Sunday mornings in the Van Koek house were always nice.
The family was always busy, but Sundays were the one time of week when they really went out of the way their way to at least have breakfast together. Emily and JJ, along with Jessica and Luuk took up one side of the kitchen table, while Aurora and the others took up the other side. The remains of a large breakfast spread was in the middle of the table, and things had even fallen into a contented lull.
However, nobody got up right away because every other person was too wrapped up in their own thoughts. This made it eerily quiet.
"Okay," Aurora said into the silence. "What's the matter with all of you?"
She was talking directly to her parents—all four of them. Emily and JJ were more transparent than they thought, Jessica's head was in the clouds and she was having a texting marathon with someone, and Luuk was behaving like a giddy schoolboy with a secret.
At the sound of Aurora calling shenanigans, everyone else paused in their breakfast consumption to watch.
"JJ and Emily both look like the cat who ate the canary," Aurora continued. "Mom is texting—at breakfast—and need I remind everyone that this is the same person who still struggles with Skype? Dad looks like he's just fit to burst about something."
Spencer arched an eyebrow at Aurora's parents, equally invested. "Cough it up."
JJ went first. "Emily and I have been invited to stay here another day."
Aurora was taken aback. "Pardon me?"
"Athena Dowell was meant to come film at the studio with Jessica, for the Christmas special."
"Woah. Then what happened?"
"Things didn't quite work out, and Jessica asked Emily and I if we would like to come, instead."
"I take it that you both said yes?"
JJ bobbed her head. "We did, and there's more."
"Of course there is—because this house is hardly ever still, is it? What's up, now?"
Next to Aurora, Juliana said, jokingly, "Mom, did your Vanity Fair interview get bumped up to today?"
"As a matter of fact, it did. So did the photoshoot."
Juliana almost choked on her coffee, mostly surprised at her mother's casualness and that her wild guess had been right on the money.
"There's another thing on top of that, isn't there?" she inquired.
"The journalist invited Emily and JJ along, too, when I told her about them."
Jessica turned to Aurora.
"I may be technologically inept in some areas, my dear, but I've been texting," she waved her phone at her daughter. "On your behalf. You're on Christmas vacation, right?"
"Right…"
"Then I'll have you know that there are invitations for you to come to the photoshoot, the interview, and to the studio—with all three of your mothers."
Aurora's heart jumped into her throat, and she looked at the other occupants on her side of the table. Spencer, Juliana, Katrinka, and Maxwell each looked over their shoulders. Alice and Zadie just giggled.
Spencer looked back at his girlfriend. "What are you looking at us for?"
"I… don't know…" she admitted.
"If you're worried about one of us feeling jealous, or left out," Katrinka chimed in. "I know that I'm not either of those things."
Juliana nodded in agreement. "Neither am I. You deserve this."
Aurora looked over to Maxwell, who became startled that that she valued his opinion so much at all.
"Hey, Rora—I'm happy you are. Go have fun."
Emboldened, Aurora turned to her mothers. "I'm in. When are the photo shoot and things happening?"
"Well," Jessica glanced at the clock on the stove. "A car is coming at ten…"
"Ten?!" Aurora squawked. "I have to go get ready—it's already past eight-thirty!"
Nearby, Alice had a sudden epiphany. "Does this mean we're staying longer now?"
Spencer filled her in. "You and mommy are, but—"
This was all Alice heard because she turned to Zadie, and they began chattering with each other in rapid-fire Dutch, a habit of theirs when they were excited. Even a non-Dutch speaker could see that the cousins were making plans about what to do with their extra day. They were going so fast that their mothers, and Juliana, Katrinka, and Maxwell were tracking their conversation and beginning to struggle with concealing their amusement.
Emily looked over at Jessica and Luuk. They were also watching their grandchildren, tickled with what was happening. She wondered what they were thinking about, besides that.
A year ago, she had felt incredibly alone. Now, three hundred and sixty-five days later, she was working in an elite division of the FBI, and because of that job, she'd met the absolute love of her life and was building a family with her, and one of her closest friends had met and fallen in love with the daughter she'd thought she'd never see again. She was also sitting in her daughter's parents' kitchen, wondering what all was on their minds at the moment, and wondering when they were going to tell the rest of the family about the biggest piece of news they had yet to share.
A lot had happened in a year, and Emily already found herself subconsciously planning next year's Christmas, where they could all be together somewhere.
Luuk seemed to be on Emily's wavelength, at least, because he blurted, "We have something really special and exciting to share, but I think Jessica should say it."
The Van Koek children and Spencer immediately shifted their attention to the family matriarch. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
"In the summertime, I'm going to have a baby!"
Aurora and her siblings each responded by spitting out their drinks in surprise.
"Ha!" Aurora crowed to her sisters and brother as they all began to clean up. "You all owe me twenty dollars!"
Grumbling, her siblings each passed her the bet money from pockets of jeans or shirts. Aurora happily counted and pocketed her winnings. At the end of the table, Zadie heaved a dramatic sigh and handed Alice two rather larger pieces of peach slices off her plate. They were the last pieces left.
Spencer was the only one who remained as cool as a cucumber.
"No dramatics to add?" Jessica teased him.
"Nope. Just my congratulations to pass on." he said cheerfully. "I did have a guess, though."
"Because you study human behavior. When did you guess, then?"
"Within an hour of our arrival here from Penn Station."
Jessica laughed, shaking her head. Then she looked to Aurora.
"What about you?"
"Yesterday." Aurora said simply. "I know I cried about some dumb things when I carried Alice, but you cried through a commercial about paint samples."
"And what? You suggested to your brother and sisters that sibling number five could be on the way, and they laughed, so you put money on it?"
"That about sums it up, yes."
By now, Jessica wasn't even bothering to hide her amusement, so she turned her gaze to her granddaughters.
"Alice, did you guess about the baby, like your mommy and daddy did?"
"Yep!" the little girl answered confidently.
"Then you bet Zadie two peach slices that there's a baby in my tummy?"
"I did!"
"Huh." Jessica marveled. "That's amazing."
Zadie finally spoke. "Oma, are you kidding that there's a baby in there?"
"No, my tiny love, I am not kidding. Want to feel?"
She nodded, and crossed around the table to where Jessica was in her seat. Alice followed suit. After a moment of feeling Jessica's baby bump, the little girls both felt satisfied and gave it pats and kisses before leaving the room together.
Trying not to drown in how adorable they were, Aurora turned to Emily and JJ.
"Did you two already know?"
"We did." they answered in unison.
Luuk reminded them of his presence and cleared his throat. "Everyone come give Jessica a hug, and then I suggest everyone who is going out, get ready, pronto."
There was a flurry of activity after that, during which both of the elder Van Koeks got a lot of hugs and congratulations. Emily and JJ tried to help clean up with breakfast, but Luuk wouldn't hear of it because he didn't want them to fall behind in getting ready for the rest of their day.
When their bedroom door was closed behind them, Emily found herself sighing wistfully.
"I know what you're thinking." JJ told her.
"Oh?" From the bed, Emily watched JJ undress and look for clean clothes in her travel bag. "And what would that be?"
"That even though we're both federal agents for the United States government, our lives are still going to be quiet when we leave New York."
JJ sat beside her, in just her underthings. "That's exactly what I was thinking."
"That's exactly what I was thinking." Emily kissed her girlfriend. "But right now, let's just soak it all in."
So they did.
I promise the next one will be longer, because I have an idea that you'll just love ;)