He Won't Be Coming Home

I slapped Kate's hand away as she tried to chop some onions for the potato salad I was making.

"Owy, what was that for?" she asked as she rubbed her hand.

"I told you... You're not allowed to help," I said as I turned and fake glared at her. Al I received was a tongue poking out of her mouth.

"So that's how you treat me on my birthday, huh? You're a big meanie-head," she remarked, whipping her hand against my ass as she walked by.

"That's why you're not allowed help. This is for your birthday get-together which is today, so you're not allowed to lift a finger," I explained to her as she was stood somewhere behind me.

"Fine then, I'll just go out back and help the boys with the barbeque," Kate scoffed playfully, heading for the back door.

"That won't work. I've already told Brian not to let you do any work and to punish you if you tried," I chuckled, looking over my shoulder at her. She had a thoughtful look on her face and I knew the cogs in her head were getting to work.

"Well, in that case, I'm gonna try and do as much work as I can, cuz... Well, let's just say Brian's really good at punishing," she laughed, and I just sighed.

"You know what, if you're so Hell-bent on helping out today, why don't you go in the living room and watch my boys for me?" I suggested, and without another word Kate headed into the living room.

It was now late October - a full year and a month from the date of Zack's death. Alex was nine and Matty Jr. was seven months, while Amy Baker was a little over a year. Time was proving to be a miraculous thing, slowly healing us all bit by bit in its own way to get us to the point we were at now. Things could have been better, but I was willing to take whatever I could get.

"Oh my God!" I heard Kate call from the other room and I quickly stopped what I was doing.

"What's wrong?" I asked worriedly as I looked between Kate and my boys; Matty was standing alone in the middle of the room while Alex watched TV on the couch.

"Matt took a couple steps. Did you know he could do that?" Kate asked and I smiled, nodding my head.

"Yeah, he does that a lot. He can't walk fully on his own yet or anything, but he'll take a couple steps before he plops down or falls over," I explained.

"Isn't he kinda young to be at that stage? He's not even a year..." Kate said, and we watched as Matty slowly sat down on the floor.

"Eh... Early starter, I guess," I shrugged.

"Momma, how old was I when I learned to walk?" I heard Alex ask from his place on the couch, and I looked down to be met with his hazel eyes.

"Let's see," I said, pausing to take a seat next to him. "You had just turned a year old when you could walk all the time."

"Is that good?"

"Yes, your Daddy was so proud of you that day," I said, ruffling his hair with a smile before I kissed the top of his head. "Now, I gotta get back to work in the kitchen. That potato salad ain't gonna make it self," I sighed as I stood and turned toward the kitchen.

"Wait, I think he's doing something..." Kate hissed, and I turned to see Matt crawling along the floor toward the coffee table against the wall. Slowly he used the edge of the table to lift himself up into a standing position. I watched as he looked at a few of the framed pictures that lined the table and then pointed to one of Matt, Alex, and I.

"Dada," he cooed, then turning to look at me. I blinked a few times to register what I just heard. Did he really just say Dada?

Slowly I went over to him and sat on the floor, placing a hand on Matty's back to help his wobbly self stay up as he gripped the table with one hand. I reached out and pulled the picture closer to us, pointing to Matt I it.

"Who's that, sweetie?" I asked.

"Dada," he cooed again, a smile lighting up his face as he looked at me again. I couldn't help but smile too as my eyes began to water.

"Yeah baby, that's your Daddy," I whispered, kissing his cheek before looking at the picture again. I had seen Alex show Matty the pictures, and tell him who was in them, so I figured that had to be how he knew who Matt was.

"Was that his first word?" Kate asked quietly from behind me, and I looked over my shoulder at her.

"Yeah," I answered, and she squealed before jumping up.

"I'm gonna go tell the guys," she said before dashing out the back door to the yard where the guys were supposed to be manning the grill.

I Just turned back to Matty Jr. who was still touching the picture where Matt was, just reminding me even more that the two of them would never get to meet.