by Joy Redmond
Buddy licked her tears as she said, “I keep backing up in life. Soon, I’ll be back to my early childhood—broke, cold, hungry and homeless.”
As she hugged Buddy, she saw a white car pull up in front of the house. A man wearing a suit and tie stepped out and started walking up the sidewalk. “The last thing I need this early in the day is a dang salesman!”
He lightly tapped on the door. Mandy’s first instinct was to pretend nobody was home, but she knew Buddy was going to bark. She opened the door and Buddy ran out and started sniffing the man’s leg. “Buddy, go on back home. Christopher David will be looking for you.”
The man flashed a big smile. “I bet you don’t remember me, do you?”
Mandy looked at him for a second, then she recognized the gap between his two front teeth and the twinkle in his eyes. “Kent!” she said. “My God, it’s been what—forty years there about? You still look the same—except the thinning hair.”
Kent laughed and patted his belly. “And I’ve got a pot.”
“Well, come in. What a surprise.”
Kent stayed for over an hour and they laughed and talked about when they first met as children. Mandy was ten and Kent was eight. They played together outside on the playground while their mothers attended Homemakers Club. They had gone through grade school and high school together.
Kent looked at his watch. “I need to get going. I’ve got a client waiting on me” He shuffled his feet and jingled change in his pant pocket. “Er, I was wondering if you’d have dinner with me and maybe go see a movie.”
She gave it a moment’s thought. Why not? All I do is type novels, and take care of Jude. I need something else in my life. I’m not getting any younger.
Three months later, they became roommates. He’d been good to her and good for her. They flew down to Saint Petersburg Beach, Florida and visited Lee and Maylee once a year. Kent gave her gas money so she could take trips to Cleveland, Tennessee twice a year to visit Don, Anne, and their children. Her half-sister, Sari, who would always be Emily to her, was living in Cleveland too, and Mandy visited with her. Twice, Kent had bought her airplane tickets, so she could fly to California and visit with her half-sister, Shelia, Aunt Marcy, and her many cousins.
Mandy felt chill bumps rise on her arms as she remembered seven years ago. Her cousin, Embry arranged a Randall family reunion. Don and his family came up from Tennessee, and brought their half-sister Emily with them. Lee and his family came up from Florida. Shelia, her half-sister, flew in from California. Her three half-siblings drove down from Indianapolis. All eight of Teddy Randall’s living children were there, and her heart ached for Evan.
Just as the memory was tiptoeing through her mind, Buddy ran over and jumped into her lap. “Good Lord, Buddy. You’re bigger than me, but you’re still determined to sit in my lap,” she said, as Buddy licked her face. “I guess you want a belly rub. Okay.” As she rubbed the soft fur, her mind returned to that day. Kent had snapped picture after picture of them together.
“That was an amazing day. I thought it was impossible, Buddy. But the best part was when I got home. I put the camera chip into my laptop and downloaded the pictures. It was amazing as I looked at me with my seven siblings. I was clicking the arrow, closely looking at every shot, when I felt as if I had been hit with a stun gun.
“In the last picture, right above my head, I saw an orb. Orbs in pictures are angels, in case you don’t know. Or they can be spirits of loved ones. Well, I screamed like a wildcat, ‘It’s Evan!’ So, for all intents and purposes, all nine of Daddy’s children were there that day. I still go through my pictures from time to time, and every time I see the orb, I stroke it and I talk to Evan. I can’t hear him talking back, but I can feel him. It’s like tiny electrical sparks run up my arm.”
Buddy jumped down and ran across the yard and chased two robins as they scampered across the ground. “I didn’t get to tell you about the second miracle. Get back over here.”
Buddy ran back and jumped into her lap. She stroked his ears, and her mind went back to three years ago. “Nobody saw that one coming,” she said, as if Buddy cared about her stories.
She could still hear the tears in Abbie’s voice. “Mom. I’ll be forty-one- years old when this baby is born. I’m too old to have another baby. And Jude isn’t speaking to me. She said I was an embarrassment.”
“I’ll be out to see you this afternoon, and I’ll have a talk with Jude.”
As that memory ran through her mind, she felt the same thrill run through her body as it had that day. Her mind moved on up the chain of events. She could vividly see and feel everything the day of the birth.
March 20th, Mandy was at the new birthing center by 7:30 a.m. She hurried into Abbie’s room. “I made it with thirty minutes to spare,” she said, as she kissed Abbie, then hugged Jude. “It won’t be long and Miss Emmie Sue will make her grand entry into the world!”
