And Baby Makes...?

Chapter 64

The week went by so fast and before I knew it it was our last night and we were having dinner at Mark's house.

We had had so much fun and I was joking around with Benji and Emma while the adults were talking. We were out in their backyard, which they called a garden, and were running around.

"Sam, you should come spend the summer here," Emma said. "We sometimes go to the seaside.  It would be fun!"

"I don't know," I said.

"I know Mummy and Daddy would love you to come," Benji said. "And you're fun!  You should come back in the summer!"

I didn't know what to think. Part of me would love to come back in the summer and talk with Mark more. He'd shown me pictures of my mom and him when they were kids, and pictures of my grandparents, and told me stories of what my mom was like as a girl when they were growing up.

He told me about my grandparents, too and what they were like and how much they would have loved me and how I reminded him a bit of their dad.

It sort of made me sad, because it was a whole family I would never get the chance to know. And my mom had been so different when she was younger than when she was with my dad.

"If my mom was so strong and smart, how did she wind up with Stanley?" I asked Mark one night when we were over.

"I don't know to be honest. When we met Stanley, he was amazing. Funny, he seemed to love your mom so much. Our parents thought the sun rose and set with him. He was courteous and polite. He'd help our parents out with things Around the house if they needed. He would always bring a gift for my parents when he'd come over and sometimes for me, the kid brother," Mark sighed. "There were five years between Janet and I and she was 18 when she met Stanley. I thought he was cool. And he'd play ball with me, sometimes he'd come by and pick me up and we'd just go hang out, grab a soda or ice cream, just talk.

When he proposed to your mom, we thought how amazing it was going to be."

"Did his parents ever say anything to you guys about how he really was?"

"Stanley said his parents both died while he was in law school. A car accident, I think. So we never met them. Why? Did you ever meet them?"

"No.  He never talked about family. As far as I knew, he and my mom were the only family I had in the world."

Mark wrapped his arm around me.

"Oh, Sam. How I wish I'd known about you. How many years could we have saved you and your mom?  I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault. But, do you know how he got my mom to stop talking to you all?"

"I think it was just the cycle of abuse you both lived under. He must have just worn her down to the point that she didn't try to reach out for whatever reason he told her.

After they got married, they moved away from our hometown.  We lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan. When they married he said he had a job in Chicago."

"But we lived in Columbus," I said.

"I know. I don't know if they ever did go to Chicago," Mark said. "Or if they moved to Ohio right away."

I couldn't answer that because I didn't know. All I knew was that I was born in Ohio.

Carol called us in for dinner and the three of us went in and washed up and sat at the table. Mom and Dad smiled at me as I sat beside them.

"Well, Josephs, we're sad to see you leave tomorrow," Mark said. "It's been a wonderful week getting to know you all better. And meet Rosie,"

"WoWo!" Rosie exclaimed. We all laughed.

"Indeed," Mark smiled.

"Thank you so much for showing us around," Dad said. "It's really been a fantastic week."

Mom and I agreed.

"Well, hopefully, this won't be the last time we all get together," Carol said. "There's the summer break coming, we could make plans for that."

I looked around. Mom and Dad were smiling but I couldn't tell what they were thinking.

We ate dinner and reminisced about the week. We went through photos on our phones, passing them around to each other.

Carol made a roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and potatoes and vegetables. It was so delicious.

After dinner, Emma and Benji and I went into the family room and played some video games together until we were called for dessert.

"Samantha," Carol said. "We've talked with your parents and we were wondering if you'd like to come back and visit us this summer during your school holidays. Maybe for a month?  You could stay here with us, and we could go into London and see a show, or go to the seaside and stay at the beach for a few days?  Maybe even take the ferry over to France and maybe visit Paris?"

I looked at Mom and Dad. Dad looked a little troubled and Mom looked, okay.

"Can I think about it?" I asked.

"Of course darling!" Carol said.

We finished dessert and then Mark accompanied us back to the hotel on the Tube, so we wouldn't get lost.

"I'll be back at 11 tomorrow morning to take you to the airport," he told Dad.

"Great. Thanks," Dad said.

"Samantha," he said to me.  "Again, it was so wonderful to have you and your family here. I brought you a little something."

He handed me a small square package wrapped in newspaper. I opened it. It was a picture of him and my mom when they were kids, with their parents.  Mark had his front teeth missing.

"I was five in that picture. Your mom would have been about ten. We went to Disney World."

I hugged him and thanked him for the photo. Up in my room, I packed it carefully in my suitcase.