It wasn't long before Lindsey found himself sitting at the kitchen table of the home he had picked out thirty years earlier, but couldn't remember.
But it was stunning. The art hanging on the walls, the family pictures sitting on each stand and accent table, the shawls draped over the lamps in the living room, and the stain glass windows in the den. Everything went with everything, and it was all so well taken care of.
It was a house that was definitely made into a home and the love that filled those four walls was prominent.
"Are you hungry?" Stevie was standing at the counter, watering some of her plants that sat in the kitchen windowsill. "Harper is bringing take out in awhile, but if you're hungry, I can-"
"I'm fine, Stevie." He cut her off, bringing the cup of coffee she'd made up to his lips to take a sip.
Uncomfortable was an understatement... He felt more out of place than he had ever felt in his entire life.
She nodded, knowing that he was annoyed with her by the tone that lingered in his voice. "I can show you the upstairs while we wait for the kids...?" She was nervous too... she didn't know how to keep him entertained anymore.
When they were together at home, just the two of them, they didn't have to constantly be talking or with one another... that was one of the beauties of being married for as long as they had been married. They could do their own thing and meet each other back in the kitchen by dinner.
She knew he was upset that he felt like a stranger in his own home... how could he not feel weird?
"Or we can just stay here..." she added once she realized that a moment had gone by without a reply.
"Yeah..." he nodded his head softly, shifting in his chair as he tried hard not to look at her too closely.
She was still so petite, and pretty... It was like she just got prettier with age. He couldn't believe she was in her sixties, but he knew her young, so it obvious to him that she'd aged- gracefully, but still.
"Grandma!" Kara's voice was like musical to her ears as the teenager hurried through the kitchen, leaving her mother and brother in the foyer to juggle the take out bags.
With a sweet smile and a sigh of relief to finally have someone else to break up the silence, she held out her arms for a hug. "There's my sweet girl." She replied, leaving a gentle kiss on her granddaughters forehead.
"I'm so happy you're okay and you're feeling better." Kara's head met the older woman's shoulder as her eyes traveled to her grandpa, who was sitting there like a ghost.
Nodding her head, Stevie patted her arm. "Me, too, but I wouldn't miss your dance recital this weekend for anything." She chuckled, watching her oldest daughter trail in with Parker behind her. "Go say hi to your grandpa, please..." she whispered, motioning towards him causally as his attention averted to the door.
"There they are." Harper set the bag down on the kitchen table, lightly patting her dads shoulder and making it easier for her children to stay with their grandma. "How are you feeling?" She knew he probably wasn't in the most talkative mood, but she was still going to speak to him just like normal.
That was still her dad, even though he didn't recall a single thing about her.
He stared at her for a moment, seeing as she moved around the kitchen, while Stevie began a conversation with their grandchildren at the island. "I'm okay." Lindsey assured, not totally sure what she was expecting.
She was different than the other two girls... She wasn't gentle like Louise, but she also didn't appear too tough like Nora. She looked lost and confused... She was stuck somewhere between having the perfect life and not knowing who she really was.
But even though she appeared to have issues, she was just as pretty. She had short blonde hair, a button nose and the deepest blue eyes of all their children. And she was more casual than her sisters, with the blue t-shirt dress and sandals, very little makeup and hardly any jewelry.
She was playing the part of the put together sibling well, even though both her parents saw right through it... Even Lindsey, who didn't know a damn thing about any of them.
Harper smiled lightly as she took a seat across from him. "You're tough, Lindsey." She and her siblings had decided that they would only call him dad if he wanted them too... And she could tell that he wasn't ready for that just by the far away look in his eyes.
Before he got a chance to reply, the front door opened once more and the sound of loud voices carried through the foyer. He couldn't hear what was being said, because it sounded like ten conversations were happening at once- all the kids speaking over one another.
"Let's go to the dining room?" His wife's hand fell on his shoulder, gentle rubbing it as she waited for him to stand up.
"This is a lot of people." He said in a low tone as he casually slipped a hand around her waist out of habit.
She nodded in agreement, suddenly wanting nothing more than to wrap him in the warmest hug... She just wanted to hold him, but she knew that he wouldn't have liked it- he didn't know that their relationship had become that way. "The thing about these people is that they love you unconditionally..." Stevie assured, pausing in the kitchen before they continued. "They love you and they want you to be comfortable." She added with the softest, most gentle set of orbs.
He stared at her for a moment, eyes scanning over her face for the tenth time that day.
One minute he recognized her, and the next he didn't. She was so calm, so collected and put together... She was mature, that was for sure.
"Let's go." She repeated, growing more uncomfortable the longer he looked down at her.
A second later, Stevie was helping him into his chair at one end of the table before she traveled to the other end, while a ton of kids filled in the seats between them.
A fourteen person table and there was only one empty seat... It was really something.
"You look good, dad." Grayson had already spaced the fact that they weren't calling him that, even though he had never called him anything else. "Sorry..." he added, shifting in his seat awkwardly as all eyes traveled his way.
"You're fine, kid." Lindsey shook his head, a light laugh escaping him for the first time all day.
He could tell everyone was walking on eggshells, it was pretty obvious and while he felt out of place, he didn't want to be treated like it too. Thankfully though, a moment later, everyone split off into their own conversations, leaving him to take it all in for a moment.
Five kids... Five kids with the woman he wanted more than anything else in the whole world.
The most complicated, mysterious lady that he'd ever met was sitting right across the table from him, forty years later. She was wearing the ring he'd picked out, holding one of their grandchildren on her lap and sipping out of the crystal glass that he'd bought as an anniversary present thirty years earlier.
She was still a dream, even though he didn't know a thing about her anymore.
