Griffith looked to Harper, giving a small smile and a nod.
"Yeah...Yeah it will be." Griffith exhaled before turning the knob in his hand and forcibly pushing the door open, which groaned loudly into house. He stood for a moment before reaching down for one of Harper's hands.
"Are you...are you sure? I mean, I know it was a long ride and it's kinda muggy out, so if you want to go in...we can go in." Dixon said.
Griffith nodded in response, holding on tight to Harper's hand as he proceeded to take the first step inside the house. The floor creaked and shifted under his weight, although, he could remember that being a reoccurring problem when they'd lived there. He couldn't remember how many times his mom henpecked his dad about fixing it. Apparently, Mack never got around to it. However, what wasn't a preexisting problem was the dust that coated the floor, which he was leaving prints in with every step he took into the house.
"We'll have to sweep, mop, and dust this whole place." He said quietly, glancing around the rest of the house.
Just as the exterior of the house insinuated, the house was large in size. To the left of the entry hallway was a large, open living room that led into an office area, which was where the Fitz family usually put their Christmas tree since there was a fire place in that room. Meanwhile, to the right, there was an archway that led into dining area, which then lead into the kitchen and eventually the laundry room and an extra bathroom.
In these rooms, there still sat some furniture, all of it covered in plastic sheets, layered with dust. Griffith approached a large wrap-around sofa in the living room and pushed back the plastic sheet. He was unable to suppress the smile that rose to his lips. The corduroy material was just how he remembered it, down to the large (albeit faded) purple stain on one of the arms from an accident Dixon had with a cup of grape juice.
Griffith hadn't noticed it, but he'd gotten fairly misty eyed from the time he'd entered the house, not only that, his smile lingered.
Meanwhile, Dixon had opted to at least get him and Darcy out of the sun and wheeled him towards the back, struggling to push the wheelchair through the thick grass, but somehow managing. He settled them at the base of a large tree, where a rope swing hung.
"My dad made this for me when I was a kid." He explained to Darcy as he moved to grab the rope of the swing. "All my friends had all these fancy swing sets and stuff, and I was little, so, of course I was jealous. So," he grabbed the rope with both hands and hoisted himself up to settle his feet on the wooden base of the swing, "my dad built this for me." He smiled lightly, surprised that the tree and rope held his weight.
"I'll have a field day cleaning, hm?" Harper said quietly with a small smile as she looked around the room, rubbing Estella's back and just looking at things, wondering what she could do or say other than just be there for Griffith right then.
"Yeah?" Darcy smiled some, watching him as he leaned back in his seat. "It's really strong then, it looks like."
"Naw, I'll help you, baby." Griffith said as he milled about the room about, seeing what had been left behind, which, as it turned out, was a great deal of things. Griffith couldn't remember packing up much when they'd moved, but he just thought that was a faulty memory. "I'll help those boys clean out the office, they can stay down there until Darcy's able to make it up the stairs. And then men and you can clean out the master bedroom and we can stay in there. Flora can and the baby can have Lawson's old room. When Darce can make it up the stairs, he and Dixie can share Dixon's old room. And then...well, we can set up the nursery in Coco's old room." Griffith said.
Dixon shifted his weight to and fro, making the swing shift beneath him.
"When you get better, Darce, we can see how strong this swing really is." Dixon smiled as he swung idly about.
"One step at a time." Harper reminded him with a small nod, looking around at things and moved over to look at some abandoned things, holding Estella close still and murmuring to her gently.
"Yeah." Darcy nodded, watching him still. "I'm gonna try and do some standing up tonight so I'm not too stiff in the morning."
"I know, but we gotta get a move on it, you know? We gotta make sure everything's safe for Estella and then we've got our own babies on their way." Griffith said, stepping over to a dusty bookshelf which held plenty of books about auto mechanics, engineering, gardening, and plenty more, all a perfect collection of his parents. Along with the books, there were several dusty picture frames, which Griffith haphazardly wiped off with the palm of his hand. He let out a whimsical laugh at the first picture he'd dusted off which was of himself and Dixon as little boys. He couldn't have been older than four and Dixon two, both were standing naked in a kiddie pool, Griff peeing over the side and Dixon standing, covering himself wailing. "God...look at this shit."
"Cool, I'll help you." Dixon nodded, always eager to help whenever he could with Darcy's physical therapy.
Harper looked over and headed over to stand beside him and peer over, giving a quiet laugh and rested her head against his upper arm. "Awh, little Griff." she grinned and looked up at him.
"Thanks." Darcy nodded and looked around, feeling a little strange. He didn't know anything about this place but it obviously had a huge impact on things.
"Look at Dixon cryin' around." Griffith before settling that frame back down and reaching for another random one. He cleaned off another and looked down to see his father and Lawson, a younger and not as boxier Lawson, making fish faces.
Dixon continued to swing about before finally hopping off, looking over to Darcy.
"You ready to head in?" He asked, although, it was mostly meant as 'I'm ready to go in'.
Harper looked at that one too, reaching with a free hand to squeeze his upper arm and lay a gentle kiss at his shoulder, as if to comfort him and remind him she was there if he needed.
Darcy nodded and sat up properly in the chair. "Yeah, lets head in."
"Just...look at their ugly mugs." Griffith joked lightly before glancing down at Estella, who although was dozing, he proceeded to show the picture to. "Look at this one, 'Stella, that's your big ol' dumb dad being big and dumb with his dad. They thought they were funny." He explained with a small chuckle. "I suppose they kind of were."
Meanwhile, Dixon proceeded to push Darcy over to the back door, which he knocked at.
"Heeeeeeeey someone let us in!" He called through the door.
"Yeah, I probably should." Griffith chuckled, relinquishing the photo before going over to the back door, which sat in the office, to let the boys in. "You guys gotta come check out some of the pictures we just found." He said to them.
Dixon bit at his lip trying to suppress the last bits of hesitation he had and nodded, wheeling Darcy forward.
Harper murmured to Estella, cleaning up some other photos that were on the bookshelf and setting them back down as she looked at them, putting a hand on her stomach.
Darcy reached back and squeezed Dixon's wrist in reassurance, trying to comfort him.
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