After Paige and Emily shared the good news with Emily's friends in Rosewood, and Paige came through with a proper proposal, the only remaining loose end was to fly out and tell Paige's parents and foster children.
They found an inexpensive suite at the Sheraton, having made arrangements with the children's mother for them stay with them for the weekend. They thought that it would be best to tell Abby and Brendan first, to give them some time to react and come to terms with the news before they all got together to tell Paige's parents.
When Paige answered the door at the hotel, Abby came bursting in, giving her huge hug, and sharing another with Emily.
Brendan was more diffident. He clung tight to his mother, eyeing Emily and Paige suspiciously. Emily was torn. She knew that it was appropriate behavior – and even good – for him to bond so deeply with his natural mother, yet she was heartbroken at the sight of her little buddy from Rosewood now treating her like a stranger. She twisted her torso back towards Paige, who gestured with her chin that Emily should approach him. She walked up slowly and sank to her knees, down to Brendan's level. Brendan hid his face in his mother's legs.
It was all that Emily could do to keep from crying. She knew that, if she did, Brendan would start crying, too. She didn't want to make him emotionally conflicted.
"He's just tired," his mother explained. Turning her attention to him, softening her voice, she said, "Bren, it's Emily! You know, the one you can't stop talking about." She threw that in for Emily's benefit. "Don't you want to stay in this nice hotel with them?" Her voice got high with excitement as she told him, "I think they're going to get pizza!"
Brendan didn't make a sound or a move. He stood as still as a soldier. His mother patted his back as she apologized to Emily and Paige. Eventually, she disentangled herself and ducked out of the door.
Brendan was frozen in place; caught between two worlds.
"Brendy," Abby said, leaning to take a step towards him. Paige put her hands on Abby's shoulders, though, keeping her close. She knew that Emily would need to learn to work her way through this situation. Emily took a step closer, and Brendan turned his back to her, palms against the door, crying for all he was worth. Emily looked back at Paige with a pathetic pout. Paige tightened her lips and leaned over sympathetically.
Emily took a deep breath and walked up to Brendan. Kneeling down again, she asked, "Brendan, buddy, could I have a hug? Sometimes, a friend just needs a hug."
Brendan turned around mid-sob and extended his arms. Emily picked him up and let him cry on her shoulder. She didn't tell him that it was okay or try to shush him. She just let him hug her, and hugged him back, bouncing him up and down a little. When his cries subsided and his body stilled, she looked at Paige, mouthing the words, "Is he asleep?" She turned her around for a moment, so that Paige could see his head. When she turned around again, she saw Paige shake her head no.
Emily headed over to the couch and sat down with Brendan, his head still on her shoulder, in her lap. "Hey, Buddy, do you want to get some pizza?" She felt him nod. "Well, how about this. Why don't we get the pizza delivered right here, to our room? That way, you don't have to get dressed up. You can even eat in your pajamas, if you want. Okay?"
"Okay," he said softly. "I got Batman!"
Emily opened her mouth wide, showing excitement for Brendan's sake. "You have Batman pajamas?"
"Uh huh!"
"No way! That's so cool!" Emily winked at Paige. "Mommy P. has Batman pajamas, too, you know!" Paige chuckled self-consciously.
Paige and Emily showed the kids to their room, telling them that they could bounce on the beds for a few minutes, if they wanted – but not to try that at home. By the time they bounced, changed, and got washed up, the pizza had arrived.
Brendan was back to being Emily's little buddy again, wanting her, and only her, to give him his pizza and to cut it up into bite-sized pieces for him. He actually ended up sitting in her lap, eating from her plate.
"Well," Paige told them after dinner. "Ms. Emily and I have something very important to tell you."
"Is it a secret?" Abby wanted to know.
"Not really," Paige explained, "but not many people know about it."
"I won't tell," Brendan assured her.
"It's okay, Buddy. Mom P. and I would never tell you something that you had to keep secret, okay?"
Brendan nodded.
"Okay, are you ready?" The kids chorused a hearty, "Yes!" and Paige continued. "Well, Ms. Emily and I have decided that we're going to get married."
"Like Grandpa Nick and Grandma Marlene?" Abby asked.
"Yes, like that. Except we're both women." The significance of that fact was lost on the two children.
"Will you wear a dress?"
"Really, Abby?" Paige looked at Emily. "Why does everybody ask me that?"
"Paige, she wants to know whether you're going to wear a wedding dress. She's probably seen pictures of weddings, right, Abby?"
Abby nodded. "You'd look pretty in a wedding dress."
"i think so, too," Paige whispered.
Brendan was looking back and forth between the two fiancées, his mouth slightly open.
