Jesse is thirty-seven, and Suze is thirty-three. Teresa is thirteen. Esmeralda and Estela are eleven. Matthew is ten. Nathaniel is nine. Addison is nine. Rosalinda is nine. Anthony is six. Aubrey is six. Jasmine is four. Carlos is four. Abigail is four. Jonathan is three months.

I dodged the ghost's fist, taking a few steps back. This was so not what I needed today. Seriously. I had to pick up Rosalinda and Carlos from my mom in an hour, and then I had to get the older three girls from school. And I still hadn't called Brad to wish him a happy birthday. Not that I actually cared if he had a good birthday or not. And he was in Vegas with his girlfriend, so he probably wouldn't even answer his phone.

Ew. I did not need to think about that. Now I had nasty images running through my head.

And then, besides all that, Paul and Selma and Addison were supposed to stop by for dinner tonight. Which was great. I was excited for them to come over. Except that I wasn't going to be able to make the casserole that I'd wanted to, because this jerk smashed my oven. No, I am not kidding. He kicked it - twice - and punched it. Oh, and before that, he through a chair at it. Granted, he was trying to do all of that stuff to me and I just happened to get out of the way barely in time, but still. He ruined my oven! So now I was going to have to try to figure something else out for the meal. I guess I could always make a soup. I had a recipe for a taco soup that Jesse absolutely loved. I could make that, and then we could have -

"Whoa," I said, as something came hurtling toward my head. Something big that looked it would hurt like a son of a gun if it hit me. I ducked, and the pot clattered against the floor. I narrowed my eyes at the ghost in front of me. Again, I didn't need to deal with this. I had way too much crap going on.

And this stupid dead guy just wouldn't move on. I was probably going to have to take a little trip to the Shadowland soon, which did not excite me at all. He was starting to really piss me off, though. And I was ready for him to be gone.

"How is it," I wanted to know, as I sank my fist into his solar plexus, "that a woman in her early thirties is able to kick the butt of a high school quarterback? Oh, wait. I know. It's because you're dead."

Well, that wasn't the reason. I mean, come on. Most ghosts were actually pretty strong. The reason was because he was a wimp. He didn't understand just how strong he really was. Which was why he had resorted mostly to throwing stuff at me. But I wanted him to understand that he didn't belong here anymore. He needed to go.

"Bi –" he started to snarl, but I punched him in the face. If he'd been alive, there would have been a large amount of blood. I still managed to break his nose, though it would right itself pretty quick. But now he was really ticked off at me.

"You better not have been about to say what I think you were going to say," I muttered.

He swung at me. As he did, I grabbed his fist and thought of the Shadowland. Once there, I shoved him in the direction of the gatekeeper, who looked slightly annoyed. That was always how he looked when I showed up. He didn't really like it that I came here, even on the rare occasions that I have brought somebody by. I swear it didn't happen very often. Hey, it wasn't my fault some of these stupid ghosts were too damn stubborn to listen to me. "He needs to find a new home," I said, and shifted back to my own home.

I looked at the disaster in the kitchen, and grunted. I'd worry about it later. Instead, I grabbed my keys and headed to my mom's house.

"Hey," I greeted, knocking as I opened the door. "Sorry I'm a little early."

"Susie, what happened?" my mother asked, looking at my ruffled appearance.

I briefly glanced down. I guess I did kind of look like a mess. "Oh, I just got into a little argument with someone who didn't want to see the light and move on. Where are the kids?"

"Rosalinda is in the den, watching a movie. Andy and Carlos are around here somewhere. I think they're playing some sort of tag game."

"Oh." I sat on the couch, sighing.

"Gampa!" I heard my son yell, and then he ran into the room. He looked behind him, giggling. He tripped just a bit, almost falling flat on his face.

I reached out and grabbed him, pulling him into my lap. "What are you doing, buddy?"

"Mommy!" he squealed. "Mommy, Gampa gonna eat me!"

Andy came roaring into the room. Carlos shrieked like a banshee, curling into me. Before anything else could happen, though, the phone rang. Andy sighed, and answered it.

"So Rosa said earlier that you were going to have the Slaters over for dinner tonight?"

"Yeah. Well, just Paul, Selma, and Addison. Jack and Lillian took their little boy to San Francisco to visit Lillian's parents. Rosa always gets excited when the Slaters visit. She and Addison get along really well, and love to hang out at school. Which is actually surprising because Rosa is pretty shy, and Addy is very outgoing. I guess they even each other –"

"You did what, Bradley?" Andy exclaimed. Then he said disgustedly, "Call me when you're sober."

He hung up, shaking his head. "I can't believe that boy."

I chuckled. "Andy, it's Brad. In Vegas. So, what'd he do? Gamble away all his money?" That wouldn't surprise me. Like I said, it was Brad.

"He got married."

My jaw dropped. "He did what? Brad? Brad got married? To who?"

"Elizabeth."

"Liz actually married him? Was she drunk?"

Andy muttered, "Probably."

My mom gave us both a stern look. "Liz loves Brad. They've been together for a while now."

"That's no reason to make rash decisions!"

"Maybe they just felt it was the right thing to do."

Andy and I both snorted. "They were drunk," we said together.

Brad: We were not drunk.

Andy: Really? Then how come, when you called me, you told me that you and Elizabeth were sitting in a pool of fairy dust?

Brad: (blushing) Okay, maybe we were a little drunk when we got married.

Andy: A little? I'd call that more than a little, Bradley.

Brad: Dad! That was after we got married. What's the big deal? I thought you all would be happy for me. I finally tied the knot. And you guys never thought it would happen.

Suze: Well, I certainly didn't.

Brad: Shut up, Suze. Nobody asked you.

Jesse: Susannah, leave your brother alone.

Brad: Yeah, what he said.

Andy: I want you to be happy. But I also want you to not make such huge decisions like that without really thinking it through.

Brad: I did think it through. We've been planning to get married for a while now. It just worked out that we got married in Vegas. And I really do love Liz, so can everybody back off now?