and I Believe. Jodie Richard-Bohman

War III if they have to share a room.”

      He shook his head in agreement. “Even though there’s seven years difference between them, they do pick at each other a lot.”

      I laughed. “I know. I think I’m getting paid back for the way me, Kellie and Kristie fought.”

      “I always warned you three girls that what goes around comes around.”

      “Well, it’s definitely going around,” I kidded.

      It was around three-thirty in the afternoon when we finished. Dad had an appointment, so he left. I still had a few small boxes yet to get at my house, and dreaded going back there. Aaron had made no attempt to contact me today, which left many unanswered questions. Did he go to the house this morning to stop me, but I was already gone? Or is he happy that I’m finally leaving and was waiting for me to get the last of my things out, before coming home for good? His absence today told me it was probably the latter of the two.

      Before going to my house though, there was one more thing I needed to do. Lying on the living room floor was a plastic storage container full of family pictures and home videos from over the years, along with a small red velvet ring box. Doing it more for spite than closure, I slid my wedding ring off and tucked it safely in the ring box, leaving on only my gold anniversary band. I contemplated taking that off also, but this was one thing my stubbornness couldn’t convince my heart to do.

      Putting the container on the top shelf of the closet, I shut the door and walked away from the last eighteen years of my life.

      Chapter 11

      “Something happened between you and Dad, didn’t it?” Jenna asked when I picked her and Mia up from Kellie’s.

      I glanced in the back seat at Mia, whose eyes were already shut. Afraid I would start crying if I spoke, I just shook my head “yes” to Jenna.

      “Are you two getting a divorce?”

      Her question took me completely off guard. With tears filling my eyes, I shrugged my shoulders, not knowing the answer to that myself. She started crying then. Seeing her like that, hurt me so much, and I quickly embraced her.

      “Is it something I did?” she asked, her lip quivering.

      “Oh, no, Jenna, no, no,” I repeated. “This has nothing to do with anybody but your dad and me.”

      She didn’t seem convinced and was quiet the entire way home, but when we pulled into the third bay of Mom and Dad’s garage, her eyes lit up a bit. All of the grandkids loved having sleepovers up here with Mom and Dad, so I prayed that this would help her and Mia with the transition.

      “We’re just going to stay up here temporarily, okay?” I asked once we were inside.

      “That’s fine. I don’t mind.”

      “And you and Mia will both have your own rooms, and I’ll sleep on the couch.”

      “Really?”

      “Have you slept on this couch? It’s really, really comfortable,” I joked.

      Plopping down on it, she spread her arms back behind her head.

      “You’re right. This is nice and comfy.”

      “Are you offering to sleep on it?” I asked.

      “Ah, no,” she answered with a smile.

      “I brought some of your things over from the house. Why don’t you arrange things the way you want them.”

      “Okay.”

      “Where’s Gwandma and Gwandpa?” asked a sleepy Mia, who was standing there innocently holding her little pink bunny.

      “Grandma and Grandpa are at their house, but maybe we can see them tomorrow, okay?”

      “Otay. Where’s Daddy?” she then asked.

       Oh great—here we go.

      “Um, well, Daddy had to go somewhere for work, but guess what? We’re going to stay here for a while and you get to sleep in the sun room.”

      All of the grandkids, especially the younger ones, loved the sun room. Ever since I could remember, Mom always told the kids she loved them as much as the sun loved flowers, so when I redecorated up here, I painted in one of the bedrooms a beautiful blue sky with a great big sun that had Mom’s face softly etched into it. I then painted flowers with each one of the grandkids faces in the center of them. My sisters thought it was creepy, but the kids thought it was cool, so the room quickly became a favorite of theirs.

      Luckily, once I told her she was sleeping in there, she got all excited and went running back into the room.

      I leaned back on the couch and closed my eyes. I still couldn’t believe all of this was happening, but I really had a hard time grasping that Aaron never called today and made no attempt to see the girls. Like my sister Kristie said, he was a wonderful husband and father and treated me like a queen. He had to be going through a mid-life crisis like Joyce said.

      The growling of my stomach reminded me that I hadn’t eaten anything today. I had no appetite, but needed to feed the girls.

      Please let Mom have some food up here because I really don’t want to go to the store, I thought as I opened the refrigerator.

      To my surprise, it was stocked full of groceries, with a little sticky note that said Enjoy! Love, Mom & Dad.

      What would I do without them? I thought as I grabbed some ham, lettuce and tomatoes and began making sandwiches. There was also a container of potato salad and tapioca pudding in there that I thought we could have too.

      Just then my cell phone rang. My heart did a flip.

       Is Aaron finally calling?

      To my disappointment, it was Joyce instead. I let the call go straight to voicemail. The events from yesterday still haunted me, and the way she controlled a situation that wasn’t hers to control made me have no desire to talk to her at the moment. I loved her dearly, but I still needed some time to recover from that.

      Our family felt incomplete without Aaron as we sat at the kitchen table eating our sandwiches. Mia was playing with her food instead of eating it, and Jenna was quiet with her head down, barely eating anything at all.

      “So,” I asked Jenna, “what all did you do at Aunt Kellie’s today?”

      Her blue eyes brightened a tad.

      “We ice skated on their pond and then we went sledding on the big hill at the park. I was sliding down the hill so fast that I went airborne.”

      Smiling as she continued with her story, I pretended as if I was listening, but my thoughts were elsewhere, far, far away elsewhere.

      Later, after both girls had taken baths, the three of us were in the living room watching TV. Jenna was on the couch, and Mia was cuddled up on my lap about ready to fall asleep. I glanced over at Jenna, who was engrossed in the movie. Even though she had just turned ten, she seemed older, kind of like an old soul, as my dad would put it. She was a very pretty girl with bright blue eyes, just like mine, and brown hair that hung halfway down her back. Mia’s hair was long too, but was more brownish-blonde. She and Jenna were both spitting images of Aaron, and if you didn’t know any better, you would never guess that I was their mom.

      While the two girls looked alike, they were different as night and day. Jenna loved to play sports, while Mia loved to dance and sing. Jenna would listen to us on first command, while Mia was more stubborn and would not. Jenna had Kristie’s dry sense of humor with good one-liners, and Mia was my little cuddle bunny who loved to give hugs and kisses.

      Snuggling closer to Mia, I closed my eyes and tried not to think of how much I missed Aaron. Every night after supper, the four of us would clean the kitchen together and then hang out the rest of the evening watching TV,