I roll my eyes around to look at my surroundings. The car is off, and we’re sitting on the side of the road in a nice neighborhood. Each house has a big yard, and there’s a good hundred yards between each one. Trees line the streets on either side, casting shadows. The houses are all decent sized, and each yard is well taken care of.
“Which ooone?”
Lifting his hand, he points out my window. “That one.”
Before I have the chance of struggling to turn myself enough to look, Lincoln’s lifting the middle console, unbuckling my seat belt, and turning me to lean against his firm chest. He locks his fingers of one hand with mine and settles them on my lower stomach. This position gives me the perfect view of the house he pointed out.
It’s brick with white shutters, a good-sized front porch with potted flowers hanging from the overhang, and thick green grass. The driveway is empty, but they could park their cars in the two-car garage. There’s a slip and slide out front, along with several other toys. A tire swing hangs from one of the big trees.
We’re only there for a few moments when the front door swings open and two little giggling girls come running outside in bathing suits. I hold my breath as I take them in. They both look exactly the same with red pigtails and pale skin. They can’t be any older than eight or nine.
“Twinsss,” I breathe.
“Yeah.” Lincoln’s gentle voice blows against my cheek, sending a temporary shiver through me.
A woman and a man walk out after the kids, descending the porch steps. The man, who I know is Christopher McCord, takes off after the little girls, making their giggles fill the air inside the car.
“So beauuutiful,” I murmur quietly, not wanting to talk over their laughter.
“They are.” Lincoln grabs a lock of my hair, twirling it around his finger. “With bright red hair like you.”
The woman laughs, drawing my attention to her. She’s got blonde hair, is lightly tanned, slim but lithe build, and appears taller than average for a woman. She complements Christopher in that regard because he has to be several inches over six feet. Sitting on the bottom step, she watches her husband play with their two children, a smile playing on her face.
My eyes move back to Christopher as he lifts one of the girls in the air, spinning her around a couple of times. The love that shines in his eyes as he looks at his daughter brings tears to my eyes.
This is a happy family.
“Do you want to go talk to them?”
An ache forms in my chest at Lincoln’s question. I would love to go talk to them, to get to know them, but I don’t think it’s a good idea. I mean, I can’t even move, so how would it look for a strange man to carry his immobile wife onto their property? And second, what in the world would we say? Tell them we think we are Christopher’s reincarnated great-great-grandparents?
“Nooo. Just… seeing themmm… is… goood… enough.”
We stay outside their house for another fifteen minutes and simply watch the small family play. Before I became ill, this is something Lincoln and I would do with Gray and Gemma. I miss those times so much, and I’d give anything to have just one more day like this.
All too soon, Lincoln says, “We need to leave, baby. Before they realize we’re watching and call the police.”
Reluctantly, I agree. I wish we could stay longer, but I don’t want to freak them out if they see us.
Lincoln maneuvers me back over to my seat, making sure I’m comfortable, and buckles me in. I watch out the window for as long as I can when we pull away. As much as it hurts to leave, I still feel a lightness in my chest at the short visit.
It’s hard to believe that we could have been looking at our great-great-great-grandchildren. Seeing them makes me want to get back to our own kids and hold them tight.
My eyes droop, and I fight hard to stay awake. I hate sleeping so much. My life is already going to be short enough. I don’t want to sleep away the time I have left.
“Pizza,” I say slowly, and Lincoln looks over at me. “And mooovie… with the kidsss.”
I feel the smile he gives all the way to my toes. “That sounds perfect. Any particular movie you want to watch?”
“Let themm… pick.”
He laughs, the sound rich and deep. “Sure you want to do that? They’ll spend half the night fussing over which one to watch.”
I smile and snuggle deeper into the pillow. “We can… waaatch… both.”
Leaning on the console, he grabs my hand and brings it to his mouth. I love when he does that. Even after eighteen years of marriage, I still get flutters in my stomach when he does so.
We stop by our favorite pizza shop. Instead of leaving me in the car by myself, Lincoln calls in our order and we both wait in the car. Thirty minutes later, we’re pulling into the driveway. Jenna’s on the couch with Gemma beside her. They are both watching something on Gemma’s iPad. Gray’s on his stomach on the floor playing one of his games on the Xbox.
All three of their attention comes to us when we walk through the door. Lincoln carries me to the couch and gently sets me down, so my back is propped up on the stack of pillows that’s permanently part of the décor now. After kissing the top of my head and murmuring he’s grabbing the pizza from the car, he turns and leaves.
Jenna’s curious eyes are trained on me. She knows all about the women’s journals. Although I told her where we were going, I haven’t been brave enough to tell her mine and Lincoln’s belief that we are the couples from the journals. For some reason, I want to keep that a secret between me and Lincoln. She only knows we went to one of Clara’s relative’s home to possibly give them the journals.
“How did it go?” she asks after I let her know I’m okay with a smile.
“Good. The… fammmily… is beautiful.”
“Did you give them the journals?”
“No.” I take a breath and let it out slowly. “We… decideeed… to not aaapproach… them.”
She nods, flipping a long chunk of hair over her shoulder. “Probably for the best. I’m sure it would be a big shock to have complete strangers approach and say you have their great-great-grandmother’s journals.”
Lincoln comes back in the house with three pizza boxes. “We got you pizza to take home to Bryant and Violet.”
“Oh. You didn’t have to do that.”
Lincoln shrugs, setting the boxes on the living room side of the bar. “It was Molly’s idea.”
“For watchinnng… the kidsss.”
She gives me a straight-faced look. “You know better than to think you need to pay me in some way to watch the kids.” She reaches out and runs her fingers through Gemma’s hair. “I love them like they’re my own.”
My fingers twitch on my thighs, wanting to grab Jenna’s hand. As if sensing my need, Jenna grabs my hand and squeezes my fingers.
“I… know… you… do,” I say slowly.
She gets up from the couch and bends down. Her embrace is tight when I’m enveloped in her arms. Pulling back, she kisses my cheek and murmurs in my ear, “Love you, Molly.”
Turning my head, I kiss her cheek in return. “Love… yooou… too.”