Parting Ways

Chapter 1

Sam dialed and it rang twice. Babe answered cheerily, "Hello?" "Hey girl, whatcha up to?" Sam replied enthusiastically. "Oh, about 5'8" give or take."Babe said comically. "Ha,ha, very funny." Sam chuckled. "What are you doing today?" "Spring cleaning before next weekend's trip." Babe said. Rubbing her very pregnant belly. "I want to get rid of this junk that keeps collecting and I only have today and tomorrow.
I still have to pack for this weekend." "Well, I know you will get it all done." Sam said assuredly. "Thanks for the confidence." Babe said unenthusiastically. "Your welcome." Sam said brightly. Then she told Babe about her conversation at the grocery store with the Baker and then they hung up. Babe Parker was Sam's best friend since the 3rd grade. They did everything together. From fishing and swimming in the lake to a class project at school. Even though they had went to different schools. They helped each other finish each other's separate projects. Their children were best friends too. Sam's family was planning to take a three day weekend off. And wanted to spend most of their time in Branson.
Babe was always the one who planned the events and Sam was always the one who took care of the food for each event. They both were very creative when coming up with inexpensive ways to go on vacation. Babe always found cheap or free places to go, along with discounts for churches or groups.. And Sam did a lot of couponing for trips and for their extremely large pantry. The butler always kept things well organize. Never could keep a female housekeeper because Sam and the housekeeper would not get along.

                                                                                        Chapter 2

Duke was a cop and Babe was a nurse. They both worked hard to keep things working smoothly at home and at work. They were also taking their family up to Missouri to have a weekend of fun and relaxation. Duke worked hard to provide for his growing family. They had two boys and two girls and a new baby girl was going to be a wonderful addition. All of Sam and Babe's children were in the same age groups. Brooklyn Rose and Aly were 12, Samuel, Lincoln and Allen were 9, Addison, Quinn and Jordy were 8, Dorian James, Molly Diane and Jay were 3 years old. Babe, and Sam were just as inseparable of friends as their children were. They considered themselves sisters forever. Sam and Babe's husbands didn't always agree but got along fairly well. Leo's family was rich with old money dating back to their ancestors in the 1500's. But Leo also bought some land he had secretly suspected had a gold mine on it from his studies of history and historical maps. He was pleasantly surprised when he was right. He estimated that the mine could easily yield as much as 10 nuggets a year. And so he would go every few months and dig a little gold out and sell it to the bank and put the money in his and Sam's joint account.
Babe was nearly 8 months pregnant and was already as big as a house. Sam brought an Afghan she was working on for Babe and Duke's little Hailey Nicole's to show to Babe. She was almost finished with it. Babe was getting closer to Maternity Leave and Sam wanted to throw her a baby shower and help decorate the baby's room. But Babe had the nesting thing down since she went into the third trimester. Sam always said that when she talked to Babe about helping to decorate the new baby's room. Finally the day came when Babe went into labor. Luckily Sam and Leo had postponed their trip up to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to be there when Babe went into labor. Sam insisted on being there for Babe to wait on her hand and foot. She had forgotten why they used that term, but she was glad that she could do that for Babe. Babe was in labor for 7 hours and then little Hailey Nicole Parker was born. She weighted 6 lbs. and 12 oz. While Babe slept, Duke took Sam down to the nursery window to look in. She was so tiny. All of Sam's babies were over 7 lbs. She had Babe's features and Duke's nose and thick head of hair.

                                                                                            Chapter 3

Unbeknown to Babe, Sam and Leo decided to buy some land and move to Pennsylvania. That was one of the reasons they were making the trip up to Gettysburg was to look for land and the reenactments also. Grant was given permission to travel with Leo and Sam when they went on trips to reenactments. Sam wanted a break from everyone, she felt that they were too close to everyone all the time and that there was nothing private. They also had met some new reenact-ors and wanted to get to know more people in their reenactment group. Leo trusted Grant's discretion when dealing with thieving servants.
They had numerous house keepers, but they had trouble keeping them because Sam was extremely jealous of women being around Leo. And the housekeepers always tried to do things their own way instead of doing it the way Sam asked. There had been a few occasions when they've caught a maid stealing and when she was caught she flung herself at Leo to protect herself from being fired, but he shook her to the floor in disgust and walked out of the room. He instructed Grant to deal with her discreetly. Grant paid her and threw her out advising her to never come back.
Grant and Leo had grown up together and were good friends. Grant's wit and sophisticated charm won Leo over even though his parents were quite maddened about him fraternizing with the servants. Leo and Grant enjoyed debating about historical events and loved to set up miniature battle fields to go along with their historical debates in the evenings. Sam loved that Leo spent time with the middle aged butler. Leo had few friends growing up. Grant's parents lived in England with Leo's grandparents. Grant had also lived in England during the summer months as a boy learning his apprenticeship as a butler. He didn't have a wife and children that he spoke of. Sam kept busy with their large family and running the many tasks that come with an estate. 
   
                                                                                                   Chapter 4