The rain that had cascaded steadily from the sky that afternoon had finally ceased, leaving the air muggy yet refreshingly clean, a lingering aroma thanks to the purifying effects of reverse osmosis.

Victoria watched the scenery fly by in a greenish-gray watery blur as they drove down the road. "How much longer do we have to wait?" She asked, shifting in her seat as she tapped her fingers twirled a cherry scented pen between her fingers absentmindedly.

Edwin looked up from the journal on his lap, filled to the brim with different pressed and laminated leaves and flowers aesthetically arranged. "You've asked that ten times now and got the same answer every time." He frowned, glancing at his sister.

Victoria frowned, raking a hand through her hair. "It's a reasonable question," She commented, shaking her head lightly with a small huff, leaving her lips. "My bottom is numb. I can't feel it, like at all. And my legs feel cramped and restless.” She added. "You can't honestly tell me you're not feeling the same thing?"

Edwin thought about it for a moment, looking out the window. "Yeah, I am." He reluctantly replied, feeling it too after being confined to a chair after chair. “But we should be at the manor within fifteen minutes.”

Emmaline turned her head around as Liam turned down the half-dirt half-gravel side road towards the manor. "It's more or so ten minutes,” she said, taking a sip from her water bottle. "We have to be careful because the rain turned the driveway into a muddy mess."

Victoria crossed her arms behind her head and stretched them with a groan. "Oh great," She mumbled, grabbing her phone and turning it on, looking at her lock screen picture of her and her cat being cute together. “I suddenly miss paved roads already.”

Liam looked in the rearview mirror at the chatting children. "Cheer up Victoria," He said, his tone sickly optimistic for Victoria. "This is a new experience for all of us. It's both equally exciting and nerve-wracking." He flashed her a smile before carefully maneuvering the vehicle down the road, avoiding mud-filled potholes.

“I. Don’t. Care.” Victoria passively-aggressively retorted, her head up and glared daggers at Liam. "I never asked to move from my home to this depressing place and leave all my friends behind and have to struggle to adjust to a new school which I should have just stayed back in Arkansas!" She grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

Emmaline sighed heavily, glancing at Liam's children, who seemed uncomfortable with her daughter's words. "What's done is done. You're going to have to get over it one way or another." She sharply chided, rolling down the window and looking down at the ground, her attitude flipping on a dine and her tone becoming normal. "Be careful. There's a big pothole coming up in half a meter."

Liam wanted to say something to her comment but decided against it while quickly avoiding the pothole his wife had pointed out. "Thank you, Emma," He thanked her, glancing over and giving her a smile. "I don't think my estate wagon would have survived it." he added lightheartedly.

"I'm going to take a lot of pictures to show my friends back home." Edwin looked through the window, remaining optimistic about the whole move rather than pessimistic like his sister. “And grandpa and grandma,”

Victoria rested her elbow on the inside handle and rested her chin in her palm. "Hmph," She huffed, glaring out the window as she continued to twirl the pen between her fingers absentmindedly.

Tyler's eyes swept around the grounds, noting how much land the manor actually had. "This is all ours?" He asked, his voice tinged with a mix of excitement and wonder as he turned his head around and looked out the back window.

"Yes, this is all our land.” Liam confirmed with a curt nod as he carefully maneuvered around the muddy pot holes in the ground. “It goes as far as the railroad tracks and up to the main road, and it includes the old Briarwood Graveyard." He beamed, eagerly explaining to his son.

Tyler's eyes lit up even brighter than they had been, leaning forward in his seat. "A graveyard?" He inquired, his eyes widened at this newfound piece of information. "No wonder people think the manor is haunted with a graveyard on our property."

“Unfortunately that is true,” Liam shook his head, amused by his son's excitedness about the whole thing. "But there is no such thing as haunting. The dead are asleep, unknowing what is happening to the living."

Rose reached into her bag at her feet and rummaged through the items inside. "Wait, so people here think the manor is haunted?" She inquired, baffled at the notion of someone believing that an old manor would be haunted.

