The Forever Family

A snowball came out of nowhere and struck Sam firmly on the side of the head. The missile knocked the scruffy cowboy hat off his head, saving Rachel from an embarrassing moment.

They both whirled and stared in surprise. A giggle came from behind Sam’s truck and two little heads covered with ski masks popped up. Rachel found herself suddenly bombarded with snowballs.

“Why, you little monsters.” Sam laughed, then grabbed Rachel’s arm and pulled her with him as he ran for cover. He crouched behind the trailer, scooping up a handful of snow to pack together.

“We’re about to get pelted. Look out!” he yelled at Rachel.

She ducked just in time. A snowball exploded against the side of the trailer, inches away from where her head had been. As she stooped beside Sam, more snowballs showered overhead, thudding against the side of the garage or landing harmlessly at her feet.

Sam reached for handfuls of snow, pounding them together in his big, gloved hands. “Don’t just sit there, lady. We need ammunition.”

His booming voice shook with amusement and she stared, stunned by this sudden change in him. This couldn’t be the same rude man who told her she couldn’t work for him. The same man who offered his handkerchief and apology for her loss.

His words spurred her into action and she started making snowballs. Sam fired missiles as fast as Rachel produced them. Soon, Sam gave up on the snowballs and charged. The enemy scattered in a melee of fleeing boots and gleeful screams. Not quite knowing what she should do, Rachel chased after Sam, her ears ringing with laughter.

Sam tackled the boys, rolling with them, flinging snow in their faces. They clung to the big man like two small koala bears.

“No fair, Sam,” Danny yelled. “You’re bigger than us.”

Rachel laughed, until her sides ached and tears ran from her eyes. And when she realized what was happening, it made her heart stand still and she felt such poignancy that she gasped with pain.

Alex never played with her and Danny like this. He’d been romantic in his own way, but never spontaneous. He’d played with her and Danny, but in a dignified, remote sort of way, usually from a park bench or with a board game between them. In the six years they’d been married, she’d only heard Alex belly-laugh twice. Never this up-close-and-personal, undignified heap rolling at her feet.

“Okay, okay, I give!” Sam held up his arms and stood before dusting snow off his coat and blue jeans.

When Danny threw his arms around Sam’s long legs in a bear hug, Rachel’s mouth dropped open, and she stared wide-eyed. “Let’s do it again, Sam. Let’s do it again!” Danny cried.

Over the tops of the boys’ heads, Sam met Rachel’s eyes. His face flushed a deep red. Then he looked away, breaking the magical moment. No doubt he’d remembered who she was and how she came to be here and that was that.

“Ahem.” Sam cleared his voice, and he stepped away from Danny. “I think we’d better get going. Daylight’s a’burning.”

“Yay! Let’s go to your place,” Charlie hollered as he ran toward Sam’s truck.

Danny followed. Both boys yelled excitedly.

Gladys came out of the house carrying a picnic basket. Sam took the basket and placed it in back, then helped her into the truck before reaching to take Rachel’s elbow.

“Careful, it’s slick.” He leaned his head down, his words brushing against her cheek. His nearness made her feel giddy.

As she stepped up on the high foot rail and climbed inside, she heard the window defroster running against the windshield. Sam got into the driver’s seat. Even with Gladys sitting between them, his attention unnerved Rachel.

He shifted the truck into gear, ready to pull out of the driveway, but then looked in the rearview mirror. “Buckle up, boys. We’ve got a bumpy ride ahead of us.”

The drive out to Grammy’s place didn’t take long. When they hit the dirt road, Sam shifted his truck into 4-wheel drive and skimmed through the drifts of snow with steady ease.

Rachel pointed off to the distance. “Danny, there’s our house.”

Danny scooted forward against the backseat, leaning his face over her shoulder to get a better view out the window. She reached back her hand and pressed her palm against his face.

The old 1930s farmhouse and barn sat together in a field of white, a single power line leading out to the house. Painted white, the clapboard boasted nothing special except a quaint charm left dowdy by years of neglect. Fruit trees surrounded the front yard with limbs void of leaves and covered with frost and icicles. Snowladen evergreens edged the long gravel driveway. The top of the fence line stood just visible above the blanket of snow.

A classic winter scene.

“There’s Uncle Sam’s place,” Charlie shot a finger toward a large, modern house about a quarter of a mile down the road.

Slim colonnades lined the wraparound porch, supporting a pretty portico and balcony on the second story. The porch framed the first floor. The white clapboard and blue trim looked newly painted. A detached four-car garage painted the same color as the house sat nearby, along with spacious corrals.

An enormous, shiny-roofed barn nestled in the small valley beside the pond brought Rachel awe. When she came here to visit Grammy just before Alex died, the house hadn’t been finished and Sam didn’t live here yet. This was where he planned to build his large animal hospital. Impressive, considering he’d built his home on land that used to belong to her grandparents. Rachel remembered a time when herds of grazing cattle and horses roamed these fields. She couldn’t begrudge Sam. It seemed fitting that he make use of the land he’d purchased from her grandmother.

“Hey, Mom, we have a lake,” Danny exclaimed.

She looked at the body of water nestled in the valley between her farmhouse and Sam’s place. A thin layer of ice had formed over its surface, the shore edged with tufts of frozen sedge grass, cattails, and tall elm trees. The tops of posts jutting above the snow showed where the small dock sat on the east side, close to Grammy’s farmhouse.

“That’s not a lake,” Charlie laughed. “It’s a pond. In the summertime, ducks and geese nest along the shore. You should see the baby goslings. They’re so cute.”

Rachel pointed at the dock, where a tall tree stood out over the water. A thin rope with a big, black tire hung from one sturdy branch. “I used to sit on the dock with a fishing line. Some of my happiest memories are of swinging on that tire before plunging into the water below. Grandpa always swam with me while Grammy laid out a picnic lunch for us to enjoy.”

“You think we can fish there again?” Danny pressed his nose against the window.

“I’m not sure. Grandpa seeded plump rainbow trout into the pond for that very purpose, but the fish might be all gone, now.”

“Can we go ice skating?” Danny asked.

“No!” The adults responded simultaneously.

Sam looked in the rearview mirror. “You mustn’t ever go out on that ice, Danny. It’s not safe. You’d fall through. Okay?”

Danny shot him a mutinous frown. “Okay.”

Sam flashed Rachel a grin over the top of Gladys’s head and she couldn’t resist smiling back. At times, being with him felt so comfortable and normal. Like she and Danny actually belonged here.

What a crazy notion.

A distant look flashed in Sam’s eyes and he frowned, as if an unpleasant memory had surfaced. He looked away, his jaw tight.

“I hope we’re not keeping you from something important,” Rachel said.

“Of course not. Don’t be silly,” Gladys responded.

Sam looked straight ahead. Rachel peered out the back window, checking the progress of her travel trailer as it sloshed through the slush.

As they pulled into the yard at Grammy’s place, a large black Labrador came out of nowhere, barking. Sam parked the vehicle, and the noisy animal bounded toward Rachel’s side of the truck, jumping up to plant its front paws on the window. Rachel scooted back, gaping in horror at rows of sharp teeth and a damp, black nose. Even with the glass and metal of the door shielding her, memories of terror and pain swamped her. The dog barked over and over again. Rachel’s body ached with fear and a rush of panic caused her pulse to hammer in her ears. She felt as though her lungs might explode and dug her fingernails into the cloth seat.

Oh, please! Don’t let me faint now.

“Go away!” her voice squeaked.

Sam opened his door and slid out of the truck. “It’s okay, Rachel. It’s my dog and I’ll take care of him. Wait here for a few minutes.”