AN: Here we go, another little chapter here.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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The need to knock at the door was a social courtesy that had long since been foregone in the Dixon kingdoms of 223 and 225 Pecan Grove Road. It had become clear to everyone residing in either of the houses, the day the gate had been put right in the middle of the fences that somewhat separated their houses, that though they lived in separate homes, there was never a really large separation between the two families.
So Carol walked right into the madhouse next door, not wholly unlike her own home, and found her sister in law in the kitchen serving up toasted sandwiches as quickly as she could flick them out of the two skillets she was working with and onto plates to cool.
That was one big difference between the two homes.
Where Carol's house was a veritable ocean of estrogen, Andrea's home was an absolute sea of testosterone.
"MJ!" Andrea yelled at the top of her lungs, not even having realized that Carol had come inside. "Randy! Get the lead out!"
Carol heard the thundering of feet upstairs just as Andrea noticed her.
"Hey dear," Andrea said, a quick and exhausted smile flitting across her face before she turned her back to Carol again and finished with the last two sandwiches she was toasting. As soon as she flicked them onto the plates to cool, she moved both skillets to the sink and then turned around with a sound that was a cross between a sigh and a groan.
"Bad time?" Carol asked, raising her eyebrows.
Andrea moved her mouth to speak, but was interrupted when MJ and Randy, Andrea's two oldest baby boys, came stomping into the kitchen.
"Ma! We gotta get outta here an' this ain't even done," Randy said, looking at the sandwiches piled on the two plates as though they were absolutely inedible.
"Get some bags, Randy," Andrea said. "Get some tinfoil and wrap them up. Last time I checked, you had thumbs…even if you haven't found an occasion to use them in your life."
Merle Junior, MJ, set about eating one of the sandwiches while he halfheartedly helped his brother, with one hand, to wrap the sandwiches in tinfoil and put them into paper bags.
That was another big difference. Whereas Sophia and Lizzie both went through stages of eating so little, too much time spent reading fashion magazines that Carol considered to be trash but still found, practically hidden, in their rooms, that they seemed to be on hunger strikes, Andrea and Merle put half their paychecks into feeding their brood. There was never a need to ask the boys if they were hungry, there was only the need to point them in the direction of the place where you intended to feed and water them.
And Carol knew that Andrea had her own hidden magazines to battle against.
"Ain't got time to pick up Hays," MJ drawled. "Not and bring him back here."
"Well where can you take him?" Andrea asked.
Carol caught MJ give Andrea a look and then he smirked. She rolled her eyes at him.
"You be nice to your baby brother and don't act like your father, he isn't a very good role model," Andrea mumbled, flicking a nearby dish towel in her oldest son's direction.
"You the one married him," MJ responded. "Look…I gotta be at lifting, gotta drop Randy off, and I gotta run food by Jake's practice?"
"And I need you to take sandwiches to your Daddy. He's working late," Andrea said.
MJ shook his head.
"Ain't gonna happen, can't," he said. "Don't got the time. You can go get Hays…drop the sandwiches off on ya way."
Andrea looked like that wasn't what she wanted to hear, and it most likely wasn't. That was one of the great things, honestly, that she'd found about having a son that could drive. It cut down on her back and forth.
Andrea was a nurse, and though she'd drastically cut her hours from what they once had been, given that raising four boys took more time than some might imagine, she still stayed busy for most of the hours in the day. If you added, on top of that, the fact that the eldest Dixon brother, Merle, wasn't as nearly as dedicated to making his wife's life run smoothly as his younger brother was, Andrea had often been left to, essentially, raise five boys.
"I can't pick Hays up," Andrea said to her oldest. "I can't. I've got a flat. The same flat I had since yesterday and nobody's brought me the tire I was supposed to be waiting on."
MJ snorted and pushed the bags of sandwiches toward Randy, who was choosing silence at the moment as his only defense, that wouldn't be going with them.
"I'll get'cha tire on my way in if Daddy ain't brought it up from the shop," MJ said. "You could walk down there…couple of miles? Roll the thing back…right on up the road."
