Next story in the "American Lifestyles series"... "American Family"

Chapter One

Jolene hummed as she walked around her house. Everything was quiet and everything was in order. She had spent the day cleaning her home and now felt that she could be comfortable in her home with out the clutter bothering her. Jolene was all alone in her house. Danny was at work and the kids were at Lydia’s house. Even better Danny had agreed to pick up the kids and she still had two more ours of freedom to herself.

Jolene sat on her clean couch and stretched. She yawned and leaned back on the couch. This was a very relaxing and comfortable. Suddenly Jolene found her eyes closing and she jumped up to prevent from falling asleep. Instead, Jolene headed up the steps of her home and into her bedroom. She gathered her robe and some underwear and headed for the bathroom.

Once in the bathroom Jolene turned on the water and stripped of all her clothes. She stepped into the tub and enjoyed the bubble bath. She sighed in relief and began thinking about nothing. It felt great to finally think about nothing.

Between kids and managing the house Jolene very rarely had a chance to stop and not think about anything. Jolene also managed to run a full time writing career. She had long ended her medical career and began focusing on her writing. She found pleasure in writing and even enjoyed it more when her novel was published and people actually read it. Jolene sat with Lydia and created her own website. With some help they finished it and it was great.

Jolene adored fan mail and even more enjoyed when young aspiring writers messaged her asking for advice. It wasn’t long ago Jolene was that young aspiring writer and now she was among New York Time’s best selling authors. She was proud of where she was and she knew she worked hard to get there.

Jolene was the mother of two beautiful children. Adyli was four years old and little Darrien who was two years old. Jolene had to admit that her children were her life. She watched little Darrien take after his father and grow to be a dark skinny young boy. He spoke with a lisp and had energy galore. Adyli had begun pre-school and spoke a mile a minute. She was intelligent and socialized very well. Jolene found it amazing that her daughter had changed so much in the last two years.

Much had changed over the last two years. Lydia had finally gotten around to marrying Kiral and Chrissy had her first child. Jia-Li was a beautiful baby girl who took after he father’s Asian traits and had Chrissy’s eyes. She was everything to Chrissy and Zhi and they were so happy to finally have her. Jia-Li was 8 months old and already Chrissy looked like she raised five children and a grandchild. Chrissy made Jolene laugh. She was such a good person and a great sister.

Before she knew it, it was just about time to end her bath. Ten minutes later she exited her bathroom dressed in a bathrobe. Her body felt refreshed and she was relaxed. After dressing Jolene took the rest of her time to read. She hadn’t read in a long time and as she knew it sometimes setting time aside to read helped in the writing process.

As time flew and Jolene was drawn into her book it all came to an end when the front door flew open and Adyli came running in. She flew right past Jolene and headed straight for the downstairs bathroom. Following her came the struggling Danny who carried Darrien in one hand and the children’s things in the other. Jolene smiled at him and set her book aside.

“Hi Darlings.” She greeted them. She walked over to Danny and picked up Darrien. “Did you have fun with titi Lydia Darrien?” Jolene asked. The toddler nodded and kissed his mothers cheek. He wiggled his feet around in a demand to be put down. Jolene put him down and watched him move straight for the toy box.

Jolene turned to Danny and smiled at him. He sighed and leaned into her. She wrapped her arms around him and sympathized what he went through today. She kissed his lips and he sighed yet again. “Thank you...” she said to him. He nodded his head with out words and closed the door. He walked to the couch and nearly collapsed.

**************************

Danny woke up to the sweet sounds of his children running around downstairs. Jolene was awake and out of bed. She stood in the kitchen cooking breakfast and keeping an eye on the children. Danny walked into the kitchen and took a seat at the table. He watched her move around and smiled as she frantically looked through the drawers. “What you looking for?” Danny asked.

“The large spoon! I can never keep track of that thing.” She said shaking her head. Just then little Darrien was pushed into the kitchen doorway. He tripped and fell landing on his stomach. Next to him was the large spoon. He got up and shook his head.

“Oh…. Wow… are you ok?” Jolene asked her son kneeling down and picking up the spoon. Darrien nodded his head and walked out of the kitchen.

