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“Granddad!”
She is running towards him, her coltish legs in full gallop, and he catches her as she practically flies into his arms. His back twinges a little despite her slim frame; he's not getting any younger, as some smartarse he knows loves to say.
“You came!” she squeals, as he hugs her to him, setting his body's frailties aside to revel in this cherished human contact.
“Your mother wanted to surprise you,” he says, setting her down carefully. Her hand slips into his as though by instinct, and he looks down, humbled for the millionth time.
“It's not really a surprise,” she confides in a stage whisper as they walk along the path to the house. “I knew you wouldn't miss my birthday.”
“Excellent deduction. Are we going to have another copper in the family, then?”
She wrinkles her nose. “I think I'd rather be a paleontologist, Granddad.”
“Fair enough,” he says, smiling. As she reaches for the door, he squeezes her other hand, and she turns back to him. “Best wait a minute; there might be someone inside madly icing a cake.”
Her blue eyes light up. “Mocha flavour?”
He holds up his free hand. “I've been sworn to secrecy upon pain of death.”
She grins, nudging his elbow, and he leads her to sit with him on the front step. His fingers itch at the memory of something lost, but it's been five years since he even needed the patches. Too late to take up the habit again; he'd hear it from all sides if he did.
“What are you smiling at, Granddad?” Maddie asks.
James shakes his head. “Everything,” he says.
Her judgmental expression is pure ten-year-old. “Sometimes I don't understand you at all.”
“You're not the first to say that,” James says, grinning now. As if on cue, the door opens behind him.
“What's all this, then?” Robbie says, and Maddie leaps up as though propelled by unseen springs and launches herself at her Grandpa. James hears a soft ooof behind him and grins even wider.
“Happy birthday, lass,” Robbie murmurs, and James turns in time to see him plant a kiss on the top of his granddaughter's head. It's not nearly such a stretch as it was this time last year, but then both sides of the family tend to be taller than the average.
Robbie looks up and their gazes meet, and James knows that while heredity and history help make a family, there are other connections that can sometimes be forged, equally as important. Nevertheless, it still has the power to astonish him, the knowledge that he belongs in this place, with this man and these people.
He will never stop being grateful to them and to God for this small, vast miracle.
“Come on, then,” Robbie says gruffly, jerking his head, “that cake won't eat itself.”
As Maddie goes tearing off down the hall towards the kitchen, James stands and leans in, unable to resist a kiss, even in broad daylight in the middle of a suburban street. To Robbie's credit, he doesn't balk, and even leans in to return it.
When James pulls back, he's smiling all over again. “Mocha,” he says.
Robbie nods. “Mocha,” he echoes, his hand finding James' as though by instinct and tugging him into the house.