Out at the Park (Juniper)

[michael]

"Hey Dad, can I go on the swings?" asked Victoria the moment Michael, Richard, and Victoria had stepped inside the park. It was a hot day but the people that came, didn't seem to mind that it was. They would have their hats, sunglasses, and suntan lotion on as well as having some umbrellas too shading their heads from the sun. Michael decided to take his children to the park since his daughter had asked endlessly if they were ever going to, since Michael had been really busy two weeks ago. Also they stayed mostly inside and it was pretty boring once in a while. And, they wanted some fresh air. Michael looked down at his daughter who was a splitting image of her mother-blue eyes, blond hair, and all. He gave her a nod of his head.

"Of course, go ahead," he told her.
"Yay!" she squealed and ran towards the swing set, while he looked on with pride and is holding Richard in his arms.
"I wanna too!" Richard squealed pointing towards the kiddie swings that was next to the bigger ones of which Victoria was heading to. "Daddy I wanna go on it too."
"Okay slugger you can as well." He walked over to the swing set and placed him into the kiddie one. "Wanna go high?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay you can go high." He started to push the little boy who swung his legs and clapped cheerfully while Victoria nearby swung on the swings. Once he managed to get Richard going, he walked over to Victoria, pushing her as well, and then walked over to a bench that overlook the two of them and sat down, where he watched from that bench on his children as they continued to swing on the swings.

Michael found living here in California pretty much different than of England but at the same he made a good descision to move to here even if it was part time since he still has his home in England and that the people here are actually very nice. And they seem welcoming to him despite that he is an aristocrat. To him a title means nothing its how you use it and he pretty much uses it to help others. Its also kind of a downsize since he is thought of like royalty when really he's not! Anyway about the city, heck, maybe when the Baron gets home, he could email his uncle to have him pay a visit! Michael is sure that his Uncle Brian would love it here as much as he does. In fact if his father didn't die nor if his other uncle didn't die too (they died recently-his uncle died in a car crash while his father committed suicide just two years apart from each other) he is sure they would like it here as much as he does.

[hblood]

It was oddly a little warm for her tastes, being winter and Manhattan born and raised, when winter wasn’t cold she felt like it wasn’t really this close to Christmas. She didn’t have any reason to go to Manhattan for the holidays, despite invitations to Christmas parties; her parents were down under in Australia and enjoying themselves as they should. So perhaps, she was a bit depressed that there was no one to enjoy making food with and to watch open presents. It could have been an easy fix, her loneliness, if she just devised a plan to get pregnant for the sake of having a child to keep her company. It would be a heartless and selfish reason to conceive, she would want what every woman wants: a husband to go with the child – a family to blossom.

She needed the fresh air to help her get out of the muse rut that she found herself stuck in. She couldn’t breach the gap in her story and she had no idea how to go about it. So today, she would sit in the park, watch and listen to her surroundings and hope she could soak up whatever muse Mother Nature could give her. Lord knows she needed it – the vineyard was boring, wedding planning was at a standstill, there was always business consulting to do, but it was the weekend – why should she have to work? She wouldn’t until it was Monday morning at the earliest – if she was daring she would wait until the afternoon.

Yesterday she bought herself a new companion, a little English bulldog she affectionately named Lemon. Not that her puppy, with all her wrinkles and big, puppy eyes looked like a lemon. But for some odd reason, when she picked out of the litter, her puppy breath smelt like lemons – not like puppy breath at all. Someone else would be worried, but for Juniper it was more of a reason to take that puppy. With her little harness on, Lemon sat at Juniper’s feet watching children swing at the swing-sets near her. Lemon waddle over as far as her wrinkles, grass, and the leash would let her to get a closer look. She yipped, causing Juniper to look up, only to find her pooch wagging her tail – she wanted to play with the two kids. Juniper giggled, finding it cute.

Click to see Lemon!

[michael]

Victoria wanted to get off since she had swung on the swings so much so Michael got up and walked over to help her off the swing. At the time she did, she spotted Lemon who waddled her way towards Victoria. Victoria loves dogs. She remembered when Michael had found a little pug back in England nearby the house and took him in until the puppy's owners would find him and helped him nurture the puppy who was hungry and sick. When the owners came for the puppy, she was sad but that sadness went away once the owner's wife told her when the puppy grows up and mates, she would get to have one of the puppies. That was cool but Michael told her that taking care of a dog is a lot of responsibility. However from when he saw her helping him out, he thought maybe they should get one.

