Part Two
"Daddy!"
Sydney barely glanced up from her cooking as she heard the front door click shut, followed by the sound of Emily hurling herself from her place in front of the TV to meet her father. It was a daily ritual-- no matter where Emily was in the house, she always heard the front door close, always went running to meet her daddy.
"Hey, princess," she heard Michael say. That was another ritual-- he'd put down his briefcase and sweep his little girl into his arms. "How's daddy's little girl?"
"I'm good, Daddy," Emily chirped. "Mommy took Gracie and me to the park, and we fed the ducks, and I tried to get Gracie to say quack, quack, but Mommy says she's too little to talk."
"Well, keep trying, sweetheart," Michael said with a laugh. The two of them entered the kitchen, Emily scrambling into a chair at the kitchen table, and Michael moved to kiss Sydney's cheek. "Hi, honey."
"Hi," Sydney said, turning to smile at him. "How was your day?"
"The usual. Boring," he said, moving to lift Gracie from her playpen. "Hi, angel. Were you good for Mommy today?"
"She can't talk, Daddy!" Emily sang from her chair, where she had put herself to work with a coloring book and crayons.
"That's right," Michael said, winking at Sydney. "Did you have a good day, Syd?"
"I don't know," Sydney sighed, leaning back against the kitchen counter. "I know it sounds stupid, but I couldn't shake that dream off all day."
"Did you have a bad dream last night, Mommy?" Emily asked, scribbling furiously in the coloring book.
"Sort of, sweetie," Sydney said. "Emily, honey, why don't you put your coloring book away and go tell Jack it's time for dinner."
"Okay!" Emily exclaimed, springing up from her chair and running towards the backyard, where Sydney knew that six-year-old Jack was playing with his little basketball and hoop.
"God, I don't remember ever having that much energy," Michael said, shaking his head with a rueful smile as he redeposited the baby in her playpen. He got such a kick out of their kids-- Jack, so serious and solemn, Emily, so full of energy, and Grace, who they were just getting to know.
"Me, either," Sydney said, turning off the heat on the spaghetti sauce. "I shouldn't have made spaghetti, Emily's going to make such a mess, I'm not in the mood for a major clean-up tonight."
"I'll help you," Michael said, brow knitted in concern. "You okay, Syd?"
"I'm fine, I'm just--" Sydney shook her head and moved to place the sauce on the table. "Maybe I should think about going back to work."
Michael's eyebrows shot practically to the ceiling. "What, you mean get another teaching job?"
"You don't think I should?"
"I didn't say that, I just--"
Don't understand why I'd want to, Sydney finished silently. They had plenty of money-- Michael's new job had helped them shift from comfortable to wealthy-- plus Gracie was only three months old, and Emily was two years away from even starting kindergarten.
"Oh, I don't know if I even want to," Sydney sighed, setting the spaghetti down next to the sauce. "I mean, I always thought I would eventually, when the kids were older, but it's probably too soon."
"Whatever makes you happy, Syd," Michael said quietly.
Sydney forced herself to smile. "You make me happy," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"I hope so," he said seriously.
He did, he really did. She loved her life, had no cause for complaints.
She just wasn't sure why the dream had left her feeling so unsettled.