"CAITLIN LEIGH TODD YOU ARE WHAT?!" Rachael's eyes widened and her jaw hung down by her knees in sheer shock.
Kate simply blushed slightly, raising her eyebrows and smiling nervously. She had asked her whole family to come down for the weekend (a family which also included 4 week old Harry Richard James Todd, Rick and Jessica's new born son).
"I'M GONNA HAVE ANOTHER NEICE OR NEPHEW?!" Rachael squealed, her excitement at her little sisters news almost making her burst at the seams. "OH MY GOD, KATIEEEEEE" Rachael clapped her hands excitedly, pulling Kate in for a bone crushing hug.
One down, seven more to go. Kate thought to herself, as Rachael continued jumping up and down, before running off in search of Mark to share her good news. As Rachael and Mark were the first to arrive that morning, they would be the first in the family to find out. After all, she was six months on Sunday, so her bump wasn't something that could easily be hidden anymore, so it wasn't like she could hide it until the rest of the Todd family arrived. Rick had phoned her half an hour ago, letting her know that they were almost there. Her parents were travelling with Rick Jnr, Jess and the baby and Joe and Tommy weren't going to get there till mid afternoon –which was something of a slight relief for both Kate and Tony.
Not even ten minutes later, the front door bell rang again. Kate eyed Tony nervously from her spot on the sofa, and Tony just smiled sweetly as he stood to answer the door. Rachael, who was sat next to Kate on the sofa, picked up on Kate's nervousness and squeezed her hand.
"It's gonna be okay, Katie. Don't worry" Rachael reassured Kate, as the commotion from the hallway flooded into the living room. Kate thanked any and every God that would listen that Grace chose that exact moment to clamber off the floor and into her lap, acting as a human shield for her protruding stomach.
As everybody began filing back into the living room, Kate's heart began to race. Everybody exchanged excited hellos, but Grace just seemed to shy away and bury her face into her mothers chest. She wasn't used to so many people being around, and even though she knew who they were, it was rare she actually saw her grandparents and aunts and uncles in the flesh, so naturally it was overwhelming for her.
"Hey Katie" Rick Jnr smiled, holding his tiny, sleeping son in his arms.
"Dolly?" Grace asked, pointing towards her baby cousin, causing everybody to laugh.
"No, that's not a dolly. That's your baby cousin Harry, remember?" Kate asked ad Grace simply nodded, picking up on the word 'baby' and patting her mothers stomach. Thankfully, nobody but Kate and Rachael picked up on that. "Hey, Rick" Kate smiled, turning to her brother as he kissed her on the cheek.
"Do you mind if we put Harry down somewhere?" Rick asked as innocently as possible and Kate couldn't help but smile. He honestly looked like the Hulk cradling an ant or something.
"Of course not" Kate smiled. "Little Miss Gracie here has got to go for a nap anyway so you can put him in her old crib"
"Thanks" Rick smiled gratefully as Kate stood up and lead him up the stairs.
"I'm surprised you came" Kate said as she placed Grace down in her bed. "I mean, Harry's only a month old and you traveled across the country with him! You didn't have to, y'know? I would have understood"
"I know you would" Rick shrugged, leaning over and kissing a sleepy Grace on the head. "But you know Jess and I would do anything for you, even if it means driving halfway across the country with a new born and your parents!" he chuckled as he followed Kate into another room, completely oblivious to the fact that it was a nursery. "We never see you and we miss you, so when the opportunity is there, we're not going to pass it up" he shrugged, carefully placing his sleeping son down in the crib. "And besides, only Mom and Dad have seen Harry, so it'll be nice for the rest of the family too as well!"
"Yeah" Kate smiled as she and her older brother stared down at Harry's tiny sleeping form. He was wearing a light blue and white striped baby grow and had thick blonde hair. Kate's hand subconsciously rested on her own stomach as she knew that in three months she and Tony would be looking down at their own new born sleeping in their crib. "He's so beautiful, Ricky!" Kate smiled as Harry gurgled in his sleep.
"Right?!" Rick exclaimed proudly. "Wait till he's awake, Katie! He's got these massive blue eyes that are such an amazing colour! The photos really don't do them justice! I think he's gonna grow up looking like Jess, with the blonde hair and bright blue eyes!"
"He could do. But Grace's hair has changed since she was born. It was really dark when she was born and it's bordering on blonde now! And I seem to recall pictures of the twins being ginger till they were about three"
"Fair point" Rick shrugged. He hadn't really thought about that, but he didn't really care. He was just so happy and proud to be a Dad.
Kate followed Rick down the stairs, nervously playing with her fingers as she did. She took a side-step to her handbag to fish out the old scan photos and was glad that Tony's sweater covered the bump. Sort of. Head on she just looked fat, but from the side it was pretty obvious. Although, she hadn't given anyone enough of a chance to actually see anything yet. She took a deep, calming deep breath before she entered the living room where her family was all chatting happily among themselves, except for Jessica and Rick who were struggling to keep their eyes open.
