Welcome back readers, thanks for coming on this journey with me. I know it's been a while, but life has been, well interesting of late. By my count this is the 17th chapter in what was supposed to be a three or four chapter story, and it's still not quite done. Well, the second part isn't done, obviously since these last few chapters were originally epilogues at least the first part is over, and with this chapter we're moving into new terrain.
As always, you might want to read the preceding chapters lest ye be lost. Unless you like being lost in which case dive right in. I don't judge.
Finally, as always, thanks to my wonderful editor TangentJoker. You should read his stories too and give them all "fives." His stories are so much better than most I read here. Also, I apologize for it having taken this long to publish a new chapter, and I haven't done anything in the Amber series lately either, but it wasn't scoring so well anyway so I just sort of set it aside. I will try to get back on both soon. In the meantime, enjoy!
*****
I awoke with a little boy's foot in my face and a little girl laying across my legs. The comforter, blanket and sheet were knotted amongst all of us, none of it being any use at keeping us warm. Still, the room was comfortable and the kids were completely knocked out. It was, I figured, about six in the morning. Brent had vanished, but I heard him shuffling around downstairs.
I disentangled myself from the kids and, with a quick look in the mirror that made me realize I don't like mirrors that early, I went downstairs to be greeted by Brent's warm smile and a cup of hot coffee.
"Hey, I hope I didn't wake you. Damita wanted out." Brent smiled.
"No, I think Alex sleepwalking on my face is what woke me," I replied with a grin. Just seeing Brent brings a smile to my face. I can't help it.
"Oh, are you okay? Did he get your nose?" Brent asked, his concern for my recently broken nose and face showing.
"Oh, nothing like that. I think he was trying to tip toe on my jaw. No pain, nothing bruised or broken." I smiled.
I took the coffee from his hand and we kissed each other good morning.
"Another busy day today. Will it ever slow down?" Brent smiled.
"Not too busy, just church and then Mom's... My mom's, and Dr. Riley's lunch thing. Should be fun. After that I think we have the afternoon to ourselves." I gave the best wicked grin I could at six in the morning as I raked my nails down his tee shirt covered torso.
"Right, like Donna, Momma Allison, and Sarah aren't going to take you shopping." He smiled back.
"Well they can try, but today I think I need to just curl up with my husband. I am a newlywed, remember? I need my snuggle time!"
"We'll see. I think we spent more time alone together last summer when we were sneaking around than we have since we got married," Brent replied with a grin.
This made for an awkward silence. I couldn't tell if Brent was upset by how busy we had been, or was expressing frustration, or what. I could understand his frustration. Since I had gotten out of the hospital, our lives had been a whirlwind and showed no signs of slowing down. This was usually because our family, Carolyn included, loved us so much and we loved them in return. That said, some private time would be nice and we had talked about the need for it several times and tried for it several times without much success. Still, I had great hopes for the afternoon and I had decided to take Allison and Ron up on their offer of us getting away on Spring Break, even though that was still weeks away. We had just finished our first week back at school. Surely, things would slow down and congeal into a regular schedule now.
"I didn't mean that bad," Brent finally said to break the silence. "I guess that came out wrong. It's just we've been so busy the last three weeks it seems like we're always on the go."
"I know, and I agree," I confided. "I hope things slow down some, too. Sarah and Alex are going to need a lot of attention, but so do..."
"The Andersons?" Brent interrupted.
It took me a second to realize he was talking about us. "Yes. I concur. We must pay more attention to the Andersons." I grinned and hugged him. His body was so muscular and firm and sexy, anytime I was close I was turned on and that it was six in the morning was no exception.
I kissed him deeply and his minty lips returned my affection as I set my coffee on the breakfast bar and squeezed him tighter. The taste of his lips reminded me, though, that I hadn't brushed my teeth yet and made me quite self conscious, not that it mattered as at that moment Alex came with with a bright smile and a loud "Good morning!"
"Good morning, Buddy!" Brent exclaimed as we began to slide apart. He kept his arm around me, though, and it felt natural to just stand there arm in arm. "Did you sleep good?"
"Yes. Miss Sarah is still asleep. Is Damita outside?" He grinned.
"Sure is, I just let her out. She's probably about ready to come back in if you want to check on her. Me and your Sissy were about to cook breakfast. Pancakes okay?"
"Can I help? I used to..." and then began the morning tear fest.
Brent looked at me, both of our faces filled with vicarious sadness, and whispered, "Could you get Damita?" He broke away from me and took Alex by the hand.
"Come on, Buddy. It's okay," I heard Brent console Alex as they walked hand in hand to the living room.
I fetched Damita from the back yard. She was quite ready to come in having taken care of her business and properly admonished the squirrels to stay in their trees. She walked through the door and led me down the hall to Alex and Brent. We found Alex on Brent's lap, crying his eyes out on his shoulder. Damita jumped atop his lap and began whimpering in time with his tears. Between Damita's nuzzling his face and Brent reassuring him that it was okay to be upset and that we all understood, in a few minutes Alex was calming down.
"Your mom, I know you're going to make her so proud. Sometimes when things suck for me, I have to remind myself that I need to be strong and make my parents proud, too, Buddy," Brent whispered.
"I don't mean to be weak..."