“I’m a nervous wreck, Nana. I don’t like the idea of Mama getting her stomach slashed and having a baby pulled out. It just doesn’t seem natural.”
Just then, Clark came into the room wearing scrubs. “They’re on their way to get her. Mandy, you and Jude need to go on to the waiting room”
Mandy and Jude hugged and kissed Abbie. With tears of joy they walked the long hallway to the waiting room.
Mandy was pacing the floor and Jude was playing on her tablet computer when Clark came into the waiting room, pulled off his scrub cap and sweat ran down his face. “You can go back and see them. I’ve got to get outside and get some fresh air before I pass out.”
Jude grabbed Mandy’s arm. “Nana, I’m going to hold my little sister first. Don’t even try to out-muscle me!”
As they walked down the hallway, Mandy said, “I’ll give you two minutes, then you’ll hand her to me!”
Abbie was propped up in bed, Emmie at her breast when they walked into the room. Jude lovingly patted the tiny head. Then she broke down in hard sobs. “I’ve got a little sister. She wasn’t real to me until now.”
Mandy hugged Jude. “She’s real, honey. And the greatest blessing this family has had in years. She’s our little miracle baby.”
Emmie unlatched from Abbie’s breast, and Jude scooped the tiny infant into her arms.
Every muscle in Mandy’s body was twitching as she waited for her turn.
Mandy held her precious granddaughter and tears of joy rolled as she said, “Hi, Emmie. I’m Nana. I love you to pieces. You’re so beautiful.”
Buddy’s ears perked as if he was enjoying Mandy’s stories. “If you’ll sit still, I’ll tell you about last week. Emmie is two and half. And she’s got a mop of dark curls, just like her great-granddaddy, my real Daddy, Teddy Randall.”
Buddy looked into Mandy’s eyes as if he was anxious to hear what happened.
Mandy had driven out to the old farm where Clark’s grandmother’s old house was still standing after a hundred years. Abbie and Clark were going to do their best to restore it to the mansion it had once been. Back in Clark’s grandparent’s time, they had the most beautiful home in the county. Many parties and teas had been held in it, and people were in awe of its beauty.
Mandy drove down the long lane and parked her car in front of the old house. She walked to the front door and saw a note taped to it. Emmie and I are out for a stroll. If you get here before we get back, just sit tight. We’ll be back shortly.
Mandy walked around to the back yard and gazed at the huge magnolia tree that was a hundred-years-old. A few blooms and several buds were showing off their splendor. Mandy took her camera from her purse and snapped a few shots.
She walked back to the front yard and she heard Emmie’s chatter. She hurried out to the long lane and her heart filled with more happiness than she thought she could bear. Abbie was holding Emmie’s hand, and Mandy started snapping pictures as they made their way to her.
“Hi, Nana!” Emmie said as she ran to Mandy. Mandy picked her up and hugged her tightly, but Emmie w
anted to be put down.
Abbie hugged her mother. “That kid has worn me out. And she terrorized every wild animal in the countryside. Even the deer.”
Mandy laughed. “That’s why I call her Tiny Terror. I took several pictures as you two were walking down the lane. Let’s see what I’ve got,” Mandy said, as she pushed the button and the pictures came up on the tiny screen. When the last picture came into view, Mandy cried, “Oh my God!” She grabbed her heart and teetered.
“What, Mom? Is it your heart?” Abbie asked and grabbed her mother’s arm, her face as white as chalk.
“No, honey. I’m in shock.” She held the camera and looked at the picture again. “I saw this in a vision when you were only four-years-old. I didn’t recognize the woman because I had no idea what you’d look like when you were forty-four. Here it is before my very eyes. Exact. The lane lined with trees, forming an archway and a bright light at the far end. And of course, I didn’t know the little one was my grandbaby.”
Abbie took the camera and stared at the picture. “You saw this when I was four?”
“I did! I swear! I was out on another country lane, gazing upon the spot where an old house had once been. The same lane I had visited when I was eighteen, but the old house was still standing back then. Don’t you remember me telling you about me being pulled into the house by an invisible force, and I felt love surrounding me, then I heard laughter, and nobody was in the house?”
“No. Maybe you told Kati and Tony. Or maybe I was too young to remember. And you saw this exact picture in a vision, forty years ago? Your visions are amazing!”
“Yeah, they sure are,” Mandy managed to say, still staring at the picture. “Unfreakin’ belieable!”
“Hold on, Mom. Emmie is almost back to the main road. I’ve got to catch her.”
Mandy watched Abbie run like a streak of lightening, trying to catch her daughter before she made it to the end of the lane. “There’s goes my whole life.”
