Chapter 35

Saturday, July 5, 2003

1200 EST

Chegwidden Home

McLean, Virginia

Lunch the next day was a fun event, made even more so by the incident that happened after the meal! It seemed that the twins had had their first dental appointment that morning, but had been told that they could not have their treat until after they ate lunch. So, as soon as the meal was over, they ran to grab the treat they had gotten from the dentist.

Andi and Jerry ran back into the room each with a lollypop hanging out of their mouths. Francesca started giggling as soon as she realized what they had; her reaction caused Sturgis to look closer. When he realized that they were lollypops, he started to choke on his coffee. AJ reached over to thump Sturgis on the back, when Francesca said, "Kara, do you remember your wedding bouquet?"

Kara looked at her stepdaughter, and then at the choking, Sturgis and started laughing, "Yes, I do!" she told her.

AJ heard the comment about the bouquet and his eyes darted between Sturgis and his daughter…and KNEW why the man was choking! AJ thumped harder than needed for the next few seconds. Sturgis finally pulled away for fear of being bruised. His eyes met AJ's and he knew that AJ knew! He stuttered into speech, "Sir, I…um…"

"Sturgis," AJ held his hand up for silence, and got it immediately, "I just hope that your intentions are honorable."

"They are, Sir!" he told the man he hoped would one day be his father-in-law.

Because the women were still sharing laughter, they had missed the interchange between the two men.

The rest of the afternoon passed pleasantly, with no other major incidents. As Sturgis and Francesca were getting ready to leave, AJ asked, "So, what do the two of you have planned for tomorrow?"

Kara seeing the look of disappointment on her stepdaughter's face, when she thought that her father would rope her into spending another day with him, and not alone with the man she loved, jumped in with, "AJ, don't forget that we are going over to the Woods for most of the day tomorrow."

"We are?" he looked startled at this announcement.

"Yes, I told you about it over a week ago," she answered.

Francesca gave Kara a grateful smile as they prepared to leave, and an extra tight hug for the lie she knew that her stepmother just told on her behalf.

When they had left, Kara asked AJ if he would start the twins' bath for her. He always enjoyed helping with this nightly event, so did not mind at all. As soon as he was busy running the water into the tub, Kara got on the phone to Becky Woods. "Becky! I need for you to have us over for lunch tomorrow, is that possible?" Kara pleaded.

"Sure, Kara, but what is going on?"

"AJ wanted to have Francesca spend the day with us tomorrow, and I could tell that she wanted to be alone with her boyfriend. So, I told AJ we were going to your house tomorrow, and implied that it had been planned for a week or more."

"How did you imply that?" Becky laughed.

"Okay! I just told him it was! Happy now?" Kara grumbled.

Laughing even harder, Becky agreed that she was happy with that explanation and that Kara would 'owe' her one for this favor! Kara agreed to pay the price.

The next day everything was just fine, until George made a comment about having to cancel his golf game that he had planned for two weeks, to have lunch with his 'old seadog pal'! AJ looked at Kara, who was blushing with guilt, and he knew that she had arranged this day, on the spur of the moment, to give Francesca a day alone with Sturgis.

The look that he gave her, promised retribution when they got home. Then he explained the entire reason that his game had to be canceled to George. The men gave both women a hard time for the rest of the day by planting themselves in front of George's large screen television and watching the game!

To be continued…