Swanson Farms

Chapter 44

"Wait! I forgot the present!" Seth exclaimed as I drove down the driveway. I grinned and shook my head, putting the vehicle in reverse and driving back up the driveway. He ran inside and came out with a big box and a huge gift bag.

The kids were giggling when he got in the car and started to sing various songs on the way over. All of Zach's family would be there, my immediate family would all be there, Emerson was turning three today and Zach and Jackie wanted to throw her a huge party and we were all excited because we knew that Emerson would be so excited.

When we pulled up we were happy to see Nick and Mariah there already with Tucker and Jax, they were eagerly wrestling each other and I could tell Mariah was less than happy. The Meyers's second oldest brother Chris was also here with his daughters, Harper and Grace and they were playing with Emerson and Logan.

"Hey guys!" Jackie exclaimed, coming over to hug us.

"Sorry we're late, we kept forgetting stuff." I said, hugging her tightly. She kissed Seth's cheek and picked up Bailey, kissing her head,

"Hey munchkin! Are you ready to go and play? Maybe you could get Harper and Grace to go on the bouncy castle with you!" She squealed happily and ran over to the girls. Chris smiled when he saw us and came over to see us,

"Charlie, great to see you again." He said smiling, giving me a tight "Meyers hug".

"Chris, you too. It's been too long. You remember my husband, Seth." He grinned and reached to shake Seth's hand,

"Great to see you Seth. I hope you're treating Charles good," He said, grinning. Seth chuckled and wrapped his arm around me,

"I like to think so but it's best if you ask her that question." He said, kissing my head. I grinned and rested my head against his chest,

"He's treating me perfectly," Chris laughed and I glanced as his daughters took Bailey over to the bouncy castle, "Have you started seeing anyone new?"

He looked over his shoulder at his girls and waved, turning back to us sighing, "No I haven't, any of the girls I take out to dinner don't want kids, much less two little girls that aren't theirs that have a mind of their own. It's just... Too much for them after losing Kaitlin."

His wife, Kaitlin, died when his youngest daughter Grace was five. She's eight now and his oldest, Harper, is ten. The whole family is still grieving her loss and I know that the girls were being hard on every girl that he went out with. I couldn't imagine going through what he was. I couldn't imagine a life without Seth.

"I'm so sorry Chris..." He smiled and shrugged,

"It's okay Charlie, I'm trying not to think a whole lot about it today. Today's Emerson's day and I don't want to be upset or in a foul mood. I'm going to go and take my daughter's in the bouncy castle." He smiled and walked away and I sighed. Seth kissed my head, "Come on, let's go and get some of my food."

I laughed, he never let a chance slip up to brag about his food. We went over to the food table and Bobby and Susan came over giving Seth and I a hug.

They made small talk with us, but we all knew they were going through a hard time. From what we understood Susan was having a hard time adjusting to the farm life and not having the exquisite taste that they had when he was big in the oil sands.