After the redemption {Sequel}

10 Quality time

The last one and a half weeks flew by. We all enjoyed our time here on the farm so much. I never realized before how much we all needed it. The quality time just for the family, far away from the stress of everyday life.

Adam and I thoroughly loved how much the children enjoyed it here. They learned so many new things in such a short time and were so excited about everything.

And it was also clear that they had immediately taken Summer and her husband Steven to their hearts. Aiden loved to sit on the tractor with Steven and let him explain every little thing. Alice on the other hand couldn't get enough of the ponies. She loved to ride them while one of us led the pony.

It was quite difficult to get them into bed at all in the evening, they enjoyed playing with the animals so much. Especially the two dogs Tyson and Archie, were very fond of them. If there were not so many other things to discover, they would have spent most of their time just playing with the dogs or cuddling with them.

Every morning the children could hardly wait to get out of the house to help Summer with her morning chores. They were allowed to help her feed the chickens, ducks and turkeys and then collect their eggs. During the day there were so many different activities that we did together that there was really no time to be bored.

We took walks together through the woods and collected leaves and stones. Or we took a ride in a carriage. We often helped Summer and Steven with the animals. Either we fed them or we helped cleaning the enclosures. 

Summer had so many wonderful ideas about how to involve the children in a playful way and especially Aiden enjoyed it when he was allowed to do small tasks on his own.

Tonight the kids are allowed to stay up longer than normal as we planned to make a campfire. Therefore it had to be dark outside. We all sat together around the fire and roasted marshmallows. The eyes of the children were glowing like stars, because they were allowed to hold the sticks with the marshmallows over the flames by themselves. In Alice case of course with a little help from her daddy.

The evening was filled with the soft crackling of the fire, the distant sounds of the various animals and the happy laughter of everyone present. When Alice finally dozed off in Adam's arms we decided to end the evening. We said goodbye and brought the children back to the cottage. Actually they should have taken a shower because of the smell of smoke, but since Alice was already asleep, it could wait until morning.

Adam and I gently changed Alice into her pajamas while Aiden brushed his teeth and then changed as well. We said good night and tucked them both into their beds. I was sure that once again they were both so exhausted that they would sleep through the night without any problems.

Adam was the first to go to the bathroom to take a quick shower. I followed him, but stopped in the doorway and just watched him for a moment. Then I walked over to him and let my hands gently glide from his shoulders over his arms and his back.

He turned to me and looked deep into my eyes. I smiled happily at him and stood on my toes to kiss him. Adam responded by wrapping his arms firmly around my waist and pulling me tight against him.

"I love you so much, you know!?" I said after I separated from him.

"And I am so grateful to you for this. I can't tell you how good this does me, after all we've been through. I will never forget this. And it's not just because of the 1,000 photos we took." I continued as I put my arms around his neck.

"I love you too, baby. It makes me so infinitely happy to see you all so happy. But I think we're gonna have a hard time getting Alice and Aiden away from here." he smirked.

"I guess you're right." i nodded.

"Now Mrs. Cole. How about a shower," he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Mmm...I'd love to, Mr. Cole," and with that he pulled me toward the shower and started unbuttoning my shirt.

The next morning the two munchkins were not happy that they had to take a shower before they could go outside to help Summer. After some protest and complaining, they finally realized that things would go much faster if they just cooperated.

When they finally had breakfast and were dressed, they both rushed to the door.

"Run slowly, you two. It was raining. I don't want you to slip and hurt yourself." I called after them and then followed them. But of course they did not listen. By the time me and Adam were halfway to the chicken coops, the kids had already disappeared into the stable. The dogs had apparently heard them, Tyson and Archie came rushing over. Tyson grazed my leg, which caused me to slip in the mud and land on my butt with a loud thud.

Adam turned to me and looked like he wanted to laugh.

"Don't you dare laugh, Babe. This is not funny!" Of course, that made him laugh even more.

"Oh, stop it! You better help me." I scolded him. Adam still smiled, but then he gave me his hand. At that moment a thought came to me. I reached for his hand and pulled it hard. Adam lost his balance and ended up in the mud as well. Then I started to laugh out loud.

"Oh now you are in for a treat!" he threatened laughing and grabbed a portion of mud.

"Don't you dare..." but I didn't get any further, because my husband smeared the cold mud on my neck. The situation escalated quickly and soon we were both rolling around in the mud laughing like little children.

Our silliness was suddenly ended by a familiar giggle. Alice and Aiden stood together with Summer in front of us.

"What are you doing?" Aiden asked laughing while Alice giggled like crazy.

"Mama started it," Adam said to defend himself.

"Snitch," I replied.

"Oh, you guys are so adorable. I think you should go shower and put on dry clothes so you don't catch a cold. If you like, I'll take the children to the main house and start making the bread dough with them," Summer said, trying to suppress her laughter.

"That would be great. Thanks Summer," I answered quickly.

"Looks like we'll have to shower together again, huh?" Adam said sassy.

"Not the worst thing right now, is it?" I replied as we both got up and headed back to the cottage.