John Clark was sitting in his favorite chair in the family room. He had the television on, but he was not paying attention to it, he was waiting for his daughter, Amanda to arrive. She was his only child and the apple of his eye. While John was waiting for Amanda to arrive, he looked at all the pictures on the family room wall. There were many pictures of John and his wife Betty, some before Amanda was born and others after. He looked at the pictures and saw Amanda grow from a child to a teenager. He thought how proud his wife would have been of Amanda, had she not died of cancer when Amanda was ten years old. John raised Amanda by himself. He was her father, her mother and most important of all, her best friend.
John checked the time; she should have been here by now. He missed having Amanda around the house, but children do grow up, get married and move away from home. He looked at the wedding picture of her and her husband Bill. She looked so beautiful in her wedding gown. She had her mother’s hazel eyes and that beautiful smile. She had John’s brown hair, which fell over her shoulders and onto her wedding gown. She made a beautiful bride. She got married a year and a half ago, to Bill, whom she met in college. They moved about one hundred miles away from John. He wished she lived closer, so he could visit her more frequently, but that’s where Bill’s business was located. Bill was a great guy, John liked him from the first time he met him. He was handsome, dressed well, had money and best of all treated Amanda like a queen. Yes, from the very start, John was glad Amanda was seeing Bill.
Bill and Amanda dated for the last two years of college. During college, Amanda had lived at home and commuted. So John got to know Bill quite well, since he was always around the house. The longer he dated Amanda, the more John liked him. Bill was the kind of guy any father would like. Bill even asked John for his permission to marry Amanda. He even apologized to John for taking his daughter so far away from John. However, Bill’s mother was running the family business and Bill was going to help her. Bill and his mother relationship was like John and Amanda, at least they didn’t seem that close to John. His father was killed in an automobile accident when Bill was about eight. Bill did not talk much about his father, eventually his father was never home.
Bill had to be away from home for one or two weeks every three months. It was part of the business and part of his job. When he traveled, Amanda would usually come home to stay with John. She did not like to be alone. It had been almost three months since Amanda’s last visit. That was a visit John would not forget, that’s when Amanda told him he was going to be a grandfather.
She and Bill had wanted children and decided they might as well start. John visited them about one month ago, she had begun to show, and you could tell she was pregnant. He was too busy with his company to see them lately. In fact he worked long hours this month so that he could be at home the entire time Amanda was visiting. He could not wait to see her. She told him on the phone, she was getting bigger by the day, but women tend to see a gain of five pounds differently than a man. John remembered back to when he wife was carrying Amanda, she was huge by the time Amanda was born.
He thought he heard a car pull into the driveway, so he got out of his chair and walked to the door. As he passed the mirror in the foyer, he glanced at himself and thought he didn’t look like a grandfather, but then he was only forty-three. He only had a little gray in his brown hair and no wrinkles on his face. He still thought of himself as a young man. He got to the front door and saw they had arrived. Bill was helping Amanda out of the car when John opened the door and went to greet them.
“Hi, honey,” John said to his daughter. “You look fantastic.”
“I look like a beached whale.” Amanda said, with a smile on her face. “And I have two and a half months to go. Soon, Bill will need a crane to get me out of the car.”
Bill looked at John and laughed, “You know your daughter, exaggerating everything. I told her she looks sexier then the day I married her.”
“That’s only because my boobs have doubled in size, you sex maniac.”
Amanda stuck out her chest to prove her point. “See, that’s what he likes about me, Dad. That and my hormones are making me a sex fiend.”
Bill looked at John and shrugged his shoulders. “Hey, it’s a rough life, but someone has got to keep her satisfied.”
The three of them laughed at Bill’s comment. John kissed and hugged his daughter. She was right, her boobs were huge, and John enjoyed the feeling of them, pressed against his chest. I’ve got to get me a woman, if I’m enjoying my daughter’s hugs that much, John thought. He shook hands with Bill and then helped him unload the car.
“Can you come in and stay a while,” John asked Bill?
Bill replied, “I can’t John, I have to get back home and make sure everything is ready for the trip. My mother is going along with me on this trip since she is going to take my place on the next one. I told her I was not going to miss the birth of my daughter, so she would have to make the next trip.” Bill gave his wife a hug and a long kiss. “Take care honey, I love you. I’ll miss you. Good luck John, she gets into some crazy moods lately.”
“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean,” asked Amanda. “Just because I wanted a Big Mac at three o’clock in the morning, I have moods?” Amanda laughed at her own statement.
“Honey, you didn’t want it, you demanded it. You even suggested I break into a McDonalds and cook one for you.”
John looked at Amanda, who just gave him her innocent little look. “I was hungry.”
“It is either wanting something to eat or wanting sex,” added Bill. “John, your daughter has turned into a sex fiend; I am worn out from being ravished by my pregnant wife.”
Amanda looked at her husband, “now you are complaining about too much sex? I thought you were a stud muffin.”
Bill looked at John and shrugged his shoulders, “What can I say.”
John just shook his head and laughed. “Sounds like you need this trip more than usual, Bill?”
Amanda pretended to be mad, “From my own father yet, you’ll pay for that.” And she laughed.
“John, you should have an interesting time,” Bill said to his father-in-law. “I hope you have rested up, because you are going to need it.” He kissed his wife goodbye, got back in his car and drove away.
John wondered about that comment, but didn’t say anything to his daughter. He thought to himself, Bill was probably getting me prepared for Amanda’s cravings. John smiled as he remembered his wife’s pregnancy. She also had some interesting cravings and demands.
John carried Amanda’s things into the house and set them down by the stairway. “I’ll take them up to your room later, honey. Come on and give your father another big hug,” and he held his arms out to her.
