As often happened when one of them was preparing to go somewhere, the hours available for them to spend together before it was time for the person traveling to leave went by extremely quickly. Before they knew it, it was Friday morning. Greg packed as Susan got the children out of bed, they breakfasted together, and she ended up saying good bye to them all at about the same time.
"Bye Papa. Be safe," Jessie told Greg as she and Zackary left for school.
"Yeah Greg, have a good trip," Zackary added.
"I will. Help your mother out while I'm away, both of you. All right?" Greg asked.
"We will," Zackary assured him.
"Bye Susan. Call me if you need me," Greg said as he kissed her good bye.
"Really? Aren't you going to be flying or on the red carpet nearly the whole time?" she wondered.
"More or less," Greg admitted and he kissed her again, longer and deeper than he usually did when saying good bye. "I miss you already," he whispered in her ear.
"I think it's a good thing Thanksgiving's next week," Susan said.
"Why?" Greg asked curiously.
"I'll going to be very thankful to have you home. Be safe," she said.
"I will. I'll call you tonight, after I get there," Greg said.
He kissed her another time and left in his hired car.
Work for Susan that day felt lonely but she had more than enough to do to keep her busy. She and the children welcomed in the Sabbath on their own that evening, wondering when they'd be good enough at Hebrew to say the prayers by themselves. Then they all watched a movie together until Greg called.
"Are we going to the synagogue tomorrow, Mama?" Jessie asked afterwards as they all got ready for bed.
"No. I think we'll sleep in," Susan said. "We can have a late breakfast, and then go for swimming lessons. How would that be?"
"That'd be okay," Zackary agreed. "I keep wondering why they don't their services later if the Sabbath is supposed to be a day of rest. I mean wouldn't it be more restful to go later?"
"After sleeping in you mean?" Susan said.
"Yeah," Zackary said.
"I think some people do go to services on Friday evening instead," Susan said. "Would that be better?"
"Not really," Zackary said. "Then we wouldn't get to hang out on Friday evenings."
"True," Susan said. "Well we've hung out enough for tonight. It's time for you and Jessie to get ready for bed."
"Awe Mom!" Zackary said with a hint of the tone he and Matt used to use years ago when together they used to complain about going to bed. Susan smiled in spite of herself. It seemed so normal and it felt good to hear it again.
"Come on," Susan insisted and she went to keep them company and to tuck them in when they were ready for bed.
c
Susan had every intension of sleeping in on Saturday morning. She pulled the blinds closed the night before, turned off her alarm and did what she could to insure nothing would bother her. But it didn't help. Getting up early was getting to be such a habit; she woke up early any ways. At first she rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. But when that didn't work, she got up, showered, made herself coffee and decided to call her mother instead. They'd talked a number of times on the phone since she and Greg returned from Australia, but often it seemed like one of them was in a hurry to go somewhere. On this morning she hoped they could take their time. Her dad wouldn't be up yet and Greg was gone, so the possibility of a lengthy mother-daughter talk seemed very encouraging.
"Oh hello, honey," Mrs. Abernathy said when she answered the phone. "Is anything wrong?"
"No. Greg's gone this weekend, and I thought Dad would still be asleep, so I was hoping we'd have the chance to really talk. It doesn't seem like we've done much of that since I've been home," Susan lamented.
"You've been too busy, Susan; getting moved in, settling the children, getting your job back ... just getting used to being home," her mother said in an understanding tone.
"Oh I know, Mom; but I have been wanting to," Susan said.
"I have too ... and we have today. Let's be thankful for that, shall we?" she asked.
"I am Mom, I really am. I have so much to be thankful for this year," Susan told her.
"We all do, Susan. Just having you home and with Zackary again is a miracle. And to think we get to see you for Thanksgiving this year!"
"You're still coming, right?" Susan checked.
"Absolutely. It sounds like you're going to have a house-full though," Mrs. Abernathy said.
"Yes, we are. Matt will be here, and both of Greg's children – Julie with her husband and two sons, and Alan with his fiancée. They all get on well with my kids, so that will be good," Susan said. "I don't remember, have you met Alan and Julie?"
"We did at your welcome home party," her mother reminded her. "We didn't get to know them well though. There were so many people there that night."
