Chapter 1

Prologue

This story takes place six years in the future.

Annie and Eric Camden: They still live in the same house they always have. They take care of all their grandchildren whenever it is needed. They love having such a big family.

Matt and Sarah Camden: They have been married for nine years. They live in New York where Matt and Sarah work as OB/GYNs. They have three kids.

Grace "Gracie" Ann Camden- five years old and in kindergarten

Zachary "Zack" Matthew Camden- three years old and stays home

Nolan Jason Camden- five months old and stays home

Mary and Carlos Rivera: They have been married for eight years. They live in New York about a block from Matt and Sarah. Carlos is a teacher and Mary stays at home with their kids. They have four kids and Mary is seven and a half months pregnant:

Charles "Charlie" Miguel Rivera- seven years old and in second grade

Connor Sean Rivera- six years old and in first grade

Maggie "Mag, Mags" Sophia Rivera- four years old and in pre-school

Rebecca Jane Rivera- two years old and stays home

Lucy and Kevin Kinkirk: They have been married for eight years. Kevin is a police officer and Lucy is a minister at church. She does most of her work from home but she goes in sometimes when somebody makes an appointment with her. They have five kids.

Lucas "Luke" Benjamin Kinkirk- six years old and in 1st Grade

Noah Paul Kinkirk- six years old and in 1st Grade

Thomas "Tommy" Eric Kinkirk- five years old and in kindergarten

Elizabeth "Lizzy" Jennifer Kinkirk- four years old and in pre-school

Caleb Kevin Kinkirk- two and a half years old and stays home

Simon and Katherine (Kate) Camden: They have been married for three years. Simon had a son with his girlfriend before he met Kate. They met when his son was about five months old. They got married when Simon's son was about one year old. Simon works as a movie director and Katherine is a speech therapist. They live in a town outside of Glen Oak and they have one child and Kate is about four months pregnant with twins.

Alexander "Alex" John Camden- four years old and in pre-school

Ruthie Camden- She is twenty-one years old and lives in a town about two hours from Glen Oak. She is currently dating Peter Petrowski and works as a teacher.

Sam and David Camden- They are both twelve years old. They are in 7th grade and both are very athletic. They are also becoming very girl crazy just as all the Camdens did.

"Come on kids. You don't want to be late," Mary yelled up the stairs.

"Coming mom," all three kids yelled from their bedrooms. Then they all came down with Charlie leading the way. Mary brushed her two sons' hair and then she pulled Maggie's hair up into pig-tails.

"Alright Mags, your all set," Mary said to her oldest daughter. Then Maggie sat down at the table and started to eat breakfast. About fifteen minutes later Mary helped the kids to get their jackets on and then put them all in her mini van. They went to Matt and Sarah's house where they would be picking up Grace, Zack, and Nolan.

"I'm also taking Zack and Nolan with me today, right?" Mary asked Sarah when they reached the house.

"Yeah, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. I need to go into work today," Sarah said.

"Oh, it's no problem," Mary answered her sister en-law. Then Mary took Zack from Sarah and they all went out to the car. Mary put the boys in their car seats while Sarah helped Grace to put on her seatbelt. After everyone was ready Mary drove away while Sarah waved good-bye. After dropping off the kids Mary took Zack, Nolan, and Rebecca home. She put them each in for a nap. Rebecca in her own bed and Zack and Nolan each in portable cribs. Then Mary put in a load of laundry and did some other household chores. At about twelve-thirty Nolan woke up.

"Hey honey," Mary said to Nolan as she looked into his crib. Nolan gurgled something in response and Mary took him out of the crib. She changed his diaper and then brought him downstairs. Mary put him in the play pen until both Rebecca and Zack were awake. Then Mary put all three babies in their high chairs and started to make lunch.

"Here you go Zack," Mary said as she put half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on his plate. She gave the other half to Rebecca and then she gave them each a sippy cup filled with apple juice. Then Mary fed Nolan some baby food. When they were done Mary put a movie on in the playroom for Zack, Rebecca and Nolan to watch.

"You're all ready to go," Lucy said after she had put Elizabeth's hair into a ponytail.

"Thank you mommy," Elizabeth said and then she ran out of the bathroom that connected her and her brothers, Tommy and Caleb's, rooms. Lucy checked each of the kids' rooms to make sure that they were each downstairs. She shifted Caleb to her other hip as she walked down the stairs. Lucy was presently surprised to see that her children were not wreaking havoc in her kitchen. Usually if Lucy left her children alone for more than fifteen minutes something would be broken or a mess would be made. Today the only thing that was wrong was that there was milk spilling from the table to the floor. Lucy put Caleb into his high chair and then she cleaned up the mess.

"Kids, come eat breakfast," Lucy called. Her four remaining children came from all directions and sat at the table. Lucy gave them each a bowl of cereal. They quickly ate and then loaded into the car. Lucy dropped them all of at school and then went back home. She put Caleb in for his nap at about one-thirty and then started to work on her sermon.

At about three o'clock Lucy could hear Caleb calling "Mommy" and she knew it was time to get him out of his crib. She went upstairs and went into his room. It was decorated with trains, planes, and cars and there was a crib against one wall and a bed against the other. When Lucy walked into the room she saw that Caleb was standing in his crib. She changed his diaper and then brought him downstairs. When she got there she quickly left the house and went to pick up the kids from school.

