Chapter 8 #3
“What have you heard from Zeno? Are things going well for him?” He told her that he didn’t know that Zeno was playing things close to his vest all the time and wasn’t allowing them to get to know them just yet.
“I heard that they’re having dinner on Saturday with us.
I know it must be hard on the little girl.
The six of you together are a lot to take on.
I’d think that they’re doing the right thing about not jumping in with both feet around the family.
It would give me nightmares for life if I were just four years old and had to suddenly deal with all of you.
Frank said that he was going to bring her something to welcome her to the family. I wonder what he has planned for her.”
“He’s been out in his wood shop a lot when I go over there.
I’m still working on his list of things that he’s been fussing with to make himself look busy.
The bathroom light scared him the most. It was flickering off and on, and he thought for sure that he was going to set fire to the house.
All it had been was a loose connection, and I fixed that right away.
He’s forever got his tools out for something.
I told him I was going to take them from him if he didn’t stop doing it.
But I find that I can’t.” She asked what he was doing in the wood shop.
“At one time, he made these really beautiful rocking chairs. We all have one around here someplace. We’d have our first Christmas photo taken in them, and then mom would put them up until we were old enough to rock in them.
We’ll have to find mine so that we can have our child’s picture taken in mine. ”
“What a wonderful tradition to have.” She was excited for their child to come along so that she could be a good mom to it.
She didn’t care if they had a girl or a boy so long as it was healthy.
They’d been talking about that since they first made love.
How much they wanted children and soon. “I’m going to hire a photographer to take holiday pictures when we have kids.
That way, we’ll have memories forever. Christmas is still a ways away, but now I’m excited to have it coming around. ”
They talked about other holidays that were coming up, and they were both happy to be living in the family home.
When they’d been looking for a house to buy, Mac had suggested that his parents stay with them when they decided they didn’t want to be in charge of the home anymore.
All the boys’ memories were attached to this house, and she was happy to be able to carry those on with them.
Frank and LouCinda were the nicest in-laws she thought that anyone could have.
She couldn’t wait to make them grandparents again now that Harri was going to be around.
After dinner, they went to the living room and watched some television.
There was an interview with Aaron on the news report that talked about getting two criminals off to jail.
They didn’t mention any names yet as they were waiting on the Feds to take over.
For as much crime as they’d committed, and in different states, the Feds wanted to make sure that they stayed behind bars for good. She wanted that too.
Mac thought about her job at the school and decided that she might like to go full-time.
Her days were boring to her since Aaron worked all day, and she was enjoying the job a great deal more than she thought that she would.
It was the kids mostly, and they were so eager to learn that she found herself eager to teach them.
They were going to be the future world leaders someday, and she was going to give them the best education she could while they were in her care.
As they were locking up the house, she thought of Anna.
She wanted to be friends with the other woman and wondered how she could do that.
Just introducing herself felt like the best move, but if she was honest with herself, she was slightly backward when it came to making friends.
She’d have to work harder on that so that the two of them could go shopping together.
She did wonder if women did that anymore and decided that she was going to do some research on finding friends.
It couldn’t hurt, but she knew that she was going to have to make the first move.
“I just heard from Mom. She said that they were going to have steaks on the grill on Saturday night, so that it will be easy to fix. She wants to know if you’re all right with that.
” Mac said that she loved a good steak on the grill.
“I think she’s hoping that someday you take over the Saturday night dinners so that she can play with the babies she’s expecting to have around.
She didn’t say that, but she hinted at it very hard.
” She said she’d love to do that, but would like her to do it a bit longer.
“I understand. Mom’s been doing it so long that I think she’s ready to turn it over to you.
You would be good at it. You’re so organized.
And there’s nothing much to do for you. The cook will be able to put together anything you want, so long as they have enough notice on what to have on hand.
” She pointed out that she’d only been to a handful of them and didn’t have a feel for what sort of food they have.
“I can help you with that. She’ll usually ask one of us what we want, and that’s what we have.
Like, next week we’re having pasta because that’s Reagan’s favorite thing to have.
It doesn’t matter to him if it’s red or white sauce on it; he just loves everything that has to do with pasta. ”
“That’s a good idea. I thought that she just came up with things off the top of her head. I wouldn’t have thought that she catered to her sons still.” She laughed. “What would you like for dinner one night? Let me guess. You’d like pork chops with stuffing.”
“Nah, I would love to have roasted chickens. I can about eat a whole one all by myself. It’s difficult to make for all of us, so I usually get that when I’m there alone with them.
You did notice that we had it twice in the last month when my parents were in charge of the kitchen.
” She said that was why they had chocolate pie too.
“Yes, while I don’t care for sweets all that much, I can eat just about anything with chocolate in it.
I got that from my grandma. She could eat an entire ten-pound box of the things in a week.
And not feel the least bit guilty about it. ”
“She told me that half of loving chocolate was getting to share it with Frank. I guess they pace themselves by having two of the pieces a night until it’s all gone.
Frank also buys her flowers when he’s in trouble.
Sometimes, when he’s just feeling like she needs them, but she never knows what he’s buying them for so is happy that he’s gone out of his way to get them for her.
I think that your family is about the sweetest people in the world. ”
“I think that you are just as sweet.” He kissed her on the mouth and looked down at her. “How about we practice making a baby tonight, then get up early tomorrow and go to the farmers’ market? I’ve been meaning to take you there since it started. I guess that it’s pretty full up this time of year.”
She loved it when he’d surprise her with something to do on their Saturdays off.
She knew that they’d spend the day together holding hands, too, and commenting on the way things were going for the two of them.
And of course, he would make sure that she felt well-loved too.
That was the most special part of them being together. It was just being friends, too.