He looked up and grinned at Kate with pride and excitement in his eyes. “And it looks like I’m going to get it fairly soon.”
“Why hasn’t Laura told me?” She grabbed Jack and kissed him. “That’s wonderful!”
He grinned. “It sure is. I think Laura meant to tell you about it today but you two seem to have been distracted. I wonder why.” He gently wiped little fingers. “It couldn’t have anything to do with meeting Bob, could it? While you both were N A K E D?” Jack spelled, teasing her gently. “Here, you can have the terrible trio back while I go get cleaned up.”
It was still early afternoon when they all landed on the doorstep of Bob’s large, two-story house. The six of them, three adults and three small children made a boisterous and colorful group. Laura and Kate were both in sundresses; Laura’s was a hot pink that looked great against her dark blond hair. Kate’s bright yellow print set off her curvy figure. Jack was in light blue shorts and a brightly colored Hawaiian shirt.
“Hi! Come on in. Who are these little people?” Bob greeted the group, smiling at the three children. He looked cool and wonderful in navy shorts and a white polo shirt.
Kate was proud as she introduced the kids. She smiled down at the girls. “The twins are Suzy and Sarah, and they’re not nearly as angelic as they look,” she warned. “But I think I’ll keep ‘em anyway.”
“Mom, you said we were your little angels,” Suzy protested.
“You are sweetie, but only to me,” Kate told her, hugging the small girl.
The little girls did indeed look like little angels dressed in frilly pink dresses. They had big green eyes and golden blond curls.
“And this guy is Sam, who certainly is no angel; he’s all boy.” Kate ruffled his hair, getting a scowl for her efforts.
Sam had brown eyes, freckles, and his hair was dark red. He had a defiant expression on his little face. He wore red shorts and a Ninja Turtle T-shirt.
“I can see where Sam got his hair, but the girls got your eyes, didn’t they?” Bob bent down to the kids. “Hi guys. I’m glad you came over with your mom.”
“This is Mr. Simmons.” Kate introduced Bob.
The little girls both greeted Bob with nervous giggles, clinging to Kate’s skirt.
Sam looked up at Kate and demanded loudly, “Mommy, I want to go home!”
“Gee, Sam, I guess you don’t want to have some hamburgers and go swimming,” Kate said quietly. “You must be feeling sick; maybe I’d better take you to the doctor.”
“I’m okay, Mommy. We can stay,” Sam said quickly.
“Let’s go out on the patio, I’ve got the charcoal started.” Bob ignored Sam’s outburst as he looked down at the three small visitors.
“Would you like some hamburgers?” Bob asked. The kids all nodded, even Sam. Turning to the adults he added, “I fixed a salad and set up the barbecue. Does that sound okay?”
At their nods, he went on, “I have beer, sodas, milk, orange juice, and iced tea in the refrigerator, everyone serve yourself.”
Soon they were all sitting at the patio table with iced tea. The kids ran around the yard, slowing down only long enough to take sips of orange juice. Bob started grilling hamburgers, and everyone fixed their own buns, except for the kids. They also had the salad, fries, and corn on the cob.
By the time they started to eat, Kate found her initial self-consciousness fading and she began to enjoy herself. Surprisingly enough, the afternoon was really turning out to be fun! Kate thanked the heavens that for once her brood seemed to be willing to eat without pulling any of their customary mealtime squabbles, except for a minor food fight with some French fries. She quickly quelled the spat.
“Kate, why did you say your kids are not the little angels they appear to be? So far they seem very well behaved,” Bob asked her curiously.
“Well, they have been pretty good today. As a matter of fact, they really are pretty good kids.” She paused, smiling proudly at her brood, “But I always warn people because that way if the kids are fairly good it makes them seem even better, but if they’re cranky or bad, people shrug it off and figure that they were warned.”
“In other words, either way, people figure that the kids aren’t as bad as you thought they’d be.” Bob poured her more iced tea. “Very sneaky!”
“For ‘people’ you can read in her mother-in-law, who thinks all children should be quiet, polite, and neat practically from the moment of birth,” Laura said. “These three are plenty old to be taught some manners, in her words.”
“She meant every word when she said that, Laura, but remember, that was when she was almost beside herself with grief and loss. She’s more like her old self lately. In fact, she’s mellowed quite a lot, now that she has more friends with their own grandchildren who really do make my three look like little angels. It’s just that after we lost Joe, she went through a period where she was bitter and felt all alone. She really wasn’t herself. Her husband had died, less than three months before she lost her son. Joe was her only child.” Kate paused, remembering how broken Ida had been. “She shielded herself by turning very cold and controlling. She decided to take over raising my children to fill the void in her life, but she’s a totally different person now.”
“Is she really?” Laura asked. “What caused the change?”
“I forgot, I haven’t told you yet. She has a hot new man in her life. His name is George. He takes her dancing, bowling, and out to play golf. He has definitely loosened her up and he has three small grand-kids that really make my kids all look like monks, not monkeys.” Kate smiled, “He’s so good for her. He’s even good with my kids.”
“That’s great!” Laura said, remembering the woman she had met long ago. “Before everything happened, she always used to be such a free-spirited woman. She was so colorful and bursting with life and energy. I could never understand how she could turn out to be so formal and cold with your kids. It was like Jekyll and Hyde.”
“It took George to help me understand.” Kate smiled sadly, “It was fear. Fear of losing someone else, fear of being hurt again, that’s what made her so aloof. It helped her keep her distance, emotionally.”
Just then the kids started to beg Bob to go swimming in the pool. Kate tried without very much success to remind them that they should wait to be invited.
“But what if he never invites us to swim?” Sam, ever argumentative with his little lower lip sticking out a mile added, “Then we won’t ever get to go swimming. We never get to have any fun.”
“It’s hard to argue with that kind of thinking,” Bob told the boy, smiling, “but I suspect your mom’s right and you should wait until I ask you if you want to swim. Guess I was being awfully slow to ask, wasn’t I?” He looked over at Kate. “Can they swim?”
“Like little fishes, but I watch them like a hawk,