"That was quite the event, wasn't it?" Susan agreed.
"It really was. Do you want me to bring anything for Thanksgiving?" her mother offered.
"Oh, I don't know," Susan said and their conversation shifted from the guests to the menu. They talked for an hour easily, before Susan was eventually interrupted by a sleepy Jessie who'd come looking for her."
"Who was that, Mama?" Jessie asked as Susan hung up the phone.
"That was my mama, Jessie," Susan told her. "I call her 'Mom' though. I suppose she's your Grandma."
"I have another one?" Jessie asked in awe.
"Sort of," Susan said. "A grandmother or father is the mother or father of one of your parents. Your nana was your mommy's mother. The lady that Zack and Matt call 'grandma' is my mother," Susan explained. "So because I'm your mom now after we all changed our names, I suppose she's your grandma too."
"Oh!" Jessie said. "'Cause I was adopted?"
"Yes. You got a lot more family by being adopted," Susan told her and they spend some time talking about all the family members Jessie now had.
"Is Zackary up yet?" Susan asked.
"No. He's sleeping in," Jessie said.
"Lucky," Susan said. "I tried to sleep in but I kept waking up. I suppose I'm getting too used to getting up early again."
Jessie yawned as she climbed into a chair at the kitchen table beside Susan.
"Do you want to go back to bed?" Susan suggested. "You look like you're still pretty sleepy."
"That's okay Mama. I like to be awake early in the morning," Jessie said.
"Okay. How about I help you get dressed?" Susan said. "Then you and I can make pancakes for breakfast. How would that be?"
"Okay." Jessie grinned and the mother-daughter pair went back to her room, discussing what she might wear for a stay at home Saturday before swimming lessons.
After she was dressed, Susan tied an apron around Jessie and found her a step stool to stand on then she and her daughter made breakfast together. It took twice as long, but Jessie was thrilled to be helping and liked making pancakes of different shapes as they poured the batter out onto the griddle. By the time they were ready, Zackary too had joined them. It was a low key Saturday all around, and except for the swimming lessons, they stayed at the house all day, saying their end of Sabbath prayers in English, since none of them knew them in Hebrew.
"What are we doing tomorrow, Mom?" Zackary asked as everyone got ready for bed on Saturday night.
"We're going to church in the morning then we'll probably do errands," Susan told him. "We need to start getting ready for Thanksgiving this coming week."
"What do we need to do, Mama?" Jessie asked.
"We need to get ready for company, Jess," Susan said.
"Yeah. Matt's coming, right Mom?" Zackary asked.
"Yes. He's coming for the whole weekend. But Julie, and Aaron, and Elliot and Jake and Alan and Cindy and Grandma and Grandpa are all coming for Thanksgiving Day too," Susan said.
"Who's Cindy?" Jessie asked.
"Cindy is Alan's fiancée," Susan reminded her. "Alan is getting married in December."
"That's pretty soon, isn't it?" Zackary asked.
"Yes. Their wedding is in about three weeks," Susan reminded him. "We'll be going to Oakland that weekend for their wedding."
"So we get to go on a trip too? Not just Papa and you?" Jessie asked.
"Yes. We're all going to the wedding," Susan confirmed. "Good night Jessie. We have to get up early for church tomorrow, so you'd better get to sleep."
"Good night Mama," Jessie said as she climbed into bed.
Susan kissed her then turned to her son.
"Come on, Zackary, you too," Susan said as she escorted him to bed.
"Okay Mom," Zack agreed and pretty soon, he and Susan were in bed too.
c
Greg got home mid-afternoon on Sunday to find his family in the middle of a cleaning spree.
"What's going on?" Greg asked them.
"We're getting ready for Thanksgiving, Papa," Jessie told him. "Mama says we're having lots of company."
"Hi," Susan said as she appeared with a bandana tied around her head and a cleaning rag in her hand. "Welcome home."
Greg smiled at her appearance. "Hi and thank you. Are you really getting ready for Thanksgiving?"
"That is the general idea," Susan told him. "We're cleaning the house. Tomorrow we finish whatever we don't get done today, Tuesday I grocery shop, Wednesday I bake pies and start the prep work for Thanksgiving dinner."
