God Gave Me You

[sunshinefizzy]

Jan Elizabeth Brady was sitting in the sofa in the living room. The house was quiet. Marcia at Girl Scouts, Greg at football, the other three children with their mom grocery shopping, and Alice had the night off. A rare thing for this house to be so quiet.

Jan missed her dad. Not Mike, but John, her real dad. It was painful for her when he passed away of the sudden heart attack. The two of them had a special bond that she never did have with her mom. Although her and Carol loved each other, of course.

"Oh, Daddy," Jan curled up in a ball and started to silently weep.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Mike asked coming from the back of the house.

"I just miss my other dad," Jan admitted not looking up.

Mike went over to the sofa, picked her up, and hugged her tightly.

"I love you, honey," he said not letting go of her.

"I love you, too, I just get sad sometimes."

"I know, I know my own boys feel the same about their own mom. It's alright."

With that he set her on the floor and wiped away her tears.

"Well, I think I'm gonna go take a bath to calm down," Jan said

"Okay, Sweetie."

She turned to walk up the stairs with a smile on her face and her soul comforted. She understands she is and always will be loved.

[sunshinefizzy]

Hey guys! I'm going to continue this very soon. How did you like chapter one?

[sunshinefizzy]

Carol lied in bed thinking about how she had met Mike. It was an ad in the newspaper for a part-time babysitter. Bobby had just been born and she was not yet pregnant for Cindy. She needed a break from being a stay-at-home mom to Marcia and Jan. She thought how perfect it could be.

That morning she went to their home on Palm Drive and met Mike and his wife, Mary. She thought Mary was beautiful. She had olive skin, dark hair and dark eyes. Her Italian heritage was apparant. He was handsome in his own right. Yet, she was happily married to her own handsome someone.

She sat down on their sofa and started to talk. They talked about their children; the most interesting thing being her daughter Marcia's first name was Mary also. Mary Marcia was Carol's paternal grandmother's name and she loved it, but called her Marcia so not to confuse her with all the other Mary's she had in her family.

The reason for the ad was that Mary Brady was just diagnosed with cancer and needed a babysitter for when she had to go have her treatments in the city.

Carol was heartbroken. Here was a young mom with two toddler boys and a newborn and she was sick.

She was hired on the spot. Mike and Mary liked her warm personality and the fact she was a mom herself.

She will never forget her first day with baby Bobby. Little Robert Vincent Brady was so funny looking he was cute. He was a good, quiet baby until it was bathtime. He hated water. He screamed and cried to the top of his lungs.

"It's okay, honey, you're okay." She would say giving him a kiss. Never did do any good.

'Come to think of it, I still have to coax him to take a shower', she thougt to herself amusingly.

Most of her time was with Bobby, Alice was in the picture even then. Mike and Mary figured Alice had enough on her plate with the housekeeping and looking out for Greg and Peter. Carol would often play with them so Alice could have a break and while Bobby was asleep. She even had the girls come and play with them on one occasion. All four seemed to enjoy that.

In a couple months, Carol had to quit. They had to move away due to her husband's long commute to work and also the fact she was pregnant again. It seemed serendipitous at the time since the doctor's said Mary was now in remission.

She distanced herself from them after the move. She thought she was there long enough to help them through their diffucult time and when it was over, it was simply over.

It wasn't until Feburary when Carol was in the hospital nestling baby Cynthia Lynn in her arms that her husband informed her of Mary's passing. She was only 35 years old.

[sunshinefizzy]

"Hi, Mike," Carol says, walking into Mike's living room with baby Cindy in her arms.

"Hi, Carol. Let's go sit on the sofa."

"Okay."

"Would you like something to drink?"

"No, I'm okay, thanks."

The house was just as she remembered it over a year ago. It was cozy with white and neutral colors and nice, new looking carpeting. The living room furniture was all black and thank goodness, three little kids and white furniture doesn't really mix. Even the white walls had some paint stains on them.

'Probably Peter, he liked arts and crafts.' Carol thought to herself.

"Hey, beautiful girl," Mike said rubbing Cindy's hair. "You got beautiful dark hair."

"She's the only one of my girls that has dark hair. The other two were blond like me," she explaind turning to meet Cindy's smiling face. "She seems to like you a lot."

"Mind if I hold her?"

"No, go ahead," she says handing her to him.

"You're a good girl," Mike says kissing Cindy's cheek.

"She sure is, she sleeps most of the night and she has a hearty appetite, too. Where are your boy's?"

"Oh, Greg and Pete are playing at the neighbor's house down the street and Bobby is..."

Bobby starts to clumsily walk in the room as soon as his name is mentioned. He sees Carol and starts to run to her with open arms. Carol scoops him up on the sofa with them and gives her a hug.

"Hi, ya, Bobby," Carol says giving him a kiss.

"That's incredible," Mike says astounded. Like he recognized her.

"Baby," Bobby says pointing to Cindy.

"Yeah, it's baby, her name is Cindy," Mike says placing her on the sofa so Bobby can get a better look. "Can you give the baby a kiss?"

He plants one right on her forehead and Cindy starts to giggle. Mike and Carol can't help but smile at each other. How cute.