Nick and Sara: A Family Story

Disclaimer: Not mine, I'm just playing
Thanks to Audra for betaing.

Chapter 12

As Nick and Sara were getting dressed for dinner, Sara said, "I need you to go over your siblings, their spouses and their children again. Maybe with diagrams or something."

"Sure, Sara,"say Nick, while putting on his tie, "I'll go through it one more time. Here's how it goes:"

First, there is my brother Will, who is married to Christine. He's a district attorney here in Dallas and Christine is active in the junior league. They have Julie, William, the third, who they call Trey, who is at Yale Law, and Ashley, who is a junior at SMU.

Next is my sister Jill and her husband Eric. They are both corporate lawyers here in Dallas. They have Erica, who is a senior in high school and George who is a freshman in high school.

Then comes my sister Karen who teaches economics at University of Texas, Austin, and her husband Cole who teaches political science. Their daughter Caroline is a senior in high school.

After that there is my sister Erin and her husband Chris. Erin is a doctor and Chris is a cop here in Dallas. They have twin girls, Tiffany, who is a sophomore at Rice, and Tara, who is a sophomore at Texas A&M. Their son Kevin is a junior in high school.

Next comes, my sister Jennifer, who is the director of government affairs for Planned Parenthood of Texas, and her husband Todd, who is in public interest law. They live here in Dallas with their daughter Claire who is in sixth grade and their son Jeff, who is in fourth grade.

Finally, there is Suzy, who is a county social worker and Aaron who is a chemistry professor at Rice. They live in Houston. Their kids are Adam, age six, and Lauren, age four.

"Thanks Nick. I don't think there are this many people that I'm related too by blood alive so it's a little overwhelming. I remember the names and spouses, but the jobs and kids still trip me up."

"Don't worry about it. We need to hurry or we'll be late," said Nick.

The whole Stokes clan, as well as Julie's future in-laws, were gathered for dinner. There were several tables throughout the dining room, living room, and kitchen. There was no "kids table" or "grown-up table" because Jillian liked the family to mix.

Currently, they were all in the dining room waiting for Bill to say the blessing. "Before I say the blessing, I understand that there are a couple of announcements to be made. Who's first, Julie and Robert or Nick and Sara?"

Julie piped up "I think Uncle Nicky and Sara should go first. They've got news that people have been waiting for Uncle Nicky to share since I was in grade school."

"Well, thank you Julia. Let me re-iterate that anyone old enough to drive is welcome to just call me Nick and no one is welcome to call me Uncle Nicky. Also, my lovely niece exaggerates. Mom and Cisco would have tanned my hide if I had made an announcement like this while Julie was in grade school since I would have been in high school myself. Anyway, Sara and I are thrilled to announce that she's pregnant. The baby is due in late May or early June."

There were congratulations all around. Finally, Bill quieted everyone down saying "Let's let Julie and Robert say their piece so we can eat."

"Well," said Julie. "The short version of the announcement would be ditto. The long version is that Robert and I are also expecting. It seems like it will be a contest to see if Grandma and Grandpa get Grandbaby Number 17 or Great-Grandbaby Number 1 first."

After another round of congratulations died down, Bill led the family in a blessing. Everyone sat down to a wonderful and joyous family dinner.

A couple of hours later, some people were helping with clean-up, others were watching football, and some people were hanging out talking in the living room. Sara and Julie had been shooed out of the kitchen and told to sit down. Sara went to find Nick. He was in the family room watching football. Sara climbed into the easy chair Nick was sitting in with him and watched the game. She drifted off to sleep.

Nick tried to slip out of the chair without waking Sara, but he felt her stir. "Hey Sar' you dozed off during the game. I was just going to join in the annual family football game, but you can stay here."

"No, that's ok. I don't think I'm up for playing this year. You all seem to forget that this is supposed to be a touch game. I would like to watch."

Pretty much everyone but Jillian, Sara and Julie were involved in the game. Bill was the ref. Adam and Jeff were his assistants and Claire, Lauren and Lisa were cheerleaders/in charge of refreshments.

After Bill made the announcement that after last year's Thanksgiving Day emergency room visit that this would really, truly be a touch only game, Jillian went inside satisfied that her work was done.

