Chapter 2 Changes

Siri stared at the perfection that was in her arms. The beautiful sea-blue eyes were looking directly into hers. She was mesmerized. How can one be so perfect? Then her thoughts took a dark turn as she remembered her dead brother and his dead wife. The baby was now orphaned because of the plane crash two weeks before. Even the beast that caused the crash was an innocent baby once.

She wept.

For herself.

For the babe in her arms.

Her parents.

The brother she lost.

Her best friend.

How were they going to get through this? Raising a baby cost so much money. Then the baby would start school, even more money. Then it becomes a teenager, even more money than she ever could make. Then college. Her parents had her late in their life and thus too old to work. Sure, they would help her but it was mostly up to her. Her brother was the one who usually paid for everything.

Her brain had been calculating for the past week all the finances she would need. After college, she had no work experience anywhere except at a coffee shop. She was so worried about her nephew. Would she be a good aunt and parent figure? Sure, she was a great aunt but that was because her nephew's real parents were there before. Now they were gone. Would she be good enough? Would her parents be good enough?

The ringing of her cell phone broke off her tears and thoughts. The screen flash 'Mother'. She pressed the answer icon and put it on speaker as to not smear her phone with the liquid from her face.

"Honey. I can't find my salad bowl. Do you have it?"

Her sister-in-law had borrowed it the day before their flight. But she didn't tell that to her mother for she knew her mother knew. It was just her way of dealing with her grief. Adjusting the baby in her arms she instead said, "Yes, I borrowed it. I'll bring it by this evening."

"Okay, dear."

She packed her overnight bag into the car next to the baby's bag. She was moving out of the apartment by the end of the week. An apartment she first shared with her best friend, Ashley then her brother when he married her and moved in. Sure, at first it was slightly weird seeing them but they had never dated. In fact, they got married within two months of seeing each other the first time and Siri now had Ashley as a sister.

Now it was just her and Nathan. So, they were moving back home with her parents and that's where they were, since the day of the crash. She needed a good night's rest too as she had an interview the next morning.

That night Siri heard her mother weeping and it set off another set of tears from her as well. She hugged a sleeping Nathan, next to her on the bed taking comfort in his soft innocent smell.

___

A few days later her mother told her about the airline's insurance. Or lack of. They refused a settlement because they claimed that her brother lied about being a private pilot. Her mother had met with the lawyer of the company and he made a serious allegation about her brother.

Siri called the number on the card that the man gave to her mother and the person on the other end did nothing but anger her. Apparently, if you are a private or recreational pilot, it's important to be upfront about it when shopping for your policy. If you lie on your insurance application and are caught, it could lead to serious legal problems, and your chances of receiving coverage if you were to die are very slim, she was told.

But her brother didn't lie. She knew because he had the same insurance from when he was in training and they assured him that he had coverage if he paid a higher premium.

It was fraud to the highest degree. And now once again she had to change her plan.

When Siri was in high school, she met Ashley. Back then she wanted nothing more than to be a detective after all the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Sherlock Holmes books she read, and movies about solved crime. She vowed then she would get started on the unsolved cases so the family of the loved ones could find peace.

But being with Ashley changed her. When they applied to the same college and got in, everything changed. She then wanted to be a barrister franchise owner. She and Ash together as partners. Then that changed when Ashley met her brother Rick. After they finished college, Ashley left everything to focus on her married life and be a homemaker.

Siri once again changed and also put her business administration degree on pause when Ashley became pregnant with Nathan. She had a very difficult pregnancy and almost died giving birth. Siri made up her mind to make sure her best friend, sister-in-law, and mother of her nephew was safe and healthy before she went back to her studies.

Her brother though grateful made her study part-time.

A new set of tears streamed down her face as she thought of her brother. She will never see him again. Nathan will never meet his dad again. He would never meet his mum again. She hugged the baby closer to her as she sobbed into his tiny form.

Nathan, clueless to what his aunt was crying for, grabbed onto her hair and sucked on the strands, contented for now. His innocent mind oblivious to the thoughts running through her brain.

Franchise management and entrepreneurship... now what? she wondered. She had taken up a part-time job at a coffee shop for the experience of it. She loved Ashley but she felt a bit betrayed by her and her brother as he was the one that made Ashley change their plans. Not forcefully but still.

She had to reset her life. Because the two people she loved, fell in love with each other. Siri didn't know if she despised love or if she was looking forward to it. This much she knew- love betrayed her. And she knew if she did fall in love, she probably most likely would change her mind about it. And she didn't want to change for love. She liked who she was now. So, did she look forward to letting people down if love made her rethink everything she did? Every life decision she would make? She figured that much by observing people around her. Like Ashley. So- no. She had no intentions of falling in love.

She forgave them for falling in love... eventually, although they never knew how she felt.

Then they had the baby. And Siri had another change. She now wanted to be the best aunt and babysitter anyone could ever ask for.

Then they died. Siri changed again. She was now the guardian of six months old baby Nathan. And could no longer play around with jobs. She had to get serious about her life for her nephew.

The following weeks were very tiring and satisfying for both Siri and her parents. They got to know Nathan in a different way. Felt his cuteness in a different way. He was almost a perfect baby. Like when he cried for his parents Siri would give him a shirt or blanket from his parents and that would comfort him. A trick her mother taught her.

Or when he started to teeth and had a fever and he cried but Siri felt his pain. She stayed up changing soiled diapers, wiping the sweat off his soft delicate skin, ensuring his medication was given on time and keeping him in a mother-like grip in her arms when he cried. She also learned that sometimes he cried when she was hugging him too much.

Like last week she got such a headache from his constant crying and her worrying that she also started crying. Which stunned him, making Siri think that she needed to continue crying to comfort him. Her mother had simply taken him and placed him on the baby mat.

As it turned out, she just needed to put him down. He wanted to crawl on the floor and she was making him fussy by her constant cuddling. Which in turn made her cry more because now she thought she was overbearing.

Now, this insurance situation would affect Nathan. And Siri had to change again. She would get to the bottom of this, for her aching parents but most importantly, for her nephew, she swore. But first a job.

Almost two months later, she was hired as a trainee, for a branch outlet, of the said insurance company.