"Would you stop?" Jenna admonished me.
"I can't," I said. I was practically bouncing all over the place. It was like I had more energy than ever. It would be a good night for a show with the energy I was exhibiting. Jenna just smiled and shook her head.
Josh and Debby were at the house waiting, but also babysitting Rosie and Junie who would wake up to the best surprise ever in their young lives. I hoped.
And I waited. And waited. I hoped we didn't have a repeat of the last time we were at the airport to pick Samantha up from California.
Finally, the doors from the luggage hall opened and I watched eagerly.
And there she was! All smiles, and tanned! She came running up to us and threw her arms around Jenna first, who seemed reluctant to let go, and then she was hanging off my neck as my arms wrapped around her.
"Hi!" I said to her.
"Hi Dad," she beamed. "Hi, Mom."
"Welcome home, sweetheart," Jenna said, a huge smile on her face.
"No luggage?" I asked.
"How much do I need for a weekend?" She said showing me her very full backpack.
"That's all you brought? What about homework?" Jenna asked.
"I finished most of it on the plane on my computer. I brought my math and my English book. I don't have much this weekend, thankfully."
Samantha was spending her senior year in California with Brendon and Sarah. She'd had such a rough year this past year between an assault in January and being abducted by her uncle over the summer, and of course the shooting last summer, we thought we'd offer her a break from Ohio. She deserved something good. And since she was always joking about moving to California, we offered her that choice. And much to my chagrin, she took it. So I had to accept that my daughter was, in fact, a grown human with her own thoughts and opinions. I couldn't be prouder of her.
Samantha was walking between the two of us, chatting happily about her school, her friends, Brendon and Sarah, their friends, California and some of the things she'd gotten up to in the first month of school.
We'd wanted her to come home earlier but she asked to stay because her social life was quite active. Which both made me happy and sad. Happy for her, sad that she didn't want to immediately come home.
I put my arm around Sam and pulled her to me in a side hug. She returned the gesture.
"I'm so glad you could break yourself away from your very active social life to come visit your old man," I said.
"See! You admit it!" Samantha laughed.
"No. It was a slip of the tongue. I meant your grandfather."
Samantha looked at me with a comical skeptical look on her face. Yeah. She didn't believe me. She'd been calling me 'old man' since she was 15. It was a bit of an inside joke between us.
We got into the car and drove home.
"Are you hungry? Do you need anything before we go home?" I asked.
"Uh, no. I'm okay. I'm looking forward to getting home," she grinned.
It was nine o'clock but for Sam it was only six. I was surprised she wasn't hungry at least.
"Did you eat dinner on the plane?" I asked.
Samantha made a face that indicated to me, whatever was served was not palatable.
"I tried. I did. It was just so gross," she said.
"Are you hungry? We can stop and grab something," I said.
"What did you have for dinner?" She asked.
"I made fish and broccoli and rice," Jenna said.
"Is there any leftover?" Sam asked.
"Yeah. There's still a good amount," Jenna said.
"Can I have some?" Sam asked.
"Of course!" Jenna said.
"Dinner's taken care of, Dad," Sam smiled at me from the back seat. I smiled back.
We were home twenty minutes later.
"String Bean!!!" Josh exclaimed as Samantha walked through the door. He gathered her in a hug with Debby smiling behind him waiting for her turn.
"Did you grow more?" Josh asked.
"I did not," Samantha smiled. "And I was just at the doctor's, so I know that for a fact."
Josh laughed as Debby pulled Sam away from him and gathered her in a hug.
Jenna went into the kitchen to warm up some food for Samantha and I was finally able to get Josh and Debby off of her so she could go eat.
The five of us sat in the kitchen while Sam devoured Jenna's fish and the rest of her dinner. She told us more about her friends, her past week at school and catching us up on Brendon and Sarah and our friends in California.
"Mama?" A tiny voice came from outside the kitchen. "You and Daddy is loud. You waked me up."
Rosie was rubbing her eyes. Her blonde hair was a mess from sleep. Sam was grinning.
"Rosie," Jenna said. "Look who's here."
Rosie looked up and just stared as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"Sammy?" She asked.
"Hey, Bug," Samantha smiled. Rosie's face lit up and she let out a squeal, running into the kitchen and her sister's arms.
Samantha pulled Rosie into her lap and hugged her tight while Rosie's tiny arms were around Samantha's neck.
They both pulled away from each other and the smiles on both their faces was priceless.
"You is home!" Rosie cried.
"For a short visit, yup. I was hoping to surprise you in the morning, but this is good, too," Samantha said. Rosie grinned at her.
"Mama! Sammy!" Rosie said, looking at Jenna. "Daddy! Look! Sammy!"
We all laughed. As if we weren't aware of the fact that we had gone to the airport to pick Samantha up.
"You staying home?" Rosie asked.
"I'm only here for the weekend. I'm going back Sunday night," Samantha explained. "I have to be at school."
"No. You go to school here now. No more Cafilornia," Rosie insisted. Samantha just hugged her sister.
Rosie cuddled into Samantha while we continued chatting with her. Rosie was smiling, listening, rubbing Samantha's arm while Sam rubbed her back. I could see Rosie was drifting back to sleep.