"It sounds like you have your work cut out for you this week," he commented.
"I do, but it will be worth it if Thanksgiving turns out well," she told him.
"What can I do to help?" Greg asked.
"Do you have time?" Susan wondered aloud.
"I'm in the studio tomorrow and Tuesday, but I'm happy to help with what there is left to do today."
Susan smiled. It didn't take long for her to give him a job, and soon they were all working to make the house ready for the coming holiday.
c
The next day was Monday and from the moment the family first got up, everything already felt different.
Greg was up first, showered, dressed and headed out the door just as Susan's alarm went off.
"Leaving so soon?" Susan asked in surprise.
"I have to, to be at the studio on time," Greg told her. "I'll see you tonight, Susan," he promised and he went to say goodbye to the children as Susan went to wake them up.
By the time Susan was showered, dressed and breakfast was ready, the children were ready for school too. The three of them ate together, and after they left she spent the morning working on her projects too. By noon however, she laid her programming aside and returned to making the house ready for company.
"I think the house is ready," Greg assured her late that afternoon when he got home to find Susan cleaning again. "It looks fantastic."
"Thank you. Do you need the car tomorrow?" she checked.
"Yes. I have another studio day," Greg told her. "I'll be home before dinnertime though. I know you wanted to do the grocery shopping."
"Maybe I can go in the morning before you leave?" Susan suggested.
"I'm leaving at six-thirty, Susan. Is the store even open before then?"
"It is ... and if I'm there by five, it shouldn't be all that crowded ... I should be able to get it done and work too," Susan proposed.
"If you're sure," Greg told her.
"I am," Susan said with a determined expression.
Greg arched his brow. He wasn't certain it was the best idea, but he knew Susan had obligations too and he did his best to go along with her plan. They went through their usual routine after supper that evening, followed by an early bedtime for everyone.
Because they'd talked about it the night before, Greg wasn't surprised when Susan got up before he did on Tuesday morning. She was just leaving for the grocery store when his alarm went off at five, but she still wasn't back by the time Greg was ready, the same time they usually got up to get the children ready for school. Greg went to wake them keeping an anxious eye on the time, just as he heard the car pull into the drive.
"Am I going to make you late?" Susan asked her husband in a worried tone as Greg hurried out to the car to help bring everything in.
"Not if I leave right away," Greg told her carrying in a load. "I'm going to see Denis after shooting this afternoon. I'll call you if I'm going to be late."
"Good luck," Susan said and she said goodbye with her arms full of the last of the groceries before going back inside.
Susan was still emptying bags and putting food away while the children were having breakfast, but she finished her meal when they did and was ready to work on her programming by the time they left for school. By dinner time Greg was home and they both felt pleased by what they'd accomplished on that day.
"Are you working tomorrow?" Greg asked as they prepared to turn in that evening, wondering if tomorrow would be another early day.
"Not on my programming. I have a lot to do to get ready for Thursday though, so I'm getting up early," Susan warned. "How about you?"
"I'm finished for the week," Greg assured her. "Do you need help?"
Susan shrugged. "Not necessarily, if there are things you need to do."
"There may be," Greg told her.
Susan nodded with a yawn as she turned off the light. "Is it alright if we talk about it in the morning?"
Greg looked thoughtfully at his wife in the dark. Today was day twelve of her most recent cycle and he wondered if she'd forgotten. But given how hard they'd both been working, he knew she needed the rest.
"Good night, Susan. Rest well," Greg said as he kissed her and they both fell asleep after a very busy day.
c
True to Susan's prediction, she was up and busy well before dawn on Wednesday morning. She was out of bed at least an hour before anyone else, had breakfast on the table and was working to make pie dough by the time Greg got up to help with the children.
"Are you going to do this kind of thing all day?" he asked as he poured himself coffee.
"No. I'm going to the airport late this afternoon to pick up Matt. I wanted to get this done before I go," Susan explained.
"Are you taking Zackary with you?" Greg asked.
"No. He won't be out of school yet before I have to leave," she said.
"I'll take care of the children until you get home," Greg promised. "You know, we really do need to get a second car."
"Do you need one?" Susan asked.
"To pick up Jessie," Greg reminded her.
"Oh," Susan said with a frown. "Of course. I'll pick her up before I leave and bring her home."
