Day: July 26, 2008

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This an ongoing story that I’m posting over the next several hours. Though I have an idea what I want to write, it’s not written – so this story will be rough, really rough, but I thrive on this impromptu stuff so … there you go. 🙂 Thanks for reading!

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“Hey Jessie,” Alecia said and offered a wan smile to the petite, attractive blonde woman walking toward them.

Margie’s back immediately stiffened and her face lost all expression. Alecia quickly looked at mother-in-law to gauge her reaction and noticed her eyes were hard and her mouth was set into a grim line.

This wasn’t going to be pleasant.

“Hi Alecia,” Jessie said. She walked right up to them, stuck her face into Lisa’s face and said in a large and robust tone of voice, “Hey there, squirt. How’s my favorite niece?”

For such a small person, Jessie possessed a big voice and could startle you with its abruptness.

Lisa’s head bumped into Alecia’s shoulder as she pulled back in surprise. She blinked at Jessie for several long seconds before her lower lip began to quiver and large tears formed in the baby’s eyes.

Alecia inwardly groaned and braced herself. She wasn’t disappointed.

Lisa opened her small, red mouth and let loose an ear-splitting wail. The steady airport hum of activity suddenly stopped and several people turned their heads to stare at Alecia and her baby.

Alecia kissed Lisa’s temple. “It’s all right, baby. It’s just Aunt Jessie. She has come to say hello.”

“Wow!” Jessie said with a tilt to her head. “That kid has got some major lungs there.”

Yeah, sort of like you, thought Alecia, but she didn’t dare voice her thoughts. She continued to ignore Jessie and directed all of her attention to soothing her little girl.

Jessie side-stepped away from Alecia and approached Margie.

“Margie.” She said, her voice hard and borderline rude.

Margie met her open hostility and raised her superior attitude with a brusque nod of acknowledgement.

Lisa’s cries continued to echo off the airport walls. People walking by gave them a wide berth and Alecia endured several irritated looks. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought she heard one woman hiss as she walked by, “can’t people control their kids nowadays! Sheesh!”

Alecia blushed and walked to her diaper bag. Balancing Lisa on one hip, she leaned forward to pull a soft pink blankie from the interior. She held the blanket up to Lisa’s face and gently stroked her cheek. She continued murmuring sweet nonsense into her daughter’s ear.

Lisa’s pudgy little hand snatched at the blanket and her cries degenerated into pathetic whimpers. Two fat tears slid slowly down her smooth cheeks.

“Here. Let me take her,” Margie said beside her. “We could both use some fresh air.”

Alecia allowed her mother-in-law to take the baby from her and just caught the malicious look she directed toward Jessie. Alecia shivered and was glad she wasn’t on the receiving end of that look.

The young women watched the older lady carry the baby away before turning back to each other.

“God, how can you stand that witch?” Jessie said.

“She’s actually really nice, Jessie.”

She snorted. “Yeah, maybe to her reflection.” She shot her mother-in-law another hateful look before turning back to Alecia. “Lisa doesn’t like me very much, does she. She’s always crying when I’m around.”

“I … uh … think she doesn’t know how to take you, yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can’t … get in a baby’s face like that and talk so loudly.”

“I was loud?” Jessie’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Just a bit.” Alecia smiled to take the sting out of her words. “What are you doing here, Jessie? I thought …” she paused, a thought occurring to her. “Are you two getting back together! I know you’ve been separated for a little while …”

“Uh, no.” Jessie shuffled her feet nervously. “Actually, I’m here to serve him divorce papers.”

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It’s time for a chance to win this book!

Chicken Soup for the Military Wife’s Soul: Stories to Touch the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit by Jack Canfield

If you would like to win this book, just leave a comment on any of the posts between NOW and 6:00 p.m. U.S. central time! A winner will be announced in the 6:30 p.m. U.S. central time entry!

Want to know what’s going on? Visit this page.

This an ongoing story that I’m posting over the next several hours. Though I have an idea what I want to write, it’s not written – so this story will be rough, really rough, but I thrive on this impromptu stuff so … there you go. 🙂 Thanks for reading!

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“Hello?” Her voice trembled and her hand shook so much she missed the first few syllables of her husband’s words, her eyes remained fixed on Margie.

“Heya Lece.” Carter’s voice was deep and sexy – a part of her, deep in her belly, quivered at the sound.

“Hey yourself.” She swallowed. “Aren’t you supposed to be in the air right about now?”

“Yeah well, ‘supposed to’ are the key words here.”

“What happened?”

“We’re stuck in D.C. We’ve had some pretty severe t-storms rip through here in the last few hours so my flight has been delayed.”

“Delayed?” She repeated, for her mother-in-law’s sake.

Margie raised a hand in disgust and shook her head. She leaned down to mumble something in Lisa’s ear causing the baby to squeal in delight.

“Yeah, but we’re taking off … oh wait, they just called our flight. We should be in the air in the next thirty minutes. That means …” she heard the rustle of clothing as he checked his watch, “I should be landing in Nashville at 1600 hours.”

“Okay,” Alecia said, her heart sinking with disappointment. She did a mental calculation, that would be 4:00, another two hours of waiting. “We’ll be here waiting for you.”

Carter cleared his throat. His voice dropped another octave and his words came out a husky whisper. “How’s our baby girl?”

Alecia’s eyes slid to their daughter. Margie had grabbed a rattle from the diaper bag and given it to Lisa, the baby girl was happily waving it around. She laughed when she bopped Margie in the face. “She’s beating your mom up with a rattle,” she said with a laugh.

