Two weeks before Christmas//

Now that Jessica was slowly able to get back to doing some things, Dorthy treated her to a day out. Olivia tagged along as well with Jessica's niece, Heather. The four of them went to a small shopping mall not far from them. There were small little shops in a village that was decorated with all kinds of Christmas decorations.

Before they started their shopping trip they went to a small cafe for hot chocolate and lunch.

"I love Minnesota, but hate it at the same time. It's always so cold!" Heather says

"You've got that right. You know, your grandfather and I planned to move somewhere warm, but that didn't work out." Dorthy chuckles

"You should have, Grandma. Then we could all be sitting on the beach in Florida." Olivia smiles

"But then you'd never have snow, and what's Christmas without snow?" Jessica says

"See, now that's true!" Dorthy nods

"Can we go get a hot chocolate to go real quick?" Olivia says

"Sure, we'll wait here."

When Olivia and Heather go get back in line Dorthy turns to Jessica and smiles.

"How are things at home?" Dorthy says

"They're really good. Things are getting better."

"Well that's great!" Dorthy smiles

"Having Sam at the house is really nice. He's a big help and great company. Sometimes I get lonely when the kids are gone."

"I'm glad, Jessica. Do you think it will be a permanent stay?"

"Oh gosh... I haven't really thought about that. But no, I don't think so. I think this is just temporary. Maybe in the future. But I have to say, we do good living with each other."

"How nice, I can see you two being together for a long time! Make sure he comes over for Christmas!"

"I will... but I have a question."

"Sure, Anything." Dorthy says

"Do you think it's strange that sam hasn't introduced me to his family."

"Well I don't know... does he ever talk about them?"

"No! Never! It's almost as if it's just him and he has no family. He doesn't want me to meet his parents. I find it so strange. Do you know anything about them?"

"I knew Jane and Samuel. They were great people. I'd always see them at the farm. When they gave it all over to Sam I never saw them again. It was strange, but I never thought much of it."

"Do you think something happened?"

"Maybe they retired and moved away. They were always older than your father and I. Sam has two older sisters, right?"

"Yeah."

"Now I never knew them... Don't pressure him into it, let him come to you about the situation... if there was one."

"Okay, you're right. Thanks Mom."

//-//

That night after dinner sam, Jessica, and the kids all had a small game night. It was the only night out of the week that both kids were home since Sean had such a busy work schedule.

They played a long game of monopoly. That long game consisted of lots of laughs and conversation.

Jessica loved every second of it. When she was married they never had nights like this. And it was the first time in a while they Her and the kids really had fun. It was almost as if Sam brought everyone together.

"And we win!" Sam says turning to Jessica and smiling

"Olivia, I told you we shouldn't have bought Park Place!" Sean says

"It was a good game." Sam says

"Yeah, can we do this again?"

"Maybe next week when everyone is home."Jessica  smiles

"This was so fun! I didn't even know we had this game!" Olivia adds

"I didn't either." Jessica chuckles

"I have lots of board games at my house, I'll have to bring some over."

"You should!" Jessica says turning to Sam.

As they were cleaning up Sam got a phone call. "Excuse me for a moment!" Sam says standing up and leaving the room.

Sean and Olivia help Jessica clean up the rest of the game.

"Mom, I don't want Sam to ever leave. He's so cool having around." Sean says

Jessica was shocked to hear that from Sean. She blushed. "Really?"

"Yeah! We all get along so well and he's so fun." Olivia says

"I think so too... I feel like he's really brought us together." Jessica smiles

"How long until he has to go home."

"Well, my doctor says once I get cleared in January I can go back to a normal lifestyle. He might decide to leave then."

"He should stay." Sean says quickly

"I don't know. It's a big step."

"He makes you so happy."

"He does..."

Once the living room was cleaned up Sean and Olivia went upstairs to get ready for bed. Sam never came back from his phone call so Jessica went to look for him.

She walked around the house until she got into her office. Sam stood by the window with his phone in his hand, but not by his ear.

"Sam, is everything okay?" Jessica says softly

Sam turns around to her and sighs. "Yeah... everything is just fine." He says

Jessica could tell something wasn't right. "Sam..."

"It's my dad, I guess he's not well."

//-//