Page 101 of Fall From Grace

“Sorry, my dad has no manners and left you out here… I didn’t know he was dating but I’m glad,” I told her honestly. “Your name…”

“Beth, and we’ve been seeing each other for a year almost and it’s taken me this long to get him to introduce me to you guys.”

“Come on in, everyone’s out back.” Dad… that little sneaky sneak.

She followed me in. “Here,” she started digging through her purse and handed me a couple of tapes. “Your dad kept most of them, but he said you’d probably like to see these. They’re ones of you and Noah.” She smiled cheekily. “Even I thought they were cute.”

Now I was curious, I made my way to the living room and went straight for the TV. When I bent down to put the tape in, Beth took it from my hands. “Here, let me. I know how hard it is to bend over when you’re that far into your pregnancy.”

“You have kids?” I asked her.

She smiled. “Two. A boy and girl that’s right around your age. Which one do you want me to put in?” she asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said as I took a deep breath and sat down on the couch. Our third child was a boy and he was due in two weeks. I was definitely feeling every bit of this baby now.

“I hope it doesn’t bother you that I came by with Steven, I wanted to meet you guys and I thought by… doing this, I could show you that I’d never try to act like your mother. I’ve fallen for your dad and I’d like to be part of your life too. As a friend or whatever you’d like.” She covered her face immediately. “I am being too much? My daughter tells me I’m too much sometimes.”

I smiled as she rambled. She was a lot different than Mom. She was extremely flustered for an older lady and I could tell that she wanted to make a good first impression. “It’s okay. My dad’s been alone a long time now, I’d rather him have someone.”

“We aren’t living together, but I hope to change that soon,” she told me, and I laughed.

“Don’t go easy on him or he will make you wait forever.”

She nodded. “Oh, I’m quickly figuring that out.”

She rewound the tape and pressed play when it was finished. She stayed on the floor and sat as younger versions of Noah and I came to life on the screen. I grinned as we fought and played together on different clips. It cut off for a moment and this time it was just Noah, and Mom was talking to him as he sat at the kitchen table, glancing toward the hallway like he was waiting for me to come down.

“I loved this,” Beth murmured as she watched the screen with me.

“So, Noah…” My heart tightened in my chest every time I heard her voice in the tape. He looked up at the camcorder. “My daughter’s pretty cute, ain’t she?”

He blushed and looked away, shrugging his shoulders. “Yeah, I guess she might be.”

“I guess isn’t good enough. I guess you can’t date Grace when you grow up.”

He turned quickly. “Why not?”

“You guess she’s pretty?” she told him.

He stammered, “You know she’s pretty without me saying she is.” He was blushing again, and man, I was so loving this video.

“You can’t date her until you love her.”

“I already love her.”

“You don’t know what love is.”

“I do,” he told her. “She’s the best, most awesome person out of everyone I know, even more so because of her freckles.”

Mom laughed in the background. “Ooohhh. I still don’t know if I should let you date her.”

“Why not?” He seriously looked worried about the possibility.

“I won’t make it easy on you,” Mom went on.

“That’s okay too,” he told her, placing his arms on the table.

“Listen to you,” Mom gasped. “You think you can marry her one day?”

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