A/N: I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to get a new chapter up! I just haven't had time to write until recently. I should have a lot more free time now that the holidays are over, so I will try to get more chapters up soon! I hope you all haven't forgotten about this story...I'm still trying to decide exactly where to go with it. Please R & R!
"Mom, are you going to Ben and Lucy's for lunch today?" Matt questioned. The Sunday morning service had just concluded, and the whole Camden family, minus Lucy, was standing in the lobby, waiting for Lucy to finish up in her office.
"No, not today," Annie replied. "I'm going out to eat today."
This piqued Mary's interest. "Oh, really? Are you going alone?
Fortunately, Lucy joined them just in time to hear the question, "If you're coming to my house for dinner, we'd better get going. If we wait too much longer, the kids are going to start getting crabby," she said.
This distracted the others from Annie, and she flashed Lucy a grateful look before slipping away without the other noticing. She hurried to her car and found Captain Stevens standing there waiting.
"I'm sorry to keep you waiting so long, Ryan. I had a hard time getting away from the family," she apologized.
"It's not a problem," Ryan replied. "I'm parked right over there, so, if you'd like, I could follow you to your house and then from there you could ride with me to the restaurant."
"Are you sure it wouldn't be too much of a hassle? I could just follow you to the restaurant. I don't want to be too much of a hassle for you."
"I wouldn't be a hassle at all," Ryan replied tenderly. "Please, Annie, I want to do this."
Twenty minutes later, they had just arrived at the Camden house. Before Annie had a chance to get out of her car, Ryan had gotten out of his SUV and opened her door. She was surprised, but pleased. She followed him back to his vehicle, where he again opened her door. Once she was inside, he closed the door and went around to get in himself.
Once they were on their way, Ryan asked, "Do your children know about this?"
"Lucy and Ruthie do, which of course means that Ben and Peter know as well. I haven't told the others yet."
"What were their reactions?" Ben questioned.
Annie sighed. "There really wasn't much of a reaction from either one of them. They both seemed happy, but neither of them really said much. I think they have mixed feelings about it. They're happy to see me going out to lunch with a guy, but at the same time, they're nervous."
Ryan looked thoughtful, but didn't say anymore until after they were seated in the restaurant.
"Annie," Ryan began, then stopped. Annie waited patiently for him to continue. "Annie, I've known you for awhile now. Being Ben's captain at the fire station has allowed me to get to know all of his family, but I feel like I've gotten to know you, especially." He stopped and ran his hand through his hair in a nervous gesture, unsure of what to say, or rather, how to say what he wanted to say. "I have a feeling that I'm going to make a complete mess of what I'm about to say, but, please, hear me out. I've enjoyed getting to know you, Annie, and you've become a good friend of mine. I was wondering, that is, I was thinking that…" He trailed off and looked so hopelessly lost that Annie couldn't help but smile.
"Ryan, it's okay. Just say what it is that you want to say," Annie encouraged gently.
"Well, I was wondering if I could see you. What I mean is, if I could…" he paused for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts. "I'd like to start seeing you on a regular basis, Annie. I'd like to date you." He rushed out all at once. "Now before you say anything, just know that if your answer is no, it won't change a thing. We can finish the meal, then I'll take you back to your house and we can act like this whole thing never happened."
Annie sat there patiently, waiting for him to finish. Once he had, she spoke. "I would like that. I have to warn you, though; it's been quite awhile since I've dated anyone. I'm sure it's not going to be like others that you've dated. After all, I have seven kids, who I'm sure you know by now, can be quite…" she trailed off, not knowing exactly what words with which to describe them.
"Nosy?" Ryan supplied. "Opinionated? Crazy? Annie, that doesn't matter to me. I love your family. I think that despite their nosy, opinionated craziness, they are quite delightful. As you know, I was never married, so I never had kids. I, instead, got the task of spoiling my nieces and nephews rotten," he joked, causing Annie to smile. "I enjoy being around them. And as far as not having dated for awhile, that is not a problem. I don't have much experience with it myself, as you can tell by my blundering. We can both learn together."
"I'm not sure what my family's reaction to this will be. It may take them awhile to get used to the fact that I'm dating again, especially Sam and David. They were still in middle school when Eric died."
"Annie Camden," Ryan joked, "if I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to come up with reasons not to date me."
Annie looked mortified. "Oh, Ryan, that's not the case at all! I just felt it right to warn you about what you were getting yourself into."
"Annie, it's okay. I was just joking. And you don't have to worry about a thing. I love your family. It's big, and they're loud, and nosy, and crazy, but I love them all the same. If it takes them awhile to adjust to you dating again, then that's fine. I can deal with that. We can take it slow until they get used to it. Although, I have to say, we've known each other for four years now. I've eaten countless meals with you at Ben and Lucy's, been over for Sunday dinners at your house, and spent time with you as a friend. I don't think this is going to go all that slow."
