A/N: I feel like I've never included Melinda's mother Beth in this as much as I probably could so I wrote this. Not exactly sure on how old Beth was at all so my age for her is purely a guess and more-so just for this story. Enjoy! xx Mariah

Ages:

Beth - 60
Delia - 33
Jim - 33
Melinda - 29
Katie - 5
Aaron - 10 months

As Beth Gordon drove down Main Street in Grandview, it seemed like the same old Grandview to her. Maybe a bit newer and faster-paced, but everything was still as quaint as she remembered when she'd first come here with Paul. It had been almost six years since she had talked to her daughter and she hadn't had any real courage to speak with her since Melinda found out that she lied to her about her real father.

However, her daughter had reached out recently by sending a letter to her. It wasn't the first time, there had been one several years ago, but this was the first time Beth was acting on any type of emotion she'd felt. She hopped out of her car, the fall air filling her lungs and brightening her day. The air was always much clearer once she left the city.

With a heavy sigh, Beth ignored the knot in her stomach and stepped forward, nearly falling flat on her face as she tripped over a small girl who was coloring with chalk on the sidewalk. "I didn't see you there sweetheart. I'm sorry, you aren't hurt are you?" She said softly, stepping back to make sure.

"I'm alright, don't worry, and I am drawing a tree in a meadow," the little girl said matter-of-factly, looking up at her. Beth could tell the little girl was trying to see if she remembered her and all she could see was her own daughter in her. "You kind of look like my mommy. Have I met you before?"

"I do? Well, who is your mommy, and maybe I can tell you if we've met before," Beth said and kneeled down to pick up a green piece of chalk. "Mind if I help you color?" She already knew who this little girl was from the letters and Christmas cards her daughter had sent her, but she asked anyway just to make sure.

"My mommy owns the shop," the girl giggled and then pointed to the store that she was just about to walk into. She went back to coloring the side of her tree trunk but pointing a space out to her. "I could use more grass right there. My mommy's name is Melinda, do you know her?"

Beth's heart nearly stopped when the little girl said her daughter's name. Her hand had stilled and she stopped coloring the grass with her granddaughter, feeling a bit choked up on emotions for meeting her so suddenly. It was a lot to handle all at once.

"Are you okay?" The little girl stopped coloring the stem to the flower she wanted to color, scooting over closer to her. "You seem... sad. Would you like a hug?"

"I'm alright." Beth sighed and smiled at her, wiping a fallen tear quickly before Katie saw it. Beth could tell she already had though. "Doesn't your mommy tell you not to hug strangers?"

"Yes, and so does my daddy, but you can't be a stranger. I've seen your face before in a picture at my house."

"You have?" Beth started to color again, intrigued by everything her granddaughter was telling her.

"Mhmm. In my mommy's room, by her makeup and the other fancy stuff." The little girl giggled, wild and untamed just the same way she remembered Melinda's laugh. The door to the shop opened a moment later and the little girl turned around, giggling again as a woman stepped out. "Hi, Auntie Delia."

"Hey, Katie?" Delia called out to her, smiling at her and looking at the woman beside her. Beth could tell by the way the woman looked at her that she probably knew who she was. "Your mommy wants to see you inside."

"Okay, I'll be right in." Katie nodded, putting the chalk piece in her hand back into the bucket. Her granddaughter grabbed the other pieces and put them in there too before she stood up and wiped the chalk dust off her jeans. "I have to go, but thank you for coloring with me."

Katie disappeared into the store a moment later. Beth slowly stood up and brushed the dirt from her pants before hesitantly walking toward the antique shop front doors. Slowly, the woman stepped inside and her hands ran over the first dresser she saw, admiring the softwood before walking toward the lotions and candles.

"If you need any help, just ask," the same woman who had called her granddaughter inside said. "I'm Delia, by the way."

Beth nodded and picked up a bottle of lotion to look at the ingredients. It was a few moments before the bell rang again, catching the attention of both women, who relaxed when they saw the familiar face of Jim Clancy. However, Beth quickly moved out of his line of vision, not wanting to be noticed or cause any scene.

"Oh, hey Jim." Delia smiled, looking back down. "Mel is just in the back with Katie. She'll be out in a minute."

"Alright thanks, Delia," Jim said before the man disappeared into the backroom. "Mel?"

Beth looked back at the lotion and set it down as she looked back around the store, slowly walking around another display with different antique light fixtures.

"I've got this last box to go through before we head out, what's up honey?" Melinda walked out into the store, her voice just as sweet and sarcastic as always. She was unseen, a large box in arms for only a few more seconds before Jim took the box away as if she couldn't carry it. "You know just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I can't carry a box," she replied as Katie skipped out from the backroom. "Be careful, bug. Watch where you're going."

