{meeting mom}

Start from the beginning
                                    

"That's what camp's for silly! It makes us appreciate home."

The car turned a corner by Central Park and drove through a row of elegant looking townhouses. It pulled up in front of the house numbered eighty-seven and the driver got out and opened the door for Emmi before tending to the luggage.

"Home again." Gareth (the driver) greeted Emmi and she smiled at him and said 'thanks.'

"This is it," she muttered to herself opening the black iron gate, "Number 87 Central Park..." and looked up to see a window with white billowing curtains - she supposed it was her mother's room. Gathering up her courage, she walked across the tiled path, up the stone steps and opened the dark wood door to the threshold of her mother. She was amazed by what she saw, the curved staircase in front of her the living room to her right and the drawing room beyond that.

"Hello?" she called out. Upon hearing no answer, Emmi quickly went over to the living room and paused for a while to see a cloth with the words WELCOME HOME AVIA artistically inscribed on it before heading to the austere drawing room and she saw a pair of hands holding up a Broadway newspaper.

"Nonna?" she asked tentatively. The broadsheet went down to reveal a beautiful woman with black hair and sharp brown eyes. She wore a black Chanel dress and a dashing smile while her eyes sparkled. "I'm home..."

"Is that my little girl? That tall lanky thing?" She asked excitedly in a soothing voice.

"Yes," she answered her breathlessly, "I'm home," she said and watched her put down her reading glasses and come to her with arms wide open.

"Come here." Joan Grande cooed and wrapped her arms around her granddaughter. Emmi hugged back her grandmother and couldn't help but sniff her.

"Did you have a good time, Princess?" She asked her. Emmi answered an "uh-huh" but continued her sniffing.

"What're you doing?" she asked looking curiously at her granddaughter but not releasing her from her arms.

"Just smelling," she told her as if it were normal.

"Smelling?"

"I'm making a memory. Years from now when I'm all grown-up, I'll remember how my grandmother smelled of..." she sniffed him again, "Cinnamon and vanilla." Joan chuckled at her granddaughter's ingenuity and thoughtfulness, "Good to have you back," she said jovially and hugged her again.

"Avia?"

That voice put a pounding in Emmi's heart and she couldn't help but stiffen a bit in her grandmothers arms. Right there, across the living room, atop the curved staircase stood Ariana Grande. Joan let her go and Emmi rushed back to the foyer and saw the most beautiful woman in the world: her mother. Emmi knew that she had her father's sparkly brown eyes and his nose, but she was really thrilled to see that she got the brown (and she would later learn her curly) hair from her mother. She stared at the woman above her - stared at her sharp yet loving brown eyes and her exuberant expression at the sight of her daughter.

"Mother," she said excitedly.

"You're back!" Ariana exclaimed just as excited.

Instincts kicked in and Emmi was slowly ascending the staircase as her mother descended. The two met in a hug at the middle and Emmi was so overwhelmed she hugged her mother tighter. Ariana kissed her daughter's cheek in greeting.

"I can't believe it's you," a teary Emmi gushed as she stared at her mother.

"And I can't believe it's you." Ariana said and stroked her daughter's hair, "And with short hair! Who cut if for you?" she asked and Emmi shrugged, "A girl at camp."

The Parent Trap {Jariana}Where stories live. Discover now