Tyler confirmed, nodding his head as he reached into the package and pulled out a chocolate covered biscuit, taking a bite out of it. "My mates said that Briarwood Manor is known as haunted for its mysterious happenings there. Spooky. Oooh." He mimicked a ghostly sound.

Rose pressed her lips together, trying to suppress an amused grin at her brother's imitation. "Uh huh, wouldn't that turn people off from helping us if they believed that the manor is haunted?"

Liam exchanged looks with Emmaline, reluctant to respond. "Well," He began, slowly easing his way between two massive potholes. "Yes, I could assume that would prevent people from offering to help us."

"Might even make people avoid us." Emmaline added, earning a nod from Liam as she continued. "But we should still extend the olive branch and be courteous and friendly to the people of Briarwood.”

"That's dumb." Victoria piped up, causing everyone to glance in her direction as she frowned. "What? That is? People avoiding us just be of the manor. It's just an old manor. I doubt there is any truth to the rumors since we will be living in a dilapidated manor from now on."

Emmaline sighed, pressing her fingers into the bridge of her nose. "Victoria, it isn't nice to call people names, you know that. I didn't raise you to be that way towards people who believe differently than us," She chided her eldest, shaking her head in dismay.

Victoria fell silent, inwardly mocking her mom's words she heard a thousand times. She wasn't calling people names. She was stating a fact that it was dumb to be scared of an abandoned manor. She could understand why one would believe that, but she still thought that believing in ghosts was dumb.

Rose could feel the hostility radiating off Victoria. "Well," She began, looking away from her stepsister and towards her father and stepmother. "We'll just have to show them there is nothing to worry about, it's simply an old manor that needs to be restored as well as there is no life beyond death and the dead are asleep.” She added rather optimistically, which made her father proud.

Two posts looking worn from the weather and brittle stood a few meters away from the six-foot high and black devil tail fence half that bordered the front of the manor. The rusted and brittle chains hung down with a chunk of wood where a bent nail was. The sign itself was partially obscured by the grass that grew around it.

Dustin leaned out the window after rolling it down. "So, that must be where the old Briarwood Manor sign had been hung up at," He looked down at the sign as Liam passed it by.

Rose tried to take a better glance at the sign but was unable to from her seat opposite of Dustin. "And if we need a new one for me modeled after the original, I can make a new one." She offered, smiling as all eyes turned to her.

"You know how to make that sort of stuff?" Edwin asked, turning his head around with bright, excited eyes. He couldn't imagine that Rose, always dressed to the nines, could get herself dirty with hands-on labor.

Rose nodded, clearly seeing his thoughts expressed on his face and chuckled. "Yes, I've always been crafty, and I did it with Dad when I was younger before Dustin was born." She rested her elbow on the door and placed her chin in her palm.

Edwin's eyes bulged out of his head at this revelation he did not know about his stepsister. "You've got to show me some stuff. I learned a little from my dad before he -" He stopped himself, looking down at his watch while twisting it back and forth. "I can help you if you want."

Rose's expression softened as she noticed his recent speaking about his father. "I would love help and could maybe show you a few things." She agreed, slowly nodding her head but couldn't help feel her heart ache, knowing his father's death was still a touchy subject.

“Look! Look! Look!” Tyler suddenly shouted, startling almost everyone with his loud voice and exclamation. “It's the gate to the manor!" He added, pointing straight in front of him whilst leaning forward.

All eyes focused on a striking structure slowly emerging from the thick foliage: a black, rusted gate standing six feet tall, adorned with an elaborate design resembling a devil’s tail. Liam eased off the accelerator, slowing down and inching his way up to the gate.

The gate was largely shrouded in a dense tapestry of vines and creeping plants, as if nature itself was attempting to reclaim the relic. The overgrowth gave it an almost eerie appearance, enhanced by the gloomy rain that fell steadily, mingling with the faint fog that enveloped the afternoon.

Tyler looked at the fence with wide eyes and a toothy grin. "Cool, look at all those flowers and plants." He marveled at the gate and all the overgrown plants on it, though he had no idea what they were. "Can we keep the overgrowth?”

