It was a cold crisp autumn day in Detroit. The leaves were changing and falling from the trees. Scarlett walked through the Clark Park. She was unsure of where her life will be going. She just had a baby girl, Chloe, and her boyfriend left her with no reason or goodbye.
Scarlett walked over to her favorite tree and sat down. She watched the kids making a leaf pile in the center of the park, allowing all the other kids to jump in. The laughter filled the air as Scarlett smiles. She wondered what Chloe’s laugh will sound like, or what her friends will be like. As these thoughts ran through her mind, a picture blew to her feet. She reached down to pick it up, but before she can grab it, it blew away. She ran after the picture, unsure of why she is doing so. When she finally got ahold of the picture, she looks down at it.
The picture is a man laughing and holding his baby. She looked on the back for a date or any clues of where this picture came from. It’s a couple years old and it reads “Father and Son” above the date. She pulled her wallet out of her purse and tucked the picture inside. She began her trek back to her apartment.
She picked Chloe up from the daycare on the second floor and walked up to the third floor where her apartment is. She dug in her purse for her keys before she finally opens the door. She took Chloe to her room and laid her down. She then went back to her room and took the picture out. She looked at it long and hard. She set the picture on the nightstand, where it sat for the next seventeen years.
****
Chloe, now a senior in highschool, is called into the office on a Wednesday afternoon. She is told to go straight to the hospital. There is something wrong with her mother. She gets in her car and drives across town to the hospital. She finds what room her mother is in and runs through the halls. She gets to her mother's room and takes a few deep breaths before opening the door. Scarlett is laying in the bed. She is really pale, and her hair's a mess. Chloe sits next to her.
“Chlo, I don’t feel so great. I think my time has come.”
“Mom, please, don’t say that,” Chloe muttered to say between her soft sobs.
“Please, be strong for me,” Scarlett reached up and touched her hand to Chloe’s cheek “I love you more than anything.”
“I love you too, mom.” They sat there in silence for awhile.
“Chloe?”
“I’m right here mom.”
“I want you to have something,” Scarlett reached over to the stand beside the bed and picked up the picture that she brought with her.
“Mom, who is this?”
“My guardian and his son. They have brought me the best of luck all of these years. I didn’t have a job, and your father had just left me. Then I found this picture, and I opened my own floral shop and raised a beautiful, healthy baby girl. I hope they bring you the best of luck as well.”
Chloe took the picture and looked at it. The edges were a little beat up, but it was a beautiful picture. She held her mother’s hand until 8:19 PM, when her mother took her last breath.
Chloe took over Scarlett’s shop and was able to stay in the apartment she grew up in. Chloe didn’t take her mother's death very well. She went out every weekend and convinced the bouncers to let her into the bars. She got people to buy her drinks and at the end of the night, she would stumble back to her apartment and sleep until noon the next day. She would then go to her mother's shop and have it open for a few hours before going home. On weekdays, she went to school and stayed on top of her work the best she could.
On her eighteenth birthday, she stayed home and ate cake. She missed the birthdays she had spent with her mother, telling her to make a wish as she blew out the candles. She graduated high school a few weeks later and stopped going out so much. She carried the picture around with her wherever she went. She believed that they had guided her through her tough time and helped her graduate.
Six years came and went. Chloe still lived in the little apartment, unable to leave because of how attached she was to it. Chloe went out with her friends every Friday and tried not to think about her mother's death. She ran the shop Monday through Friday from seven in the morning to nine at night. It was becoming a bigger hit with each passing day. Chloe was able to grow beautiful flowers and even started a “Flower of the Month” trend.
On a random Friday in late July when she was out with a couple of her friends, she went to go check on her makeup in the bathroom. She ended up stumbling into the guy's bathroom. Luckily, there was only one guy in there. He was at the sink washing his hands. He looked in the mirror and was startled. He turned around and they stared at eachother for a brief moment.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“Oh, no. I was just trying to find the bathroom. I guess this isn’t the right one,” she replied, embarrassed.
“Looks like it,” he chucked. “Would you like some help?”
“Um, yes actually.”
“Well why don’t you just use this bathroom, I’ll stand guard,” He smiled at her.
