The early September weekend was warmer than any of us had expected, but no one was complaining. In fact, we were out enjoying the weather, knowing the autumn chill would be descending upon us any time now.
Les and I were out back, playing in the strip of land that we'd claimed for a yard. Since no one lived in either of the trailers next to ours, and we took care of it, the landlord seemed happy to let us do what we wanted with it. I was already planning a fort for Les when he was older, maybe after a brother or sister came along to play with. He'd just turned four and, while Lilly and I hadn't talked seriously about whether or not we wanted more kids, over the past couple years, we'd both made comments that we didn't want Les being brought up as an only child like we'd been. We wanted him to have at least one sibling to grow up with, which meant we'd need to start having that conversation sooner rather than later.
For today, though, it was all about Les. Lilly was inside, working on something for one of her classes. I'd tried coaxing her out, telling her that she could focus on her schoolwork when the weather turned bad, but she'd insisted that she had to get the assignment done tonight. So I was surprised when, as Les ran past me giggling like a madman, I heard the trailer door open and close. I made a mental note to oil the squeaky hinge and said, "Couldn't stay away, could you?"
"Okay," Lilly said, "You got me. I keep hearing the two of you out here and, somehow, the assignment doesn't seem quite so important anymore."
"Chase me!" Les called from the other end of the yard. He was at the edge of the woods, but I knew he wouldn't go any further. He rarely broke rules, and never that one. Lilly and I had no idea who he'd inherited obedience from. Everyone in Osborne could testify that it wasn't from either of us.
I watched Lilly as she stalked toward him, identical grins on both their faces. When she was just a few feet away, Les squealed in delight and ran. He loved to run. The kid would run for hours on end if he had his say in the matter.
"Me chase you, Mommy," Les said. "I da sheriff. You bad guy."
A light bulb went on and I wondered why we hadn't seen it before: Sheriff Grandpa. That might account for the well-behaved boy we got. I smiled as Lilly laughed and jogged just out of our son's reach, and added another thing to my mental to-do list: do something nice for my father-in-law. He was great with Les, and it wasn't like we didn't get along or anything, not really. I still got the feeling, at times, that he didn't think I was good enough for his daughter, but I suppose when I have a girl of my own, I'll understand.
Lilly and I took turns chasing Les for the rest of the morning until the three of us collapsed on the ground in a heap. We didn't talk, just lay there, staring up at the clear, blue sky. The breeze was getting cooler, but it was still comfortable, so I stayed where I was, with Lilly's head on one shoulder and Les snuggled between the two of us, slowly falling asleep.
It was perfect.
After what felt like hours of bliss, I was the one who broke the silence. "So, I was thinking . . ."
Lilly sighed, but in a teasing way. "Why do I always worry when you start a sentence with those words?"
"I promise it's nothing dangerous or risky or anything like that." I squeezed her shoulders. "I was just thinking, now that Les is about to start school, maybe the timing is right to start talking seriously about adding to the family."
"I don't think Digger would like it if we got another puppy."
I rolled my eyes at her lame attempt to make a joke and got punched in the shoulder for it.
"You know I'm kidding," she said, smiling. "I've been thinking about babies too. Things are a lot more stable for us now, financially. If we had another within a year, then when he or she is around two, we can talk about a third."
