Chapter 12

We woke in the morning. I told April and Nancy when I brought them home. At breakfast, I said, "April, would you take March with you to the hospital?" She nodded. "March, you will go with her. Take a book. We will join you for lunch there."

There was a knock and May went to let Mark inside. "Good morning, Mark. It's good to see you and thanks for offering to help."

"May told me to volunteer and we could be together all day. How could I turn her down?" He grinned.

Laura was smiling. "You will note that my daughters know how to handle their men, Nancy."

I said slowly, "It's so 'good' to be 'handled.'" We laughed and Laura hugged me. We finished eating and headed out. The tape was down but a policeman was still there. I came up to him and asked, "Are you folks finished looking it over?"

"Yes, Sir. You're Mister Sanderson, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm sorry. I should have identified myself."

"I was pretty sure who you were. Are you folks going to take over the house now?"

"Yes, Sir. I have the keys and we are going to check it out and begin removing personal items. Missus Anderson is going to sell the house."

"I understand. That frequently happens in a family tragedy. I'll report in that we aren't needed any more. Have a good day, sir."

"You have a good day, too. Thanks for watching over the house." He gave a waving salute and left. We checked and backed Jeanette's car out so we could load clothes.

I thought for a moment. "Let's plan this out. Nancy, show Laura your mother's bedroom. She can start preparing a load for the car. Nancy, you can then go to your room and start doing the same. May, work on Tom's room. We'll bring his stuff to our house for now. Mark, you and I are toters. When someone has a load ready, they will shout and we will carry it to whatever car we're directed to use.

"Any questions?" No one said anything. "Let's get going."

Twenty minutes later, I heard a call from Nancy. "I'm finished with everything I want. Most of my stuff is at school. I tried not to be around when Mona was going to be home." There was a stack of things on the bed. She was right. It wasn't much. I carried most of her stuff and she carried the rest. We loaded the back of my car and went inside. Laura had a big stack of clothing on the bed. Nancy looked at one stack and said, "Take these out. There's too much for Jackie's house. The winter clothes we can store with furniture later."

I said, "That makes sense." I left the room and took the stack of clothing to Jeanette's car. May and Mark were at his car having loaded it. They were walking back holding hands. I smiled at them. I carefully placed Jeanette's things in her car.

I went back in and looked through the living room. While it had been cleaned up, the rug would need replacing. Looking further, there were stains on the front stoop from where Tom had lain after he was shot. The door molding could be replaced and the porch area pressure cleaned and painted. At that point, the house could be sold.

As I thought about it a little, Jeanette was right. If the girls had been years older like now, I probably would have sold the house. I wouldn't have needed it and the memories would have been too much. Laura came up to me and hugged my neck and kissed my lips. "Instead I came into your lives and we added March to the mix." She kissed me again.

"How did you know what I was thinking?"

"Paul, in some things, you are predictable. You get a 'what if' look on rare occasions that tells me you are thinking about Jen. I try to love you a little extra at those moments because I am eternally appreciative for the kind, intelligent man who married me and gave me immediate children. His first wife was a wondrous woman."

"Laura, I love you. I am blessed to have you as my wife. You are a wondrous woman."

May had snuck up behind us and was listening. "Mommy, you are wonderful and you have made Daddy so happy. April and I love you so very much. You will be sitting as mother of the bride in two weddings over the next two years." She hugged us both. "You two make a great team. I blame you for the way I am."

Mark said, "I love her the way she is. I didn't realize until May told me that you, Missus Laura, weren't her birth mother. May loves you very much. I don't blame her because I do, too." I felt him squeeze behind us to give us all a hug.

Nancy came toward us. She said, "April always says that she trusts you and loves you very much. She's told me the hardest thing about going off to college is to leave her parents. I have experienced the two of you and am comforted by your love for each other." She gave us a front hug.

Mark said, "Are we all loaded and finished hugging? Let's go if there is nothing else." He grinned. "I'm hungry." We laughed. We were ready and headed to the hospital.

We went up to Tom's room. I thought this was a similar grouping from last time. April was sitting on the chair next to Tom. An additional chair had been brought in and Jeanette was sitting in it with March in her lap. We came in and March ran to us and hugged us hard. We bent down and each of us gave him a kiss. We took the moment to give each other a kiss, too. Mark sat on the floor against a wall with May in his lap. Nancy sat next to them. March looked around. "Nancy! He dashed over to sit on her lap. He gave his sister a quick kiss and cuddled into Nancy's lap and arms.

We gave Jeanette and April kisses and hugs. Laura gave Tom a light kiss and caress. I shook his hand. I looked at Jeanette and said, "We have your car with clothes at Jackie's house. We've loaded Nancy's and Tom's clothes to take to our house. I have made a list of work to be done and will call a guy I know after lunch. A friend of Laura's is a realtor. I would suggest you list the house with her and let her stage it. She seems to know what she is doing and has an excellent reputation."

Jeanette looked at us. "Paul, Laura, that is great. I'm comforted to have good friends. Go ahead with everything. I know I can trust you. Pastor George was here earlier. I feel much better about things now. April and Tom talked with him, too. I think they have news."

April smiled. "We've talked to the doctor as well as each other and Pastor George. Tom will have some physical therapy after two more operations. The doctor thinks he will probably have a limp. Competitive athletics are over. He will be finished with the operations and some therapy by the middle of July. We'll set our date for then. There will have to be some rearranging of scholarships because Tom's track scholarship will be cancelled. It will be a little tighter financially but we can make it. Mom, Dad, I'm looking forward to being married to Tom." She had a happy, contented smile on her face. Tom looked tired but had a similar smile on his face.

Laura said, "That's good news, April. We will plan accordingly."