“Thank you,” she did her makeup and then he lead her back out. “Thank you again,” she said to him.
“No problem. Rough night?” he had to raise his voice the closer they got to the blaring music.
“No, just needed to get away, I’m actually pretty tired,” she was shouting now.
“Would you like me to take you home?”
“Sure, that sounds great, but I never got your name.”
“Ashton Koy.”
“Chloe Blake. I’m going to go tell my friends I’m leaving. I’ll meet you outside.”
Chloe ran over and told her friends she had a ride home, and she was tired so she was leaving. Then she went outside to find Ashton leaning up against his car.
“Hey there,” she said, smiling.
“Well hello. Are you ready?”
“Sure am. Let’s go.”
She gave Ashton directions to her house before they left. Laughing the whole way, they found out they had a lot in common. When they got to the apartment, Ashton and Chloe exchanged numbers and said goodnight. Chloe went to bed, and the next morning, awoke to a phone call. Ashton. He asked if she wanted to get some brunch. She agreed, and they decided to meet at the coffee shop a few blocks down the road from her apartment.
She put on some leggings and a comfy sweatshirt. She threw her long blonde hair in a bun and decided just put her glasses on. She then grabbed her Ugg boots and put them on and decided to just drive to the coffee shop.
When she got there, she walked in to find Ashton waiting for her in a small booth in the corner. He had a gorgeous rose, red and delicate, sitting on the table and was looking at the menu. He had sweats on and small frame glasses that gave him more of a professor look. Chloe walked over to him.
“Well hi there, stranger,” he said to her.
“Good morning,” she smiled.
“This is for you,” he handed her the rose. “Please, have a seat.”
“Thank you,” she sat down and set the rose next to her. She picked up the menu and began looking through it.
“Get whatever you would like. It’s on me,” he told her
“So is this a date?” she grinned at him.
“I would like to think so. We had some interesting conversations last night, and I wanted to get to know you a little more.”
“Let’s order first, and then I’ll tell you whatever you would like to know.”
They both ordered a stack of golden brown pancakes with eggs and sausage. In between mouthfuls, they exchanged stories. His mother was out of the picture, left him and his father when he was two. He told her how he had grown up in Detroit and never left. He never went to college and worked for his father. When his father retires, he’ll take over.
The two of them sat there for two hours talking. They got to know a lot about each other and made plans to meet up again soon.
From that point forward, Chloe and Ashton were inseparable. They went on a few more dates and then became official. They spent the summer days swimming in cold, dirty lakes and the nights looking up at the stars from her balcony in her apartment. Ashton began spending the night with Chloe and was there almost everyday. He moved into her small, cozy apartment in early September. Things were going great, and despite the arguments that sometimes escalated into fights that lasted hours they always resolved their issues. They weren’t perfect, but they were crazy about each other.
One day, in October, Ashton and Chloe were cleaning the apartment. Ashton was going through the dresser drawers and stumbled upon an old picture, frayed and faded, of his father holding a baby, which must have been Ashton. He thought it was weird since he didn’t remember bringing it with him. It was pretty old and beat up. He went to find Chloe.
“Hey Chlo, where did you find this?” He held up the picture.
“Oh, that was my mothers. She found it when I was a baby in a park. She said it brought her luck and before she died, she gave it to me. I was going to try finding the people in the picture, but I didn’t know where to start. I love it though. They kept my mother and I safe all those years.” She took the picture and smiled at it. “They were our guardians.”
Ashton looked at her with a blank stare, his eyes stone cold. He didn’t know what to say. Chloe looked up at him.
“What?” She asked.
“Well, it’s just, that picture is of my father and myself,” He said to her, looking down at the picture. Chloe stared at him then looked down at the picture.
“What?”
“Chlo, that’s my father holding a baby in the year I was born. Your guardians have been us all these years. Why didn’t you tell me about the picture?”
“I honestly forgot about it. I didn’t need anymore luck after I found you, which makes sense now.”
A couple days later, Chloe got a small frame to put the picture in and hung it above the fireplace in the apartment and a few weeks later, her and Ashton went to tell Ashton’s father about the picture and that’s when Ashton proposed to Chloe, promising to be her guardian for the rest of her life.