Ready-Made Family

Chapter Nine

"Are you sure you can handle this?" Madison asked as she climbed into the family's mini van.

Brandon chuckled and grabbed hold of her hand to give it a little squeeze. "Darling the accident was over a month ago," he said reassuringly "besides the summer will be done in a couple weeks and we haven't done anything as a family".

Madison bit her lip and looked away. It had been six weeks since the accident that caused Brandon's delusions and nothing seemed to be changing. In fact they seemed to be getting more intense and involved. Before Madison would notice small lapse of his memory, here or there questioning the girls birthday or when their anniversary was.

But now Brandon seemed to no longer question anything or seemed confused now. He knew everything he needed to and if he didn't he just went along with it without question.

She wasn't sure how she felt about it. The therapy hadn't seemed to be working too well, in fact she was starting to question if the doctor was benefiting him in any form after six sessions.

"Yeah" Madison said, "I know how much you've improved but you just started back up at work". She didn't want him to over do it with another busy day. He should be relaxing on the weekends, not taking her and the kids berry picking.

He chuckled and leaned over to plant a kiss on her cheek "this is the last weekend for raspberry picking."

"Can we make jam?" Emma leaned forward in her seat and smiled. The kids were really excited for the family outing. They hadn't really done anything big like this since Madison and the kids moved in with Brandon. They had gone to the mall or out to eat but that was a normal thing in the kid's eyes. Berry picking was a once in a lifetime excitement for them.

"Yeah I think I have a recipe for raspberry jam," Madison said smiling back at her daughters and Brandon started to drive to the farm. "So Noah have you put anymore thought into transferring schools?"

Noah shrugged a little "I don't really care" he said trying to act cool about it. "It might be better. I mean I met some of the other guys at the basketball court this summer. Plus Anna will be in the same school that way. It might be nice to go somewhere new".

Madison glanced over at Brandon who nodded in agreement "okay then we can start the process of changing schools".

"Can we make pie?" Ella asked softly.

Brandon glanced back at his daughter and smiled softly "yeah we can make a raspberry pie" he agreed, "jam and pie sound great to me".

"I know a frozen yogurt recipe for raspberries too" Madison added, "It might be good to try. Its healthier for the kids too".

"I think so," Brandon agreed. He glanced over at Madison who was continuously checking her phone. She hadn't gotten another message since the tea but she was still on edge. "Hey you okay?" he asked.

Madison glanced over at him "hmm?" she asked before snapping out of it "yeah I'm fine sweetie".

He didn't seem to want to accept it but he let it go nonetheless. The family drove towards the farm chatting about everything under the sun. From movies to games and even to school the car was filled with chatter.

Madison couldn't help but glanced at her kids. She had noticed such a change in them over the last few months. Noah had actually opened up to somebody other than herself. Ever since the baseball game Noah has really seemed o latch onto him. The two guys would spend a half hour every evening the two of them play some type of video game. And they even had some inside jokes between themselves.