30 Day Image Prompt Competition - August

Day 27 Prompt 1 - Home for Christmas

“Mommy, tell me about your home again.”

Lucy looked at her daughter across the plastic table and smiled. She’d lost count of how many times she had described her parents’ home to her as they had travelled on the coach. She seemed keen to hear about the place and whilst Lucy was pleased to tell her, she did worry that the reality would not measure up to the story she told.

“Well, I was brought up in a small town …”

“Where everybody knew you,” she butted in, a wide smile on her elfin face.

“Yes, where everybody knew you. My parents own a good sized house in the heart of the town. My father has extended it a few times as our family grew. I think, at the last count, it had six bedrooms and three bathrooms.”

“Will I have to share a bedroom with Danny?” she said plaintively, looking across at her older brother who was asleep.

“I don’t know, sweetheart. We’ll have to see where Grandma puts us.” If they allow us to stay, she added silently to herself. They were making this trip without having arranged it with her parents beforehand. She was hoping that the open invitation her parents had extended all those years to her was still open.

“What’s the garden like?”

“It’s a large garden, but not too big. It has a small pond for Granddad’s fish and a vegetable patch for Grandma’s vegetables.”

“Is there room to run and play?”

“Yes, there’s a small play area that Granddad built when we were all children.” She saw her daughter’s eyes start to droop and knew she was fighting against falling asleep. “Why don’t you have a sleep so that you’ll be nice and fresh when we get home?”

“Is there much longer to go? I’m tired of sitting on the coach.” It was the first time she had moaned about their journey and Lucy was proud of her, knowing it was a tough trip for her two young children.

“A couple more hours. They’ll pass quickly if you have a sleep.” She gave a reassuring smile, watching as she settled back in her chair, her eyes drifting closed as she fell asleep with the promptness of a child.

Without Beth’s chatter to distract her, Lucy’s thoughts turned to their destination. It had been eight years since she had been home and over five since she had last had any real contact with her family. They had never forgiven her for running away with Kyle and, though they had tried to stay in contact with her, Kyle’s jealousy of their family bond had meant they had slowly drifted apart until it had come to this.

She looked down at the picture she had brought with them to show Beth where they were going. Snow lined the walkways, fresh and white, glistening in the early evening light. Whilst the winters were hard, they were also a magical time, when the area was covered with a thick white blanket that just shouted out for you to come and play in it.

The streetlights had just come up, their bulbs a pale glow as they warmed up. They were old fashioned carriage style lamps. When she had been a child the neighbourhood had campaigned to have the modern street lighting replaced with the carriage lanterns. She hadn’t thought much of it at the time but as she grew up she had appreciated the soft glow of the lanterns as dusk fell.

Her parents’ home stood at the top of the street. A modest detached property, made from brick produced at the local brickworks. Double gates opened up on a driveway that could hold three cars before you reached the double garage around the back of the house. It was a two storey property with the attic converted into two further bedrooms and a bathroom. She’d had one of the attic rooms and had loved growing up there. Until she’d met Kyle.

Her smile dimmed as she remembered her husband, Kyle. A young lad, just a couple of years older than she was, with an attitude against everything that was considered to be a normal life. He’d gotten kicked out of school as a result of various brushes with the law, rode round with a motorcycle gang that created trouble wherever they went and generally did what he wanted to do and took what he wanted. One of those things he wanted was Lucy, who had had a huge crush on him as a teenager.

He had courted her when her parents had forbidden it, tempted her into doing things that had created friction with her parents. She had gone from a good child to a wild child almost overnight. Yet her parents had still loved her, tried to direct her back onto the correct path, been there for her whenever things had started to fail. Their support had meant so much to her yet had created so many problems between herself and Kyle, who had never had a close family like hers.

When Kyle had gotten a job in New York, she had moved with him even though it had meant not seeing her family on a weekly basis. She had telephoned them often but Kyle had resented those calls and that resented had spilled over towards her family until even the calls had ended. Now, Kyle was dead, and Lucy was bringing her two young children on a ten hour coach trip to see them for their first Christmas together.