Annie smiled. "I was thinking the same thing. There's a lot that we already know about each other, and we're both older, so I wasn't anticipating it going slow, either."
After Annie and Ryan finished their meal, they went back to Annie's house. As they sat in the living room, Ryan asked, "Annie, what about Eric? I mean, he died eight years ago, is it still hard for you when you think about him?"
Annie got a thoughtful look on her face. "Yes, in some ways it is. I still miss him. We were married for over thirty years, and we were just as in love the day he died as the day we got married. What I had with Eric was great, but he's gone now, and it's time for me to move on. I can't spend the rest of my life mourning for him. So, if what you're asking is if his memory is going to interfere at all with our relationship, the answer is no. There's still going to be times where I think of him, and miss him, of course, and there's going to be some days that are harder than others, such as his birthday, our anniversary, and the day that he died, but it's not something that I constantly think about anymore, not like the first couple of years he was gone."
"What about your kids? Are they going to feel like you're betraying their dad by dating me?"
"I think they're pretty much old enough now that they're not going to react that way, and it has been eight years, so, no, I don't think that will be a problem," Annie assured him.
Before Ryan had a chance to say anything more, they heard the kitchen door open.
"Mom? I'm back from Lucy's," Sam called. "David went over to Leah's for lunch."
Sam walked into the living room, and stopped when he saw Ryan and Annie sitting on the couch together. He stood looking at them for a moment, then said, "I didn't know you were coming over today, Ryan. Mom, is this who you went out to eat with?"
From the tone of Sam's voice, Annie couldn't tell how he felt about it. She answered slowly, "Yes, it is."
"Does anyone else know about this?" Sam asked.
"Lucy, Ben, Ruthie, and Peter know," Annie replied.
"Oh, so when were you planning on telling the rest of us?" Sam demanded.
"Sam…" Annie sighed. "I wasn't trying to keep this a secret from any of you. Ryan called me up last night and asked if I wanted to go to lunch with him this afternoon, and I said yes. I called Lucy up to ask her to come over and help me pick something out to wear, and she told Ruthie because they were on the phone at the time, and, of course, they both told their husbands."
Ryan spoke up then, "I think it'd be best for me to leave now so that you two can talk. I'll call you tonight," he told Annie.
Once Ryan had left, Annie asked Sam, "Is everyone else still over at Lucy's?"
Sam nodded. "I was the first one to leave."
"Well, to avoid having to explain this seven times, why don't we both go over to Lucy's? I'll explain everything when we get there."
"What about David? He should know, too," Sam said accusingly.
"I know that, and I'll tell him when he gets home. Sam, I'm really not trying to keep this a secret from any of you."
Sam didn't reply, instead, he turned and walked back towards the kitchen. Annie sighed, then got up and followed him. Together, they walked in silence over to Lucy's.
When Annie and Sam arrived, Lucy was surprised. "Hi, Mom. I didn't think you were coming over at all today."
"Well, I wasn't planning to, but I need to talk to all of you, and I figured it would be best if I did it as soon as possible," Annie explained.
Lucy nodded, understanding exactly what Annie needed to talk to them about. "Almost everyone's out back, except for Sarah and Rose. They're in the kitchen cleaning up from lunch." Lucy stated. She paused, then asked, "Did you want everyone to be there, or just the seven, well, six, since David isn't here, of us?"
Annie thought for a moment, then replied, "I think just the six of you would probably be best. After all, someone needs to watch the kids."
"Okay. I'll go round everyone up. We can talk in the living room," Lucy stated, walking towards the back door. A few minutes later she was back with Matt, Mary, Simon, and Ruthie following.
"What's up, Mom? Luce said you wanted to talk to all of us. Is something wrong?" Matt asked once they were all sitting down.
Annie sighed and took a minute to think about what to say. "No, nothing's wrong, but I do have something to tell you all." She took a deep breath, then rushed out, "I'm seeing someone."
"What?" "Who?" "Since when?"
Everyone started talking at once, and question were flying so fast Annie couldn't tell who was saying what, or even make out what was being said. Finally, Matt held up his hands.
"Okay, everyone, she can't explain or answer any of our questions if we're all talking over each other. Let's slow down and let her explain," Matt instructed. Once everyone had settled down, he turned to Annie and waited for her to speak.
"You all know him, quite well in fact. It's Captain Stevens, Ben's captain. And he just asked me today if he could date me. We went out after church and ate lunch together, and that's when he asked me. I know that this is probably a shock to all of you. I know that it's going to take you all some time to get used to me dating someone, but please understand that I'm not trying to hurt any of you or betray your father's memory. No one can ever replace Eric, but I feel that it's time for me to start moving on with my life. It's been eight years since he died, and I know that he'd want me to be happy." Annie stopped and looked around the room, waiting for a reaction.
