Quiet vs. Loud

Preparations

When I woke up the next morning, Riker was missing from our bed in the living room. I sat up and looked around for him. I saw his shoes by the door, so I know he didn't leave. After a few minutes, I had to go to the bathroom, so I got out of bed. When I left the bathroom, Riker was coming in from the laundry room. "Good morning" I said as I walked over and gave him a hug. "What got you up so early?" "Hey Sweetie. I heard the dogs whining in their room, so I got up and let them out. I also put their blankets in the dryer. I would have fed them, but I'm not sure how to fix their foods." "Thank you Riker." I told him. "I hate that the dogs woke you up. You should have gotten me up. I would have taken them out." "No," Riker said as he and I walked into the kitchen. "I knew you need your rest. You have had a busy last few days, so I wanted to give you a chance to catch up on some sleep. I know that when Jackson comes home, you won't get that much rest. So whatever I can do to help now, I'll do it." I put my arms around him, and I leaned up to give him a kiss. "Well, since you took care of the dogs, I am going to take care of you. You sit there at the table, and I am going to make breakfast."

After another quick kiss, Riker sat at the table and I went to the fridge to take out the stuff for breakfast. I decided to make fruit salad, bacon, french toast, juice and coffee. I got the coffee started and then I started working on the bacon. When the coffee was done, Riker got up and fixed a cup for me and brought it over to me at the stove. "Here you go. I'm gonna run take a quick shower and get the other boys up. Ross, Ryland and I have a photo shoot around noon. Mom texted me that she took breakfast to your mom and Evan at the hospital, and she is on her way back now. Dad, Rocky, Rydel and Ratliff will be home in about 2 hours." "OK, that sounds good." I told Riker as I took a taste of my coffee. "While you are upstairs, I'm gonna call my mom and check on Jackson. I'll have everything ready when you come back down." Riker gave me another quick kiss then he ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

I grabbed my phone off the charging station on the counter and sat down at the table to call mom. "Hi mom," I said when she answered her phone. "How is everything going today?" "Everything is going fine." Mom told me. "We all actually got some sleep last night, and Stormie brought us all some breakfast first thing this morning. Right now, we are waiting for the doctor to come in and tell us when Jackson can go home. The doctor that was on call last night said that it would probably be tomorrow or the next day. He wants to make sure that Jackson will be OK with the wheelchair he is going to be using." "OK, well I think the boys and I are just going to stick around here today. Jayce is still in his weird mood, so I don't want to leave him. Plus, I need to get the guest room set up for Jackson since he won't be able to get upstairs to his room. But please tell Jackson that I will call him later today. Right now, I need to go finish fixing breakfast. I love you Mom, and tell Evan and Jackson I love them too."

I hung up the phone and got up to work on breakfast. I put the bacon in the oven and was mixing up the batter for the french toast when Jayce came into the kitchen. "Good morning" I signed as I walked to him then I gave him a hug. "I am fixing breakfast, but if you hold on a sec, I will fix you something to drink. Do you want iced coffee or hot chocolate? We are having juice with breakfast." Jayce signed "Iced coffee please. Is there anything I can do to help you?" "No," I told him as I put the first batch of bread on the skillet, "I'm OK with the food. But you can food the dogs if you want to. Riker already let them out. Thank you." Jayce headed out to feed the dogs and I turned back to make his iced coffee and continue the french toast. By the time I was done, Jayce was back inside and everyone else was downstairs. We all sat down to eat. Riker and Ross talked about the photo shoot they had that afternoon, and Ryland talked about wanting to go back to the laser tag place. When Ryland mentioned laser tag, I saw Whit's head pop up. I knew that he had been talking to the girl Katrina he met there, but he had not had a chance to see her again. He looked at me with a pleading look on his face. I laughed, because I knew what he wanted. "Yes Whit, if Ryland doesn't mind, you can go to laser tag with him. Jayce, you go with them." Jayce looked at me like he wanted to argue, but I gave him my "Mom" look, so he just nodded and signed "OK."

When we had finished breakfast and cleaned up the dishes, Ross, Ryland and Riker left to go get ready for the photo shoot. Riker promised that he would be back as soon as he got home. Jayce and Whit went upstairs, while I went to get the guest room ready for Jackson. I dusted and vacuumed the entire room and cleaned the attached bathroom. I knew it would be hard for Jackson to make use of the bathroom, but I wanted it to be clean whenever it was needed. When that was done, I went upstairs and brought down some things that I knew Jackson would want from his room. Once that was done, I went to finish cleaning the kitchen and lastly, I cleaned up mine and Riker's bed from the night before. I put everything away, then I started on laundry.

When I was on my third load of laundry, I heard a noise on the front porch. I went to the front door and opened it. Mark, Ryland and Ratliff's dad were there, and the porch and sidewalk were covered with lumber and tools. "Hi Mark. Hi George. Hey Ryland. What are you guys doing?" "Well," Mark started as he and George stood up "Stormie told me that Jackson would be in a wheelchair when he comes home, and I knew that Evan would be with your mom and you would be busy here, so George and I decided to build a ramp for your front steps so that it's easier for Jackson to get in and out of the house." "Oh my gosh Mark and George, that is so sweet. I didn't even think about that. I was so eager to get everything set up inside, I didn't even think about how to get him in and out of the house. But you guys didn't have to do this. Mark, you and Ryland should be with everyone else at the photo shoot, and George, you should be enjoying the day with Cheryl." Mark laughed. "Honey, my kids don't need me to get their pictures taken. I usually just sit behind the scenes and try to distract them. So the photographer is probably glad that I'm not there. Cheryl is spending the morning with Stormie running errands and this afternoon they are planning to take dinner to your mom and Evan at the hospital. So George was recruited to help me." "Well, thank you guys again for this. I'm gonna go in and fix you all something to drink." I told them as I hugged each of them, then turned to go in the house.

The rest of the afternoon went by quickly. I finished everything in the house and, when Riker got back, I took the time to go to the grocery store and stock up on some things I knew we needed. Mark and George finished the ramp and that was a load off my mind. I talked to mom and told her about it, and we decided that once Jackson was home and settled, we would fix a nice dinner for Riker's family to say "Thank you" for everything. Mom said that Jackson would be in the hospital another night, then he would be home. Ryland, Ross, Jayce and Whit went to play laser tag, then when they got back, Rocky, Ratliff, Rydel came over and we all just ordered pizza and watched movies until it was time for bed. Everyone except Riker left, and as I was getting ready for bed, Riker set up our bed just like the night before. I fell asleep in his arms again, and the last thing I remember was feeling Riker's arm tighten around me and him whispering in my ear "Rayne, I love you more today than I did yesterday, I I will love you more tomorrow than I do today. I just hope that one day we get to fall more in love with each other together. Sleep tight, and I promise to be here when you wake up."