camping
raining
soggy
worn
toddlers
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| (via) |
Linda peered out the living room window. It was raining buckets outside, the leaves sagging under the weight of water. She remembered rain like this when the kids were toddlers. All the raincoats and wet shoes. The complaints of soggy feet. And oh goodness, the mud...mud they would trek into the car and into the garage and the kitchen. She glanced at the hardwood floors, pristine for years now. The house was too clean without the kids.
Linda sank into the well worn couch. The one they bought after her water had broke while she sat in it the night their fourth baby came into the world. Grant had wanted to replace it many times, but Linda couldn't bear to part with it.
She checked the clock. Reese and his wife should be here by now. A deep ache filled her heart. Wasn't it just yesterday they were camping? Reese a little fellow of six, following Grant like a shadow. Learning how to fish. Roasting marshmallows that inevitably would catch on fire.
And now here he'd been married four years.
Tires sounded on the wet pavement outside. Linda ran to the window. Grant came up behind her and gripped her hand. They were here. Her baby boy and his bride, and they were bringing their baby with them. The baby they'd prayed for. The baby they'd waited two years for. The baby they'd flown all the way to China to get and bring home.
Up the walk her baby boy came, carrying his own baby. Linda's heart nearly burst with joy. Sometimes she wanted to keep her children young forever. But this - oh this - was going to be so much better. She ran to the door and flung it open.