“Ah, that’s my girl! Three months old and already fighting.” He laughed.

The sound sent a shiver up Alecia’s spine. “Do you want to talk to your mom?” She could hear the sound of a zipper and then more rustling before Carter answered.

“No time. I need to jet out of here or they’ll leave me behind.”

“They better not!” Alecia said, perhaps a bit more sharply than she intended.

“No chance, Lece.” She heard him walking and his voice dropped into whisper mode again. “I can’t wait to see you.”

Alecia swallowed the lump in her throat and tightly closed her eyes. She conjured Carter up in her mind, his tall, lean body, his muscular arms, his sexy smile … “Hurry up and get here, Carter.”

He laughed. “Yes Ma’am!” he barked good naturedly and signed off.

She flipped her phone closed and stuck it back into her pocket. “They were delayed, but they were boarding as he hung up.” She suddenly felt selfish for hogging him all to herself. “I’m sorry, Margie. He wanted to talk to you but they were boarding …”

She shrugged and smiled. “As long as they’re on their way, that’s all that matters. We’ll catch up when he gets here.”

Alecia noticed that her mother-in-law was looking a bit tired. She stepped in close and put her hands out to Lisa. The baby cackled and made a grab for her. “Here, let me take her for a bit. She should be getting sleepy pretty soon. Her nap time is usually about this time …”

“Oh, thanks,” Margie gladly released her hold. “She’s heavier than she looks!”

“She’s a porker all right,” she said with a grin. She began swinging the baby from side-to-side when she abruptly stopped to stare at the blonde woman walking towards them.

Margie noted the change in her expression and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Jessie’s here.”
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It’s time for a chance to win this book!

Chicken Soup for the Military Wife’s Soul: Stories to Touch the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit by Jack Canfield

If you would like to win this book, just leave a comment on any of the posts between NOW and 6:00 p.m. U.S. central time! A winner will be announced in the 6:30 p.m. U.S. central time entry!

Want to know what’s going on? Visit this page.

This an ongoing story that I’m posting over the next several hours. Though I have an idea what I want to write, it’s not written – so this story will be rough, really rough, but I thrive on this impromptu stuff so … there you go. 🙂 Thanks for reading!

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Lisa’s burp broke the awkward silence. Alecia giggled self-consciously. “I’m sorry.”

Again, Margie waved her concern aside. “She’s a baby, what do you expect? Wouldn’t it be great if we could all burp like that and not worry about what people thought?”

Alecia sputtered an unintelligible response between chuckles.

“May I?” Margie asked while holding her hands out to indicate she would like to hold Lisa.

“Oh, of course.” Alecia gently handed her daughter over to her mother-in-law. “She’s been in an exceptionally good mood today. I think she knows her daddy is coming home.”

Margie rubbed her nose against Lisa’s and laughed. “I’m sure you’re right. This little girl is as sharp as a tack.”

Alecia nodded her agreement and unconsciously rubbed her arms – they felt so empty without her baby.

The women sat in companionable silence for long moments. An occasional announcement would sound over the intercom, and other than the normal airport activities, their corner was quiet. Alecia sighed. She wasn’t sure her mother-in-law wanted to talk about it, but figuring if she were in her shoes, she would want someone to spill her guts to, she spoke up.

“I … I thought Vince was in remission?”

Margie turned Lisa around so that she sat on her lap and kept her occupied by wiggling her fingers so the baby could try and catch them. “He was. But he started getting worse … so I took him …” she hiccupped, tossed her head and continued on in a stronger voice, “so I took him back to his doctor and … well …” It wasn’t necessary to finish, Alecia understood.

“I’m so, so, sorry, Margie.”

“Yes well …” again, she trailed off.

A few more moments passed, the sound of Lisa’s happy cooing, sounding somehow wrong given their conversation.

“Do … Carter and Pierce know what’s going on?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

Margie sighed and began to bounce Lisa on her knee when the baby start fidgeting. “They, uh, don’t know about any of this.”

Alecia turned to look at her in surprise. “What?”

Margie kissed her granddaughter’s head before turning pleading eyes to her. “Please Alecia, don’t say anything to Carter. I … I’ll tell them when the time is right. I just didn’t want to burden them while they were over there. I was afraid …” she swallowed again before continuing, “I was afraid if they knew what was going on with their father they would be reckless, make a mistake ….”

Alecia blinked back tears and nodded. Though she thought Carter had every right to know about his father’s declining health, she certainly appreciated Margie’s reasoning.

Lisa pulled one of her grandmother’s fingers into her mouth and began knowing enthusiastically. Margie laughed.

“I think she’s getting a tooth.”

Alecia nodded and aimed a sad smile at her daughter. “Yes. I think I felt a bump on her upper gums the other day.”

Margie ran her finger under the baby’s upper lip and nodded. “I think you’re right.”

Alecia bent over to rummage through the diaper bag once again. She was searching for Lisa’s teething ring when her mother-in-law asked, “Have you heard from Jessie?”

Jessie. Alecia’s sister-in-law and married to Carter’s brother, Pierce. She had tried to like the girl, but she was wild, loud and spontaneous, everything Alecia wasn’t. “Actually …” she began when her cell phone rang.

“Who could be calling me right now?” Alecia muttered as she looked at her cell phone display. Her face lost several shades of color as she shot a glance at Margie. “It’s Carter!”

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