"Okay, mommy. Daddy! You're here!" The five-year-old squealed and ran up to Jim, who picked her up and spun her around. "I know you weren't home for breakfast this morning, but guess what? I tied my shoes on my own this morning!"

"Hey, Katiebug, and you did that all by yourself?" Jim said with a large grin, kissing her cheek. "I'm so very proud of you, but remember your brother is still napping so keep your quiet voice on."

Her granddaughter nodded and pressed her finger to her mouth as she giggled with her father. They were thick as thieves those two, she could tell just from watching and was happy to know Jim would never leave like Tom had. Not that Beth hadn't already known that.

"Oh, I didn't even realize we had a customer," Melinda said, looking away from her husband and to her mother. She'd started to speak before she recognized her, however. "Can I help— Mom? What are you doing here?" Melinda quickly stepped away from the counter and she gave her daughter a proper lookover now.

Beth watched as Melinda's shoulders relaxed and she stepped a bit closer. Her daughter looked really good, and happy.

"I hoped you'd recognize me, but it's been a while and I stopped touching up my roots a long time ago," she said, walking over to her and smiling at her the best she could. It was hard to even hold her gaze without feeling guilty for everything she had put her daughter through throughout her life. "You look really good, sweetheart. Things look well for you here at the store and in your life. I know I haven't seen you since you found out about everything, but I thought I would drop by when I got your letter."

Melinda nodded, looking back to Jim, who'd already sent Katie back into the backroom and was heading back there now with a kiss on her cheek. Her work associate must have slipped back there too. "Mom, I know I was upset for a long time about everything that had happened. You'd lied to me for so long about who my father was and I didn't know how to forgive you for a while."

Beth nodded, stepping out to touch her hand. She understood that Melinda deserved to be mad at her forever if she wanted to be, but she only hoped her daughter would forgive her for it all one day.

"I sent you a few letters since we last talked. One when I lost my first child, another when I found out that I was having my daughter, and another when my son broke the chain on the necklace you gave me for my high school graduation. I also know Jim sent you the Christmas cards too, even when I told him not to waste the time," Melinda whispered, her tears rolling down her cheeks. "But you never answered. I know you got them because when I sent them to the first address and they were returned. I got your new address in the city from Sarah's mom."

She sighed, "I cried when I read the letter you sent me last week and I took the first week off I could to come to see you." Beth finally touched her, holding her daughter's hands. "I wanted to do that when you wrote to me the first time, but it was a bad time for me, and the second time... it was- it was... I don't even know what it was. I shouldn't make any excuses, but I am sorry I took so long."

"It's okay, mom. I just wish you would've called, but I get it. It's hard to have this conversation over the phone." Melinda said and gave her a tight hug. "You're here for a whole week?"

"I hope you don't mind," Beth hugged her tightly, kissing her cheek. "Melly, I'm so sorry for being so cold all those years. I wish I could make them up to you."

Melinda squeezed her, pulling back. "Not at all. I forgive you, mom. I do. That's what I said in the letters. Just promise me that you will make it up to my kids," she smiled, wiping a tear away. "Would you like to meet them?"

"I met Katie outside while she was coloring with chalk," Beth blushed, smiling at her as they stepped toward the back. "She's wonderful, so sweet, and so smart. I think I've heard thirty-year-olds with a worse vocab than her. And your son, Aaron right?"

"Yes, Katie is so smart. She's only five, but I would swear she's twenty already with the intelligence and sass she has. Meanwhile, Aaron is almost one and the light of life. His birthday isn't until December, but I'm already talking about the plans for his party." Melinda said, smiling and laughing as she gushed about her kids. "Jim and I are doing really good too. We're happy and doing well with our family and in our careers."

"Well, it looks like motherhood suits you. I always told you it would," she said, following her daughter as she opened the doors to have Jim stumble out from listening in. "Well hello, eavesdropper."

"Hi, Beth," Jim straightened, smiling at her, but looking at Melinda. "Hi, honey." He hugged her daughter before she slipped past him as a baby cried out almost as if he could sense his mother was a few feet from him and having a bit of a moment.

The baby boy was soon quiet though once he was safely tucked between his mother's arms as Melinda carried him. He held onto her hand and chewed on her finger, scratching sore his gums with her fingernail. "Aaron has been a crab lately with his teething, so he may not let go of me, but here he is," Melinda said, tickling the ten-month-old's side. "He's growing like a weed these days and is almost walking. I think Katie is down in the basement with Delia, but she'll be up here soon. I don't know how much more we can take, right Jim?"

Beth saw it then when Melinda looked over her shoulder to look at her husband. Jim kissed her softly on the forehead as they talked about their family. The same smile she swore she'd only seen Melinda give to one other person - the smile she used to have when she was with Tom.

Relaxed, free, and loved.

She had it now, only for her husband and in a different, better way for the father of her children.