The rays of sun streamed across the hardwood floor, giving the room a warm glow. The summer weather was mild today and brought a cool breeze through the open framed glass. If flitted through the translucent beige curtains and caressed the cheeks of a lone figure sitting in the nook of the bay window. The young woman’s eyes were closed as she breathed in the fresh air. She was healing.

She held her book in one hand and her trusty teddy bear in the other. Some would say the stuffed toy made her seem childish, but the bear had sentimental value. It had scars that matched its owner’s. There they sat, healing together.

The frail girl put down her book to pet her other furry friend – a cat with a crescent-shaped spot under one eye. The shorthaired grey feline pressed against the girl’s hand, purring contentedly. The human companion was slowly learning how to be happy again. Sometimes the human wondered if the cat understood that she was convalescing. It was almost as if he purred a little louder when he detected progress.

A small clink sound caught the girl’s attention and she turned her head toward the sunny living room. She watched her sister set down a plate of cookies. The older girl left the room, but promptly returned with three tall mugs of chilled ice. A slender spoon and a straw were slotted into each mug.

“Raven, ready for snack time?” the eldest sibling inquired.

The younger girl swung her legs over the ledge of the windowsill, set down her book and approached the table in the center of the room. Like the floor, the table and matching chairs were made of sun-kissed wood. Still clutching her teddy bear, Raven asked why there were three places set today instead of the usual two. Her sister let slip a subtle grin as she again, left the room. When she reemerged, she set down a steaming white pot and two similar small white goblets; one filled with sugar, and the other with cream. The aroma of fresh coffee tickled Raven’s nose in the best way possible. But, like every day, there were notes of cocoa blended into the earthy percolated brew.

Belatedly, Raven’s sister explained, “We have a surprise visitor today.” That same slight grin returned to her lips as she said this. Mischief was apparent and Raven wondered what sort of surprise her sister had in store. The younger sibling sat in front of one of the mugs of ice and placed her bear next to it. She sniffed the delicious mocha fumes and smiled. Patiently, she waited for the surprise to be unveiled.

Her sister wandered over to the bay window to see if their guest might be in sight, coming up the front walkway. Giving a skritch to the grey cat’s ear, she watched the curtains sway in the breeze. Raven heard the knock on the door before her sister could react.

“Deneene, I think someone’s here,” she pointed out. Deneene happily jogged over to the entrance and held open the door for their guest. Raven craned her neck in a futile attempt to see over her sister’s shoulder. From her vantage point, all she could decipher was the top of the guest’s head.

When her sister finally moved aside to guide the visitor to the welcoming table, Raven’s eyes rounded. She stood up so suddenly that her chair went crashing to the ground. Deneene and the guest both chuckled softly as Raven scrambled to regain any grain of composure she had left in her.

“Bro?” she asked, although she knew very well who this was. Their ‘brother’ smiled and drew nearer to give the youngest sibling a gentle but warm hug, followed by a more boisterous hug for Deneene. This brother neither of them had ever had was actually biologically, the same gender as they were. Their sister (brother), Chris was from different parents; with different genes, but she treated them like kin.

At long last, reunited with the family that ran thicker than blood, Raven could only gawk. ‘Bro’ Chris was beautiful, with her glossy dark hair and equally glossy eyes the color of chocolate fondue. Raven had missed her very much.

The surrogate family sat down and Deneene requested that the youngest sibling remove her toy from the surface of the table. The little bear was placed neatly in its owner’s lap. Chris grinned at Raven’s attachment to the furry toy, and in turn, Raven smiled meekly back at Chris. She idolized the middle sibling. Chris really had been the brother she’d always wanted; teaching her how to build dirt bikes, shoot hoops, and play street hockey. Though Deneene enjoyed some of the same things, she was more into arts and crafts than sports and boy games.

The eldest of the three was the one both Raven and Chris ran to for comfort and shelter. And for the best iced mochas in the world. She dutifully poured the hot liquid into the three mugs and laughed at her two salivating friends. These were her best friends and the best family one could ever ask for, and she loved to make them happy.

The three girls stirred sugar and cream into their mochas. Chris and Deneene delighted silently in watching the youngest swirl her ice cubes around the rich beigey colored drink. Though she was in her mid-twenties, something about her had always remained childlike.

The waiting continued. They sat in satisfied quietude until their drinks cooled. Chris, like Raven, was also young at heart, and when she began sipping her iced mocha, she broke the silence by abruptly using her straw to blow bubbles into her mug. Modest titters escalated into full-on hearty laughter. Bro Chris always knew how to break the ice by acting silly. Though she was the second oldest, she sometimes acted like a bratty albeit charming five year old.

Raven smiled adoringly at her two friends and felt a tickle at her ankle. The cat was purring at her feet under the table. This was a real family. And she’d never been happier. The simple little things – iced mochas, a light breeze and this lilting laughter were all they needed.