Full Bloom

The Orchard

I tried to run through all the scrambled thoughts in my head. Okay, I've got the diaper bag, I've got the stroller, and I've got the snacks. That should be everything, right? I looked behind me and saw my two girls on the couch.

"Two kids. That's important," I said to myself. "Girls, let's go!"

Chrys got off the couch, but Poppy continued sitting there, chewing on some kind of puffy toddler snack that she got into, still watching the show about colorful dogs on the TV.

"Poppy, let's go!" Chrys said to her.

"No!" Poppy said.

I rolled my eyes and picked Poppy up off the couch. She whined a whole bunch. And I thought Chrys had a big attitude when she was a toddler. I was in for such a rude awakening. Poppy was only a year-and-a-half old and she'd already been in her terrible twos for months. I handed her off to Oliver, who walked out the front door and got the car started.

I helped Chrys get her shoes on, and as I was tying them, I realized that something was missing from my left hand.

"Oh, Chrys, can you go out to the car where Daddy is? I need to run back upstairs and grab something," I said.

"Okay Mommy," she said.

I opened the door for her, then ran back upstairs. I grabbed my wedding band off the bathroom vanity, where I typically left it every night. For some reason I forgot to put it on this morning.

I ran back out to the car and got in the passenger's seat. Both girls were in their carseats, ready to go. Oliver backed the car out of the driveway and we took a long drive out to the apple orchard. Once we got there, we found a spot in the crowded parking lot. I got the stroller out of the trunk and put Poppy in it while Oliver got Chrys out of her carseat.

We walked over towards the main path with our empty bags and started picking out which apples we wanted. I hadn't been apple picking since I was a little kid and completely forgot that there's like, a hundred different kinds of apples to choose from. Chrys wanted the yellow ones, for some reason.

"Mommy, out!" Poppy said when we were about an hour into our walk.

"Okay, out we go," I said, unbuckling her.

Oliver and I took turns holding her hand so she wouldn't trip. Once we had our bags full of apples, we made our way over to the pumpkin patch, letting the girls get a pumpkin each. Chrys was very insistent that she get one that wasn't orange. She was stuck between a white one and a dark green one.

"Chrys, why don't you want an orange pumpkin like Poppy is getting?" I asked her.

"'Cause...there's a million orange ones. I want one that's special," she said. "I'll take this green one!"

"You got it, girly! Green pumpkin it is!" I said, picking it up for her.

"No, Mommy! I wanna hold it," she said.

"You sure? It's heavy."

"Yes!" she said.

I handed her the pumpkin, and she gave up once we got to the front of the pumpkin patch. I had the girls sit around the pumpkins and snapped some pictures of them. Some kind strangers took pictures of the four of us.

Once we had those photos, we went back to the main entrance of the farm. We paid for our pumpkins and apples, took a quick hayride with the girls, then went into the general store. I ordered a special cider donut sundae, where they put a fresh donut at the bottom of the cup, then vanilla ice cream and caramel on top of it. It was heavenly, especially since the donut was still warm. Right now, I was craving donuts so, so badly.

We got our order and ate out on one of the picnic tables nearby. I put Poppy on my lap. Chrys sat next to Oliver. With that dark curly hair and her facial features, she was like his twin. Poppy had lighter, straight hair, so she looked like me. We each had a mini version of ourselves. I could only imagine what our third baby would look like.

"This place is great! We definitely have to come back next year," I said.

"Oh, definitely!" Oliver said.

"So, everything still going well at work?" I asked.

"Yeah. I can't believe my first teaching job is at the place where we went to high school, but I guess it's meant to be. And that reminds me...I'm going to be working with a student teacher starting next week."

"Oh?"

"I met her yesterday. Her name is Ella Mae. Really sweet girl. She wants to be an elementary music teacher, but they're sticking her with me for now. I'm going to have her run my private lessons while I catch up on my work. I think if she's doing alright mid-week, I'll have her practice conducting, just so she knows how to do it."

"That sounds nice. Look at us, everything falling into place."

"Yup! I've got my wife, my good job, and two kids. Everything we need. I'm all set."

"What? You don't want any more kids?"

"Honestly, I think I'm good. Any more kids and we'd have to move." I held my breath. Oh no. How am I gonna tell him? "Everything alright, babe?"

"Uh...yeah. All good, here."

It would be okay. This week, I'd figure out a plan to tell him sometime.

We got home, had dinner, then got the girls to bed. I fell asleep pretty quickly that night.

The next few days were normal. Since I worked so early, Oliver got the girls ready. He put Chrys on the bus to kindergarten and dropped Poppy off at daycare. That Wednesday, I was having lunch in the break room with my team and some other coworkers. They were talking about some guy named Barack Obama who was running for president. They were really excited about him.

I was in the middle of texting Karen when a call from an unknown number popped onto the screen of my little flip phone. It had a local area code, so I decided to pick it up.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hi, is this Jennifer Everston?" asked a man's voice.

"Yes?" I said. Something felt like it wasn't right. My coworkers stopped talking and started to stare. "Who is this?"

"My name is Detective Bill Lansing. I'm from the Oak Falls PD. Are you Oliver Everston's wife?"

"Y-Yes. I-I am."

"Ma'am, there's been an incident at Valley Hill High School. You should probably come down here."

"Okay. I'll be right there." I hung up the phone and looked at my coworkers, my body shaking nonstop. "I'm leaving for the day. Figure out the project yourselves, okay?"

They nodded, not saying a word. I took off my vest, grabbed my purse, and ran out the door.