Reunited After 25 Years 52

The following Saturday was a sunny but cool and breezy day. "Perfect day for flying kites," Anton commented.

"Oh, yeah! That's something we haven't done in a long time," Andrea agreed.

"May as well enjoy this weather while we can," Anton added.

They went by the dollar store to buy the kites and then on to the park. The wind whipped Andrea's hair into her face and made her light jacket fly up. She could feel the warmth of the sun on her skin and noticed that flowers were beginning to bloom.

They found an open area away from the trees, and Anton got Andrea's kite started and then his own. They watched as the distant objects bobbed and swayed on the breeze. Anton put his arm around Andrea as they stood there.

"Andrea! Anton!" cried a young child's voice. They turned to see five-year-old Tyson Price grinning at them and holding his own kite. Tyson's eighteen-month-old sister, Tara, tagged along behind him, and their mother, the former Anna White, stood nearby with her husband, both of them looking on.

"It's a gorgeous day for doing this, isn't it?" Anna said to Anton and Andrea.

"It sure is!" Andrea agreed. "It's great to see you folks again! Tara's gotten so big!"

"I don't think you've met my husband, Bob," Anna said to Anton. "He was still in Iraq the last time we saw you guys. Bob, you know Andrea, and this is her husband, Anton."

"Nice to meet you, Anton." Bob shook Anton's hand. "Anna told me how you saved Ty from drowning last summer. I never got the chance to thank you in person."

"It is all right," Anton said modestly. "I am just so glad that I was able to help."

"Anton and I are going to be parents again in October," Andrea announced proudly.

"Really? Wow, that's great!" Anna exclaimed. "You'll have to come over later. I've got lots of stuff I could give you. I still have the bassinet I used with Tara, and I've got lots of little onesies and blankets and booties and stuff like that I don't need anymore."

"How about this evening?" Bob suggested. "I was gonna do steaks on the grill. It's no problem at all to do a couple of extra ones for you guys."

"It would be a pleasure," Anton replied. "Thank you very much."

"It's no problem at all," Bob repeated with a smile.

After awhile they returned home and put the kites away and had sandwiches for lunch. "It will soon be time to buy seeds for the greenhouse again," Anton commented.

"The vegetables and fruits you grow always taste so much better than anything you'd find in a supermarket," Andrea remarked.

Anton grinned. "And for a fraction of the cost as well."

They arrived at Bob and Anna's home to find Anna pushing Tara on her baby swing while Tyson played on the slide and Bob cooked on the grill.

"Do you feel all right?" Anna asked Andrea. "I remember when I was pregnant with Tara, the smell of cooking meat used to make me sick."

"It does bother me sometimes," Andrea replied. "Anton does more of the cooking now, and we eat out more often too."

Soon the steaks were done, and the two families sat at the picnic table eating and talking while Anna fed Tara baby food.

"That must have been a real shock to find out that you were going to be a father," Bob said to Anton. "I know Andrea's son is at least about college age now."

"It was a happy surprise," Anton replied. "Not too long after we were married, Andrea decided she wanted to have a baby, but I was not so sure. Then later the same year I had a terrible accident and almost died. It was then that I decided it would be nice to have another baby after all. We tried for a few months, then went to a doctor who told us Andrea is too old to have a baby the natural way, but we proved him wrong." He looked at Andrea, and she smiled.

"Now for the fun stuff," Anna said to Andrea after they'd eaten and cleaned up. The two women went into the house, where Anna took boxes out of storage for Andrea to look through.

"Oh, these are simply darling!" Andrea exclaimed as she lifted lacy dresses in pink, lavender, mint green, and baby blue, along with matching socks and tights and tiny black patent leather shoes from the box. "This baby just better be a girl!"

Anna giggled. "Better not let Anton hear you say that."

"I don't think he'd be too terribly disappointed to get another daughter," Andrea replied. "He's always been so crazy about Dasha. Did you and Bob know what you were going to have?"

"No, military doctors don't tell you."

"So how did you know how to shop?"

"Everything we bought was white, yellow, orange, or green."

"So all these frilly dresses..."

"Were gifts from friends after Tara was born. Really, Andrea, I hope you can use them. Some of them she only wore once or twice before she outgrew them."

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"I came to make sure my wife did not fall out of a window," Anton chuckled when Anna opened the door.

"I'm sorry, hon," Andrea told him. "I got busy and just lost all track of time. Look at these little dresses, Anton! Aren't they adorable?"