Liam chuckled at how excited Tyler was, thinking it was refreshing to see someone excited about the move. "I don't know, Ty, it tends to bring a lot of unwanted bugs, especially during the summer." He hated crushing his son's excitedness but quickly added. “We will think about keeping it.”

“Yes!” Tyler exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air. He was glad that his dad would think about keeping the vines. It did give the manor gate’s a eerie yet cool vibe if he had to be honest.

Victoria jumped in her seat when a splat of mud landed on her window, having been kicked up by the tires as Liam fought from getting stuck. “I. Hate. Mud.” She muttered. Although there was no truth to her words, she was just in a foul mood.

Tyler's hands flew to his mouth as he stifled a laugh at Victoria's sudden jump at the mud splat. ”Did mud really scare you?” he teased through his fingers as his eyes gave it all away.

Victoria whipped her head towards Tyler and narrowed her eyes as her blood rushed hot. "Shut up,” she slowly snapped, gritting her teeth and keeping her voice low.

Tyler simply shrugged his shoulders, a smile breaking onto his face. "Ooh, you were! Victoria was scared of a little mud? Are you secretly prissy?" He questioned, his tone taking on a bratty tone but low enough that Liam or Emmaline, who were in a conversation, couldn't hear him.

Victoria clenched her jaw, telling herself she was not going to give in to his bratty attitude. Instead, she inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly, and turned to look back out the window, focusing her mind on the foliage outside.

Liam put on the brakes, coming to a stop then putting the estate wagon in park. "I will have to open the gate. Emmaline, drive through the gate, and then I will be in after I close it." He said as he unlocked his door.

He opened it and stepped out into the squishy mud. "Blimey, this is some deep mud," Liam mumbled, lifting up his boot and shaking it lightly as he closed the door.

He walked over to the gate and took out his keys, putting the one with the word gate engraved on it into the hole and turned it, unlocking it. He pushed a few times, but it didn't budge. I took a deep breath and pushed again, putting some back and muscle into it as it started to open. He dug his boots into the mud and pushed with all his might, the hinges squeaking against each other as the gate slowly opened.

Emmaline crawled over to the driver's seat and sat down. She put the estate wagon in drive, and slowly drove through the gate, making sure to go slow so Liam didn't get a mud shower but she also didn't get stuck in the deep, wet mud.

"This is just way too much, mud," She mumbled, making it through the gate and putting it in park before she crawled over and buckled herself back in her seat. “I've never seen that much mud before, and I grew up in a back road town where the only pavement road was the highway.”

Liam locked the gate back after closing it, everyone prickling at the squealing and creaking of the rusted hinges. He stuffed the key into his pocket and walked back over to the estate wagon. He opened the door and got  into his seat, keeping his feet out as he tapped his boot on the side, getting off the huge mud chucks.

Emmaline saw the mud fall back onto the ground. "We would probably do something about the road first, or else no one is coming down this driveway until it dries out." She mentioned, looking over at him as he put back on his seatbelt and started to drive again.

Rose looked out the back window, seeing their tire treads in the mud making a trail from where they had just come from. "We'll have to lay gravel down just until we can put a proper road in, right, Dad?"

"Probably," Liam slowly inched down the road, making sure to avoid potholes. "I may have to pay someone to do it or get my brother to get his contractors out here to help with fixing up the road." He said as he continued to drive down the tree tunnel.

Dustin looked up from his crossword puzzle he had been engrossed in. "Didn't they say they were going to help with restoring the Manor?' He asked, looking at his father for confirmation.

“Depends on how my brother is,” Liam slightly nodded, then slightly shook his head while letting out a sigh. "You know him: anything for us is free and if I tell him he is going to be paid for his work he insists he couldn't accept money from us," He said, running his free hand through his hair before placing it back on the steering wheel. ”It's frustrating since he owns a business,”

Tyler squirmed a bit in his chair, getting restless. "You and Uncle Jesse always argue about that kind of stuff, it’s silly because who wouldn't accept extra money? I know I would." He explained, looking out the window at the slow pace they were going.

"I know, I know, he is a stubborn man." Liam said, realizing that his stepchildren may have never met him because as his best man, he had been quite busy. "Victoria, Edwin, do you remember the man in the blue suit?"

