(Please be aware this story contains adult sexual content.)
I was first up in the morning and it was raining. Letting the curtain fall back into place, I went to have a shower whilst my husband slept on. The warm water helped clear my head and I tried hard to to think about the task before us today. I put some black leggings under a pair of old jeans, a long sleeved t-shirt and an old fleece jumper on.
Grabbing some boot socks from the draw, I caught myself in the mirror. Today, I looked more mummy frumpy, then sexy wife. Sitting on the bed, I put the socks on then patted Dan awake.
‘Morning,’ I said, brightly. ‘I’m going to get Freddie up and start breakfast. Will you get Darla and Ty up?’
‘Yes,’ he mumbled, ‘come here.’
‘Why?’ I asked, going over anyway.
He tossed back the duvet and reached out for me. I lent over into the hug and he grabbed me and swung me back onto the bed. Laughing and playfully trying to wave him away, he mashed his lips to mine.
‘We don’t have time for this,’ I muttered.
‘We do,’ he whispered back and dropped his head to my neck.
I felt soft kisses against my skin. I stroked his hair and looked up at the ceiling.
A toilet flushed in the background and the door opened and closed. A child was awake.
I brought Dan’s head up and kissed him gentle on the lips. He let me go and both got up. I fixed my clothes and he went into the bathroom. I headed out, going to collect Freddie. As I passed Ty’s room I saw the door was half open. I knocked and waited.
He’s reply was muffled, but I took it to mean enter. I poked my head around and he was in boxers and a t-shirt standing before his desk, loading his game console up.
‘Do you want a bacon sandwich?’ I asked.
‘Sure.’
‘As soon as we’ve eaten we’re going, okay? So you might not have time to play that,’ I added.
He shrugged, ‘It’s fine.’
The TV screen loaded and he began clicking buttons. I walked away and got Freddie up and sorted. He was still sleepy, which made the job easier. I carried him downstairs on my hip and put him in the high chair with a soft picture book to keep him amused. I started preparing and cooking breakfast.
Soon everything was made and everyone had joined me in the kitchen. A rare sight for a Sunday morning!
‘My plan’s to leave as soon as we’ve tidied up and put more empty boxes in the car. Okay?’ I announced, ‘then we’ll sort out the job list when we get there okay? And no messing around or moaning today you two,’ I added wiggling a finger at Darla and Ty, ‘we need to be speedy and get the last bits done.’
‘If I find something cool, I can keep it right?’ Darla asked.
‘There’s nothing cool left. It’s just old junk,’ Ty cut in.
Darla huffed and went to say something. I jumped in, ‘we’ll see. Right, time to get ready to go. Ty can you do the dishwasher please? and Darla will you help your dad with the boxes. I need to pack a bag for Freddie.’
‘Why do I have to?’ Ty grumbled.
‘Because it would be a big help and you missed your turn the other day. No more arguments now.’
I picked up Freddie and took him out of the kitchen, leaving them to it. Upstairs, I got everything sorted and was back down in record time. Then we were all in the car and heading to grandma’s. The roads were quiet and we arrived quickly.
‘So, Dad and I are finishing the attic and we’ll keep Freddie with us,’ I said just before everyone got out of the car, ‘can you to clean the kitchen out? That’s really the last room that needs to be sorted. Now, there’s boxes marked up already, so just decided where to put the stuff. Okay?’
To groans and mumbles of yes mum, Ty and Darla got out of the car. We joined them; Dan carrying Freddie and his bag. I unlocked and opened the door. The smell of lavender, dust and old things whiffed up my nose. I tried not to think about and headed up the two flights of stairs. I turned the light on and took in the attic once again.
Dan joined me a few minutes later and sat Freddie on the floor with his bag.
‘We should’ve brought the playpen,’ Dan uttered.
‘I guess….He’ll be okay,’ I spoke.
I went over and got a few toys and books out of the bag. I placed them around him and Freddie sat on the dusty attic floor, rolling a wooden train around. He seemed happy enough for now.
Feeling the weight of the task on my shoulders, I walked to where we had stopped yesterday. My shoes tapped against the side of a box and opened it. Inside were more of the leather books. I pulled the first out and flipped through the pages. They were dated neatly at the top and the year said it was 1972. I stopped at a random page and read that my grandma had gone to a beach for the day. She had taken my mum and it had rained.
‘More diaries?’ Dan asked over my shoulder.
‘Yes,’ I replied, ‘It’s amazing how many she wrote! What’s in the next box?’
Dan moved and opened it. We both looked inside and saw another stack of leather bound books. This time though paper notebooks lined onside. Dan pulled one of these out and flipped through it, ‘looks like another diary.’
I nodded and put the one in my the hands back.
‘Are you sure you want to keep all of these?’ Dan asked.
‘I don’t know,’ I replied, ‘there could be something interesting in them….Answers, you know?’
‘Answers?’ he questioned.
I sighed deeply. My mind had now become fixated on my mother.
‘I thought you’d given up on all of that?’ he said gently.
‘So did I….’
‘I’ll put them in the keep pile then.’
I nodded and let him move the boxes to the right side of the attic door. Checking, Freddie was still okay, I moved on to the next boxes. Inside were old clothes, toys and one of the things I had been looking for; the china tea set.
The day passed quickly and surprisingly without the kids causing us any problems. As soon as I’d found the stuff I wanted in the attic, I switched places with Ty and left him and Dan to clean the rest of the things out. Darla and I went all out in the kitchen and emptied it.
‘So that’s it then,’ Dan said as we regrouped in the hallway.
It looked like the middle of the night already outside, even though it was barely five PM. Rain was falling lightly and the house felt freezing and damp.
Freddie started crying.
‘Let’s pack the car and get home….Who fancies Chinese takeaway?’ Dan added.
‘Yes, please!’ Darla jumped in.
‘Yes!’ Ty shouted.
‘We had pizza last night!’ I cut in, ‘there’s enough food at home.’
‘I thought you’d be too tried to cook,’ Dan spoke out, ‘but it’s fine if you want to.’
‘I’ll think about it,’ I muttered and hurried out to the car.
We drove home and all I could think about was my mother. There had to be something in gran’s journals that told me more about her. Of course, I knew all the stories, but wasn’t it time I knew the truth?
To Be Continued…
The Story Files 