The Christmas Hope(57)

Roy’s sons tied tin cans to the back of his Dodge Stratus and we all threw birdseed as Roy helped Barbara into the car. We waved and followed them down the driveway. Roy honked the horn as Barbara swatted his hands, trying to make him stop. He was taking her to, in his words, “an undisclosed location” for two weeks. We watched them turn the corner and then we headed back toward the house. There was a lot of cleaning up to do. “I’m going to get married someday,” Emily said, holding my hand and Mark’s.

“Oh, no you’re not,” Mark said.

“Yes I am, too.”

“And just who are you going to marry?”

“I’m going to marry the prince.”

“Well, then, that’s okay,” Mark said. “Because he’ll have that really big castle that your mother and I can live in when we get old. But don’t ever try to bring home any other guy!”

She ran after Jasmine and they sat together on the same swing, giggling. I leaned my head on Mark’s shoulder and watched her. Who would she marry? What would she be when she grew up? How many grandchildren would we have? Mark squeezed my shoulder and kissed my face. We were both thinking the same things.

We were dreaming again.