When she got there Lizzy, Noah, Luke, and Tommy ran to the car. They buckled up and then drove off. "We're going to the food store. Okay kids?" Lucy said, more like telling, not asking. All the kids groaned and then Caleb did the same just to be like everyone else. Lucy laughed and then said, "stop your complaining." The kids obeyed and then Lucy said, "So how was school today?" Immediately chatter filled the backseat as all four kids tried to tell Lucy what went on at school that day at the same time. Soon Lucy pulled into the supermarket parking lot. She got the kids out of the car and got a shopping cart. Then Lucy put Caleb into the front and Tommy into the back. After convincing Noah, Lizzy, and Luke that walking was fun the shopping trip finally started.

As they walked down the aisles five sets of arms pulled things off the shelves. "Put it back Noah," Lucy said as Noah pulled a pulled a box of cookies off the shelf. Noah sighed and then did as he was told and they continued walking. After about twenty more minutes Lucy was starting to get annoyed at telling her children not to pull things off the shelf. After Lizzy took a bag of candy of the shelf Lucy had to stop herself from screaming. She calmly said to her daughter, "Didn't I just tell your brothers not to take things off the shelf? Now please put that back."

"Yes, but you didn't tell me not to take things off the shelf. You only told Noah, Luke and Tommy to not take things off the shelf," Lizzy responded.

"The same goes for you," Lucy said. They continued walking and as they walked along Lizzy ran into a tall man. "I'm so sorry. Please forgive my daughter," Lucy said to the man.

"Oh, it's fine," the man said as he turned around. When the man turned around Lucy was surprised to see that the man was Jeremy.

"Oh my gosh. Jeremy?" Lucy exclaimed.

"Lucy Camden?" Jeremy said.

"Actually it's Lucy Kinkirk. I got married. I've been married for about eight years," Lucy said.

"Really that's great," Jeremy said. "Are all of these yours?"

"Yup. That's Lizzy, that's Noah, that's Luke, that's Tommy, and this is Caleb," Lucy said as she placed her hand on each kids' heads.

"Wow, that's great," Jeremy said.

"So what have you been doing?" Lucy asked.

"Well, I've been dating this girl seriously for a couple of years. We're living together and I've been playing the piano. You know," Jeremy explained.

"That's great," Lucy said.

"So, who's the guy you married?" Jeremy asked.

"Oh, he's a police officer. We met in the airport," Lucy said. "We fell in love and a year later we got married. I also became a minister. I'm working at my dad's church."

"I knew you would," Jeremy said

"Thanks, so what are you doing in Glen Oak?" Lucy asked.

"Well, I'm here visiting my parents. Also, my girlfriend and I are also starting to think about moving to a town a couple of hours from here and we wanted to look at some houses," Jeremy explained.

"Oh cool. Well, I better be going. I need to get home," Lucy said. "Maybe we could get a cup of coffee some time while you're here."

"Okay," Jeremy said and they both went their separate ways. "Wow that was weird," Lucy thought to herself as she walked away. She finished the food shopping and then she brought the kids home. Since it was Friday, the kids didn't have homework so Lucy let them play in the back yard while she started dinner. Once dinner was started Lucy took the phone and then went outside.

At about five-thirty Kevin came home from work. When he walked into the house he could hear them all laughing and playing but he didn't know where they were. He followed their voices and soon found his entire family outside. Lucy was sitting on the porch swing watching the kids as they either ran around the backyard or played on the swing set. "Hi hunny," Kevin said.

"Hi," Lucy said and she kissed Kevin as he sat down next to her. "How was your day?"

"Oh, it was good," Kevin said. "How 'bout you?"

"It was fine. Busy, but that is normal," Lucy said. At about six o'clock the whole family sat down to dinner. They were eating when Kevin asked, "So what did you guys do today?"

"We went to the food store with mommy. She saw some man there, who I didn't know. It was really boring because they talked for like ten minutes. We just had to stand and wait for them to finish it was so boring and my feet started to hurt. I hate going to the food store," Lizzy explained.

"Really?" Kevin said, a little surprised at what his daughter was telling him. He looked at Lucy and then they continued with dinner. After dinner Kevin and Lucy gave the kids baths and then put them to bed. Not talking about what had happened that day at the food store.

Kevin was in the play room cleaning when Lucy came in to talk to him. "Kevin, can we talk?"

"Sure," Kevin said and he put down what he was putting away.

"Are you upset about what happened at the food store today?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah kinda. Who was that guy that you were talking to? And why did my daughter tell me what happened and not you?" Kevin asked.

"That guy was Jeremy. The guy that I dated at the end of high school and I moved to New York with. He was the one that I was going to marry. He was in Glen Oak visiting his parents and we bumped into each other at the food store. We talked for a little while and then we went our own ways," Lucy explained. "And I don't know why I didn't tell you. I just didn't think that I needed to."

"Did you not tell me because you stillhave feelings forhim?" Kevin asked.

"No, of course not. I'm not in love with him anymore. I was when I was still with him but I'm not anymore. I promise," Lucy said and she sat next to Kevin on the couch. "Kev, remember, I'm the one who left him. He didn't leave me. He wasn't the one for me, you are. I love you. Please forgive me, for not telling you. I love you with all my heart."

"I love you too," Kevin said. "You can tell me everything. I won't get mad; even if you were talking to a man that you used to be in love with. I love you and I can never stop doing that." Kevin then kissed Lucy passionately.

"I love you too," Lucy said. "Thank you for forgiving me."

"Of course," Kevin said. Then he kissed Lucy again. Then Lucy turned on the TV and she laid on Kevin's chest. They laid like that for about two hours and then they went to bed. "Good-night," Lucy said right before she turned off the light. Then she cuddled up close to Kevin and quickly fell asleep. Kevin heard Lucy's breathing become even and he knew that she was asleep. He kissed the top of her head and then he too fell asleep.