Her Valentine Family by Renee Andrews

Isaac ’cause God said to ’cause she laughed and Isaac means laugh.”
    Nathan had enjoyed the story so much that he continued to talk about it throughout his bath and was still going strong when Jessica tucked him into bed.
    â€œShe laughed,” Nathan said again, snuggling under the covers. “She didn’t think God meant it, did she? That she would have a little boy when she was very old.”
    â€œNot at first,” Jessica said. “But then later she did, especially when she had that little boy and she was so happy to have him, just like I’m happy to have you.” She kissed his cheek and hugged him tightly, enjoying the bonding time they shared each night before he went to sleep.
    Then she saw his rolled-up take-home papers on his nightstand and remembered what Hannah had said. “Hey, you didn’t show me what you did in class. Want to show me before you go to sleep?”
    â€œSure,” Nathan said, wriggling away from her to reach for the papers.
    â€œThis is Abraham and Sarah and Isaac,” he said, pointing to the coloring page. “I kind of got out of the lines on her hair, but Ms. Hannah said I still did pretty good.”
    â€œShe’s right. You did a good job,” Jess agreed. She continued admiring the picture and wondered why Hannah thought this paper showed that Nathan wants to meet his daddy. Maybe he’d said something about Abraham and the way he was looking at the baby in Sarah’s arms. “So, you like this picture of Abraham’s family?” Jess prompted, hoping to figure out what Hannah had meant.
    â€œYep, but my family is on the other side. We drew ours on the back.” He turned the page, and Jessica now knew that this was what Hannah wanted her to see.
    Nathan drew his typical tall, skinny house in red crayon and put an even taller tree on the right side, the green swirled circles at the top forming its leaves. On the ground, to the left of the house were two stick people. The taller one had brown hair that was longer, and Jess recognized the “mommy” drawing that Nathan often put in his pictures. She also recognized the little boy beside the mommy as his traditional “Nathan” drawing. Both of the stick people were merely round circle heads with two lines forming the legs, which was the extent of Nathan’s current drawing skills.
    Jessica adored the way he always drew the mommy and little boy so close together when he depicted his family. But the mommy and son weren’t the only things on the page this time. On the opposite side of the house, just beneath the tree, was another stick figure, a littletaller than the mommy, who appeared to be wearing a hat. And beside that circular head and string legs was another straight line extending outward, as though the fellow had one arm.
    â€œWho’s that?” Jess asked, though she suspected she knew.
    â€œThat’s my daddy. He hasn’t found us yet.”
    Jess nodded, gathering her bearings. He doesn’t even know to look for you yet. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing to that extended line.
    â€œThat’s his bat,” Nathan said, as though this should have been obvious. “Remember? He’s going to teach me to play T-ball. And he’s going to be my coach. Anson’s daddy is his T-ball coach.”
    â€œWho’s Anson?”
    â€œA boy at school.”
    â€œIs that what he’s wearing? His baseball cap?” She pointed to the hat on the daddy’s head.
    â€œYep. Anson said he was on the Rangers last year, but he don’t know what team he’ll get this year yet. Do you think I’ll get on Rangers or something else?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Jess said, and made a mental note to check into the Claremont Little League sign-ups tomorrow. And she guessed she should probably ask how they go about signing up to coach.
    She almost laughed, picturing her telling Chad that he