"Or we can just send a note with her and tell her to take the school bus home," Greg suggested.
"That should work," Susan said and she went back to her baking.
Greg watched her for a moment then went to get the children up. Susan was much too distracted this morning to tend to normal things. He spent the morning after the children left making arrangements of his own for the afternoon, leaving Susan to concentrate on what she was doing in the kitchen. By noon when Greg came back to the kitchen for lunch, about the same time Jessie arrived home after taking the bus after school, they both discovered freshly baked pies cooling on top of the stove.
"Those look wonderful," Greg said with an appreciative sniff.
"Thank you. I've got more to do, but this definitely gets us started," Susan said as she took a break to eat lunch too.
As promised, Susan left midafternoon to pick up Matt. An hour later, Zackary was home, and a brief time after that, large SUV with off-road tires appeared out in front of the farmhouse.
c
"Zackary, Jessie, I need you to come with me," Greg told them.
"Where are we going, Papa?"
"To look at some land. Zack, this is part of the project I told you about. I need your opinion," Greg told him.
"Okay," Zackary agreed. "Will we be back by the time Mom gets here?"
"Without a doubt," Greg told him. "And both of you ... don't tell her where we've gone."
"Okay Papa," Jessie said.
"Are you ready, Mr. Abernathy?" a man from inside the SUV asked as they approached.
"Yes. I'm bringing my children with me as my wife is out. Will we have time to look at both of the new parcels you found?" he asked.
"We should ... I have three actually on my list, all of which have the features you specified, and look more promising than those we looked at last week" he said.
"I look forward to it," Greg told him. "Get in," he told the children. "Jessie, you and Zackary in the back seat. I will sit up front with Mr. Rutherford."
A few moments later they were all in the car, and headed up into the hills.
"Where are we going?" Zackary asked.
"You remember the project I told you about?" Greg checked.
"Yes," Zackary said.
"The first step is to identify the place we will build it. We need to find a place where the drawing I sketched out for you will fit," Greg explained.
"Okay," Zackary agreed. "How do we do that?"
"Mr. Rutherford is a real estate agent specializing in open land. He and I met last week to help him define what it is we need. He has identified several parcels for sale and is going to show us three possible ones that might work," Greg explained.
"All have a view of the ocean," Mr. Rutherford told Zackary sensing that his opinion at least, mattered.
It took them an hour to drive to then to survey the terrain from the car or from the fire roads where they were accessible.
"Wow, we can almost see Richard's house from here," Zackary exclaimed when they came to the last one. "This is a different place than we went to look at before."
"It is on an adjacent part of the hill ... and the view is magnificent," Greg agreed. "However it is rather far from your school."
Zackary turned and surveyed the land. The realtor had driven down into a low spot between two shoulders of the hills before driving to the crest of one.
"If we could just drive straight up that instead of going to the street we came on, the road where the school bus goes is right there," Zackary pointed out.
"Is that ridge part of the parcel?" Greg asked as he saw the potential route Zackary was talking about.
"Yes. This is a five point two acre parcel. It stretches from where this hill touches the road, to that rock outcropping over there, down to roughly that largest tree over there, then to that clump of rocks over there," the realtor roughly sketched out for them boundaries of the land.
"This has possibilities," Greg commented. "Depending on how the grading could be done."
"You mean where we could put the driveway in?" Zackary asked.
"Yes, and how it would approach the house. If we placed the drive from the road along the ridge as you suggest, it might be possible to take advantage of this low spot between the two hills for the house," Greg said.
"What do you mean?" Zackary asked. "Down in the hole?"
"There wouldn't be a hole if we filled it, graded it smooth and put the house there," Greg said. "Imagine the roof line stretching between the two ridges. That could give the house a magnificent view."
"Yeah, but where would we put the pool?" Zackary asked.
"Hum," Greg murmured. "That may be a problem. I believe we will have to do some more research as we develop our design; however I believe this site has very strong possibilities."
"Are you going to show it to Mom?" Zackary asked.
"Not yet. I have an architect working with me on the general design. We should probably consult him first before we take this any further. Mr. Rutherford, thank you. You have given us a lot to think about for today," Greg told him as they all got back into the Land Rover.
