Chapter 4 – Our Family Starts

Life was wonderful. We were both happy at work and we were making plans for
our wedding. We'd told our respective families and all three (my two parents
and her dad) were pleased that we'd got back together. We'd planned for the
three of them to come a few days before the wedding so that we could have a
reunion of sorts. Of course, it was sad that Peggy's mom was missing but her
dad looked pretty good and seemed to be coping with his loss.

After a couple of years of married life we decided that it was time to
consider having a family. We went out house hunting and found a wonderful
older house that had been remodeled and upgraded and was just freshly on the
market. It was in a very nice neighbourhood and since the neighbourhood was
older had mature trees and a larger lot than is what you get with the newer
developments. We met the couples on each side of the house and discovered they
were grandparents, both with kids who lived away from there. We could tell
from their smiles when we said we wanted to buy the house to raise a family
that they were looking forward to seeing kids nearby.

We made the purchase and soon after Peggy stopped taking her birth control
pills she was pregnant. We'd been watching 'Gone with the Wind' just before
the baby arrived and so Peggy wanted to name her 'Tara'. Sounded good to me.
Tara was a happy child and when she was just about two Peggy whispered in my
ear one evening as we lay cuddled in bed "I'm pregnant again." I was happy as
I didn't want to raise an only child as both Peggy and I were. Pretty soon
there were two little girls in the house – Tara and Ashley.

The years went by with the girls growing and the usual children's
disagreements but on the whole, the girls were pretty easy going and got along
with each other. Peggy and I were very happy with where we were, I'd been
steadily getting promoted in the company and it had grown well as the products
it produced were considered by most to be the best there were in their field.
When Tara turned twelve Peggy and I discussed her going back to work, maybe
doing contract work. We didn't need the money but now that the girls were
becoming more and more independent, their needs for their mom were diminishing
and Peggy didn't want to be a mom who spent her afternoons watching the soaps.
She'd done some volunteer work but didn't find the satisfaction that she
wanted – no challenge was how she put it. One day she went off to investigate
some courses which would bring her back up to speed in her field. That's when
tragedy struck.