Tay and Lance ch 3

Chapter Three

Landon woke up at 7 the next morning.  He had had a long night remembering the early days of his life with Tay.  He smiled as he remembered that summer so long ago.  They had spent almost every day together the five of them. And Kyle had eventually decided to break up with Sally and go out with Savannah instead.  None of them had known how that one decision would change all their lives.

They were married now with seven kids. He longed to see his nieces and nephews. He hoped at some point he would get to.

He got up and started getting ready for his first day of work with Taylynn.  Maybe they would spend some time talking and he could get to know the woman she was now. And a chance to learn more about his daughter.

“Come on, Jazzy, your going to miss the bus.”

“I’m coming, mom.”  Jazzy had on jeans and a t-shirt proclaiming her favorite Christian rock band when she raced into the kitchen.  Her blond hair in a ponytail and no make-up on she still looked beautiful to her.

“You look so much like your dad.”

“What brought that on?”

“Well, I don’t see you without makeup on very often anymore.  When your face isn’t covered in it I see your dad so much clearer in you.”

Jazzy just shook her head. “No time to do my makeup.  I’m going to do it on the bus.  What are the plans for tonight?”

“Aunt Savi and Uncle Kyle should be here around 5.  Then we will probably BBQ.”

“Have you ever thought about learning to work that thing on your own, Mom?  Then maybe we could BBQ without having company.”

“Nah. It’s a good excuse to have friends over.  Besides your brothers love to see Unka Kyle.”

Jazzy smiled. “Just a thought.  Hey, maybe you should invite Lance to join us tonight.”

Lynn shook her head. “I don’t think so kiddo.  He probably has other plans anyway.”

She heard the bus coming down the street. “Better jet.  I’ll see you after school.”

Jazzy nodded as she raced out the door. “Love you, Mom.”

“Love you too. “ But she knew she hadn’t been heard. Jazzy was too far down the driveway.

She had an hour yet before the boys woke up.  She poured herself a cup of coffee and headed out to the back porch.  It was her favorite spot on the property.  It had a beautiful view of Mt. Rainer and Mt. Saint Helens.  Often she would see deer wondering around the property so early in the morning.  This year her favorite doe had twins and brought them by often. She often enjoyed watching the antics of the twin fawns as she enjoyed her morning cup of coffee and bible reading.

She sat down and picked up her bible.  She was reading in Psalms this morning. She turned to 139 and her eyes were instantly drawn to verse 16 “Your eyes saw my unformed substance and in your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them.”  How that verse had gotten her through some tough days in her life.  When Landon passed away.  When Jazzy was born.  When her marriage to Adam fell apart.  And most recently when her dad passed away without warning.

She had held this verse to her heart so closely during those times.  She painted a sign for each of the kids’ room with this verse on it and it had been the first one Jasmine learned.  She thought back over the last 13 years.  Life without Landon had been hard at first.  Going through her pregnancy without him by her side nearly impossible.  But with the support of her family and friends she had made it through the dark times to finally see the light.

 And then, when Jazzy was 10, she had met Adam Lancaster.   Adam had beautiful brown eyes and black hair and a build that had made Lynn swoon.  He was charismatic and all her friends liked him at once.  Six months after they met they were married in Lynn’s church.  It had been a beautiful Christmas wedding.  Soon after she found out she was pregnant, and then the trouble started.  Adam became a different person almost overnight.  He started drinking heavily and was violent when he did. 

The last night they were together he beat her so bad she almost lost the twins.  It was that night that she found out it was twins.  With the help of Cami and Savi she left the house that belonged to Adam while he was in jail.  She took only her stuff, and Jazzy’s clothes, promising her daughter that they would buy new toys when they got to grandmas.  She showed up on her parent’s doorstep the next day.  Broken in spirit and battered in body, her parents took her and Jazzy in.  Two months later she gave birth to her beautiful boys, Jason and Jonathan.

She had spent a week in the hospital and the boys 2 months.  She had stayed in a home close to the hospital, seeing her mom and Jazzy only on weekends when they came to visit.  The day she came home her parents presented her with her own home on their property.  She had fallen in love with it at once. 

Now almost 2 years later she had hired someone to finish all the little home improvement projects her dad had started but never finished.  It made her a little sad when she thought about it.  Her beautiful desk he had built, but never painted.  The laundry room he started but never finished so she still did her laundry in the garage.  The ceiling fan that he had started to install but didn’t finish because he’d not had the right part.  The back porch he had been working on before he died.

She wasn’t sure why she was feeling so melancholy today, but she would hold onto God’s hand to get her through.  Maybe it was that the projects her dad had started would soon be finished.  Maybe because her little boys would be two in a few days.  Maybe because they had stopped talking so much gibberish and started talking in words.  Except to each other of course.  Or maybe it was because the man she had hired stirred something in her she would rather not think about.  Maybe she was dwelling on all this so she didn’t think about the fact that in 2 hours he would be in her home.  And maybe it was that she was very attracted to him, and she felt guilty about that.