Chapter 3 #2
“So, Grandma, what was Grandpa like when you first got together?” my sister asked. “Was he cool or a complete idiot?”
When my grandma didn’t respond to Olivia’s question, she shouted it at her, and that got her attention.
She swatted her hand at Olivia. “You shouldn’t yell at an old woman.
One scare could be the death of me.” She sighed and looked toward the ceiling.
“From what I remember, your grandpa was the perfect gentleman.”
“Boring!” Olivia shouted just as loudly as before. “Come on, Gram. Give us the tea.”
My grandma furrowed her eyebrows. “You want tea? I didn’t think you drank that. At least, that’s what you said when I asked you to stay until Sunday to go to high tea with me. Were you lying, young lady?”
Olivia didn’t even try to hide her eye roll, which made both Jax and me giggle. “Not that kind of tea. I meant gossip. Tell us what Grandpa was really like.”
My grandma shrugged. “I did. He was a gentleman. He took me on dates, drove me to church. He did kiss me outside of our Sunday School class one time.”
“Oh, how scandalous,” Olivia said sarcastically, before letting out a long, exaggerated sigh. “Is that really all you have for me? Come on. Tell us one thing no one knows.”
My grandma shut her eyes and rubbed her forehead as if she was seriously considering Olivia’s question.
When she opened her eyes, the smallest smile came onto her face.
“There is one thing I haven’t shared. Although, it’s not exactly about your grandfather.
It’s his grandma.” Grandma pointed at Olivia.
“Your namesake. That woman terrified me until the day she died. Heck, it even took me a few years after she died to realize she wasn’t haunting me. ”
“Haunting you?” Ronan asked with a snicker.
Grandma nodded seriously, not a hint of joking on her face. “Oh yeah. I’m pretty sure she told me she was going to haunt me. That woman hated me.” She pointed at Quinton, Mallory, and Jax. “You three are very lucky to have the best in-laws. Some of us don’t get that lucky.”
Jax raised her hand as if we were in school. “While you all aren’t technically my in-laws yet, I couldn’t agree more.”
“Suck up!” Olivia said into her hand, disguising it as a cough.
My grandma ignored Olivia (or more likely just didn’t hear her) and squinted her eyes at me and Jax. “You two aren’t married? I could have sworn I came to your wedding.”
Jax shook her head. “Must have been the wedding of two other extremely good-looking people.”
Grandma pointed between us. “But you two live together, don’t you?”
“They do, Mom,” my mama said with a tone to her voice I hadn’t heard since I was younger and Olivia was in trouble for something.
Grandma shook her head. “Back in my day, we called that living in sin. But then again, back in my day…” Before my grandma could continue, my mom cleared her throat. My grandma looked toward the ground as if she was ashamed. “Never mind.”
Jax poked me in the side and we both laughed. I’m sure my mom had just stopped my grandma from making a homophobic comment, but I wasn’t bothered by it. She could definitely be much worse. She had been very supportive of both of my relationships, and I was thankful for that.
“Let’s get back to this grandmother-in-law thing,” Olivia said. “I thought everyone loved Nana. Isn’t that why my moms named both me and Carter after her?”
“Everyone did love her,” Grandma said, sounding almost annoyed. “They all liked her much more than they liked me.”
“I mean…” Uncle Jamie let his words trail off as if he was trying to make a point without actually saying the words.
I knew my mama and Uncle Jamie didn’t always have the best relationship with their parents, but they had never shared much about it with us.
I did know that it was a big deal for my grandma to walk my mama down the aisle at my moms’ vow renewal since she skipped their first wedding.
From the grandma I knew, it was hard to picture her as that person.
My grandma waved a dismissive hand at my Uncle Jamie. “Yeah, I get it. I made a lot of mistakes. I was far from perfect, but believe me when I tell you your nana wasn’t as perfect as you think she was.”
My mom chuckled. “I don’t know about that. She was a pretty perfect in-law. Definitely my favorite.”
Uncle Jamie pointed at my mom. “She’s not wrong!” A realization hit his face and he dropped his hand. “Wait a second. Don’t you mean second favorite?”
