Part Fourteen
They hadn't been going to have three kids, not at first. They'd wanted two, a boy and a girl, and if the first two happened to be both boys, or both girls, then they'd try for a third. Sydney had been surprised when Emily was less than a year old and Michael had made a comment about the next one.
"Next one?" Sydney had repeated with raised eyebrows.
Michael had smiled rather sheepishly. "Well," he'd said. "We do have another room to fill."
She'd shaken her head with a smile. "I don't know, Michael," she'd said. "I think Emily might enjoy being the pampered baby of the family, don't you, angel?" she'd cooed, picking up the little girl.
Funny how things worked out. Now that Emily was a bit older, Sydney thought that she was much better suited to the role of bossy older sister than pampered baby. At any rate, the more she had thought about having a third, the more the idea had appealed to her. They'd started trying again shortly after Emily's second birthday, and now, Sydney couldn't imagine their family without little Gracie.
Gracie had woken her twice since Sydney had fallen asleep on the couch, and after the second time, she'd found Michael and Emily sprawled out in such a way that had made it impossible for her to join them again. She'd settled down next to Jack on the floor instead, and now it is he that wakes her, not with cries, but with gentle shaking and a whispered plea of "Mom?"
"What's the matter, sweetie?"
"I'm hungry, Mom."
Sydney squints at the VCR clock. It's ten p.m. They have all slept through dinner. "I am, too," she admits, sitting up and rubbing her eyes drowsily. "Let's go find something to eat. Does grilled cheese sound good?" She learned a long time ago that when it comes to kids, it is better to suggest something than to ask what they feel like eating.
"Yes," Jack says with a smile. He looks so much like his daddy.
"Grilled cheese, hmm? What do you want on it, tomatoes or raspberry jelly?"
"Raspberry jelly," Jack says, eyes lighting up.
"Sounds good." She stands and takes his hand, then leads him to the kitchen.
"Jack, sweetheart," she says as she goes about the business of locating grilled cheese supplies. "I've barely gotten to see you in the last couple of days."
"I know," he says, looking troubled by the fact. Jack is her buddy; every day after school she fixes him a snack and he tells her about his day. Neither of them much like missing the little ritual.
"How was school yesterday?"
"It was okay," he says with a serious frown, launching into a description of the things he'd learned. He is so solemn and serious, and wildly intelligent; he catches on to everything he learns in school quickly and can't understand the kids who have a harder time or cause trouble for the teacher.
"Did you have fun at Amanda's last night?"
Jack nods. "It wasn't snowing yet when we got home from school, so she played freeze tag in the backyard with Aaron and me, and then when Emily and Gracie got there we went inside and watched a video and she heated us up a frozen pizza."
"That sounds good," Sydney says with a smile. In fact, it sounds like almost the perfect evening for a kid. "Now, sweetheart, tell me about your day with Daddy."
It is then that Jack's eyes light up and he really comes alive; he adores spending time with his father and he is a natural athlete. Sydney is glad that there are at least a few things that will wipe the serious frown off of his face.
"Jack's going to be the next Wayne Gretzky," Michael declares as he enters the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Who's that, Dad?"
"Who's that?" Michael asks, pretending to be offended. "Only, like, the best hockey player of all time, Jack."
"Oh," Jack says happily. "I'm going to be as good as him?"
"We'll see," Michael says, winking at Sydney. "You'll have to practice a whole lot."
"Can we go again tomorrow, Dad?"
"Not tomorrow," Michael says, moving over to where Sydney stands at the stove. "Tomorrow we're going to go to the museum and see the dinosaurs."
"Really, Dad?" Jack cries. If there is one thing he loves more than hockey, it's dinosaurs.
"Sure," Michael says with a smile. It is then that he directs his attention to Sydney. "You're making grilled cheese?"
"Would you like one?"
"Yes, please," he says with a boyish grin, leaning over to give her a quick kiss before joining Jack at the table.
"Em and Grace still out?" There are baby monitors all over the house, so they'll hear the little one if she cries.
"Yeah, but Em's getting a little restless," Michael says. "Ten bucks says she'll be in here in ten minutes asking for grilled cheese."
"I'll make a pile of them," Sydney says with a smile. "Jack, honey, do you want yours cut into triangles?"
"Is Dad having his cut into triangles?" Jack asks with a frown.
"Maybe just in half," Michael says with a smile.
"I just want it in half, Mom."
She finishes their sandwiches and a couple of extra, then pours glasses of milk and sits down at the table. "Whether or not Em and Grace wake up by the time we're done, I think we should put them in bed after this, Mike," Sydney says with a yawn. "I don't want to sleep in my clothes in the living room all night."
"Sounds like a plan," Michael says.
"You're coming with us to the museum tomorrow, right, Mom?" Jack asks.
"I don't know," Sydney says with a smile. "Am I invited, Mike?"
"Of course," he says, returning her smile.
As predicted, Emily is there in the next few minutes, and she lets Sydney cut her sandwich into triangles without a care as to whether anyone else is. Sydney loves that her little girl knows her own mind, and she loves that tomorrow at the museum Jack will take his little sister by the hand and explain everything to her. She wonders what things about Gracie she'll find to love as she grows older.
Right now, she doesn't have to know anything about her in order to love her. It's enough just that she's hers.