Andrea glared at him and he snorted.
"I'll bring the tire if Daddy don't bring it first," MJ said.
"And Hays?" Andrea asked.
"Call Daddy," MJ said. "Maybe he'll bring Hays and the tire."
Andrea sighed.
"I'd get both faster if I did walk," she muttered.
"I can take you," Carol offered. "It's no big deal and Daryl's home with Jude. He'll be here when the girls get home. I wanted to talk to you anyway."
"Problem solved," MJ said. "Aunt Carol to the rescue."
Andrea nodded, looking a little sour about the whole thing, though Carol imagined it was mostly about the fact that Merle hadn't fixed her tire and had left her, on her day off, without any real means of transportation.
"Looks like Grumpy Mama," MJ said.
Carol backed up, all of them already knowing what was going to happen as soon as those words were uttered. It happened quite regularly since MJ had grown to a point where he was quite a large "boy" of 17 that stood a head taller than his father and, due to his weight lifting hobby and sports hobbies, was a good bit brawnier.
Andrea didn't have fight left in her, so she clearly just braced herself and backed against the counter, prepared for MJ to do exactly what he did…he heaved her up, bridal style, and dramatically bobbed her for a moment like he was rocking an overgrown baby.
Andrea did, of course, what anyone would do in that situation and waited for it to be over. And Carol laughed, because it was clear all over MJs face that one of the greatest thrills of his life so far was that he was able to lift and rock his mother without her really being able to do much to stop it.
"Is the Grumpy Mama gonna chill out?" MJ asked, putting on a dramatic "baby talk" accent.
"Put me down or the MJ's going to be grounded until the Grumpy Mama decides he can come out of his room again," Andrea answered back, though it was clear that she wasn't truly angry about the gesture.
She was restored to her position of having both feet on the floor and she hummed at her son as he hugged her roughly and kissed her forehead before Randy ran over to quickly kiss her on the cheek.
"MJ's picking you up after practice?" Andrea asked Randy.
"Nah," Randy said. "Mike's Ma already said she would drop me by. Gonna get burgers 'fore then so there ain't no need in making me a plate."
"10-4," Andrea responded. "Get outta here. You're both going to be late and Jake's gonna starve."
Carol accepted and returned the barked "goodbyes" that were tossed at her and watched as both MJ and Randy, bags of sandwiches in hand, thundered toward the door with absolutely no grace between them, collected shoes, and went in sock feet out the door, slamming it hard behind them.
Then she looked back at Andrea and smiled at the exasperated expression and deep sigh she got.
"So you already picked up Jude?" Andrea asked.
Carol nodded.
"And I should have just gone ahead and picked up Hays," Carol said. "But…we can go get him now? Take Merle some food? Might even get that tire while we're down there."
Andrea groaned.
"Or he could have just brought it home yesterday after I asked him to," she said. She shook her head.
"Boys will be boys?" Carol teased.
"If I had half the trouble from my boys that I have from my husband…I'd have gone insane years ago," Andrea said. "You need to go tell Daryl or you want to call him?"
"He's not even going to miss me," Carol said. "And if he does, he'll call over here and figure things out pretty quickly. Bring your cell?"
"Always," Andrea said. "Just…lemme grab some shoes. I don't want to go barefoot."
Carol followed her through the house, much messier than her own, even though her house was anything but clean, and watched as Andrea waded around in the floor of the closet for matching shoes. She put them on quickly and Carol followed her back through the house to gather her purse and keys. Carol grabbed the sandwiches that Randy had bagged for Merle and followed Andrea out.
"So how's your patient? After his little…operation?" Andrea asked, once they were crossing her yard and headed for the gate that would take them into Carol's yard and eventually toward her car.
Carol chuckled.
"He's fine, but he's going to milk it, you know that," Carol said.
Andrea hummed.
"I could get shot in the chest and Merle would still ask me what's for dinner," Andrea said. "He can jam his thumb and suddenly he can't do a damn thing for two days."
