A note from the author: Sorry to be interrupting, guys, but this is important.
Please no profanity in the reviews. Be it in praise or criticism, this is not the place for it. Everyone is fully capable of expressing their thoughts without using profanity. I have younger siblings, and the last thing I want to happen is them walking past and seeing cusswords on the computer screen.
This is very important to me. So please, speak with consideration. Otherwise, feel free. I don't like having to put this up here, but after a few times it's become necessary. I want this to be a safe environment, y'know? Anyway, go on and enjoy the chapter. Next one should be rolling in next Wednesday.
.
.
.
Jay Sanders closed the front door and quickly slid off his shoes.
"I'm home!" he called to the people who weren't in view.
A high yell came from above his head, muffled by the layer between its speaker and receiver. "Hi, Daddy!"
"Hi, Zach! Does Daddy get a big hug for coming home?" Jay yelled back.
There was a pause. "Maybe..." Jay couldn't quite hear it, but he knew his mischief-maker of a son was giggling upstairs. "If you brought… peanut butter!"
"But we already have peanut butter, little man!" Jay shouted.
"Well, did you bring more?"
"I am afraid not."
"Then no hug!"
"Oh, darn!"
This time he could hear Zach's giggles. The boy must have been slowly making his way downstairs. Jay caught him peeking around the corner, eyes a-sparkle over a wide grin. Jay laughed and positioned himself like a football player.
"C'mere," he said, and Zach catapulted himself from the stairs and crashed into his father's stomach.
"Oof! That's quite an impact you've got there, Mr. Rocket!" Jay told Zach.
His son giggled and squeezed tighter. Jay wheezed, staggering from side to side. "Oh my! So—so strong! How can I bear it?"
"Race you to the porch!" Zach shouted and zinged away.
Jay laughed and chased after. Though he easily could have overtaken his son, the wily child had plotted the course that would take them both across Mom's path. While Zach would charge on, Jay would be obliged to stop and give his wife a kiss.
"He's a clever one, that rascal of ours," Jay remarked as their lips parted.
Maggie's eyes sparkled with the same mischief as Zach's. "I can't imagine where he gets it from."
"It is a mystery." Jay leaned back some and beheld the vision of his wife. A paint-splotched skirt just barely covered her knees while a yellow sleeveless shirt left her well-tanned arms bare, and most of her rebelliously wispy hair was caught up in a bun. A laptop had been placed on the coffee table in front of her, and a half-peeled banana was in her hand.
She was the most beautiful woman Jay had ever seen.
"Well," said Jay. He looked at her another moment. "What are you doing, Most Beautiful And Sexy Woman In The World?"
Maggie chuckled and pointed her banana at him. "That was capitalized."
"Great fluffy tribbles! How do you do that?"
"I am woman, and that is enough for you to know, Mr. Sanders."
"Oh, I don't think so," Jay said, leaning in to kiss her again. He tugged on the collar of the aged Golden Retriever laying on the couch next to Maggie. "Okay, Rufo, go play with Zach."
Rufo tipped off the side of the couch and shambled away, nosing the door open to go outside to the porch. Jay sat down next to Maggie and curled himself around her, pulling her close. He closed his eyes, breathing in her scent, and then asked, "As I was wondering: what're you doing?"
"Looking over travel plans," Maggie replied, gesturing toward the laptop. "The conference is coming up in a few weeks." She paused a moment and added in a quieter voice, "My last conference."
Jay kissed the top of her head.
"I can hardly believe I'm really stepping out of it," Maggie said, seeming not to respond to Jay's show of affection. "After eight years, I just… assumed. You know?"
"I'm your husband, doll. Of course I know." Jay smiled lightly.
Maggie smiled briefly, but it was only a hint of her usual cheerfulness. "It's change," she said. "I've gotten so used to encouraging it in others… I guess I've grown unaccustomed to going through it myself. Who'd have thought that would happen."
"It's all for the best, though," Jay said. "You'll be home a lot more. That's good."
"And you know that just as well as I do," Maggie replied. "We've both seen the effects of an absent parent… or an abusive one." She touched his arm comfortingly as a muscle in his jaw jumped. "I know it still hurts you, Jay—I only meant to say we both know the terrible effects it can have. Personally."
