Autumn in Philadelphia Trilogy

The Return: Questions and Answers: Part 1

"One hesitates to open a new chapter when the old one is not resolved." -Jude Morgan

Monday morning after dropping the boys off at school, Shawn accompanied Audrey on one of many weekly errand runs. Since being home, he had spent most of his time with Audrey and almost none with Jon. It was a blessing in the sense that his relationship with her was growing stronger and he felt perhaps the greatest sense of belonging somewhere and to someone that he'd ever felt in his life. The downside was that he was spending so much time with Audrey because Jon had no time available to really spend with anyone. Or at least not quality time. Jon tried so hard to give every child the same amount of time when he was home that it often amounted to less than 10 minutes a day. Shawn could almost swear that his former teacher set a timer so that he did not spend more or less time with one child over another. It was frustrating. Shawn would much prefer seeing him for an hour once week than a few constantly interrupted minutes every night. The younger kids didn't seem to notice this problem. However, Julia did and briefly confided in him how much she hated it. She told him she had considered quitting skating to spend time with her dad until she realized that her skating lessons afforded her the only one-on-one time she got with him. Shawn was greatly disheartened by this. He knew from experience what would eventually happen to his family if something didn't change.

It didn't help that the family schedule was getting worse. Practices, games, and competitions for Julia were consuming the after school hours and, starting Tuesday, Jon was in for back to back meetings for the rest of the week as the budget proposal was coming out in the next two weeks and every interest group possible demanded his attention. Shawn had promised Julia and himself that he would ensure Jon and Audrey got away from everything but each other. Unfortunately, it seemed that all forces were converging against him to ensure he failed his mission. And Jon was proving to be his biggest obstacle. He sighed worriedly and tried focus on helping Audrey. He'd try again to figure something out at home.

Bella was in unusually foul mood, considering it wasn't nap time. Audrey thought she might be getting sick and had her scheduled for a doctor's appointment in the afternoon. The toddler's mood put her at odds with Shawn as he tried to care for her while Audrey dealt with other things. She did not want her brother, she wanted her father and since she couldn't have him, she refused to interact with anyone but her mother. It was rather heartbreaking watching the little girl drape herself over Audrey's shoulder while crying for Jon. It brought a dark gloomy cloud over Shawn.

As they headed across the parking lot towards the grocery store a booming, deep voice called out,

"Audrey!"

Audrey stopped abruptly and looked over her shoulder. She broke out into a grin at the sight of the person who called her name and waved.

"David!"

An older man in his 50s hurried across the asphalt lot to greet them. He was a tall, broad shouldered man with impeccable taste in clothing. His close cropped hair was jet black graying slightly around his temples. A bit more gray speckled his goatee. The sun caught in deep blue sunglasses reflecting various hues of blue and purple into his mahogany skin. When he reached Audrey he embraced her with a gentle hug. Bella did not react to him at all and continued to moan for her father.

"Oh, David, how are you?"

"I'm good," he grinned broadly. "How's the fam?"

"We are good," her smile intensified as she reached out for Shawn's arm. "We're all together finally. This is Shawn."

A delighted smile graced the older man's face and he extended his hand towards Shawn.

"Welcome home, Shawn."