Happy Day - Part 3

Hello Friday Fiction Fans,
It's hard to believe it's Friday again. I feel like I lost my Monday and only had half my Tuesday and here it is Friday again. And we're back to the heat of summer. Yesterday morning was nice and we had the house open, but by mid afternoon it was hot. And today is supposed to be another hot day. But the weather is usually hot here in summer. :)

In spite of spending most of my day on Monday outside in the heat trying to find and pack everything Light of Faith needed for their last conference in TX so we could send it all with some friends who were going down to help out, I did have something exciting happen. My proof copy of TCR-3 came! Yay! It is being proof read now and I can't wait to let you all read the finished book.

I am still working on TCR-4, but have run into a slight problem. I need a picture and a name of a beautiful horse. It must be a mare but can be a Quarter horse, a Paint, an Appaloosa, a Mustang or a Morgan. Any help would be greatly appreciated. :)

You want to know what else I've been doing? Well, I've been making huge messes in my room and then cleaning them up. :P Crazy thing to do, you might think, but it does have a purpose. I've been needing to clean out many drawers and boxes but just never got around to it. Now, because of a little rearranging,  I've decided to tackle the project. I've made good progress, but it's slow. Oh, well.

And now here is the next part of your Friday Fiction. Enjoy!

Happy Day

Part 3

    She did write me some letters and I wrote to her. Daddy lets me write letters, but until I started to write to Miss Natalie, I only had Uncle Josh to write to. I sent pictures and things to Miss Natalie and she sent me stickers. I do like getting mail.

    It wasn’t until the end of summer that Miss Natalie came again. Daddy and I invited her and Uncle Will and Aunt Anna over on Saturday for a fun day. It was fun too. We played outside all morning and had water fights. Miss Natalie, Aunt Anna and I got Daddy soaked! He said he would get us, but we ran away.
    After lunch everyone was going to go to the park, but Daisy was taking a nap. Aunt Anna wanted to go, so Miss Natalie said she would stay with Daisy. That made me rather sad for I wanted to be with Miss Natalie. When we were only two houses away from our house, I asked Aunt Anna if I couldn’t go back home and stay with Miss Natalie. Aunt Anna called her and then said I could. I raced all the way home again. There was something I had wanted to ask Miss Natalie, but when it was just the two of us in the living room, I felt a little shy. At last I got up and walked over to her. She was sitting on the couch.
    “Miss Natalie,” I began shyly. “Do you think I’m too big to sit on laps?”
    Miss Natalie smiled. “Of course you aren’t!”
    “Do you think my mother would still hold me if she hadn’t died?”
    “Yes, Rinnah, I do.”
    I looked down at the picture of my mother and I said, “I wish she hadn’t died then because I want her to hold me.” I hadn’t ever told Daddy that I longed for a mommy to hold me. I was afraid it would make him cry again.
    I think Miss Natalie understood me because she opened her arms and said, “Would it help to pretend that I’m your mother?”
    She didn’t need to ask again for I climbed right up, and she hugged me close. It was then that I knew what a mother’s arms were like. You may think it strange, Diary, when I’d had Grandma and Aunt Anna to hold and hug and kiss me, to still wonder what a mother would be like, but grandmas and aunts aren’t the same thing.
    After Miss Natalie had held me for a minute she asked, “Who gave you the name Rinnah?”
    “My mother did. Daddy picked my middle name, Melanie.”
    “Do you know what your name means?”
    I didn’t know. I knew names had meanings, but I never could find ‘Rinnah’ in the name book. But Miss Natalie knew.
    “The name Rinnah is a Hebrew name that means ‘rejoicing song.’ So your name means ‘A rejoicing song of courage.’”
    I liked that. I liked that my mother had named me a rejoicing song. It made me feel like singing. I asked Miss Natalie if she liked that name and she tickled me and said, “I love it!” Then we played a game together until Daisy woke up.

    I didn’t know it then, but Daddy liked Miss Natalie and she liked him. After she went back home, there would sometimes be a letter in the mail from her that wasn’t for me. And once, when I was in bed, I woke up and heard Daddy talking on the phone. I crept to my bedroom door and listened. I was a little scared that it might be something bad that had happened, but Daddy was laughing and said, “We couldn’t agree more, Natalie.” Then I went back to bed. It took me a long time to get to sleep again. I was thinking. If Daddy liked Miss Natalie enough to talk on the phone to her when it was late, did he like her enough to— Well, I didn’t let myself finish the sentence, but I thought about it for days afterwards. And I kept my eyes and ears open.

    Miss Natalie came to visit Aunt Anna again in the fall. At least that is what Aunt Anna said, but she always said it with a grin, and I think Miss Natalie really came to see Daddy and me. She was over at our house nearly every day.

    By the time Thanksgiving came around, I knew Daddy loved Miss Natalie. She came for Thanksgiving and we all had Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa’s. I didn’t get to talk much with Miss Natalie because right after dinner she and Daddy took a long walk together.
    “Aunt Anna,” I said, going into the kitchen to help dry dishes. “Do you know what I think Daddy ought to get Miss Natalie for Christmas?”
    “What?”
    “A ring.”
    She just laughed and said I should tell Daddy that. I said I would and then I said I wanted to get her a necklace with a picture of Daddy and me in a locket. Aunt Anna turned from the sink and kissed me but she didn’t say a thing. Sometimes I don’t understand her.
    It was the night after Miss Natalie had gone back home. We had gone to the airport to tell her good-bye and Daddy hardly said a word all the way home. He and I were sitting on the couch and we had just finished reading the Bible together. I curled up beside him and he put his arm around me. “Daddy, Christmas is coming,” I told him.
    “Um hm.”
    “And we ought to start thinking about Christmas presents.”
    Then he looked down and me and tweaked my nose gently as he replied, “I suppose you have all your list made out, Chickadee?”
    I don’t know why he calls me Chickadee. I don’t look anything like one. “No,” I giggled. “But I know what we should get for Miss Natalie.” I looked up at him with a grin. He had a funny look on his face.

Will you be back next Friday for the final part?

Are you enjoying this story?

And are you eagerly waiting for my newest book to come out?