She wondered who would be at the house. Her parents, her two brothers and their wives and children along with her sister and her family. Aunts and uncles would probably call in for a visit and a meal over the festive period and there would be much socialising at various events in the town. Christmas was a busy period for everyone, with relationships and friendships renewed and strengthened over a meal and a glass of mulled wine.

All she could hope was that their relationship could be healed over the holiday. She was tired of living in New York, struggling in their tiny apartment, hearing sirens passing by almost hourly. She wanted Beth and Danny to grow up in a town where people knew you, where you could play out in the fresh air and have family close by to offer a hug and support whenever you needed it.

Time passed and before long they were pulling into the coach station that served the town and neighbouring communities. She roused her sleepy children and gently herded them off the coach whilst the driver retrieved their luggage from the body of the coach. Now all she needed was to find a taxi to take them on the final leg of their journey.

She looked around the deserted car park, seeing no sign of a taxi rank and her heart sank. She didn’t want to have to make the children walk the final couple of miles to the house nor did she want to have ring her parents to have them come and pick them up. Perhaps she should have contacted her parents before making the journey. If she hadn’t been too afraid of rejection she would have done that but fear had driven her into taking this route.

“Lucy Evans, what a surprise.”

Lucy stiffened at the familiar voice coming from the car park. Keeping her hands on her children’s shoulder, she turned to face the man approaching them. Of all the people she had to meet it had to be him, the man she had had a crush on before Kyle had come on the scene. He had been older than Kyle by a couple of years and had been everything that Lucy had wanted in a man until she had met Kyle and his rebellious nature.

“Hello, Matt. How nice to see you again” She was glad her voice sound calm in direct contrast to what was happening inside her.

“Your Dad didn’t say anything about you coming home for Christmas when I saw him today,” Matt said as he came to stand before her, all rugged masculinity that still stirred her senses.

“He doesn’t know. It’s a surprise for them.” Her voice trembled slightly earning a sharp look from Matt. He studied her and the two tired looking children before seeming to come to a decision about them.

“My truck is parked over there. Why don’t you all hop in and I’ll run you over? You won’t get a taxi at this hour.”

Lucy debated his offer inside her head. One half of her wanted to turn him down because she didn’t want to be in close proximity of him even for the few minutes it would take to get home. The other part recognised the practicality of his offer. With no taxis, it would take ages to reach home and the children would be cranky when they got there.

“Thank you, that’s very kind of you. Beth, Danny, we’re going to get in Matt’s truck for a ride to Grandma’s house.”

The two children looked at the stranger standing before their mother before nodding and walking over to the waiting truck. Lucy smiled her thanks before helping them into the high truck. It was warm inside the cab yet it was slow to penetrate the ice surrounding her heart. All she could think about was whether or not her parents would reject her and the children.

“They’ll be happy to see you,” Matt said, sensing her worries as he drove along the deserted, snow covered streets. “They’ve really missed you since you went to New York.”

“I’ve missed them, too,” Lucy admitted.

“Then why didn’t you write or call?”  he asked, his voice harsh.

“I wanted to but I had my reasons. It was better that I didn’t.” She didn’t want to explain about the problems of her marriage and Kyle’s insecurities when it came to her family.

“Kyle.”

It was all that was needed to be said. Kyle had caused so many problems since she had left. Hopefully not too many that would prevent her from reconnecting with her family. She would have to wait and see about that.

They pulled up outside the house that she had missed every day since she had left. Smoke curled out of the chimney whilst a light burned in a downstairs window, indicating someone was still up. She smiled her thanks to Matt before ushering the children out onto the snow. With her luggage in hand, she walked up the path and rang the doorbell.

Seconds passed, feeling like an eternity, before a light came on and the front door was unlocked and pulled open. For a moment no one spoke as Lucy stared at her mother, tears rolling down her face.

“Merry Christmas, Mom,” she whispered as her control slipped away.

“Oh, my baby. You’ve come home.” Warm, welcoming hands gathered her close before opening to include Beth and Danny in the hug that healed the rift between them.

Lucy closed her eyes as she surrendered herself to her mother’s love. She was home, now, back with her family and that was all that mattered.