"So Julie, your mom plays football?" said Sara.

"Not really, but she kind of pretends for awhile. She runs away from the ball," said Julie.

"I can't believe my daughter is out there playing cheerleader. This is worse than her Snow White and Sleeping Beauty obsession," said Sara.

"It's ok Sara. It won't kill her. Some of her aunts and cousins were cheerleaders and most of us turned out o.k. I would limit contact to my mother though. Being an SMU cheerleader was one of the highlights of her life. Plus, I promise to help deprogram Lisa. I'll get her feminist fairy tales for Christmas."

"Thanks! But what's this I hear about you being a cheerleader?"

"What can I say, I was my mother's daughter and lived in Texas. It wasn't until I went north to college that I become a feminist and a democrat. I think my mother's just thankful, I didn't become a lesbian," said Julie.

"You're awful. I can see why you are Nick's favorite."

"Thanks. I'll have you know that your husband doesn't share your anti-cheerleader stance or at least he didn't. I pretty sure he dated a couple," said Julie.

"Well, Nick's taste in women before me was known to be bad. He's just about lived it down at work. Trust me however, as a dad, he was just as happy as I was when Lacey decided she wanted to be part of student council and not cheerleading."

"Wow. He has changed. For middle school tryouts, he got his girlfriend, who was a Rice cheerleader, to teach me her routines. He also slipped condoms in my purse before my senior prom, but not before reminding me I didn't owe any guy anything."

"Julie, you are giving me all sorts of interesting information. I think everything he did growing up and everything we see at work hits him a little hard when it comes to his girls. He tries hard not to have a double standard, but deep down I think he'd like to lock Lacey in her room until she's thirty. By the way, that's for telling Nick that we can use your and Robert's surprise as an object lesson for Mike and Lacey."

"Well, I feel a little foolish, because it took my boss dragging me to the doctor to figure out I was pregnant. It never occurred to me that things could go wrong," said Julie shifting in her seat a bit.

"Julie, it took my husband getting an email from his niece to make us realize I might be expecting. Besides, we are forty years old with two teenagers and a toddler. Once, I'm showing especially if I'm out with Mike or Lacey everyone is going to think we had a surprise. Which we did, but not exactly like everyone was thinking."

Sara and Julie were watching the game when Lisa, bored with cheerleading comes to join them.

"Julie" said Lisa "you've got a baby growing in your tummy like mommy?"

"Yes," answered Julie.

"But you no married and Adam says you've got to be married to have a baby," said Lisa clearly trying to puzzle this out.

Quickly Sara jumps in and says "Well, Julie and Robert are almost married so it's ok. Sometimes grownups who love each other who aren't married make babies too."

"Mommy was it nice making the baby with Daddy? It sounds kind of yucky?"

"Lisa, making a baby with your Daddy was the nicest thing in the whole world. In fact, sometimes grownups who love each other make love even if they aren't planning on a baby. It's only yucky if you aren't a grownup and you aren't in love. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, Mommy. I go cheer now!"

"Well, I hope I handled that one ok. What do you think Julie?"

"I think you did just fine. I hope I do this well, with number one when I am pregnant with number two."

"Well, right about now, I wish I could drink," said Sara laughing.

Just then Jillian came and sat down next to Sara and Julie and said "what's so funny?"

"Well," said Sara "I was just thinking how nice a drink would be. Adam seems to have struck again so Lisa came to ask how Julie and Robert could be having a baby if they weren't married and then she asked me if making a baby with Nick was nice because it sounded yucky to her."

"Oh dear," said Jillian. "What did you say?"

"I told her that since Robert and Julie were almost married it was ok. I told her that sometimes grownups who love each other who aren't married make babies. I told her that making love was one of the best things in the world, but that it is kind of yucky if you aren't a grown-up in love."

"Well, I think that was a very nice answer. Kids do things like that to you. When he was Lisa's age Will asked me what a virgin was during church after reading the Apostle's Creed? I wanted the floor to open up and swallow us. It's not like I could tell him it wasn't a nice word and he could learn when he was older since we said it in church. Would you girls mind helping pull out the leftovers so we can feed this crew again when we are done with the game?"

"Sure," said Sara and Julie getting up to help.