Untitled: Part 4

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Synopsis: Paul and Nora have been happily married for fifteen years. They have a nice home, good jobs and three sons. But one day, more than seventeen years after his first marriage ended, Paul discovers that his first wife and him have a daughter. She is a girl on the verge of high school graduation and womanhood. Paul and Nora must come to terms with this new addition to the family.

Nora slid the pan of pork chops into the oven and closed the door.  She turned back to the kitchen table, where her youngest son Isaac was sitting.  Well, sitting was hardly what he was doing, his head was on the table and he was wallowing in self-pity. His head was resting right on top of his homework paper.

"Come on Isaac, sit up and do the work," Nora encouraged him.

"But Mom, it's too hard," Isaac whined.

Nora hated this nightly battle with Isaac.  She sat down next to him and pulled the paper out from under his head.  She looked over the math sheet.  "You did the last two perfectly," she said.  "Come on, let's do the next on."

Isaac lifted his head and Nora put the paper back in front of him.  Isaac huffed at the paper and he began to work.  Nora sat next to him and watched him work.  He was doing everything correctly.  When he had finished the problem, he looked up at his mother.

Nora nodded, "You got it right, keep going."

Isaac huffed again and went back to his work.  Nora chuckled to herself.  Isaac, who was eight, was her youngest.  Despite the whining and fighting he put up each night, he was very smart and never really needed her help.  But, he preferred sports and playing outside over homework.  He was small in size, but his wiry body was full of energy.  There was always a ball at his feet and even as he sat at the table, doing homework, his feet were twirling around a basketball under the table.  He would go on five mile runs with Paul periodically.  Of the three children, he looked like Paul the most.  The truth was, all the boys looked like Paul, but Isaac was the only one to have Paul's blue eyes.  The other two boys, Tristan and Blake, had Nora's light brown eyes.

Tristan, who was fourteen, was well rounded in his interests and activities.  Along with sports, Tristan also played in the school band, enjoyed reading and hanging out with friends.  He was social and had an easy going personality that made him popular among his friends.

Blake was twelve and often seemed to have his head in the clouds.  He was a dreamer and an artist.  He loved the outdoors and often spent nice days outside in a cluster of trees behind their home.  He would sit there and draw and dream.  He had camped out there on his own many times during the summers.  He didn't play sports like his dad and his brothers, but he enjoyed watching them and could be found with the other men in the house on the weekends, watching their favorite sports teams play.

Nora watched Isaac to his homework.  He was getting it all correct.  She stood up from the table, "Keep it up, you're doing it right," she said.  "Only a few more problems to go and you are done."

Isaac groaned, but he went back to his work.  In less than five minutes he had finished the math sheet and sprinted from the table to the back door.   Nora went back to preparing dinner.  Her mind wandered back to the events of the afternoon.  She couldn't stop thinking about Alexa.  What was she like.  She wondered if Alexa was a tomboy or a girly girl.  Did she like school, sports, music? Was she fashion conscious or did she have a style all her own?  Was she a reader?  Was she quiet and shy or outgoing and popular?

"Mom?"

Nora jumped, her thoughts abruptly cut off.  "Oh, Blake.  You startled me."

"Sorry, Mom," Blake said.

"That's alright.  Now, what can I do for you?"  she asked.

Blake held out a paper.  "There's an art contest at school.  I'm going to enter, but my teacher has asked a couple of us to come to an afterschool group so she can work with us on our entries and technique.  I need you to sign the form."

Nora took the paper and looked over it.  "Sounds like fun," she said.  "You'll stay after school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays?"

"Yep."

Nora glaced over to the calendar.  It wasn't hanging on the wall.  Nora remembered she had given it to Paul earlier.

"That should be fine," Nora signed the paper and gave it back to Blake.

"Thanks Mom," he said.  "When's dinner?"

"Half an hour.  Have you finished your homework?"

"Yep," Blake answered again.  He left and went back to his room.

Nora went to the office to retrieve the calendar.  Paul was at his lap top.  She walked to him and kissed the top of his head, then she reached over his shoulder and picked up the calendar. 

"She wrote back," Paul said, swiveling his chair around to face her.

"Who wrote back?  Alexa?" Nora asked.

"Yeah.  She is inviting us over for dinner at her grandparent's house on Friday evening."

Nora glanced at the calendar.  Paul had already written the dinner onto the calendar.  "Good, that should be fine.  Are you alright?"  Nora kissed his head again.

"Yeah, fine," Paul answered, but his voice waivered, giving away the nerves he was feeling.

"It will be OK," Nora said.  "Dinner's in thirty."

When Paul didn't answer, she left and went back to the kitchen.  She hung the calendar back up on the wall.  Dinner on Friday with her husband's daughter and ex-in-laws.  What an evening to look forward too.

PART 5