So now as Michael pushed Richard to get him going more, he looked over at Victoria. "Vic, becareful."
"I will daddy, its just a baby." Victoria walked over to the puppy and started to pet her. Lemon's bud for a tail wagged and even gave Victoria a kiss. "Hey daddy, she likes me!"
"I see that, but she's probably someone's pet," Michael responded to her. He stopped pushing once the baby had taken notice of the puppy and then asked, "you wanna pet the puppy too, Richard?" Richard nodded. "Okay slugger. Down you go." He picked the baby up from the kiddie swing, headed over to the puppy and Victoria and knelt down at the dog's level, allowing Richard to pet the puppy. But he wondered, who's dog is it?

[hblood]

It was a day without troubles, except for that she couldn’t write anything that made sense. Tapping away at an iPad, she let her mind focus out of what was going on around her. Her fingers picked up speed, she found some sort of magical muse flowing through her fingers. She felt Lemon tugging at her wrist but she ignored the puppy as much as she could not lose the streak. She knew that if the puppy stopped moving and her wrist didn’t have any sort of tugging on it than someone had stolen her dog, which would be an issue. She was attached to the puppy, after all. However she heard children giggling and her puppy made more playful rips before waddling her way back to Juniper. Licking Juniper’s gladiator-sandaled toes, Juniper wiggle her toes. The puppy barked at them before hopping her way back to the new friends it had made.

She was on a roll but then suddenly all inspiration left her fingertips – if she was truly wanting to blame it on something, she would say the puppy licked it all of her toes. However, that’s how it was with writing, at some points you had muse and at another moments it was completely gone and left you exasperated and frustrated at its disappearance and seeming betrayal. She shut the iPad’s case before uncrossing her legs and following her puppy’s leash to where she laid on her back rolling, unable to get herself back up with all her wrinkles. Bending down, Juniper helped the puppy get back on all fours before looking at the little girl, boy, and their father. “Her name is Lemon and I’m Juniper. What’s your name?” Juniper asked, but it was pointed at the little girl only.

[michael]

Victoria looked up at the owner of Lemon and smiled up at her while she continued to pet the puppy. "I'm Victoria, this is my brother Richard and that guy there is my daddy, he's a baron."
"I hope you don't mind my children petting her do you?" Michael then asked, hoping she didn't mind. Though he gave in to his children since they just wanted to pet the puppy.
"Yeah do you? If you don't want us to, you can tell us," Victoria added, "though I hope Daddy'll get us a doggy just like yours. She's so cute and I like her name and your name. Is it like the planet Jupiter?" Michael now hoped that she didn't insult the woman with the name since she knows better but Victoria's still little, after all, she's just eight she didn't really know. As for Richard, the little two year old giggled as Lemon started to give him kisses.
"Victoria, you know better than of that to say her name is like Jupiter," he corrected her.
"Sorry Daddy," she first said to her father and then to Juniper, "and sorry about that. But it did sound like it and I like the name. I hope you didn't mind, miss." Still so proper too.

[hblood]

Now, Juniper, she liked kids, but she was nowhere near ready for any of her own. She was twenty-six and although she knew of friends having children at her age, she wasn’t in a rush. She was hoping for marriage by her thirtieth year of life and then she would see about children after that. The best thing about other people’s children was that you could humor them, but in the end they went back with their parent. Watching the little girl and boy interact with Lemon, she smiled to herself, but it didn’t make her yearn to have a baby just yet. No, she was fine with just a puppy.

“No, I don’t mind at all, little Victoria. And my name does sound like Jupiter, doesn’t it? But it’s actually a little tree about yay high ” she said motioning with her hands “ but it can grow much more bigger and grows its own juniper berries. Nifty, huh?” She could tell they weren’t from the town by the accents in their voices but she didn’t pay it no mind. She watched her puppy lick the little boy affectionately and then pay attention to Victoria before going back to the boy.

“A baron? You’re quite a way from where you should be, don’t you think? Vacationing? If you don’t mind my asking.” She was a frank person who didn’t hold much back, but when you worked in business like she did, sugar-coating things wasn’t something you tried doing anymore.

[michael]

"Ohh cool! I never heard of that," Victoria replied first while petting Lemon. "Hey Juniper, where did you get the name for Lemon? I like it." It was a cute name the Baron also noted silently as he watched his oldest kid play with the puppy. He smiled down at her and knelt down to pet Lemon as well. "Hey daddy maybe we can get a doggy?"
"We'll see okay? Maybe we can find a good one in the shelter. We might find good ones there." Victoria nodded. As for Juniper's question he chuckled lightly.

