Gemotions

The keys jingled in Eleanor's pocket as she watched her younger brother, Michael, struggle with the lawnmower. He looked so comical, all elbows and exertion. She laughed, a genuine, joyful sound.

She had always been the practical one, the responsible one. This house, however, and the inheritance, had changed all of that. She felt a lightness, a freedom she'd never experienced before.

She strolled over to the rose bushes her grandmother had so diligently cultivated, pausing to inhale their sweet perfume. It was all hers now.