Ages:

Jim - 42
Melinda - 38
Katie - 13
Aaron - 9
Mackenzie - 4

The store was quiet.

Needless to say, that caused Melinda to be very suspicious. Given that she was currently at the store with a four-year-old, it wasn't often that it got this quiet— even if that toddler was Mackenzie. So far, little Mack had been the most well-behaved toddler of the Clancy children. Still, that didn't mean that there shouldn't be some noise coming from her.

Mackenzie was never this quiet.

Abandoning the invoices and leaving Delia in the front of the store with a few quiet customers, Melinda moved into the area she and Jim had designed for their children to hang out when they came with their mother to the store. It was books and toys galore in the little sectioned off "playroom". At the very end, she saw the blonde bob of her youngest child and remembered when she had last been this quiet. That was the reason her hair only goes to her chin

Mackenzie was standing in front of the wall, a red marker clutched in one little hand and a blue in the other. Her daughter took takes a step back, as if studying something, before she moved forward and again and brought the marker towards the wall.

Melinda stopped her initial reaction of telling her daughter to put the marker down and step away from the wall like she usually would've, she looked to see what she was drawing. So she quietly approached the little girl, her eyes widening when she saw what was now on her back room's wall. It could only be called a four-year-old masterpiece.

Apparently feeling that the bottom half of the wall was too bare, Mackenzie took it upon herself to put a little picture there. But it was only with her markers and the wall, instead of on a piece of paper.

"Kenzie," Melinda finally said. "What did you do?"

Startled, Mackenzie dropped the marker and turned to face her mother, a guilty look on her face. "Hi, mommy," the little girl smiled. "What's up?"

Crossing her arms and arching an eyebrow, Melinda says, "I could be asking you the same question."

Looking up at her mother with big eyes identical to Jim's, Mackenzie said, "I wanted to make a pretty picture for you, mommy."

Well. How could she argue with that? Melinda could never say no to those eyes and how could she argue with such logic, anyway? Searching through the pile of markers on the floor, Melinda selected a green one and held it up.

Smiling at her daughter, Melinda said, "Then we don't we continue?"

Jim let Katie and Aaron run into the store ahead of him, holding the door open for them. The two oldest Clancy children were in seventh and third grade respectively.

For all her dramatics, Katie actually enjoyed being at her mother's store. Aaron, on the other hand, wanted to get whatever his mom wanted him to help with done as quickly as possible so he could do what he wanted to do. As always, Jim was eager to see his wife and youngest daughter after a long day at the hospital.

He knew that there was a possibility that they could be swamped at the store, but Melinda's car was in the shop after a car collided with her on her way back a Broadway production in the city with their eldest daughter, and he was picking her up from work.

He didn't have to search very far for his wife and his youngest daughter, however. Melinda and Mackenzie were situated in the dedicated space for their children in the backroom, studying something on the bottom half of the wall.

"Hey, honey," Jim said as he wrapped an arm around Melinda's waist as he kneeled down next to her and pulled her close for a kiss.

When he pulled away, he looked at Mackenzie and ruffled her short hair, smiling when she giggled and pushed his hands away.

"How are my girls today?" He asked.

Melinda opened her mouth to respond, but Mack beat her to it.

"Mommy and I made a picture, daddy!" Mackenzie exclaimed as she pointed to the wall.

Jim gave her a surprised look. He glanced toward Melinda and was further surprised when she gave him a sheepish look. With those two responses, Jim looked down at the bottom half of the wall.

There was a colorful picture all along the bottom. Jim could only assume that it had been Mackenzie who had started the drawings on the wall, but he was honestly surprised to see that Melinda had let it continue. It even appeared as though she had joined in on it as well, definitely noticing her better coloring with the marker.

Jim turned back towards Melinda with a questioning look, and she shrugged her shoulders. "You let her do that?"

"Kenz wanted to make a pretty picture," she said. "And the wall was pretty bland before this happened if I do say so myself. She did better than I ever could've done."

Jim laughed before he wraps an arm around Melinda's shoulders and pulled her close to kiss her again. It didn't surprise him that Melinda had joined in with the drawing; she was a wonderful mother and she was always doing things like that.

Mackenzie touched his cheek, demanding his attention once again. "Daddy, isn't it the prettiest picture?"

Jim blew a raspberry on her little cheek, and she let out a giggle that sounded like bells. "The prettiest," he said. Grinning at his wife, the man added, "We should frame it."

And once the rest of the Clancy children—and Jim—had added to the picture on the wall, they did.