“Adyli pushed him….” Danny said rubbing his forehead.

“Of course… you know I need to have another talk with that girl about her brother and pushing him through doorways.” Jolene said laughing.

“Well, my boy is a tuff one so no worries. He can handle it and we know behind the scenes he’s getting her back.” Danny told her getting up and walking out of the kitchen.

Just then the phone rang and Danny looked around. He followed the ringing and found himself standing in front of the couch. He sighed and shoved his hands into the couch searching for the phone. By the time Danny found the phone the caller had long hung up. Danny looked at the caller ID and it read Kiral Maximus.

“It was Lydia!” Danny called to Jolene in the kitchen.

He walked to the kitchen and dropped the phone on the counter before heading to the bathroom. Danny used the bathroom and came back out in good time. Once in the kitchen he asked Jo if she called Lydia back and what it was about.

“She’s going to the doctor she just wants to make sure I don’t need her to do any babysitting.” Jolene said over her shoulder stirring something on the stove.

“Why is she going to the doctor?” Danny asked.

“I really don’t know…” Jo told him her voice soft. There was a pause in sound and Jolene said “I’m sure it’s nothing big.”

“I’m sure…” Danny added. The phone rang again and Danny was quick to answer it. “Hello?” he greeted. A familiar voice answered him and spoke to him. Jolene watched him and mouthed to him “Is it Lyd?” Danny shook his head and carried the phone to another room. He wrote down the information the caller gave him and hung up the phone. He held the phone to his chest unbelievable as to he just spoke to.

Danny was back at the kitchen and sitting at the table when Jolene finally said “What was that about?”

“What was what about?” Danny asked.

“You left to the other room to take a call? You have never done that before. What was that about?” she said placing a plate of food in front of him.

“It was just a bit noisy in here Jo I just wanted to take the call to a quieter room.” He said simply.

“Who was it?” she asked.

“No one special. Just an old friend really.” He told her. Danny finished up his breakfast and put the plate in the sink. He brushed a kiss across Jolene’s cheek and told her not to worry. He left for the bathroom to get ready for work.

An hour later Danny was ready to leave for work. He kissed his children and hugged them tight. He reminded them he loved them and told them he’d be home on later then usually but he would still tuck them in. Jolene watched him with smirk on her face. Danny turned to her and kissed her tenderly. He hugged her and told her he loved her.

“Why will you be late?” Jolene asked sounding as if she regretted him not being home as early as usual.

“I just have a friend to visit and then I’ll be home.” He said. Jolene looked at him and he read something new n her eyes. Something he’d never seen before…. Doubt? Could she doubt his actions?

Danny and Jolene had been together for years now and if there was anything he knew for sure was that she understood how much he loved her. On some level to think that she might doubt him made him sick. He’d never done anything to make her doubt him and he sure wasn’t going to start now. He kissed her again and whispered “Don’t worry.” Danny was out the door and in his car Jolene watching from the open door. He waved to her and she smiled waving back. Danny couldn’t take leaving his family sometimes…. And it seemed this was one of those times.



********************************

Kiral turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. He looked around and grabbed a towel. He dried his face and hair then wrapped the towel around his waist. He stepped in front of the sink and looked at the mirror. Unsure of what was happening Kiral looked at the paper that was taped on the mirror. He grabbed it and ripped it off. He flipped it over and in bold writing it said “I’m Pregnant.” It was signed “the Mrs.” and was written in Lydia’s hand writing.

Kiral was shocked and found himself heading straight to the bed room. Once in their bed room he looked around for Lydia but did not see her, instead on Lydia’s pillow was yet another note. “Gone to the doctor” it said.

Kiral shook his head and took his time to dress. He considered being a father and was blown away. Was she really pregnant? After he was dressed he headed down the steps and found the home phone. He picked it up and dialed Lydia’s phone number.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Are you serious?” he said to her.

“You like the notes?” she responded.

“Are they true?” he asked wishing she’d answer his question.

“Yep… very true.” She said.

“I love the notes…” he said with a smile.