𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 || 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝟐

s.r. ~ young parents

Tulsa, Oklahoma. Steve's House.
Sunday, 1973.
09:32 a.m.

•••

Me and my now husband, Steve Randle, got married young because we were irresponsible and I found out I was pregnant with his child. It was a scary couple of months for him and I since we were pretty young, both broke and Steve only had a job at the gas station while I worked at a diner.

My parents and his were real disappointed in us at first. But they agreed to help us along the way. Whether we wanna keep the baby or not, they would stay by our side.

I was hesitant on having a baby. As much as  I loved kids, I didn't think I was ready to have one. Not because I was too young, but because I didn't have the money and all to have one.

I had cried to Steve about it multiple times. Not knowing whether to keep the baby or not. I was also worried about him. If he was ready to be a father. Then he had told me he wouldn't mind having a child, which helped a lot in what decision I wanted to take. He was supportive throughout the entire first couple months I was pregnant until I was ready to make a decision. I wanted to keep the baby, which he was real happy about.

He thought it'd be best if we got married since we were going to have a baby anyway. He proposed to me about 6 months after I had gotten pregnant and I said yes.

Here we are now, living at my parents house. Somehow earning enough to raise ourselves and our son. I was no longer working as a waitress at a diner and became a teacher at a preschool I put my son in. Steve became the head mechanic at a pretty popular workshop in Tulsa and our son, James Randle, who is now 4 years old and can already talk.

We're now spending our holiday together as a family in my parents house while they are out of town to see family. So, we've got the whole house to ourselves.

"There's my little boy!" Said Steve, coming down to the living room from the bedroom upstairs. He picked him up into the air as James giggled. Steve puts him back down onto the floor where he was playing with his toy truck.

He then sees me walk in the living room with plates of food in my hand for breakfast.

"Good morning, hon." He said to me, giving me a kiss on the cheek while I set the plates down on the table.

"You woke up early." I said.

He sits down on the couch, getting ready to eat. "Well, I got time off work to spend with my son and my beautiful wife." He said.

Before we ate, I called James into the kitchen to go wash his hands with me. Steve followed right behind and we were all washing our hands together. While doing so, Steve asked what plans we should do today.

"So, since we all got time off, what do you wanna do?" He said, wiping his wet hands on a hand towel.

I sat on the question for a second before turning to James who was still washing his tiny hands.

"Ya know, I feel like we should ask Jamie." I said, looking at our son.

"Good thinking. Hey Jamie?" Said Steve. James turned his head to us. Steve dries James' hands and picks him up, carrying him.

"You wanna go do somethin' fun?" Steve asks him. James smiles in excitement.

"Yeah!" He shouts. "Where we going?" He asks with his southern baby voice that he got from his dad.

"Well, Mommy and Daddy thought you could pick a place! You got anything on your mind?" Steve asks.

James sat quiet for a while, thinking. Since he took a while, we kept bringing up suggestions on places he'd like to go.

"How about we get some ice cream?" I suggested which made him smile and nod.

"Yeah I want ice cream! And then- then we can go to the park to see doggys'!" Said James.

"Well it is a hot day, let's go grab a sundae on a Sunday." Said Steve.

Oh, what a dad he is.

I giggled. "Okay, let's eat first and then we can go get ice cream, okay buddy?" I said, going back to the living room while Steve follows along with James.

"What do you say? You say, 'okay mommy!'" Steve whispered to James for him to say.

"Okay mommy!" He says with a giggle, making me smile.

We ate together on the living room, watching Mickey Mouse before we got ready to drive to the DQ to get some ice cream.

We then went to the park and sat down on the grass, eating our ice creams. James was getting chocolate all over his face while eating his. It reminded me so much of how Steve used to eat a whole chocolate cake and have the frosting all over his face.

I nudged Steve, getting his attention. I point to James who was eating his ice cream messily.

"He's eating that ice cream like you did with Darry's chocolate cake back then." I teased.

"That means it's good! Let him eat like that if it makes him happy. It sure makes me happy." He replies, making me chuckle.

After we finished eating our ice creams, we took a walk around the park, looking for dogs James wanted to pet.

"Puppy!" I hear James shout. It was a tiny stray dog walking by the pavement. He ran up to the dog slowly to pet it while Steve and I watched from a couple feet away.

While he was distracted, Steve leaned into my ear,

"You look real good in that dress by the way." He whispered.

I nudged him for saying that. "Steve! You are a father! I thought you'd grow out of that attitude." I whispered back. "Oh, this attitude ain't goin' nowhere, sweetie." He teased.

He was about to kiss my lips but I turned my face so he'd kiss my cheek. I smirk as he keeps trying to kiss my lips. I ended up kissing him anyway.

I look back at James and see that the puppy is all over him and he was already sitting on the pavement with the puppy.

"Aww Jamie, the puppy really likes you." I said as I saw the small puppy got on James' lap.

"Yeah. Mommy, can we keep it?" He asked. I look at Steve for approval.

"I think he can have it as long as it doesn't cause too much trouble." Said Steve.

"Okay Jamie, you can keep it. We have to bring it home and get it cleaned up first." I said.

"Okay let's go now!" Brian said, immediately getting up and picking the puppy up.

"He totally got the dog thing from me." I said.

"For sure." Said Steve.

•••