They nodded, and both could see the cracks of wounded hearts in each other's eyes. The two people, joined by marriage, were far from whole. But through God they had found healing, and that healing had flowed through them and into their son, Zach. It was really for him that this change was coming.
"I'll like having you home more often, Maggie," Jay said truthfully. "This house doesn't feel like a home whenever you're not here."
"What, because you have to survive on take-out while I'm gone?" Maggie's eyes twinkled with some of her customary humor.
"No," Jay protested, his show of indignation hampered by his unrestrained giggle. "We miss you. I miss you." He leaned forward and kissed her.
Their lips parted and Maggie gazed adoringly into Jay's eyes. "I'm going to love being a stay-at-home mother," she said, and the happiness in her voice left no doubt.
Jay smiled back at her and nodded in agreement. "Yeah. And then we can really start on making our family. We've been waiting too long."
"Yeah," Maggie nodded in agreement. "It's been long since time Zach had brothers and sisters."
They sat together in silence, Jay's arms encircling Maggie's waist. Maggie leaned back and relaxed against him, sighing in contentment. Change was coming, and of course that wouldn't be easy, but she felt safe knowing that her husband would be there with her through it.
The quiet was peaceful, and neither husband nor wife felt inclined to break it. They listened, to each other's soft breathing and the quiet of the house. Outside they could hear Zach running around, whooping and yelling as he played with Rufo and the ever-active Skywalker.
The Sanders' third dog, a gargantuan brown who-knew-what named Ludo, came lumbering into the living room. The big dog sank down right in front of the couch as though guarding it.
"Hey, Ludo," Jay greeted him quietly, scratching him in his favorite spot at the root of his ears. Ludo panted happily.
"I wonder what Kathy is doing right now," Maggie said suddenly.
"Kathy?" Jay's mind was jerked into alertness at the mention of his sister. "Well, who knows? We aren't allowed to know what she does." His lips turned down unhappily.
"I hope she's safe." Maggie's voice was solemn, and Jay's expression matched her tone.
"Yeah," he said. "I hope so, too." His jaw was tight for a moment until he released it to speak. "I'm afraid, sometimes. That the next time I see her she'll be in a coffin. Or just a little box with pieces of her in it."
"That's not going to happen, Jay."
"Don't say that just to say it, Mags. You know just as well as I do that it can happen. After all, she's a doctor. She's supposed to help others survive. When the doctors are hurt, who helps them?"
"Jay. Don't worry." Maggie leaned away from him so she could turn and look into his eyes. "God is protecting her."
"Yeah, but sometimes it seems like God's plan is to let them die."
"Sometimes. But how does that Bible verse go? 'To live is Christ and to die is gain.' Either way she's safe, Jay."
Jay pulled Maggie closer, trying to turn his arms into a protective cocoon. "I still worry."
"I know, honey. You're her brother: more than anything you want your sister to be safe."
"I hope she's okay, wherever she is," Jay whispered.
They drifted into silence again, prayerfully holding Kathy in mind. The silence was broken only when Zach decided to bring his playtime into the living room. Jay's dark cloud seemed to be swept away by his son's presence, and he laughed loudly and sprung from the couch to tackle Zach to the floor, where he mercilessly subjected him to an attack of tickles.
Maggie smiled, and at her son's pleading sent her tickling fingers for her husband's ribs.
And here are the normal author's notes! :) Well, in case the surname had not already indicated, these three are some of Kathy's relatives. Jay has been mentioned before, as the younger of Kathy's two adopted brothers. Funnily enough, he's the only one of the three of them who is married.
I had meant to introduce members of the Sanders family later on, but Jay and Maggie decided they were going to come in sooner. I know it's not some big dramatic chapter, but I felt the best way to introduce you to them was to show them where they are most comfortable—in their home. It's really simple, and also relatively short, considering how long chapters tend to be in this story. Adding to it didn't feel right.
Oh, and since it wasn't mentioned in the chapter itself, Skywalker is a most-parts Irish Setter, which are very high energy dogs. Hence the name Skywalker.