It's been a million years since I've done any writing or updating, hasn't it? Well, I'm back. Finally found my muse again. RL has taken an incredible turn during the time that I've been away, so everything's fine. :D Anyway, here's a new chapter. Hope you enjoy.
Rutherford Residence
Port St. Lucie, FL
0758 local
"Good morning, sleepy head." Harm kisses my cheek as he sits down next to me on the bed. Hands me a cup of herbal tea as soon as I sit up. "Did you sleep okay?"
I nod. "Yeah, I guess. Is Dae up yet?"
Harm nods. "She's downstairs, all packed and ready to go. You take your time getting ready. Savannah isn't going to be here for a few hours."
That's right. Our not so little girl is coming home today. It's the start of her summer break, and as always, she's spending the first two weeks here. But today she's bringing someone. Her boyfriend. The boy we've been hearing about for months.
Harm kisses me on my lips before standing up and going to take Daelynn to school. I've been really sick, so I've been in bed. I'm doing better now. Wouldn't want to worry anyone anymore than I already do.
After a bath and the breakfast Harm made me, I look around our house. Everything is as it always is, clean and neat. It's a little easier now that we only have Daelynn here at home. I miss the other two. But Savannah and Bryce are both in college now, so I'll just have to deal with that. Daelynn will be here for a long while before she goes, too.
She'll be starting her last year, this fall. It's incredible. A journalist. A real journalist. Now, it's really a Savannah thing. Maybe it will satisfy her curiosity. Today, though, she'll be coming home with her first real boyfriend in her life.
For some reason, Savannah never really wanted to go out on dates with the guys in her school or anything. Harm and I always thought that she was really waiting for the right guy to come along before she jumped into anything.
Bryce on the other hand… He can get five girls on each finger and he knows it. He's really the playboy. It's a good thing Harm has taught him to respect women. And Daelynn. Well, Daelynn is eleven, so there will be no dating for her for a very long time. Or so Harm says.
Life has been going so fast the past twenty years. The kids are almost all grown up. I never imagined that Harm and I would be living in the same place for so long. But we haven't moved in all the time we've been in Florida. We've made some adjustments to the house, but that has been it. I think that twenty years from now, we'll still be living here.
I hear a car in the drive way and stretch to see if it's Savannah yet. But it's Harm, who's back from taking Daelynn to school. He'll work from home today.
He wraps his arms around me. "Are you okay?" he asks.
I now. "Yeah. Just remembering how fast the past twenty years have gone."
He smiles. "That's a great answer, honey, but it's not what I meant."
The cancer scared us. It knocked us off our feet for a whole while. But they caught it early, and in between chemo, I've been feeling all right, so that's something. Savannah and Bryce hated it that they weren't here. I'm not used to feeling so weak. But if the doctors are right, I should be feeling better soon.
"I know. I'm taking everything easy, so it should be fine."
Harms guides me to my rocking chair on the porch and helps me sit down. We're glad that he can work from home for the most part, and Jeremy has been really generous with days off.
"Is there anything you want?" he asks.
I shake my head. "Not really. Just hope that it won't be long before Vannah is here."
Harm is not yet used to Savannah being an adult. I don't think that he ever really will get used to it. And he's not used to me being sick either, but then again, none of us is. I usually run around the house and do my thing, but that's been a little hard the past couple of months.
Savannah comes around the back a few hours later. I've been drifting in and out of sleep and Harm's been working, when I hear giggling. I'm glad that he makes her happy, whoever he is.
"Mom!" She runs up the porch and gives me a monster hug. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry that I couldn't get here any sooner."
I hug her back, happy that she's here. "I'm all right, sweetie. I know that college is busy."
The guy with her has some sort of familiarity about him, but I can't pinpoint what it is. He's tall, dark and handsome.
"It's not all right. I should've been here. With you." She gives me another hug. "But I'm glad that I'm here now."
Smiling at the young man, I attempt to get up, but he waves me down. "Don't worry about it, Mrs. Rutherford. Don't get up on my account. I'm just very glad to meet you." He gives me his hand to shake. "Jeffrey Turner."
"Sarah Rutherford. And please, do call me Sarah. Mrs. Rutherford makes me feel incredibly old. It's nice to meet you, Jeffrey."
Harm let's go of Savannah to give Jeffrey a once over. He's a protective dad, but the girls wouldn't have it any other way. Savannah leans into him, brightly smiling at Jeffrey. I can see that she's really happy.
Jeffrey turns to Harm. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Rutherford. Savannah speaks very often and very fondly of you."
He's being incredibly polite. I'm guessing it's his nature. Harm looks at him as if he's seen a ghost, trying his very best to hide it. But I've known my husband for over twenty-three years, so he is an open book to me.
It is not until dinner that I figure out what it is that Harm has seen. Remember that I said that Jeffrey had a sense of familiarity about him? Well, Harm got him talking about his parents. His mother is singer, but his father…
"My Dad is in the Navy. Went to law school, served on a submarine."
Savannah beams up at me. While the boys were out on the deck, barbecuing, she and I had a long talk about Jeffrey. She's thinking that he might be it. Thinking that he might be the one. I'm happy for her. He looks like a great guy.
Harm helps himself to more salad. "Really? A submarine? You don't hear that very often."
Jeffrey shrugs, giving Savannah's hand a soft squeeze. He's not shy of showing his affection for her. Which is good. "Oh well, there are a lot of things unconventional about the great Sturgis Turner, my mother always says."
And suddenly I understand why Harm has seen a ghost.
TBC