Lucy was the first to say something. "I think it's great, Mom. We can't, and shouldn't, expect you to stay single for the rest of your life. You deserve as much of a chance to be happy as any of us. Like you said, it's been eight years since Dad died, and that's longer than it was after Kevin got killed before Ben and I got married. I'm happy for you. Captain Stevens is a great guy."
"Lucy's right. It was wrong of us to ever assume that you would just stay single for the rest of your life. It's just hard for us to imagine you with anyone other than Dad. It's not that we're not happy for you, I think it's just come as a shock to all of us," Simon said.
Matt nodded. "We really are happy for you, Mom. We're not mad, we just didn't expect this. I don't think we've ever thought about the thought that you would one day start dating."
"Why didn't you tell us that it was Captain Stevens that you were going out to eat with? Why all the secrecy? Were you going to hide it from us? If I hadn't walked in on you and the captain, when would you have told us?" Sam asked, his tone accusatory.
Annie sighed. "I didn't want you all to make a big deal out of my lunch with Ryan, and I know that's what would have happened if I'd told all of you about it. I wasn't trying to be secretive. And until this afternoon, there really wasn't anything going on between us; we were just friends, so there was really nothing to tell you. After Ryan asked if he could date me, I knew that I would have to tell all of you, and I was planning to. I was going to try to get everyone together at once so I didn't have to explain it multiple times, but then when Sam came home and found Ryan and I sitting on the couch talking, I knew I needed to tell all of you as soon as possible, so I figured I'd come over here and tell you today. I'm sorry if it seems like I was trying to hide this, because I wasn't. I wanted you all to know."
"How does Captain Stevens feel about all of us? I mean, we're not your typical family. For one thing there's seven of us, not to mention all the spouses and Sam and David's girlfriends, plus all the grandchildren. We can be loud and crazy, and very opinionated, not to mention nosy. Does he really know what he's getting himself into?" asked Mary, trying to lighten things up a bit.
Everyone laughed and Annie said, "I warned him about all that, and I think he's been around for enough family dinners and celebrations to know what you all are like. Despite all that, he still wants to date me."
"I think you've got yourself a keeper there, Mom. It's not often you find someone who can put up with all of us!" Ruthie proclaimed, causing everyone to laugh again. Once everyone had quieted back down, she spoke up again. "Peter and I have something that we've been wanting to tell you all, too, so do you think someone could go round up the rest of the adults? That is, if we were done discussing Mom's announcement."
Since no one said anything, Mary got up. "I'll go find everyone else and bring them in here."
A few minutes later she was back, bringing with her Ben, Peter, Carlos, Cecilia, and Rose. "Okay, we're all here now, Ruthie. What did you want to tell us?" she asked once everyone was seated.
Ruthie looked at Peter, who nodded, then said, "I'm pregnant!"
"How far along are you?" Lucy immediately wanted to know.
"About a month," Ruthie replied. "I just found out myself earlier this week, and went to see Matt the same day, just to make sure. According to him, both myself and the baby are perfectly healthy."
"Hopefully it will be a boy; the girls are starting to outnumber us!" Simon exclaimed.
"It's just payback for when we were growing up and the boys outnumbered the girls!" Lucy shot back.
"Alright, alright, let's not start a fight over a baby," Matt joked, holding up his hands. "Although I have to wonder when someone else is going to announce that they're pregnant. It seems like pregnancies always come in groups of two or three around here."
"Trying to drum up some more business for yourself, Matt?" Mary asked, jokingly.
"Hey! I was just stating a fact, although I must say it definitely wouldn't hurt business."
"Well, what about you and Sarah? Your girls are nine, isn't it about time you had a baby?" Ruthie asked.
"Sarah's going to kill me for telling you all this, but we have talked about having another one. We just haven't decided for sure if we want another one quite yet," Matt replied. He then turned to Simon and Rose. "What about you two? Last time you and Ruthie were pregnant at the same time. Care to repeat history?"
Rose laughed. "Not just yet. We just got Kaitlyn out of diapers, I think we'll wait a little bit before we have another one."
"Just so long as not everyone is pregnant at the same time! I'm not sure any of us men could handle that. Just imagine all the mood swings and cravings we'd have to deal with!" Peter said, shuddering at the thought and causing everyone to laugh.
"Wouldn't that be quite a way to welcome Captain Stevens to the family, making him put up with five pregnant women! I think that would be enough to scare any man off!" Ben exclaimed.
"Umm…I hate to interrupt this thrilling conversation, but David just texted and asked if everyone could stay here for a little while longer. He's on his way, and he said he has something to tell all of us," Sam interjected.
