Hot Tea (15 page)

“Well, that’s good.  It gives them just over a year to plan everything and get to know each other better.”

“No Love, they are getting married in three weeks.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“Are they doing Las Vegas or the courthouse?”

“Neither.  They’re getting married in that little chapel in Clarksberry down the river.  They found it online.  The chapel holds about 150 people.  They think it will be perfect.”

“150 people?  Who in the family isn’t invited?  How big is her family?  How are we going to do a real wedding in three weeks?”

“You’re about to find out Love.  They’re on their way over to your apartment right now.”

“What?  People don’t come to me, I go to them.  That’s what we do.  No one drops by my apartment.  When will they be here?”  Even I could hear the beginning of panic in my voice.

The doorbell rang.

Crap!

“Mom, I gotta go.  They’re here.”

I whipped around and saw AJ with a brilliant smile on his face.  Being that my whole world was about to fall apart, I found his smile a little disconcerting.  I didn’t have time to explain.  I didn’t have time to warn.  I didn’t even have time to panic properly.

All I could do was mutter “Oh crap!” on my way to the door.

When I pulled open the door, ready to push my brother and this woman back outside, making some excuse about bug bombs or the plague or something, I was stunned speechless.  Standing before me was probably the most exquisite creature God ever placed on this earth, and his mother, my soon to be sister-in-law, wasn’t half bad herself.  My brother stood behind his new family, beaming like an idiot.

I invited them in.

AJ was sitting at the computer.  I caught him observing out of the corner of his eye.  The smile was gone.  A shirt was on.  He looked quite professional.

Liam introduced me to Morgan.  She has a lovely smile, in perfect proportion to her lovely face.  She has rich mocha skin, brown eyes that hold secrets and laughter, and a warm and inviting aura about her.  She is a beauty and I would think her smart, if she weren’t marrying my brother.

All I could think to say was, “You guys want a cup of tea?”

Liam jumped in, “Sure, I’ll put the kettle to boil.”

Jerk.  Leaving me to fend for myself with these people that I don’t even know, but will be related to in three weeks.

I called to the kitchen, “Mom just called.  She said you have some news.”

Morgan laughed, “I’d be willing to bet that isn’t all she had to say.  Was it ugly?  Am I crushed?”

I couldn’t help it.  I was thrilled.  Less than twenty words and she’d communicated that she was truly one of us.  She already has Mom figured out and she’s good with it. 

I threw my arms around her, something I’m not prone to do, and squealed, “A new target.  I could just kiss you.  She’s gonna be so busy with you, she isn’t even going to think about me.  I’m off the hook for months, maybe even years, depending on your family planning plans.”

Her little guy was looking at me like I’d grown another head.  Poor thing was being thrown into our family.  He had no idea what he was in for.

“Hey handsome, would you like something to eat?  I think I have some Oreos in the fridge.  If nothing else, I’ve got ice cream, and your mom will probably let you have anything you want because she won’t want you to be unhappy the first time you meet me.  Want something good?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Oh Sweetie, you have two choices here.  You can call me Cara or you can call me Auntie, which is what all the kids call me.  I gotta warn you, you’ll get better Christmas presents if you call me Auntie.”

He threw his arms around me in a giant hug and in a very purposeful stage whisper said, “Auntie, you’re my favorite!”

We all burst out laughing.

Morgan formally introduced us.  “Auntie, please meet my son, Jordan.”

“Why Jordan, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”  I shook his proffered hand.  “I think you made a good choice about the whole Auntie thing.  Do you have any other favorite aunts?  On your side of the family?”

“No, Mom is an only child.  I’m an only.  Our family is little.”

“Well Sweetie, all that is about to change.”

“Mom told me.  She said that Pa comes from a really big family and that it would be fun, and noisy, and that I might get to have a whole bunch of new cousins.”

So, Liam had become Pa already.  I had to smile as I spoke to my new nephew, “Well, your Pa is going to be dragging you from one weird relative to the next.  We all drink tea.  We all eat cookies.  We all get really loud.  We are all going to love having you as a new member of our family.”

“Thanks Auntie.  You were saying  -- cookies?”

He would do just fine.

As I walked toward the kitchen, out came Liam, right toward AJ.

“Hi, I’m Liam, Cara’s brother.”

