Chapter 3: July 10th
"HI THERE!" The girl shouted eagerly.
Daniel screamed in fright falling onto his bottom and dropped his water gun.
"Wow you scare really easy! You were taking so long to find me, I thought. 'Daisy I don't think this boy knows how to play hide and seek. Maybe he thinks he's supposed to be the one hiding!'So that's why I came out of my hiding spot!"
"Daisy!" A woman's voice called from down the pathway. Daniel and the girl, Daisy, both watched as a woman and another young girl walked up the gravel driveway. As the woman walked up Daniel took that moment to get a good look at the two younger girls. They both had the same dark skin; the older girl had longer wavy black hair, while Daisy had a mess of tight curls, barely contained into two low pigtails.
The woman, who Daniel assumed to be their mother, was not dark skinned like her children. Instead she was fair complected, with wavy hair like her older daughter, though a lighter shade of brown. She was a shorter plumper woman, standing only a foot taller than her older daughter, who carried her mother's briefcase.
"Daisy if I have told you once I have told you a thousand times, if you want to play hide and seek, make sure the other kids know you're hiding." The mother playfully scolded Daisy, who just nodded.
"I apologize about Daisy," The mother helped Daniel stand, brushing him off. "She's a free spirit that one,"
"Is everything alright out here Daniel?" Charles and Lucas had hurried outside when they heard their son screech a few minutes before.
"Everything is alright, my Daisy just got excited at the idea of making a new friend," the mother held her hand out and shook Lucas and Charles hands. "Sarah Barkley, and these are my daughters, Holly," The older girl curtsied with a smile. "And Daisy."
"HI!" Daisy shouted waving ecstatically.
"I'm sorry I didn't know Edith was having visitors." Sarah apologized.
"Told you we should have called ahead Mother," spoke up Holly.
"No need Sarah," the large group looked up the steps to see Edith in her wheelchair. "Your family is always welcome in my home, no need to call ahead." Frederick announced that he had foreseen this situation and had lunch prepared for them all in the dining room. "Come," he insisted, " we should all get out of the dreadful summer sun."
"You see, since I found myself no longer able to visit you three in America, Sarah has come over whenever she could to keep me company." Edith explained as they all ate their sandwiches the cook had prepared. "Of course she brought her darling daughters along, their energy is what keeps me feeling young."
Daisy and Holly were running around outside as they spoke, while Daniel sat on the steps watching.
"After the Misses fall I called Mrs. Barkley in hopes that she could recommend a good physical therapist to help your mother walk once more," explained Frederick.
"I was more than happy to take the responsibility." said Sarah.
"We thank you greatly for that," responded Charles. "Though you and your children walked here?"
"Isn't the nearest town miles away?" inquired Lucas.
"Sarah married the Barkley's boy from up the hill, remember him Charles?" Edith asked her son.
"Oh yes I remember! I believe his name was Jonathan. Never talked to him much growing up, his family sent him to a boarding school during the school months, and he spent the summer with his friends from that school."
"Yes that is my John. I'm afraid he is rather busy these next two months. You see he is a professor at the girls school, so he is busy making his lesson plan for the next school year."
"Quite alright dear," their conversation was cut off briefly by the squeals and giggles of the children outside. It seemed the sprinklers had turned on while they all chased each other, though that did not stop their game. In fact it seemed to make the game even more fun.
Charles and Lucas gawked at the sight of Daniel actually playing with the other girls, smiling wider than they had seen in a very long time. Daniel chased after Holly, slipping on a patch of wet grass that sent him sliding across the yard, giggling madly, his smile a mile wide.
"It seems our kids hit it off," Sarah laughed at her girls. "If you like I could bring the girls over more often, they get quite bored playing at our estate with only each other,"
"I think that is a splendid idea" Lucas grinned.
"Who knows, maybe this is the start of a great friendship between them,"