Ria's Birthday Gift – part 2

Hello, FFFs,

It's not cloudy thankfully! We've had enough rain and storms this week to last a while. There's lots of flooding, some voluntary evacuation of homes not far from us. Tornadoes hit nearby towns and at least one family from church had their home damaged. And that was just the tornado here. I heard there were 13 tornadoes in 24 hours across the state of Missouri. Crazy! Today is supposed to be sunny. And humid, I'm sure.

I've stayed busy this week. But not with writing. In fact, I didn't write anything! Ugh! That was kind of sad, but rather normal for me when I'm finishing up another book. Only this time I was getting ready for the release of "Hymns in the Hills" on Monday, and formatting "By Paths Unknown" so I could send it to beta-readers. But even though I haven't been writing, I have been keeping busy.

When I'm not working on getting ready to release one book, or getting a proof copy ready of the other, I've been updating images on my website. And adding a new audio book. Yep, "Dylan's Story" is available for your listening pleasure. :)

Perhaps next week I can write. Maybe. I want to. We'll see.

Now I hope you enjoy the last of this story about Ria. :)

Ria's Birthday Gift.

Part 2

    It was only after the boys had pulled up chairs or taken seats on the kitchen floor for lack of chairs, that Jimmy looked around puzzled. “Hey, Ria, where’s Mom?”

    “Out,” Ria replied rather glumly.

    And Pete said cheerfully, “I suppose that leaves you the queen bee around here.”

    “I’d as soon not be sometimes,” Ria muttered, feeling sorry for herself. It seemed that everywhere she went there were boys. Why, there were even more boys in her class at school than there were girls. Picking up her plate, she shoved back her chair and after stepping over first Johnny’s legs, then Fred’s, she reached the kitchen sink.

    “Come on, Ria,” Fred coaxed. “There’s enough gloomy weather outside to dampen anyone’s spirits, can’t you at least give us a smile to brighten the room for a moment?”

    “Careful Fred,” Jack teased, watching Ria’s face as he spoke, “A moment of light would most likely be a flash of lightning, and you’re sitting the closest to her.”

    At that Ria turned around and crossed her arms. “You’re impossible,” she told him.

    “Yep,” Jack agreed with a grin and a wink, “I know.”

    For a moment Ria stood, a scowl on her face, as she eyed the boyish faces before her, but the fourteen twinkling eyes that looked back at her and the seven grins which flashed back were too much. Her scowl disappeared and a smile replaced it.

    Stepping back over the legs in her way, Ria crossed the room. Before she could disappear upstairs to grab her books, Dave and Chris pushed into the room with Mr. Mitchell behind them.

    Leaving the house for school with her brothers and cousins, Ria felt the day wasn’t quite right without her mother’s good morning kiss and her usual call to the boys to “take care of your sister.”

    “Ed,” Ria quickened her steps to catch her oldest brother who was sixteen.

    Ed slowed down. “Yep?”

    “You will take care of me even if Mama didn’t tell you to this morning, won’t you?”

    “Of course I will,” Ed looked down at her and grinned. “You don’t think I’d leave you to the mercy of those two,” and he jerked his head back towards Chris and Dave who were trudging along behind, “do you?”

    Satisfied, Ria shook her head.

    “Let me carry your books, Ria,” Jack offered, and Ria handed them over feeling very special. No one had carried her books to school before.

    When the last bell had rung and school was over, Ria found her mother waiting for her at the door. “Mama!” Ria hugged her. “Where did you go this morning?”

    Emma Mitchell smiled. “I went to Uncle Edmund’s. And now come, he has your birthday present ready.”

    Ria gave a skip of excitement. At last, the birthday present she had been promised had finally been finished. What could it be? “Where is it?” Ria asked when she saw Uncle Edmund sitting in his truck and she and her mother were walking over to him.

    “Out at Uncle Edmund’s, so climb in.”

    Ria scrambled into the seat next to her uncle and Mrs. Mitchell followed.

    “Hi, Uncle Edmund. Are you taking the boys home now?”

    Grinning, Edmund shook his head. “Nope.”

    Ria was full of questions about her present as the truck bumped over the roads, but she only got answers that mystified and puzzled her more then ever.

    At last Uncle Edmund stopped the truck before the farmhouse and said as they climbed out, “Now close your eyes, Ria. Your mother and I’ll lead you, but don’t you peek!”

    Holding back her giggles and keeping her eyes closed was difficult, but Ria managed to do it, wondering where in the house they were going. At last she was told she could look and her eyes flew open.

    She blinked and for a minute was confused. She was in a bedroom and Aunt Louise was lying in bed.

    Calling softly, Aunt Louise smiled, “Come over here, Ria, and see your presents.”

    Moving over to the bed, Ria suddenly gasped and clasped her hands softly. There, snuggled up beside her aunt, were two babies!

    “They’re both girls,” Uncle Edmund whispered. “This one is Emma and that one is Lucy.”

    “Oh!” It was all Ria could say though her face was beaming and her eyes shining like two stars.

    “Would you like to hold them?”

    “Oh, could I?” she gasped, almost too excited to breathe.

    “Who do you want first?” her mother asked, preparing to lift one of the little bundles.

    “Both!”

    Ria’s exclamation brought soft laughs from the three adults and Edmund said, “Let her,” and settled his niece in a large easy chair with pillows and cushions.

    Mrs. Mitchell carried one baby and nestled it in her daughter’s right arm while her twin picked up the other.

    A sigh of delight came from Ria as she gazed down first into one tiny face and then the other. “My own special cousins that aren’t boys!” she whispered to them. “I’ll make sure the boys don’t tease you too much,” she continued, completely forgetting her mother, uncle and aunt who watched her. “And when you get bigger, we’ll play things that girls want to play like tea parties and dolls. And you can sleep in my room because the boys aren’t allowed in there, only girls.”

    One of the soft bundles stirred and the tiny rosebud mouth opened and yawned.

    “Come on, Ria,” Emma whispered to her daughter. “Let’s let Aunt Louise get some rest. You get to go back and tell the others about the babies.”

    Ria scarcely contained her squeal of excitement. To tell the gang, for she knew they’d all be at her house, that there were more girl cousins would be great fun, though she didn’t want to part with the babies yet. Reluctantly, with a parting kiss for each one, Ria allowed her mother to settle the babies back beside Aunt Louise. Before slipping from the room, Ria leaned over the bed to kiss her aunt and whisper, “Thank you. Those are the best birthday presents I could ever want!”

    Grandma Foster was coming out of the kitchen when Ria, her mother and uncle passed down the hall and into the living room. “What did you think of your present, Ria?” Grandma asked, her eyes twinkling.

    Throwing her arms about her grandmother, Ria exclaimed in a low voice that carried her pent up excitement in its tones, “Oh, they are just darling! And to think, they are both girls! Grandma, none of the boys were as cute as Emma and Lucy when they were babies.”

    “Not even Caleb?” Grandma questioned, knowing that the youngest grandchild had been thought by Ria to be ‘the sweetest thing.’

    Ria shook her head vigorously. “Not even Caleb or anyone else,” she insisted. “But now I have to go tell the gang about them!” and she dashed off while the others exchanged smiles.

Have you ever had cousins born near your birthday?

Have you had a lot of rain and storms this week?

What do you want to read next?