Carol laughed.
"That's about right," Carol responded.
"Thank you, by the way. For driving me?" Andrea asked.
"I would've hated to see you walking down the street…poor Hays trying to keep up…while you rolled a tire," Carol said. "You'd probably be alright until you hit the stop sign for Pecan, but that hill's pretty rough…it would be a pretty serious race to see if you or the tire would make it down to the house first."
"And Hays?" Andrea asked.
"Well, he'd catch up eventually," Carol said with a laugh.
"So what'd you want to talk to me about?" Andrea asked as she got into Carol's car. Carol waited to respond until she'd walked around the vehicle, gotten in, and buckled her seatbelt.
She cranked the car and pulled out of the driveway, turning in the direction of the daycare where both of their youngest went and where, actually, all of their others had gone before they were old enough to start kindergarten.
"Well," Carol said, "you're going to find out soon enough anyway…nobody around here can keep their mouths shut. It looks like Daryl and I are going for lucky number five. I'm about eight weeks already."
Andrea was silent for a moment. She was silent, actually, most of the way down Pecan Grove Road. Carol jumped when Andrea finally reached forward, smacking her hand on the dash with surprise. It made a loud enough noise that Carol knew the action had to have at least stung.
"Shut up!" Andrea spat. "No way! Are you serious, Carol Ann?"
Carol chuckled.
"Is that good or bad, because there's one thing I don't joke about, and that's babies," Carol said.
"Fuck…" Andrea said. "You know what this means…how did this happen?"
"I think you know how it happens," Carol said. She raised her eyebrows and looked at Andrea's shocked face when she stopped at the stop sign. "Or maybe you don't…"
Andrea tipped her head to the side and gave Carol an unamused look. She groaned.
"You know what it means," Andrea said. "You know what it always means."
Carol shook her head slightly.
"It doesn't mean a thing," Carol said. "You're just being superstitious. You're careful and nothing's going to happen in your house."
"It's not superstition," Andrea said. "It's a curse…or a magic spell…or something. And you know it! No matter how careful we are it isn't going to matter. I'm going to get pregnant from…from Merle's toothbrush touching my toothbrush or some nonsense like that."
Carol chuckled, not even bothered by her sister in law's reaction.
"That's definitely not how it happens," Carol said.
Andrea groaned and dropped her head against the window. Carol checked the rearview mirror and, seeing that they were alone on the road for the moment, remained stopped at the sign even though nothing was coming.
"Are you happy?" Andrea asked.
"Not there yet," Carol said. "But I'm working on it."
"Congratulations," Andrea said, the word almost coming out as a question.
"Thanks," Carol responded.
It was an exchange that had taken place so many times between the two of them that it had the sound of an over rehearsed script.
"What'd Daryl say?" Andrea asked.
"He's thrilled," Carol said. "Not that I expected any less from him…you know Daryl."
"Yeah," Andrea said. "I do. And I know Merle too."
"Just tell him to hurry up and have a vasectomy too," Carol offered.
Andrea snorted.
"I had a better chance of outrunning the tire…carrying Hays," Andrea offered in response. Carol chuckled at the image it brought to her mind.
"Then just don't have sex with him for like…I don't know…three or four years maybe, and the curse will be broken," Carol offered, biting her lip to keep from laughing. Seeing a car coming down the road behind them, she pulled the rest of the way up to the stop sign, rolling out far enough to check once more for cars, and then made the turn she'd been putting off.
"If you'd told me that last night," Andrea said, "then I'd have said we were on a pretty good streak. Now I'm just over here thinking that morning sex on your day off isn't all it's cracked up to be."
Carol laughed.
She dropped a hand from the steering wheel and reached across to pat Andrea's leg. Andrea dropped her hand over Carol's and squeezed it affectionately.
"I'm really happy for you," Andrea said. "For the record…and I know you'll be happy soon too. Look at it this way, this one might be that boy you were hoping for."
Carol hummed.
"I wouldn't count on it," she responded.