My mom nodded. “You’re right. Ethan is a pretty amazing brother-in-law.”
My Uncle Jamie turned away from my mom to put his focus on Olivia. “Let this be a lesson to you. Years of friendship apparently mean nothing once they get with your sister.”
Olivia laughed and reached her hand toward Jax. “I’m not worried. I’ll always be Jax’s favorite Miller-Cooper.” She lifted an eyebrow at Jax. “Right, bestie?”
Jax cleared her throat and sat up a bit. “Well, if we’re being technical, you’re not actually a Miller-Cooper anymore. Quinton changed that when he married you.”
Olivia looked like she wanted to say something else, but she stuck her tongue out at Jax instead.
“You know what?” my grandma asked. “I’m surprised to say this, but it’s actually nice having all of you here. How long are you staying?”
“We have to leave first thing in the morning,” Ronan said while patting Mallory’s very big belly. “At thirty-eight weeks, it’s really not a good idea for this one to be too far from the hospital.”
I watched my brother as he stared lovingly at Mallory’s stomach. I still couldn’t believe he had a three-and-a-half-year-old and another on the way. Even with witnessing what a good dad he was, it was still hard to see him as anything other than my immature, loud-mouthed brother.
“We’re leaving Sunday morning,” Olivia said. “We both need to get back for work.”
My grandma scoffed. “Leaving just before high tea. How convenient.”
“Before you get too mad at me,” Olivia popped up from her spot on the couch. “I have a surprise for all of you.”
Olivia ran out of the room and came back in a minute later carrying a small box wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper. She handed it to our grandma. “You can open it.”
A knot formed in my throat at the thought of what this had to be.
It seemed even harder to believe, given that this was Olivia, but I didn’t know what else this could be.
My eyes burned as I fought back tears of joy and tried to focus on the present my grandma was opening.
I gasped when my grandma pulled out a tiny blue onesie with the words My great grandpa is my guardian angel written on it.
Even though I figured this was what was coming as soon as I saw the box, it was still shocking.
While I sat frozen in place, Jax jumped from her seat and ran over to my sister, laughing as she lifted her in the air and twirled her around in a circle.
“What’s going on?” my grandma shouted over their celebration. “Why did you give this to me? Shouldn’t it be for Ronan and Mallory?”
Olivia shook her head and walked toward our grandma, then knelt down in front of her. “Technically, that’s for me. Well,” Olivia looked toward her stomach, “for the little girl coming in a few months.”
“Son of a bitch,” Ronan whispered under his breath as if he had somehow just caught on to what was happening.
Olivia threw back her head in laughter. “More like daughter of a bitch.”
We all took turns congratulating Olivia and Quinton, while slowly explaining to my grandma that Olivia and Quinton were expecting as well now.
My grandma yawned loudly. “I think that’s enough excitement for one day. I’m going to bed.” She looked toward me. “Will my favorite grandchild at least be sticking around for a while?”
I couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit of pride for being called the favorite, especially because I knew she meant it. “We’re definitely staying through the weekend. My boss is fine with me working remotely for as long as I need to, so it just depends when Jax needs to head back.”
Jax smiled her trademark grin at my grandma. “I will stay as long as you need me. Work will just have to figure out how to go on without me.”
My grandma smiled in satisfaction then wagged her finger at my brother and sister. “You two could learn a lesson from your sister-in-law. She knows how to treat her elders.”
Apparently my grandma still couldn’t grasp the fact that Jax and I weren’t married, but that was fine. It’s not like we wouldn’t be someday. If she ever asks…
“Anything for you, Grandma Miller,” Jax said, a hint of pride in her voice.
“In that case, it looks like you’ll be going for high tea with me on Sunday.”
“Absolutely. Wouldn’t miss it,” Jax answered without hesitation.
I cringed internally because I knew I would be dragged along too, and there were few things in this world that were more boring than high tea with my grandma. The only thing that got me through it before was sneaking off to the bar to drink with Olivia.
“Should I be scared?” Jax whispered to me once my grandma was out of the room.
“Oh yeah.” I patted her arm. “You should be very scared.”