll do some more stuff today. i don’t think i hear the water running so you better go shower.” they shared laughs as sutton made her way over to her closet. “yeah, remember your clothes this time.” he lifted the tray and made his way out her door. “see you in a few.” |