“AJ”

“Nice to meet you AJ.”

“The pleasure’s mine.”

There was a moment of silence.  I was trying to decide how to frame my introduction. 

AJ took care of the problem very gracefully.  “Have you heard about Cara’s new business venture?  I’m sitting here trying to come up with some ideas for a website.”

With that, Morgan hurried over.  Turns out she’s a web designer.  There is a God, and he loves me. 

The kettle boiled, I rushed in to the kitchen, hoping to calm down a little and get my brain wrapped around all that was happening.

I made a quick pot of tea, put the rest of my Oreos on a plate and grabbed some mugs and napkins.  I was just about to carry it all to the table when the door opened and Teagan rushed in.

She was in the middle of “What the hell?  That looks like Liam’s car out in front.  Your new …” when she saw the crowd.  She did well.  She didn’t drop anything, even though she was juggling buckets of chicken and all the fixings.  She saw Jordan and Morgan.  She saw Liam talking to AJ, not knowing how much Liam knew about my current living arrangements. 

Bless her wee little heart she handled it perfectly.

“I see you have a houseful Cara.  Sorry to barge in.  Can you help me get all this stuff to the kitchen please?”

We barely made it into the kitchen when she dropped everything she was carrying and opened the fridge door.  We both stuck our heads in for cover.  She hissed, “What the hell?”

I whispered, “AJ has quasi-introduced himself as helping with building the website for my eulogy business, his living here hasn’t come up.  They only got here a couple of minutes ago.” 

We were interrupted by Jordan coming to call for more cookies.

“Sweetie, this is my sister Teagan.  That makes her your Pa’s sister too.  Teagan, this is Jordan.”

Teagan responded a little too loudly, “Pa?”

Liam’s voice came from the other room, “Teagan, I’m getting married!”

Teagan squealed and ran to the alcove pulling Liam out of his chair.  She was laughing and hugging and doing a bit of a happy dance, before she released poor Liam. 

Jordan came around the corner just in time for Teagan to scoop him up.

“If Cara told you to call her Auntie and that you’d get better Christmas presents, just forget it, she isn’t your favorite, I am.  You can call me Aunt Sis.  I give much better presents, and, my house is more fun.  I have a big screen TV, I love football, and I have a Wii.”

Again with the hug and the stage whisper, “Aunt Sis, you’re my favorite.”  He got an appreciative laugh.

Proper introductions all around, we spent the next couple of hours eating chicken, licking our fingers and getting to know our new family members.

Morgan is serenity.  She walked into our crazy lives and was quite at home there.  She is obviously a very good mother, and she loves my brother.  My brother adores her.  Jordan has obviously become his son. 

Teagan and I had a little trouble convincing Morgan that Mom’s only concern was for Jordan.  We explained Mom is all about kids, and her first concern is always for a child.  Now that that child is one of her grandchildren, the concern triples.  Long story short, Mom is of the opinion that Liam might not be ready for home and hearth, and if that is the case, and he screws up, Mom is going to stand up for Jordan, not Liam.  Hard to fault a grandma for defending her grandkids.

Morgan pointed out that having someone take up for her child was not a bad thing, and over time, others would see the side of Liam that she did.

We teased Liam endlessly, but the truth of it is that each time he looked at her, you could tell he’d already grown into the role of husband and father.  I’d never seen him happier or more sure of anything.  I was happy for him. 

When our impromptu family dinner was winding down, AJ excused himself and said he had to get going.  He waved and walked out the front door.

Teagan was completely confused, waiting all of ten seconds; she went out the door after him.

Morgan laughed and said, “So, is your sister after your roommate?”

I pulled a face, somewhere between innocent and stone cold busted, “What makes you think he’s my roommate?”

Morgan counted off the facts, “Your mom mentioned that your old roommate Suzi moved out a couple of weeks ago.  She said that you seem unconcerned about money, and that you’re starting a new business, after having quit your job.”

“How’d she know I quit?  I thought everybody assumed I’d been fired.”

Liam chimed in with, “I assumed Teagan told her.”

“Remind me to smack the crap out of Teagan.  Oops, sorry Jordan.” 

I looked over at Jordan’s angelic face.  He was loving every moment of this.  I guess bigger families are better for the occasional explosion.  There’s a shortage of brother-sister-sister drama when you’re an only child.