"Yeah I'm the 12th actually. Well not really. We're staying here and its a good thing that I have dual citizenship as well as of my children so that they won't also forget where they're from. However, we really like it here. Are you from this town as well, Juniper?" He asked, while continuing to pet Lemon until his legs start to hurt so he stood up allowing his two children petting the little puppy. He should definately see if he can get them a dog. Maybe a pug, since he likes those, or maybe a bulldog like this one. He's still unsure about a Pitt bull but maybe. Or maybe a German shepard.

"Thank you again for allowing my children to play with your puppy. She's quite a catch if I have to say." Adorable little thing. He is definately going to do that of getting them one. Anyway, he then smiled at the woman waiting for her answer. She seemed so natural with his kids he wondered if she has kids. If not then she should, because she was a natural with them. In a way she reminded him of well...him. Or better yet Diana. He knows if she was alive she would've definately talk to her too. He still misses her but at least she's in heaven where she doesn't have to worry about death. And besides, Victoria looks like her so in a way she's still here.

[hblood]

“well, when I went to pick out my puppy there lots of them, maybe about eight. And Lemon came up to me and wanted to give me kisses. Her breath smelled of lemons and that’s why I decided to name her Lemon. When you get a puppy one day, I hope you give him or her a cool name like I gave Lemon.” She had the patience for children, but as to having one Juniper wasn’t sure if she was at a point in her life where she wanted one. Whether she knew it or not, it would be less than half a year before Juniper would be pregnant with her own baby and it would quickly consume her heart. She woudn’t know if she would be able to share her little baby, but she was sure if the Dad was the right guy in her life, she wouldn’t have any problems. She just hoped that she didn’t get pregnant while sleeping with multiple men, it would frustrated the entire process.

She didn’t understand why he didn’t stay where he was baron of to raise his children, but she wouldn’t judge them. After all, she didn’t stay where she was born and raised. If she had, she would be back on the east coast and would never own a vineyard or a puppy or have met the people she was meeting the more she ventured outside of her home. “No, I’m not from here. I’m from Upper East Side in Manhattan, New York City, new York – the east coast of this continent.” She stood up with Michael, her kneecaps felt as if they would give out from being crouched down low for so long. He was fairly young, maybe her age or older, and he already had two children. She didn’t know if he was one of those people that thought if they were younger when they had children they would be more active and have energy to do things in their lives. While she understood the logic, there was no point in it unless you were for sure committed to their parents. She didn’t see a mother, but she didn’t feel it was appropriate to ask.

“Well, thanks. Bulldogs and their wrinkles have always been a favorite for me. I hope if you buy a dog or puppy, you find one that suits your kids like Lemon suits me. But anyways, Lemon and I should get going, I have a lot of work to do. Maybe we’ll see you again sometime?” She gently gave lemon the signal they were leaving and she waddled over to Juniper’s ride before they started their way back to their car.

[michael]

As the children played with Lemon, it was Michael that spoke. "Well it surely fits her. I would definately love to get them a dog so maybe we could do that when we get home however since I split my time between here and Winchester of where my main estate is located, it'd be tough but I'll definately bring the dog along." The woman had continued and so after she spoke, he spoke up next. "Oh really? I've been to New York, its a nice city. Very busy though and it was actually the original choice to live in but I decided to give the west coast a shot. I might think of getting us a house there too one day. Maybe we might move to there but the children seemed to like it here and its up to them. I don't want them to have move from place to place. "I'll remember that. Oh yeah I have to go too. Soon after we spend another hour here, I have to take the kids back to the house and have to get ready for an event later on. I hope so!" He leaned down and gave Lemon a pat and allowed her to give him a kiss. The kids however pouted when he had stood up since she had to go too. "Say goodbye to Lemon and Juniper, kids, they have to go."
"Aw they have to?" Victoria asked.
"Yeah they have to." Victoria walked up to Juniper, gave her a hug, and then gave Lemon one too. Richard soon followed. "Well you two have a good day," he now said to Juniper, "and also I still think we will. Its a pleasure to meet you." He shook her hand and then picked up Richard. The two waved as Juniper and Lemon headed to their car. She really is a nice woman and he does hope they'd cross paths again.