"Oh, Buddy, you're not weak. You're hurt. You're as strong and brave as anyone. It's okay to hurt and it's okay to get it out. If you try to bottle it up, you'll just hurt yourself trying. Besides, you're safe here and everyone loves you and, well, we're here for you. I know we can't take your mom's place, no one can, but we can help you pick up and move on, remembering who you lost and making them proud of who you become."
I sat silently as Brent continued to console Alex and after a few minutes we were in the kitchen, making pancakes and playing with the batter as if nothing had happened. I remembered the moment all day though and knew Brent was who I wanted to live my life with and have children with. I had chosen well.
Princess Bratface deemed us worthy to be joined for breakfast just as the food was ready and complained that we hadn't woken her to help.
Soon we were fed, showered, clothed and ready for church. For once, we would actually be early. Brent drove, of course, and this time we took his SUV with Carolyn meeting us there. As we backed up to let Carolyn out, we ended up aimed the opposite direction but figured to just go around the block. Instead, Brent drove crosstown to pick up the interstate on the other side, which added about 15 minutes, but was pleasant enough and gave us more time to chat with the kids. We would still be early for church, but would have to rush Alex and Sarah into Sunday school. That wasn't a big deal as they would be in the same class and Sarah was already promising to introduce her new brother.
Alex beamed with pride at the connection he shared with Sarah and we knew he was in good hands. Suddenly, though, Alex asked Brent to slow down.
"What's wrong, Buddy?"
"Is this Market Street coming up?" He smiled.
"Yeah, I think so."
"Oh, right over there is the youth center. That's where my scout troop meets!" Alex excitedly pointed out, happy at last to share something with us. Of course, he became almost instantly sad again.
"Really? What night do you meet on?" I asked, hoping to find the spark of happiness that had just been extinguished by the memory.
"We did on Tuesday, but I guess I can't now," he said, dejected and again reminded that his life was turned upside down.
We rode in silence for a moment until Brent, a quizzical look on his face, looked into the rearview and asked "Why not?"
"Because it's so far from Dr. and Mrs. Anderson," he confessed sadly.
"Well, why don't you ask Dr. Ron about that? I bet you'll be surprised. He always took me to scouts," Brent replied.
Brent had been in scouts, as had Ron. I never did. Selling cookies wasn't my thing. But when I first moved in, Ron and Brent had done a lot with the scouts; camping and such. I'm not really an outdoorsy person so I really didn't pay attention to it all.
"You think he would take me?" Alex smiled.
"I think so. He might even join you. I know I'd like to."
"Brent was in the scouts when I first moved in. Weren't you, Brent?" I asked, nudging the conversation along.
"Yep, I finished my Eagle a few years ago when I was fifteen. I didn't think Jessie ever noticed. It was right before she came to live with us."
"You're an Eagle?" Alex asked, seemingly star struck.
"Yeah, it's not that big of a deal. It just takes time and work. Dr. Ron is, too. And in a few years, if you want, you can be, too," Brent said.
I didn't know any of this. About the time that Brent and Ron were still going, I was beginning to discover makeup, fashion and of course most of the time had my face buried in a book. Still I thought it was sort of neat, in a nerdy kind of way.
Alex and Brent talked about all this the entire way to church and when we arrived, before either I or Brent could warn them, Alex was already asking to return to his group, and practically begging Ron to let him attend with either Brent or myself driving since we lived so close.
Ron surprised me by not only allowing it, but by saying he would go himself, and volunteering Brent to go with them. The three of them were quite pumped up at the possibilities. Allison, Sarah and I were basically not consulted on any of this but we were all ecstatic to see Alex happy.
Sunday school and church seemed to fly by. Brent and I should have been in the young married couples class but we stayed with our college group as we knew everyone there and, since Carolyn wasn't married, it was where our best friend was. It was my first visit back to our class since the hospital but I had talked to most of our friends the Sunday before so the main topic of gossip was about little Alex, or "Buddy" as Brent had taken to calling him. Once church began, our family took up almost an entire pew and I loved just being there, holding Sarah's hand with Brent's very protective arm around me. Alex snuggled between Allison and Brent and Ron sat at the end grinning and occasionally cutting up with Alex. Carolyn was at the other end with Alex occasionally grinning at his favorite math tutor all the way down the pew.
Afterwards, it was off to have a celebratory lunch with momma Donna and Dr. Riley. Even though it was ostensively about them, the focus was on Donna meeting Alex. She caught him up on the baby that was coming and how I was as a little girl and how happy she was that Alex was with Allison and Ron. Donna bragged on Allison until she blushed and Dr. Riley grinned throughout it all. He, too, was enamored at the cute little boy that had joined us. A few brief whispered questions about how I felt was all the conversation we would share.
After lunch, as we sat and chatted, Brent got a call and excused himself to take it. I was curious as to what that was about but figured he would tell me later. Allison took this opportunity to ask if I wished to continue wedding dress shopping that afternoon, but I declined, saying I wanted Donna to go and help. Brat was - of course - totally in favor of a girls afternoon of shopping and Donna insisted that I go, promising that she would be off work the following Tuesday and that we could go again then. I wanted to spend the day with Brent, however, and was trying to delicately decline when he came back to the table.