As Kate entered the room, the low hum of chatter seemed to fizzle down as the atmosphere grew somewhat nervous and awkward.
"Caitlin, are you alright, dear?" Martha asked, worrying as she laid eyes on her daughters serious expression.
"Um" Kate swallowed hard as Tony stood from his seat next to Mark and walked over to join her, slipping his hand around his waist and feeling slightly relieved as Kate seemed to relax against his touch. "There's a reason Tony and I wanted you all to come visit" Kate said shakily, the butterflies in her stomach easing as Tony pulled her closer to him slightly.
"Kate, what is it?" Her father asked, growing more and more worried by the second. "Are you okay? Is Gracie okay?"
"No, no. We're both fine" she waved her hand. Like a band aid, remember? "Well, Tony and I are having a baby" Kate ripped off the band aid, blurting her news out.
The whole room seemed to fall silent. Martha and Richard Todd's expressions seemed hard to read, probably due to the fact that they were stunned speechless, Rachael's eyes had once again widened, because even though she already knew, it still shocked her that Kate had blurted(or at least what would be blurting something out in Kate's definition) her news, and Rick and Jessica looked more alive than they had since the birth of their son.
Tony laced his hand with Kate's and stroked her knuckles reassuringly. Her grip of his hands was like a vice, but that was simply because nobody had said a word and she was starting to think that her fears were coming true. The fears that everybody would react badly to the news. That they'd disown her for having another child out of wedlock. For becoming pregnant again while she was still in her teens.
OH GOD. OH GOD. OH GOD. OH GOD. OH GOD. OH GOD.
Richard Todd was the first to break the silence. In reality they had only been silent a couple of moments, but for Kate and Tony, those few moments felt like a lifetime!
"I'm going to be a Grandpa again?" he asked eagerly. Kate just nodded slightly, not meeting her fathers eye. "Oh Caitlin, that's wonderful!" He exclaimed, jumping out of his seat and wrapping his arms around his daughter and sort of son-in-law.
"Wait, you're… you're not mad?" Kate asked as he father squeezed the pair of them tightly.
"Mad? Of course not! Why would I be mad?"
"Because I'm only 19 and Tony's only 20. The fact that we're not married and still in college. The fact that you raised me to be Catholic and yet I've got two children, to two different fathers, out of wedlock?"
"Is that what you really think, Kate? Okay, so it's not exactly what your mother and I dreamed of when we had you, but somehow it's even better! The two different fathers thing, well, that can't be helped, Katie, and you know it! Yes, you and Tony are young, but you're already amazing parents to Grace and you're in a committed relationship. I don't care about any of the other stuff, this is wonderful news! I'm just so excited I get to watch my Grandchildren grow up!" he pulled a teary eyed Kate into anther hug, kissing her on the forehead as he did so.
Just as Richard released his daughter, Martha stood up. She had remained silent, almost stoic. Her eyes were full to the brim with tears. She looked at both Kate and Tony, making both of them swallow hard as her expression was so blank and hard to read. Martha's eyes scanned her daughter up and down, Kate always was and always would be her baby. It was hard enough to watch her go, let alone watch her grow up so quickly.
A tear rolled down Kate's cheek as she stood under her mothers gaze. Oh God, she hates me. Kate could feel everybody else in the room watch her and her mother nervously, all of them thinking the same thing; that Martha Todd was going to have a meltdown. Rachael eyed Rick nervously as their mother stayed silent and stoic, just simply staring at her youngest daughter. Rachael had honestly just thought that her parents would be a little shocked, but that they'd take the news well. Even Richard Todd was starting to worry about his wife now. He could see Kate crumbling beneath her gaze and he honestly did not know what to do. This could go either way. He had thought that Martha would be like him, but now he wasn't so sure.
Kate seemed to be getting more and more visibly agitated by the second and it was starting to seriously worry everybody.
"Mom" Kate choked as tears streamed down her cheeks. "Mommy I'm so sorry" she sobbed.
Something in Martha snapped. Sorry? Did she really just say she was sorry?
Tears now rolled down Martha Todd's cheeks and she took a much needed deep breath.
"Don't you ever, ever say you're sorry!" Martha said firmly, wiping the tears away from her eyes with a shaky hand. "You hear me? Don't you ever apologize for giving me Grandchildren!" she wrapped her arms around Kate and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Okay, so the way Gracie came into this world… it was horrible. But look at the pair of you now! Kate, I am so incredibly proud of you and I never want you to forget that! You're my baby, and you always will be! You've got Tony and like your father said, you two may still be young, but you're already phenomenal parents. You're already a family, and you have been for quite a while. Oh God, Kate… I am so happy right now!" Martha cried as Kate squeezed her for dear life.
"You scared me so much, Mom!" Kate sniffled against her mothers chest.
