[Finding Emma 03.0] Megan's Hope by Steena Holmes

classrooms.
    Not that she blamed them.
    “ Can I bring cookies still? ” Emma asked.
    “ How about some cut-up apples or carrots or homemade applesauce? ” Peter suggested.
    “ Fine. ” Shoulders slumped, Emma grabbed two freshly made cookies from the plate on the table and left the kitchen to make her way towards the living room where Jack rested in the recliner.
    “ That girl loves her cookies. ” Megan smiled at the sight.
    “ Probably because you let her make them all the time. ” Peter continued to rub her back, pressing hard into the muscle while Megan rubbed her belly.
    “ Thankfully she ’ s just as happy making healthy cookies as she is making chocolate chip ones. ”
    “ Did someone say chocolate chip? ” Alexis popped her head into the kitchen.
    “ Only you would hear chocolate and come running, ” Megan teased before she pointed to the plate on the table. “ Help yourself. ”
    “ I thought these were for school? ”
    Peter waved the sheet of paper he ’ d just set down in the air. “ It ’ s that time again. ”
    Alex groaned. “ It ’ s bad enough they ban our candy, but everything? I ’ m going to starve! ”
    “ Good, more candy for me then this year. ” Peter nudged her as she walked by. Alex shot him a dirty look before she grabbed two cookies.
    “ Two? ” Megan asked.
    “ One for Papa Jack. ” Alex winked before she ran out of the kitchen.
    Megan turned and leaned her head against Peter ’ s chest. “ Think he ’ ll have had his fill yet? ”
    “ Three cookies ago probably. I ’ d be surprised if he even ate the first one I gave him. ” Peter gave her a look. “ I should go rescue him, I guess. ”
    “ Let me pour him a cup of tea first. ” Megan had made him some tea earlier and was just waiting for it to steep.
    Peter had brought Jack to their house early this morning and so far things had been good. He was weak but loving the attention the kids lavished on him. He sucked it all up: the way they tucked the blanket in around him and puffed his pillow, to the cookies they brought him and even putting old western shows on the TV for him.
    Since he left the hospital, it was very rare for him to be alone. Peter would spend his evenings out with Jack at the farmhouse most nights, and Megan would go out during the day after the kids left for school. On the days when he was doing well, they ’ d bring him here to rest until being in their crazy house got to be too much for him. Usually he lasted two days before he asked to go home.
    Megan wanted to think he was doing better, that being here, with them, was helping him, but she knew that would be lying. He was weaker than she ’ d ever seen him and lost weight faster than she was comfortable with.
    Peter was optimistic that Jack would be here for Christmas. Megan was just happy he was here today.
    With fresh tea in hand, Peter was headed towards the living room when Emma stopped him.
    “ Papa is sleeping. ” She held a book tight to her chest. Peter placed the cup on the table and pulled out a chair.
    “ Were you reading to him? ”
    She nodded.
    “ Did you get to finish the story? ”
    She shook her head.
    Emma loved to read stories to Jack, just as much as Jack liked to listen to her read to him. But lately he ’ d fall asleep minutes into her story and that bothered their daughter.
    “ You know Papa is really tired, right? ”
    Her bottom lip trembled. “ He doesn ’ t like my stories, ” she whispered.
    Peter wrapped his arms around Emma and pulled her onto his lap.
    “ He loves you and your stories. But Papa just gets really tired. He doesn ’ t sleep long, though, right? Give him a few minutes and he ’ ll be ready to hear the rest of the story. ”
    Emma sighed and placed the book on the table.
    “ Can we work on my present for him while he ’ s sleeping? ” She glanced from Peter to Megan, and they both nodded.
    Emma was writing a story for Jack, complete with her own hand-drawn pictures. Megan had