"I should keep this one in the running then?" he asked as they drove back to the mountain road.
"Definitely," Greg said. "This is very close to what we need, but as I've said, I will need to consult with my architect for whether the topography will work for our intended design. Also I need to show our top three contenders to my wife."
"I understand."
Greg and the children talked about the hills as they drove through them on the way back to the house. The real estate agent dropped them off and Greg thanked him for his time.
"I'll be in touch early next week," he promised. "Have a good Thanksgiving, Mr. Rutherford."
"I look forward to your call. You have a wonderful Thanksgiving too."
They said good bye and were barely back inside the house when the heard Susan pull up in the driveway out in back.
Zackary glanced at Greg. "That was close."
"Indeed. They almost beat us back," Greg said. "Shall we go greet Matthew?"
Greg set aside the papers he'd gotten on the properties they'd looked at from the realtor on his desk in the office; then they all went out to the back to meet and greet Susan and Matt.
c
"Hi Mom," Zackary said. "Hey Matt!" he said in a somewhat more excited tone.
"Hey Zack!" Matt exclaimed and the two brothers embraced one another vigorously.
"Happy Thanksgiving, Matthew. Welcome," Greg said.
"Thanks!" Matt said as he grabbed his bag and Zack grabbed his backpack from the back and they all went in. "Hey, you got furniture!" he said as he surveyed the house.
"Quite a lot of furniture," Susan told him. "Put your stuff in Zack's room, then you should look around."
"Okay," the boys agreed.
Susan sighed tiredly but happily as she watched the boys headed down the hall with Jessie following after them.
"What have you been up to?" she asked as she took in her husband's expression.
"Zackary, Jessie, and I have been working on your surprise," Greg told her honestly. "We are pleased with the progress we made today."
"Oh? Is there anything you need to tell me about?" she asked curiously.
"Not yet but we do have something to show you next Saturday," Greg told her.
Susan nodded.
"You look exhausted, Susan," he commented.
"I am, but nobody's had dinner yet. Matt had a snack on the way back from the airport, so unless somebody's particularly hungry I was thinking of grilled cheese sandwiches ... since we'll be eating such a big meal tomorrow," Susan suggested.
"I'm fine with grilled cheese and you know Jessie loves it," Greg told her.
"So does Zack, and it's easy so I think I'll go do that," Susan told him and she trudged off in the direction of the kitchen.
"Where did Mom go?" the boys asked when they returned to the family room.
"To the kitchen to make us all a light supper. She suggested grilled cheese," Greg told them.
"Yeah! My favorite," Jessie said as she came back too.
Everyone followed Susan to the kitchen where they inspect the pies and talked while she made the sandwiches. Greg volunteered to clean up after supper, and Susan went directly up to bed.
c
Susan was in bed but not asleep yet when Greg came to check on her an hour later. Jessie was getting ready for bed and the boys were watching a movie. That's when Greg remembered today was day thirteen. So much had been going on, he'd nearly lost track and he wondered if Susan had as well.
Quietly he entered the darkened room and crept to the bathroom to brush his teeth in preparation for going to bed too. There on the counter where he couldn't miss it lay one of the ovulation test strips. Susan hadn't forgotten and the test strip was negative. Greg put on his pajamas and crept into the bedroom again, noting that Susan was not yet asleep.
"Are you waiting for me?" he asked in a low tone.
"Not exactly. I'm having trouble sleeping and I knew you'd be up when you could. Are the kids in bed?"
"Not yet. Jessie's getting ready, the boys are watching a movie," Greg told her.
"Have the boys pause the movie and get ready for bed before they finish it. I'll get up and help you get Jessie to bed."
"Stay here, Susan. I'll take care of it," Greg told her.
Susan rolled on her side and dosed. Before long, her husband was back. It seemed so quick in fact, she wondered if she'd fallen asleep when Greg slid beneath the covers beside her. Susan slid over and snuggled up against him, but made no more overt move than that before she fell asleep again. Greg smiled as he held her in the darkness. He knew Susan hadn't forgotten, and he knew she loved him, but at the moment he felt it was more important to let her rest. A short time later, Greg was asleep too, dreaming of the many times he'd held her like this, through all their many lives.