by Leslie Pike
I know age doesn’t skip anyone, but if it was possible I thought they had the best chance.
Looking around the table I’m transported to another time. While the conversations continue, I think back. All the way to my childhood. Brick and Atticus. Were there ever better brothers? They were the best-looking boys.
It’s funny seeing them in their sixties. The white hair I expected. Never thought I’d see the start of receding hairlines. I’m certain they are just as surprised by my thickening waistline. But we are all still content. Each of us has been blessed with knowing love. Our children happy and settled. Is it possible Brick has been a grandfather for two years now?
Retirement came before he was sixty-five. He and January said so long to their careers and started traveling the world. After a lifetime of high-profile demanding jobs they’ve become gypsies.
The year Atticus hurt his leg in a smash up at home plate he was released from the Mavericks. But it was near the end of his career, so he wasn’t crushed by the turn of events. He’s already been in his second career for nearly twenty years. A beloved Memphis Mavericks announcer and iconic past player. I still hear the mischievous tone in his voice and the fans do too.
My dear Charlotte is laughingly teasing her husband. How good they are together. The way they play with each other. It’s as if they were still thirty years old.
Next to them sits Beauregard. I continue to call him Baby Beauregard when I want to tease him. He has the women going crazy. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Twenty-five and just starting out. The world is his.
Watching him talk with Atticus and my father about the game is so familiar. They all have had the same look of passionate focus. He’s the next link in the Swift baseball dynasty. Everyone thinks he’s going to be as good as his uncle.
Mallory and her husband and three children take up the far side of the table. She’s forty-one. Is that possible? Her life began so differently than it ended up. Atticus and Charlotte did a spectacular job of raising her. She was already a teenager when they met, but there couldn’t be a closer father-daughter relationship.
“Jude. I’ve got a question. Does this mole look suspicious?”
I’m startled back to the present as my mother opens my father’s shirt and points to one of many moles.
Brick and Atticus start laughing, and a few more at the table join him.
“Christ, Lucinda! Stop fussing!” my dad says pushing her hands away.
Our Jude became a dermatologist thank the heavens. Now we all benefit from the latest developments in the field. No doubt I’d look ten years older if he didn’t do his magic. So would Charlotte and January and Atticus. Brick and my parents aren’t interested with the business of anti-aging.
“I’ll look at it when we get up from the table, Grandma.”
He’s in his thirties now. Unbelievable. Married to Judi, a girl we adore. Time has produced a fine man. No doubt formed from his dramatic story. How did I ever live without the love of this boy? Sawyer and I have been blessed having him as our son.
It’s so beautiful to watch him and his father when they talk. There’s a connection that can’t be adequately described. But I know that their love born of compassion and empathy became mighty.
And now we have the babies. Our first granddaughters. Twins, Taylor and Tessa. The whole family is ga ga for them. But the way Jude loves them is inspiring. They are his heart. At one year they’re becoming mobile, and we need to watch them every second.
“Let’s have one last toast,” my father says getting upright. Slowly.
The table settles.
“There’s just two people missing from our table.”
We all feel their absence.
“Raise your glasses for Birdie and Davis. They’re in our thoughts, in our memories and forever in our hearts. May God hold you close until we’re all together again.”
A tear runs its course down his face. His parents. Our grandparents. Our core and foundation.
My mother’s hand slides into his as he sits. The rest of the family are trying to control the emotion of the moment.
I turn to my husband. To the spectacular face that still sets my heart beating. He’s fifty-three, but I still see the young man. The vulnerable searching boy looking for his family. Thank God he found it in me.
I lean in and barely brush his ear.
“I love you, Sawyer. Forever and ever,” I whisper.
He tilts his head to mine and lifts his hand, cradling the side of my face.
“Always.”
Playlist
“THIS SONG’S FOR YOU” – MICHAEL BUBLE
BEER NEVER BROKE MY HEART – LUKE COMBS
“COUNTRY GIRL SHAKE IT FOR ME” – LUKE BRYANT
“A NATURAL WOMAN” – ARETHA FRANKLIN
“TAKE A DRUNK GIRL HOME” – CHRIS JANSON
“FLY ME TO THE MOON” – FRANK SINATRA
“BEAUTIFUL CRAZY” – LUKE COMBS
“THE CHRISTMAS SONG” – NAT KING COLE
About the Author
USA TODAY bestselling author, Leslie Pike, has loved expressing herself through the written word since she was a child. The first romance “book” she wrote was at ten years old. The scene, a California Beach. The hero, a blonde surfer. The ending, happily forever after.
Leslie’s passion for film and screenwriting eventually led her to Texas for eight years, writing for a prime time CBS series. She’s traveled the world as part of film crews, from Africa to Israel, New York to San Francisco. Now she finds her favorite creative adventures taking place in her home, in Southern California, writing Contemporary Romance.
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Also by Leslie Pike
The Paradise Series
The Trouble With Eden
Wild In Paradise
The Road To Paradise
The Paradise Box Set
Love In Italy World
The Adventure
The Art Of Love
Santini Series Novellas
Destiny Laughs
Destiny Plays
Destiny Shines
Santini Collection
The Swift Series Novellas
The Curve
The Closer
The Cannon