Moving On

The Daughter I Never Had Chapter 9

Events of my current one shot 5 Year Anniversary from Mrs. Pugh's perspective. These two vignettes set the scene for my upcoming collaboration with Mandalicious which will be a sequel to Holiday Memories which is yet to be titled. I own no rights to characters from Annie or lyrics to Closing Time by Semisonic

"So gather up your jackets

Move it to the exits

I hope you have found a friend

Closing time

Every new beginning

comes from some other beginning's end."

~Closing Time Semisonic

It's quite amazing how fast time passes by. I've been working here for almost 20 years, Grace came into my life 6 years ago and married Oliver 5 years ago. This family has gone through so much and is so much better because of it. Grace may not be my birth daughter but she will be forever special to me. I couldn't be happier that she is part of my life.

Grace and Oliver went away for a week in April for their 5 year anniversary. It was especially hard to Joanne to have her parents gone for a week. She is just as close with Grace as Annie is. It makes me remember when Oliver and Grace were first married and went away on their honeymoon.

As Grace and Oliver's car pulled out of the driveway to drive to Western Massachusetts I scooped up my youngest surrogate granddaughter in my arms.

"No time to be sad. Let's go inside and have lunch and then you can help me make some cookies." I said kissing Joanne on the cheek softly.

"Okay Grandma Helen. I love you!"

"I love you too my sweet Joanne."

That night when it was time for bed I found Joanne in Grace and Oliver's room. I remembered she often liked to snuggle with Grace in bed and they would read bedtime stories together.

"Come along sweetheart. Let's get ready for bed."

"Will you read me a story Grandma Helen?"

"Of course dear."

The week seemed to fly by in a blur. Late Friday afternoon Grace and Oliver came home. Joanne flew down the front steps and into Grace's arms,

"Mommy! Daddy! I missed you much!" Joanne nuzzled into Grace's neck.

"We missed you too sweetie. Were you good for Grandma Helen?"

Joanne nodded.

"That's good to hear. We bought all of you presents from our trip,"

"Horary!

After dinner Grace knocked on my bedroom door.

"Come in Gracie Liz!"

Grace was all smiles.

"So you had a good trip?"

Grace nodded "Oh yes. Very much so Mama! The Berkshires are lovely!"

"I can't say I've ever been there."

"I think we should all go there as a family sometime. You'd love it and so would the children. There is so much to do there."

Grace was silent for five minutes…looking very deep in thought.

"What's on your mind darling?"

"How do you feel about selling this place?"

I looked at her dumbfounded. "Excuse me?"

"Well, on our trip Oliver proposed that we should downsize to a smaller house.. Perhaps move to Queens."

"Why on earth would he want to do that?"

"This place is getting to big for us. Now that Annie is off to college there's really no need for us to live in this big place. It's too overwhelming. Oliver is planning to retire in two years and would prefer to live in a much smaller house… maybe an apartment or a ranch."

"So he'd fire all the staff?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

I looked down at the bedspread unsure of what I should say.

"I'll certainly miss everyone. This staff has become like a family over the years."

Grace nodded. "I know how you feel about that Mama. Just think though this could be a new beginning for all of us. I could get a teaching job in Queens and Molly and Isabella would finish off high school together."

"What happens after that though? Would we still stat in Queens?"

Grace shrugged. "I have to call my sister tomorrow and find out if she is still planning on moving to Boston. I would like to be closer to my family so moving to Boston might be something we'd do down the line."

I pulled Grace close to me, rubbing her back and kissing her on the forehead. "I look forward to what's ahead for this family so much. I love you to ends of the earth Gracie Liz. You are everything to me."

Grace looked at me lovingly and kissed my cheek softly before snuggling into my chest. "I love you too Mama."

Three weeks later Annie returned home for the summer from college after we had a nice welcome home dinner we all went into Oliver's office.

"So what's the rest of the exciting news?" Annie asked. Grace had told Annie on the way home that her sister Jennifer and two children would be moving to Boston in about a month or so.

"How do you feel about moving to Queens?" Grace asked her children.

She was met with dumbfounded silence.

The first words of Annie's mouth were "How soon?"

Oliver ginned. "We don't know yet sweetheart. It depends how long it will take us to sell this house and to find a plave to live In Queens. Uncle Gene is taking me apartment hunting on Friday."

"I don't want to move." Joanne protested

"Yeah, neither do I." Frederick said.

Grace knelt down in front of her youngest children.

"I know this is hard to take in darlings but I think this will be a wonderful experience for all of us."

"Why are we moving?" Joanne whispered she looked very close to tears.

"Your father wants to retire soon and wants to downsize." Grace said matter of factly.

"This house is getting too big for us." Oliver added.

"But you'll fire Drake, Mrs. Greer and all the staff? Grandma Helen too?" Frederick asked.

I walked over to the couch and scooped up my surrogate grandson into my arms hugging him tightly.

"I'm not going anywhere my precious boy. We're all going to move to Queens together."

Annie looked at Molly " Just think Mol, you've always wanted to go to school with Isabella now that will finally happen… at least for three years til you go to college."

Molly looked at Grace and smiled broadly. " This is great news and while I am going to miss all my friends here I can't wait to go school with Isabella. It's going to be great. I already fit in so well with all her friends."

Joanne got up from the couch and ran from the room in tears.

"Oh dear. I should go talk to her." Grace said.

I patted her arm, "I'll go."

I left the office and went up to Joanne's bed room. She was laying face down on her bed convulsing in sobs.

"Baby girl, come see Grandma Helen."

I sat down on her bed and she slowly crawled into my lap.

"Shh my sweet little girl please don't cry."

Joanne continued to sob for about five minutes. I pulled a handkerchief from my apron pocket and dabbed her eyes.

"I don't want to move to Queens." She finally managed to whisper.

"It's not that far darling. Just think of all the new friends you'll make."

"What about my friends here? I don't want to leave them."

"We'll only live 15 minutes away from the city, Your mom and dad can take you here on the weekends to see them."

"It won't be the same."

Grace was standing in the doorway. She joined me on the bed and her hand met mine rubbing Joanne's back comfortingly.

"My sweet baby girl, I know this news is especially hard for you and your brother. I warned your father it may difficult to deal with but please don't think of it as saying good bye to your friends. Think of it as saying see you later."

Joanne looked at Grace and outstretched her arms. Grace took her from me and continued to rub her back kissing her forehead gently.

I love you Mommy and Grandma Helen."

I kissed Joanne's forehead softy. "We love you too our sweet little angel."