Abbie was out of breath as she carried Emmie back to Nana, and Emmie was screaming and kicking all the way. “I told you I was too old to chase after a baby.” She wiped her face. “I thought we’d go back to the old family cemetery. It’s a long way, but maybe she’ll finally wear down. Do you think you can make it that far?”
Mandy furrowed her brow. “I think I can keep up with, and maybe outrun you two. I’ll race you,” she said, and took off running. Emmie ran with her. Mandy made it behind the old barn when she said, “Okay, Emmie, you win. And look at your mother. She’s way back there.”
Finally, they reached the cemetery, and again Mandy felt faint. “I’ve seen this cemetery. And Emmie was standing by a headstone, smiling and waving at me. I remember it was unnerving. I thought it meant the baby died.”
“No, it meant this one is going to take off running through the briars and brambles and do her best to push over a headstone. Hold on, let me catch her.”
As Abbie chased Emmie, Mandy snapped pictures.
Abbie picked up Emmie and was panting when she made it back to her mother’s side. “Some of those stones date back to the early eighteen hundreds.”
“I know,” Mandy said, “I saw that in my vision too.” She dropped the camera into her purse. “Hold Nana’s hand, Emmie. Walk with me. We’re tired of chasing you.”
As they walked back, Abbie said, “Mom, I want to bury you and dad in that cemetery. Dad’s in bad health and I know he probably doesn’t have that much longer to be with me, but he’s been sober for five years. Finally, I have a daddy that I can enjoy and share my life with. You have no idea what that means to me”
“But, I do, my darling. My daddy sobered up and became a responsible person two years before he died. I’m so thankful for those years, though they were few. I’m so happy for you. Everybody needs a dad no matter how long it takes them to become one.”
They made it back to the old house, and as Mandy went through it, she could feel strong energies of many spirits. “I think the spirits who have come in and out the doors of this house are still enjoying the teas and parties. I feel them. They’re happy.”
“I don’t feel anything. But I sure smell musk. It’s going to send me into a sneezing spell,” Abbie said, as she picked up Emmie. “And I need to get this kid out of here before she completely destroys what’s left of it.”
“I need to get on back home,” Mandy said, as they went back outside.
“You know, next Saturday is Jude’s sixteenth birthday party. We’re going to have it out here. Her friends want to build a bonfire and roast hotdogs and marshmallows. Clark is going to set up the sound system, and they’ll blast that horrible music that you hate. If you think you can stand it, you’re welcome to come.”
“I wouldn’t miss her sweet sixteen party. Loud music and all,” Mandy said, then kissed Abbie and Emmie.
Buddy turned in circles, then nestled in Mandy’s lap.
“Don’t think you’re gonna fall asleep on me. I’m not done with my stories. I’m going to pat myself on the back, if you don’t mind. I’ve penned and published eight novels in the past ten years. And I’ve got twelve great-grandchildren. Do you believe that?”
She heard Buddy snoring. She laughed and continued to stroke his ears as she gazed upon the beauty of the back yard. She loved the many trees that were beginning to change colors and she enjoyed watching the sweet birds drink from the birdbath.
“Yep. It’s been one heck of a ten year ride! Kent was my saving grace.”
The cell phone rang, causing Mandy to jump, and Buddy almost fell out of her lap. She picked up the phone and looked at the face. There was no name. Just a number. It only rang once. “I hate those telemarketers.” Just as she lay the phone down, her mind did an instant replay, and she recognized the area code. She picked up the phone, flipped up the top and went to missed calls. She carefully scanned the ten numbers.
“Holy Hebrews! It’s been twenty-five years since I’ve seen this number.” She quickly deleted it. She laid the phone back on the table as every hair on her head stood on end. The phone rang again, once. She looked down. It was the same number. She promptly hit the Off button.
“Don’t even try it, Gill! I have nothing to say to you, dead or alive. Go haunt the lives of your other wives. And stay out of mine!”
The End
About the Author
After retiring from her career as a phlebotomist, Joy decided to pursue her passion for writing. She's the mother of three and the grandmother of seven. She lives in Kentucky.
Books by Joy Redmond
Children’s
The Dreamer (2011)
Adult/YA
Anna's Visions (2012)
Stolen Lives (2013)
DarkHeart of Hampton House (2014)
Finding Will Hennie (2014)
Wings Trilogy:
Give Me Wings (2013)
Wings and Beyond (2015)
Wings and Faith (2015)
Joy’s books are available on Amazon.com in Kindle and paperback.
http://amazon.com/author/joyredmond
