Long Time Running - By Hannah Foster Page 0,80

him that we can't have a monkey as a pet," Nathalie teased as she emerged from the living room.

"But we already have a monkey for a pet," Eric replied. "We have this monkey!" He spun Jack around as the young boy laughed loudly, thrilled to be the center of his parents' attention.

Eric set him on the ground and taking his hand, led him into the living room where Sarah was sitting in a chair waiting for them. Nathalie had told him about how difficult her conversation with Sarah had been. He was not insensitive to Sarah's feelings about Jack but he felt as though he had been in a holding pattern for years, living within her rules and not admitting he was Jack's father. Now that the secret was out, he wanted it all and he wasn't willing to be patient any longer.

As Nathalie sat down on the couch and Eric beside her, Jack raised his eyebrows. "Am I in trouble?" he asked.

"No" Nathalie smiled at him, patting the space between her and Eric. "We just wanted to talk to you about some stuff."

Jack shrugged and climbed up on the couch, sliding his arm through his mother's. "What kind of stuff?"

"Well," she began, "your Dad and I were talking and we think it would be a good idea if we all lived together-"

"Like a family?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah bud," Eric replied. "Like a family."

"Yes!" he exclaimed as he ran over to throw his arms around Sarah. "Aunt Sarah!" he exclaimed "we're moving in with Mom and Dad!"

A hush fell over the room and the adults looked from one to the other as none of them spoke.

Jack retreated back to the couch, unsure of what was going on. "Aunt Sarah?" he asked again timidly.

Sarah's hands were folded neatly in her lap as she sat ramrod straight in the chair.

"Jack, sweetie," she began tenuously. "I...I won't be moving with you. It's going to be the three of you."

Furrowing his brow, he looked from his aunt to his mother. "Mom?"

With a slightly shaking hand, she smoothed his hair. "Jack, Aunt Sarah has a home - this one. She's going to live here and we're going to move in with your Dad."

"No!" he stated unequivocally.

"No?" Eric asked, surprised at the reaction.

"I live with Aunt Sarah" he told them. "I always have."

"Jack, I know this is going to be a change but it's going to be great. We're all going to be together under one roof."

"Not all of us!" he protested. "Not all of us if Aunt Sarah doesn't move with us." Turning towards his aunt, he looked at her plaintively. "Don't you want to live with me any more Aunt Sarah?"

"I love you Jack and I always will but you belong with your Mom and Dad."

"NO!" he cried, wrenching himself away from his mother. "I live with you!" he told her. "You said we would always be together. You PROMISED!"

"Jack" Sarah started, trying to reason with him.

"NO! YOU PROMISED!" he cried throwing himself on the floor. "You promised we would always be together!! Don't make me leave Aunt Sarah - please! I promise I'll clean up my room more - but don't make me leave you!!"

Nathalie blinked several tears away as she truly understood that for her son, for the boy she had loved from the moment she knew about him, her sister was more of a mother to him than she had been.

Nathalie took a calming breath as she moved to comfort her son. Her sister knelt in front of Jack before she had the chance.

"Jack, do you remember the book I used to read you when you would go to sleep?" Sarah asked softly.

"You mean when I was 4? I was a baby!" he protested.

Sarah smiled as she brushed his bangs off his forehead. "Yes, but you're a big boy now, right?"

He nodded solemnly in agreement before she continued. "Remember the best part of the book?"

He continued to nod as they recited together, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be."

Nathalie clasped her fingers with Eric's as she watched the scene unfold before her, unsure of what would come next.

"Jack," Sarah said as she took her nephew's face in her hands. "I will always love you, no matter where you live. You will always have a place here. You can spend the night whenever your mom and dad says it's ok."

"You're...You're not mad at me?" he asked as his lip quivered.

"Never." She