"Is it okay if she sleeps in my room?" Samantha whispered, not wanting to wake Rosie up again.
"Sure," I said. "I think she'll like that."
Sam smiled.
We stayed in the kitchen since Rosie was asleep and Sam didn't want to wake her up to go to the living room and then again to go upstairs.
Samantha looked amazing. She looked happy. She had such a bright sparkle in her eyes. Even her voice exuded happiness.
"So, you're enjoying California?" Josh asked.
"Yeah," Sam said. "Even with the tediousness of school, I'm having a good time. My friends are great, but certainly no replacement for my friends here."
"Have you been keeping in touch?" Jenna asked.
"I talk to Jill a couple of times a week if not almost every day. Mason, Cameron, Paige and some of the others I talk to frequently."
"Good. I don't want you forgetting the people here who are very important, too. Have you called your grandparents at all?"
"Yes, Mom. I promise. And Uncle Zack, too. And everyone."
"I invited them for dinner tomorrow. Is that okay? I know they'd all like to see you, too," Jenna said.
"Okay. Sure. Yeah," Samantha smiled.
As we got closer to midnight, even Sam was starting to tire. Josh and Debby said goodbye and that they'd see Sam again before she left, and the three of us, with Rosie in Sam's arms, made our way upstairs.
"Good night, sweetheart," Jenna said as we got to Sam's room. "See you in the morning. Sleep tight."
Jenna gave Samantha a tight hug and a kiss.
"So glad to have you home," she said.
"My turn," I said, pulling Sam gently towards me and wrapping her in a hug.
"I'm also glad you're home. Don't be surprised if your return ticket disappears," I smiled.
"Good thing it's saved in my email, and somewhere in my phone," she smiled at me. I smiled back. I would never really play a trick like that on Sam, but I knew she'd take the joke at face value.
We left Samantha to get ready for bed and went into our own room.
"She looks really good," Jenna said to me as we were in the bathroom doing our bedtime stuff.
"She does," I agreed. "Happy. She looks really happy. I don't remember the last time I saw her that happy."
"Before the scholarship night," Jenna said. She didn't elaborate. She didn't need to. The last time we'd seen her this happy was the night her so-called uncle abducted her and held her for six agonizing weeks. We'd almost lost her; he'd gotten her so sick.
California had been and was good for Sam, and I knew she'd made the right decision.
That didn't mean I missed her any less. I fell asleep smiling because my family was again under one roof, safe and sound.
I slept deeply and well.
It was pretty late- nine o'clock when I woke up in the morning. Usually, the girls have us up by eight at the absolute latest. And rarely. Junie's usually up by six.
Jenna rolled over and smiled at me.
"Good morning," she said.
"Morning," I said. "Are you aware that it's nine o'clock?"
"What?!" Jenna asked, bolting upright. "Sam's home, she needs breakfast, Junie should have woken us up, if not Rosie by now!"
We jumped out of bed and ran into the hallway. The kids' doors were all open. They weren't in their rooms! Then I heard Junie's squeal from downstairs, and the smell of coffee reached my nose.
Jenna and I ran downstairs and found Junie in her high chair, Samantha at the stove and Rosie on a stool beside her, wearing an apron and oven mitts.
"What's all this?" Jenna asked, picking Junie up from her high chair and giving her a squeeze and a kiss before putting her back down and buckling her back in.
"Sammy and me is making breakfast!" Rosie said, squealing.
"Sam!" I said. "You didn't have to!"
"Let me make you breakfast, Dad!" Samantha laughed, mimicking me when I'd told Brendon and Sarah to let Sam make them breakfast.
I hugged and kissed her and then picked Rosie up and kissed, hugged and tickled her. She squealed.
Samantha insisted we make ourselves a cup of coffee and sit down. She'd already set the table, so we couldn't even do that.
"What did we do to deserve breakfast this time?" I asked, sipping on my coffee.
"I guess it's a thank you for letting me go to California, even though I know you wish I'd said no, Dad," she smirked. "And for helping me through everything last year. I mean, breakfast seems like so little for everything you've done for me, but it's the best I could do right now."
"Well," Jenna said, watching Samantha as she plated food to bring to the table. "I, for one, appreciate it. Thank you, Samantha. Everything looks really delicious."
"I helped!" Rosie said, coming to the table with a plate of pancakes.
"I saw that. And those pancakes look too good to eat!" Jenna said.
"You hafta eat 'em, Momma," Rosie said, hands on her hips. "Sammy and me worked hard on the pancakes and so you hafta eat 'em."
We smiled. Indeed, we would eat the pancakes.
The five of us sat together in the kitchen for the first time since the end of August. I knew this was something Samantha needed - this year away from Ohio. I missed her and was thinking of surprising her and arranging with Brendon and Sarah that we'd come to LA for Thanksgiving - if Mark's trial was done by then.
The trial date had been moved up from November 14 to October 29 because another case scheduled had been settled, and so the judge wanted to fill his docket. I hoped this case wouldn't be long. It was pretty cut and dry.
I smiled as I ate the pancakes and bacon my daughters had so lovingly made for us.