This was not how she imagined her life.
When she was younger, this was not how she thought her life would be. She imagined a husband, a couple of kids, a picket fence, a career and maybe even a dog. To be honest, really she wasn't far off, but the life she imagined was simpler, more casual and definitely not the exhausted never ending merry-go-round she felt that she had accidentally stumbled upon.
Fourty-two, two teenagers living fulltime in her home along with twins who needed "one more story" every night in order to fall asleep, and a husband she usually got along with. Her chestnut hair had a few greys if anyone looked too close, definitely more than her mother had at this age and maybe even more than her mother currently had, and her job may seem nine to five, but it rarely was that way.
This was not what she imagined. Twin toddlers popping into her life at when she was signing her oldest up for SAT classes was not what she thought was going to happen between making sure her son made it to baseball practice in time.
Now, she wouldn't change a thing. Too many kids running through her home, the sounds of bickering teenagers and giggling five year olds were sounds she thrived on, but it wasn't what she imagined at her age. Not at forty-two.
"What time did you tell Nicole to be home?" Sharon asked Andy as she poured herself a glass of tea.
Their lives had been a collaborative mess since she and Andy had married, or really since she adopted the twins a year before that, but they handled it. Nicole had fairly free rein of when she was coming of going in their house. She typically let Andy know and they decided on a curfew for the eighteen year old senior. Andy's son, however, was away at school and really made no effort to be a part of the dysfunctional family.
Though Andy would never outwardly say it, it broke his heart that his son wouldn't forgive him for the mistakes had had made while drinking so he stayed loyal to his mother. But he loved that Sharon adored Nicole and took her in as her own. Emily loved having a big sister and even Ricky enjoyed having someone else to argue with occasionally.
"The usual; eleven," he told her as he leaned in to have a whiff of whatever she was drinking. He couldn't get himself to actually enjoy tea, but he did enjoy the smell of it. It meant that the day was almost over and soon they would be able to crawl into bed.
She gave him a look as she followed him to the couch. It was already nearly ten and everyone else was in bed. The twins had been in bed since eight and Ricky and Emily had to at least be in the bedrooms by nine-thirty on weeknights. Nicole had a little freer reign since she was eighteen and went between her parents' houses regularly. Sharon didn't like the late curfew, but she also understood that he was still trying to get in her good graces.
"I really think we should bump that down to ten," Sharon told him, as she leaned against his chest. Her hair was pulled back from her face, but other than that flowing down her back. She was comfortable when they sat like that. His arm around her so snuggly she almost always fell sleep before her tea was empty. "I'll be the bad guy if you want, but I can't stand having her out this late on school nights, not knowing where she is."
She wasn't Nicole's mother, but she couldn't help but have a maternal connection with the girl. The friends who had step-children and children of their own didn't always say much about them, but Nicole was just as much of her kid as the other four. The only difference was she didn't live there all the time.
There was a quirk in Andy's brow as she felt his chest bounce lightly with is chuckle. "I think she's eighteen in the last month of her senior year. Eleven o'clock is fine."
Emily always had a fit that Nicole's curfew was so much later than hers no matter how many times it was stated that Nicole was also older. It wasn't really a fight worth having, at least not until Emily was eighteen too.
Nights like these where she was laying with her husband on their couch which their children upstairs. Perhaps the most surprising part was that it was Andy, a man that she tended to have a love hate relationship with for over a decade to surprise her so much in stealing her heart. He always told her that he fell in love with her, but everyday he's sure he will wake up and find it all a dream.
If it wasn't for the twins, she would have never gotten divorced. When she told Jack she wanted to adopt the toddlers (after months of trying to track him down) he all but laughed in her face. The next day Sharon had divorce papers sent to him, assuring him that it would be in his best interest to proceed quickly or else the next thing filed would be child abandonment papers.
She had been seeing Andy for about six months up until that point. The man who had been drinking buddies with her husband had become one of her best friends after he came to her house one night, sober, but not in a good place. She had always had a soft spot for him even when she knew him to be an insensitive ass. That night she sat with him on the couch, her family sleeping up the stairs, as they discussed life.
They became friends, and then somehow they became more than that, and then he became her husband with the blessing of her family. Ricky had gotten used to Andy in his life now that it was going on three years. In the three years Andy had been involved with their family Andy had easily become more of a father than either of her children had ever known. Then his obvious love for the twins, hauling them around with piggyback rides and the way he glowed when Rusty called him Daddy for the first time.
Now here they were, comfortable in their married lives and living happily and easily. Well, not exactly easily, but it was definitely filled with love.
"I love you," Sharon stated suddenly, so lost in her thoughts that she barely noticed Andy had since turned on the evening news. He looked at her in surprise but with a smile as well.
"That's an interesting thing to say after the weather," he teased her making her laugh and curl deeper into him.
"I was just thinking about how I could never change this. That this wasn't what I ever thought would happen but I wouldn't change it. Not Rusty and Riley. Not Emily or Ricky or Nicole. Not you." She sighed a little and found his hand. She traced it with her fingers up and down each of his long digits and over the calluses on his hands.
These were the hands that tucked their children into bed at night and played baseball with Ricky. The ones that applaud proudly for Emily at ever dance recital and combed through Nicole's hair after a breakup. She loved his hands. They were just one of the many things that reminded her of how much he loved them all.
"Well, beautiful," Andy began, his free hand gently moving to her face to push the stray hair out of the way of her eyes. His fingers gently caressed her cheek as she let herself fall into the feeling of his touch. "I wouldn't change a thing either. Not a moment since I've been with you."
Gently he pressed his lips to hers and she couldn't stop herself from smiling into the kiss.
No, this was not how she imagined her life.
She could never imagine her life being this perfect.
Please review. I'm considering making this a multi chapter story, but I'm unsure.