Growing up predominately in the south, Will preferred warm, balmy weather with pungent, salty air and soulful chatter amongst the passerby. Even so, he couldn’t deny that the winters of Virginia held a certain magic. His land was quiet (save for Elijah’s ecstatic shrieks), and as he walked hand-in-hand with his son, he chuckled at the boy’s eagerness to get started.
“Whoa, there,” Will admonished. “Don’t you want to wait for Ava and your mom?”
The boy huffed in reply, only to promptly drop backwards into the snow.
Concerned that Elijah might have hurt himself, Will protectively stooped over in order to give him a hand, only to withdraw once he realized the boy was gleefully making snow angels in the pristine white.
“Daddy, daddy!” he cried. “Come make one too!”
Eyes crinkling warmly, he nodded before (far more carefully) lying down into the snow alongside his son. He hadn’t really done this with his own father, seeing how they predominately fished together, but it filled him with effervescent joy all the same.
The porch door screeched (he really needed to oil those hinges), and Will looked over amidst his casual arm and leg movements. Ava instantly squealed, and he chuckled at her sheer joy. “At least they’re happy screams,” he said.
Even after all this time, he still wasn’t quite used to that.
Slowly rolling up until he was on his feet, Will dusted off his haunches and approached Lacey and Ava. Stooping in to kiss his wife on the mouth, he grinned before allowing, “They’re the beginning of the snowman, yes, but it seems that Eli got a little sidetracked.”
As if seeming to realize just what was at stake, the boy gasped and vaulted up out of the snow, his back and rear a powdery white as he toddled over to them. “Don’t start yet!” he warned.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Will assured the boy. Discreetly, he hefted a snowball into his palm before (gently) crushing it into the back of Lacey’s soft, styled hair.
“Hey!” Elijah cried, outraged. “Don’t waste the snow!”
Will laughed. “There’s plenty of snow, Eli! And isn’t it a little cruel to value snow over your mother’s well-being?”