Forever Sweethearts

February 2029 - Pine Hollow, North Carolina
Sutton family - Sinjin is 49, Audrey is 39, Beatrice is 7

Audrey is finding herself hungry these days. Starving almost. She wakes up during the night and gets a snack, but she’s still hungry for breakfast when she wakes up again later.

“Good morning!” Sinjin says. He grabs Audrey into a kiss.

Beatrice watches from her barstool and makes a face. “Ew! No kissing!” But really she likes seeing how much her parents love each other.

Sinjin sits down with them and sighs. “I’m not allowed to give kisses? You probably don’t want me kissing you either, huh?”

“You can give a few kisses,” Beatrice says. “But I’m not a baby anymore.”

“We know.” Audrey sighs. “You were the cutest baby I’ve ever seen. Still the cutest.”

“Of course I am,” Beatrice says as she turns back to her breakfast.

Soon Beatrice has headed off to school. Audrey will be leaving for the office soon, and Sinjin off to the fire station. He grabs another plate of breakfast as Audrey cleans up the dishes.

“Maybe we can go out tonight after work?” Audrey suggests. “My mom can watch Beatrice.”

“Sure,” Sinjin says through a mouthful of food. “Whatever you want is good with me.”

Audrey smiles over her shoulder as she grabs another serving for herself and heads for a seat.

****

 Bianca Gates is a couple years older than Beatrice, but they are family because Beatrice’s mom is cousin to Bianca’s dad. They’re also friends even outside of family relations.

Bianca tells Beatrice about the scouting group she’s just joined. “You should join too,” she says. “It’s a lot of fun.”

And so Beatrice joins the Hollow Kids Club. The club takes kids camping and exploring. But with the heavy snow right now, club gatherings usually result in just play.

Building snowmen is a great way of learning new skills.

The builds turn out great and Beatrice is very happy that she listened to Bianca and joined this group.

****

Sunny is greeted with a hug when she comes over to stay with Beatrice while Audrey and Sinjin go out to eat.

“You two haven’t been out in a while,” Sunny tells her daughter.

“We’ve both been busy,” Audrey says.

“Is there anything else going on?” Sunny asks.

Audrey shakes her head. “No, everything is like normal.”

But Sunny gives her a small smile like she knows something and says, “Uh-huh. Well, I hope you two have a good night out.”

While Audrey and Sinjin are getting ready, Sunny sits with Beatrice on the couch. Beatrice loves talking to her grandma and tells her all kinds of stories about what she’s been doing with the Hollow Kids Club.

Sunny loves spending time with her grandchildren. She only gets to see Darcy and Anna’s families a couple times each year, but Audrey and Emma still live in Pine Hollow so she spends as much time with everyone as she can. She asks Beatrice lots of questions to hear more about the fun she’s having. If you ask Sunny, these are the best nights in her life.

 

Audrey and Sinjin head out to Arcadia to eat at The Willow.

It really has been a long time since they’ve been out just the two of them. It’s nice to be out like this, like they’re on a date again.

“So,” Audrey says after they receive their food. “I have something to tell you.”

**** 

“When do you think we should tell her?” Audrey asks the next day.

“Anytime you’re ready,” Sinjin answers.

“How do you think she’ll respond?” she asks him.

He takes her hands, squeezing tight. “I know Beatrice will be excited. She’s always wanted a little brother or sister.”

Audrey’s stomach feels not quite right. She’s not sure if she needs something to eat or if her body is going to get rid of everything she has eaten.

“I’m too old to be pregnant again,” Audrey says, moaning as she rubs her stomach.

“You’ll always be young to me,” Sinjin says.

Audrey and Sinjin make the announcement to Beatrice that she will soon have a baby brother or sister to play with.

Beatrice is excited about the news, but she also worries a bit about what the change will mean for her family.

“Does a baby need a lot of attention?” she asks.

“Yes,” Sinjin says. “But you need a lot of our attention too.”

“What if I’m not a good sister?”

Sinjin smiles at her as they finish the snowman. “I know you will be.”

Beatrice isn’t so sure. A snowman is already a lot of hard work.

But it will be fun having someone else to play in the snow with. Someone else to help her make snow angels all over the yard.

She just hopes she’ll do good at the big sister job.

------------

I was putting in the ages at the top and said to myself, “Audrey is about to turn 40 and Sinjin turning 50???” Their birthdays are later in the year. It seems like just yesterday they met in rehab and fell in love. <3