"Sorry" Martha chuckled as Richard put his arm around his wife and daughter, pulling Tony into the embrace too. "I've never been good with surprises, you know that!"
"If you think this was bad, you should have seen what she was like when she found out she was pregnant with Ricky!" Richard teased, getting an amused look off his daughter.
"We've got our next scan in two weeks" Tony smiled proudly, holding out the old scan photos so the family could see.
"That's the one where you find out the sex, right?" Rachael asked, kind of hoping that they already knew now and would tell her so she could buy all sorts of baby clothes and toys straight away.
"Yup" Kate nodded.
"And are you?" Martha asked. "Finding out the sex, I mean"
"Yeah, although we might keep it a surprise from everybody else yet" Kate shrugged, earning angry glares off her sister and mother. "I said maybe!"
"Now I know why you had been ignoring my calls for months!" Martha sighed. "I really wish you had told us sooner"
"I'm sorry, Mom, but you know what I'm like"
Kate's last comment resulted in both Tony and Rachael snorting. Kate really wasn't good with facing her demons, although she was getting remarkably better at it.
The rest of the day went by pretty smoothly. After Harry and Grace had woken up from their naps, they had come back down stairs and Grace had been over the moon that she was finally allowed to talk about the baby. Everybody had cooed over little Harry as they passed him around, Rick and Jessica had disappeared up to a spare bedroom and gone for a nap themselves, leaving their son in capable hands. Grace had been so transfixed with Harry. It had taken her a good while to understand that he wasn't like the dolls she had upstairs, but Kate had explained to her that although he was kind of like her dollies, he was also real and wasn't allowed to be played with(or in Grace's case, thrown down the stairs and carried everywhere by his foot). She had gotten even more excited when Tony had explained that Harry was like what was growing in Kate's tummy, and that in a couple of months, they would have a Harry of their own.
"My Harry" Grace called him. "'Das my Harry" she told everybody in the room, pointing to the baby and smiling. She didn't understand that he wasn't actually hers, that he was Uncle Rick and Auntie Jess' Harry, no matter how many times it was explained to her.
At dinner time Joe and Tommy arrived, minus their girlfriends. Kate was in the kitchen with her mother at the time, and Grace had run in and hid behind her mothers legs, demanding to be picked up. Telling Joe and Tommy about the baby had been easier than expected and they both seemed to take it well, hugging her and congratulating them both. After making up with Joe before Christmas, their relationship had become a lot better. There was now mutual respect and understanding between the two, and Joe would phone Kate at least once a week to see how she was and ask how Grace was doing. Once Tony had told Grace that 'it was Uncle Joe and Uncle Tommy from the phone', the toddler seemed to relax and become comfortable with them, dragging them both into her playroom. When the re-emerged twenty minutes later for dinner, the were both dressed in pink tutus and a scowl. Apparently Grace had wanted to play princesses with them.
"Today was eventful, to say the least" Kate mused as she climbed in bed next to Tony.
"But I bet you feel all the better for it, though" Tony smirked, wrapping his arm around Kate's shoulders and pulling her close.
"I do. Thank you for being there" Kate sighed as she snugged in close to his bare chest.
"Don't be silly. This is my baby too. Of course I was going to be there"
"You're a good man, you know that don't you?"
"I do. But I never tire of hearing you say it" Tony replied cheekily, kissing the tip of Kate's nose. "Ii really thought your Mom was gonna freak before!"
"Oh my God, me too. I think everybody, including my Dad did! That was so scary!"
"At least your parents cared enough to maybe have a meltdown. My Dad just said 'oh'" Tony sighed sadly.
"You told your father?" Kate asked curiously, shocked by this.
"Yeah, right after we found out. I just, I got so excited and I don't know why but I phoned him and told him that I was going to have a baby and he didn't care. I don't really know what I was expecting from him. Maybe a 'congrats son'. Hell, he could have screamed at me down the phone. Anything" Tony shrugged.
"I'm so sorry, babe" Kate sighed, kissing Tony's chest. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because it doesn't matter. I'm kinda glad that my Dad hasn't even acknowledged the baby. At least that way it won't be let down like I was. You're Dad's got enough love for two anyway!"
Kate didn't know what to say really. She knew Tony's father was a sore subject but they never really spoke about him. It hurt Tony to speak about him, more than he let on, but she also knew that he had grown tired of being treated like crap by his father and had moved on from him somewhat. With no words really to say, Kate just wrapped her arms around Tony's neck and captured his lips with her own, letting him know that she was always there for him and that she would always love him, no matter what. Saying what words just couldn't do.
Not really sure about this chapter, I had a lot of different ideas about how the family should find out but I just couldn't write them. I hope this was okay though! How do we feel about the way everybody reacted? I'm kind of hoping to finish this at chapter 30, so thank you to everybody who has stuck by it this long! Thanks for all your reviews, please keep them coming. The next chapter is where we find out the sex of the baby (yay!). Do we want more of Kate's family? Let me know!
Gina xo