Victoria rolled her eyes, resting her cheek in her palm. "No, I don't remember… because we didn't know anyone there.” She replied, her voice turning into a low mumble as she continued. “No one bothered to introduce themselves to us. We were invisible."

A crestfallen expression slowly appeared on Liam's face, sharing the same look with Emmaline as they were able to hear Victoria’s mumble. "Well, that was my brother Jesse. I was sure he had spoken to you during the wedding." He looked to Emmaline, who nodded in agreement.

“Nope,” Victoria shook her head, looking back at the window, regretting ever speaking it out loud since she wasn't ready for this conversation. "He didn't. No one on your side did. They kinda just ignored us, even during the reception, no one from your family approached us. I just hung out in the gazebo with my friends, others from church and school."

Emmaline's heart began to weigh heavy, never having heard this before. She felt bad that she hadn't taken notice that her children hadn't been very accepted by Liam's family like she had been. "Is that true?" She inquired, glancing to Edwin for confirmation.

Edwin felt the heat of being placed on the spot by his mother. "Um, yes,” he confirmed slowly before continuing. “I mean, maybe we should have made an effort, but again, the whole wedding was so sudden for us.”

Liam frowned, feeling similar to Emmaline for not noticing. "I'm so sorry, Victoria, Edwin, if I had known, I would have done something. I didn't realize the wedding was hard for you, I just figured you'd had a great time like Rose, Dustin, and Tyler."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Emmaline asked, twisting her body around in the chair slightly while looking between her children. "If someone is giving you a hard time because you feel uncomfortable, you should have come to me about it."

Victoria could tell Edwin felt uncomfortable and didn't want to speak on the matter anymore. "Because," she began, looking out the window. "It was your wedding. I didn't want to cause a rift between you, Mom, since his family seemed so welcoming of you."

Liam looked to his children, who had remained rather quiet. "Did you not try and make them feel welcomed like I told you three to do?" He asked, disappointment laced his voice.

Tyler exchanged a look with Rose and Dustin before looking back at his father. He gave his father a sheepish look, raising his shoulders slightly. "Um, no, but we got too caught up with our own friends and family, we didn't notice -"

"You didn't notice." Rose quickly cut Tyler off, making it known she had noticed. "I tried to find them, but I got sidetracked with Granddad. You know how he is. Once he started talking, the world could come to an end, and he'd still be talking." She replied, feeling her father's disappointment pierce her skin.

Edwin spoke up before Liam had a chance to speak or Dustin to speak up. "We should have been a little more insertive. It was our fault. Don't blame them. They shouldn't be obligated to make us comfortable, right, Victoria?" He looked over at his sister with pleading eyes.

Victoria could see him out of the corner of her eye and nodded, putting her earbud back in her ear. "Yeah, it's our fault we didn't feel comfortable." She sarcastically agreed, turning up her music so she could drown them out.

Edwin shot her a glare, not too pleased by her sarcastic comment, although he had to admit she was right. It wasn't their fault, but taking the blame was probably easier than admitting Liam's family didn't like them.

Liam took a deep breath, seeing as Emmaline wanted to let it go by her pointing out to be careful over another pothole in the road. "Thanks, Emma." He smiled at his wife as a clearing came through. Liam slowly inched the estate wagon onto a cobblestone driveway leading to the front of the manor. "Welcome to Briarwood Manor."

〰🔘〰🔘〰🔘〰🔘〰🔘〰🔘〰

A/N:
Goodness, it's been almost a month since I published the chapter. I am procrastinating because things keep happening that make me not want to write. But don't worry, I am trying to work on that. My mom doesn't like me being on my phone for long periods of time, no matter what I am doing.

Update : I have not forgotten about editing these chapters. I've just been busy. I have been working on the rewrite with the planning it and stuff. Let's just say this book needs a major overhaul.

Chapter Talk:
Emmaline is definitely modeled after my mother (just don't let her know that). You will see more of the difference in parenting types between Emmaline and Liam within the next few chapters, which is a major change from the original.

Thanks for reading!