"Brendan, do you understand what I said?"
Brendan shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, it means that you can call Ms. Emily 'Mommy Em.'"
"If you want to," Emily added quickly. She knew that might be a little much to expect. "You can still call me Ms. Emily."
Brendan smiled shyly. "I have three Mommies," he said to himself.
"That really jarred me," Emily admitted softly, "seeing Brendan like that."
Paige squeezed her arms around Emily and kissed her shoulder. "It wasn't you, you know. You have to understand that those kids have been through a lot of disruption. It's hard for them to process all the comings and goings."
Emily just nodded, glad that Paige couldn't see the pain on her face.
"I mean, Abby's older, so she's better at hiding it but..." Paige sighed. "It's just a shame, seriously, to think about everything they've been through in their young lives."
Emily rolled over and placed her hand on Paige's cheek. "Oh, Paige, I didn't mean to make it all about me..."
"No, I know you didn't. And I understand what you were feeling. Believe me, I would never downplay that."
Emily nodded and turned around again, into the comfort of Paige's arms around her waist.
"You handled it well," Paige whispered.
"Yeah," Emily mused. "I just really needed that hug."
"And Brendan needed to know that. He needed to know that it was hard for you, too, and that you needed him."
"I really love those kids, Paige."
Paige and Emily took the kids to the playground after breakfast on Saturday morning. They let them run around and be kids, enjoying the experience of chasing after them. All of the drama from the night before had been forgotten. They were just a family again - or, at least, it felt like a family.
Once the kids - not to mention, the adults - were all tired out, they headed back to the hotel for naps before their dinner with Paige's parents.
Emily wasn't quite sure what to expect out of Nick and Marlene. Marlene was her facebook friend, and she had learned a thing or two about her political and religious leanings. She also learned, from all the recipes and baking videos, where Paige had gotten her love for the kitchen. But other than the occasional greeting on the phone - the abrupt "She's fine, Mom. Here - I'll put her on!" - Emily hadn't really interacted with them.
"Nervous?" Paige asked in the rental car.
"No, why would I be?" Emily shoved Paige for the sheer foolishness of that question. "Of course I'm nervous! It's the first time I'm meeting your parents, and we're going to drop this bomb on them?"
Emily felt a small hand on her back. "It's okay, Mommy Em. Grandma Molly and Grandpa Nick are really nice."
"Ohhh!" Emily looked at Paige with a sad/smiling expression, her heart melted by Abby's words of comfort.
"Now, my Dad doesn't say a lot," Paige reminded Emily as they walked up to the front door hand in hand, each holding one of the children's hands. "It doesn't mean that he doesn't like you."
Emily nodded and smiled. She knew that Paige was trying to make her feel better, but she was scaring the hell out of her.
"Well, hello!" Marlene said as she opened the door with her arms wide, hugging Paige first, then Abby. She picked Brendan up and spun him around. "And how's my big boy?"
The kids' mom kept them in contact with Paige's parents, so Brendan wasn't as shy around them as he normally was with strangers.
"And, Emily," Marlene oozed, taking her hand, "it's so nice to meet you!"
Nick McCullers stepped into the entryway, and Emily immediately recognized the look of steely-eyed determination on his face. She'd seen it many times in Paige. She might have laughed to herself at the resemblance, if she weren't so intimidated.
Abby and Brendan ran up to "Grandpa Nick" each wrapping around a leg. He struggled to take a few steps before they jumped off, raising their hands towards his arms. "Oh, okay," he said, holding his arms out at his sides and bending them at elbow, flexing his biceps. The kids each latched onto one of his flexed muscles, and he raised his arms, hoisting them a few inches off of the ground. "Hold on tight! Don't be a wimp!" he taunted. "Aww," he groaned sympathetically when they eventually fell away.
Emily laughed out loud, looking over at Paige. Paige shrugged. "My Dad loves kids!"
Nick turned his attention to his daughter, extending his hand. Emily was taken aback. A handshake, really? Nick and Paige grabbed hands and began a sort of midair arm wrestling duel. "I see you're still hitting the gym," Nick grunted out, his face turning slightly red. After a bit he laughed and exchanged the grip for a hug. "And Emily," he said with a smile, hugging her as well, "Pleased to meet you."
"So, no arm wrestling?" Emily asked as the hug ended. She laughed nervously, not sure that she was allowed to joke like that with Nick.
"Nah," he said waving her off with his hand. "I'll give you a pass this time." Looking sideways to Paige he said, pretending to whisper, "Looks as if this one could give me a run for my money!"
Emily laughed along with Nick and Paige. She could see that she was in for an interesting evening.