Fall - A Rocky Lynch Story

Chapter 18

"Are you sure you can handle all four of them?" I asked Stormie as I packed a few last minute items into Ellie's diaper bag. She and Mark had offered to take our kids for the weekend, and three of the four were ecstatic. Avelyn loved going over to grandma and grandpa's house because she got spoiled rotten. Stormie loved to cuddle the two younger ones, and they loved the attention. The only one who wasn't too excited was Carter. "Even with Mason's extra care stuff now?"

In her arms, Ellie was babbling away. It sounded like an almost coherent story, if you were used to the way she talked. To the untrained ear, it was a bunch of gibberish. Stormie nodded and gasped at seemingly important parts of the story before she answered me. "Dear, I raised five kids," she reminded me. "I think I'll do fine for one weekend. Right Ellie? You're going to be a good girl for grandma and grandpa?"

She giggled and nodded. "I'm a big girl!" she said proudly.

Rocky followed Carter down the stairs, and neither one of them looked too happy. "The answer is no, Car," Rocky sighed.

"It's not fair," Carter groaned. He slipped his shoes on and gave his grandma a kiss on the cheek. "Can I start the car?" he asked her. She returned the kiss and gave him the keys.

"What's the answer no to?" I asked my husband. I tied the second shoe onto Mason's foot and gave him a kiss. "I love you, baby," I told him. "Remember to use your nice words and keep your hands to yourself, okay?"

"I love you mommy," he said with a hug, then hopped out of the chair to run to the front door. He was getting so tall. He didn't even need to go onto his tippy toes to reach the handle. With a little bit of a struggle, he twisted the knob and pulled the door open. "Let's go, gramma," he said.

"We have to wait for miss Avelyn," she told the boy.

"Go ahead out mom," Rocky said. "I'll send her out to you."

"Thank you, mom," I smiled at her and gave her a quick hug. Rocky and I really needed this weekend. Stormie took the diaper bag in her free arm and followed Mason out the door. Then I turned back to Rocky. "So, Carter?" I reminded him.

He rolled his eyes and nodded. "He says he's too old to go to his grandparents' house. And of course, he tried to get out of it by making plans with a few of his guy friends from the video game club. So I said no and that he needed to make the most of the situation. He needs to learn that family comes first."

I shrugged and nodded before making my way to the stairs. "Let's go, Avelyn," I called up to her. "Grandma's going to leave without you. And you can't stay here. So if you don't get your butt moving, you're going to be homeless for the weekend."

A loud huff and groan came from the kid's bathroom and the door swung open. When she appeared, she had her backpack on and her hair was all sorts of messed up. "See what happens when you don't let a girl do her hair? I'm not ready!" She trudged down the stairs with heavy feet.

"Maybe if you didn't mess around when I woke you up this morning, you would have had more time to fix your hair," I reminded her. When she got to the bottom of the stairs, I got down to her level. "Listen to me," I told her. "Leave the attitude at the door. If I hear from your grandma or grandpa that you gave them lip, there will be consequences."

"Fine," she said. I hugged her close to me and squeezed. "I love you mommy," she said with a kiss.

"Love you too baby. See you tomorrow." She skipped over to her dad, who fixed her hair a little before kissing her and sending her out the door. We watched them get into the car and watched the car disappear down the road. With a click of the lock, we sighed into our empty, quiet household. "Ahh," I smiled. "Do you hear that?"