Still The One

It was hard to believe that the happy little boy walking between Josh and me as we neared the bright white, 6 foot tall fence surrounding Josh’s parents’ yard was the same little boy who threw a boat at his daddy and called him mean.

“Nana and papa have party daddy?” Jesse tilted his head back to look up at Josh; I believed that if we didn’t have hold of his hands, he would’ve fallen over backwards onto his bum.

“Yes Jesse,” Josh reached for the gate’s lock, flipped it open and pushed against the gate.

“Jesse like party daddy,” Jesse pulled his hands out of ours and ran through the opened gate. “Oh!” He exclaimed as he stopped short, his hands jumped to his face.

Josh gave me a knowing smile when I shot him a questioning look. “What is it Jesse? What do you see?”

Looking back towards us, Jess pointed across the yard. “Grandma and Grandpa!” He shouted.

“Jess be careful!” Josh called after him as he took off running.

“Otay daddy!” Jesse called back but he didn’t slow down at all as he disappeared beyond my sight, I was still standing outside the gate, Josh was standing in the opening.

“How are you doing?” I glanced up to see Josh looking down at me, he looked a little worried. “Are you ready to go have some fun?”

“I’m doing ok,” I told him.

“Not too nervous are you?”

Shaking my head gently, I smiled up at him. “No surprisingly not. I’m feeling really good about this.” Grabbing his hand, I suggested we hurry up before I change my mind and runaway.

While it was true that I was feeling good about meeting his grandparents, I was a little nervous but I knew that as long as he was by my side, it would be ok.

We passed through the gate, hand in hand. Josh stopped for a moment to close the gate behind us so none of the kids ran out and then we made our way deeper into his parents’ yard.

Josh’s parents lived in an older part of town so they had a bigger yard than I expected since most new houses had such a small yard. In fact, their yard actually stretched all the way back into the trees, beyond the fence that they rebuilt a couple years ago, according to Josh.

There was so much to look at as we walked through the yard, so many people to say ‘hello’ too, that I didn’t even realize until we stopped that he had led me over to the back porch, to the patio set where his grandparents sat with his mom.

Josh let go of my hand to lean down to his grandmother. “Hello grandma,” he kissed her cheek and reached his hand out to shake his grandfather’s hand. “Hi grandpa.” Then he moved around to kiss his mom’s cheek. “Hello mom.”

I watched him with a smile on my face, he seemed really happy to see his grandparents and his mom, it was sweet but it left me feeling kind of out of place, wishing I had parents and grandparents to introduce him too; my only living grandparent was my dad’s father and he was in a long care facility out east so I never got to see him much, not that he would remember me.

“…And this must be Anna,” I blinked as I felt a cool hand on my forearm. “Hello dear,” Josh’s grandmother smiled at me when I turned to her. “It’s so nice to meet you dear, Joshua has told Thomas and me so much about you.” She leaned back in her chair, looking me over. “My word, I say you are prettier than Joshua said you were,” she glanced at her husband. “Don’t you agree Thomas?”

I could feel my cheeks turning red as his grandfather stood and made his way over to me, taking both my hands in his. Holding my arms up, he looked me over and I swear I blushed harder! “Yes Sophia, Joshua has excellent taste, she is very pretty.”

“No Grandpa!” Jesse exclaimed as he sat on his grandma’s lap. “Ama no perty! Ama booful! Daddy says so!”

Sophia lifted her gaze to Josh; I swear her eyes sparkled when she smiled at him. “It’s true,” Josh told her. “I think Anna is beautiful, I tell her all the time.”

“Good,” was all his grandmother said but the look in her eyes spoke volumes, she was extremely happy for him.

Josh’s grandfather dropped my arms and moved in to give me a quick hug. When he released me, his eyes went to my chest and my first thought was to cover my chest but Thomas glanced at Josh before I could move. “I thought you said Anna…”

Thomas’ voice trailed off as Josh lifted his hand to my shoulder. “Honey,” he whispered against my ear as his finger tips brushed against the chain around my neck. I kept my eyes on his grandparents as he slowly drew the necklace out from underneath my shirt.

“Oh my!” His grandmother gasped. “I haven’t seen those in a long time,” she leaned down to whisper to Jesse, he slipped off her lap and Sophia slowly got to her feet. “Did Joshua tell you the story about those?” She asked as she came closer to us, her hand lifting up to take the cross and ring in her fingers.

“Yes,” I could barely speak. “Josh told me the most amazing story of love and devotion,” I lifted my hand to Sophia’s, I was trembling. “I am so honored to wear jewelry that symbolizes everything I desire – the love of the most wonderful man in the world.”

Sophia gazed up at me, her eyes brimming with tears. “I know how you feel right now Anna,” she glanced over her shoulder at her husband. “I’ve felt that way every day since I was given them.”

As Josh wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed my forehead, his grandfather did the same thing to his grandmother.