"I really am sorry we'll have to move twice," Artie was saying. He joined an exhausted Tina on their bed, which they had just finished making, in the tight master bedroom of the rent house. Only their winter and spring wardrobes hung in the small closet. Summer clothing was put away in the storage unit they'd also rented, in hopes that the beautiful new home and pool would be complete by June, at the latest.
"Just promise me never again," Tina replied, propping her feet up on a pillow. "I can't say anything. This was basically my idea. Well, not this part..." she pointed an index finger at her belly. "This was both of our idea. Sort of."
"Can't say I mind," said Artie, putting his hand on the bump. His eyes grew wide just then. "Tina, I can feel the baby. So cool..." His whole expression softened, melting Tina's heart. She loved how, even four completed pregnancies later, this never seemed to get old for him. He curled his body behind hers and wrapped himself around her, continuing to wait for little movements from the baby as Tina closed her eyes, resting her hands on his.
"We can't stay here for long," Tina murmured.
"I know, I have to start dinner," Artie replied. He'd had a little time off, lately, so he'd been cooking a lot. And since Tina was usually too tired, it worked out.
"Actually, no, you don't," she said. "'Not tonight. Sienna's already taken the other three to go spend the night with your sister."
"What?" Artie sat up in bed, alarmed at this. "Tina, you know I don't really like her driving through Columbus during rush hour!"
"Artie, relax," Tina said. "She's going to be there soon and she'll call us when she arrives." An unforeseen consequence of Artie having been involved in a serious car accident was that he was never more overprotective than when his children were behind the wheel. Thankfully, at that moment, Tina received Sienna's text. "Just arrived at Aunt Amy's," she said aloud. "You can calm down now."
Artie grumbled. "I want to know anytime she's driving," he said. "She isn't used to the traffic around here." Since she was there, safely, however, he didn't really have a justification for staying mad about it. Instead, he asked, "What's the special occassion?"
"Impromptu house warming party," she said. "Mercedes and Matt are bringing the food, we just supply the house." Tina paused. "I know this is just our rent house, but Mercedes said any excuse for a party was good enough for her. Ike and Jess are coming too. And Sam and Santana. Basically, our people."
Artie nodded, though he wasn't used to hearing Sam and Santana together, as a couple. Sure enough, the three couples showed up, all right on time. Artie felt mortified that he didn't realize the issue any sooner than when Ike Morales appeared at the front door in his wheelchair. How many times had Artie been on the receiving end of this?
"Oh, my god, I'm so sorry, Ike," he said, when he'd answered the door. "This house we're renting is stupidly inaccessible. Any day I have to use the chair, I wind up being screwed, too. It has one of those sunken living rooms, among other issues."
"It's okay," Isaac said, quickly. "I just forgot, Tina did tell me. I'll get the ReWalk out of the car." Isaac had been investing in a new ReWalk as often as he could. Unlike Artie, he'd liked the technology and enjoyed it for his personal use. Artie had to admit, as he watched Isaac enter his house in the exoskeleton, that it was a pretty useful device now, and due to its many improvements, it was much quieter and a little less bulky.
"Hold on, let me get a picture of you two standing together," said Jessa, holding up her phone. Tina stepped into the hallway as the two were posing.
"Oh, please send me that," said Tina, as she walked in. Santana, Mercedes, and Jessa immediately began fussing over Tina's appearance.
"I had to hear about this from Sam," said Santana, crossing her arms across her chest angrily as they all headed into the small dining room. "But congratulations, you guys, I'm happy for you."
"Well, why don't you tell them our news?" Sam said, grinning as he took a seat next to Santana. It was then that she broke out into a huge grin and thrust her left hand forward, displaying the rock that Sam had given her.
"We didn't want to waste any more time," she said, by way of explanation. Sam and Santana's timeline was moving rather fast, but on the other hand, they'd know each other a long time. There wasn't anything to learn that the other didn't already know about. Sam gave her a quick kiss, as the girls now fussed over Santana's ring.
"We're thinking of a wedding in early April," Santana went on, locking eyes with Sam and smiling as she spoke.
"Oh, like April Fools' Day?" Artie couldn't resist the making joke, as she'd set it up so perfectly.
"Ignore him," said Tina. "That's wonderful, you guys, congratulations. We can't wait to come to the wedding."
"Dig in, guys," Matt said, setting the large plastic bags he was carrying on the table. "Our treat. They always give the OSU guy a special deal at my favorite catfish and wings joint. Or, should I say, two OSU guys, right, Artie?"
"I even bought some new sweatshirts," Artie said, proudly displaying his OSU hoodie. "I just won't tell anyone that I have a Cornell t-shirt underneath. Some loyalties just won't die."
"I need more details," Mercedes cut in, as she passed a stack of paper plates around. "I need to know more about this wedding, Santana."
"Okay, so," Santana launched into all the details, gladly. "I really, really love the place where Isaac and Jessa got married. Always have. I checked and it's available the first week of April. If it rains, we can use the barn for both the reception and ceremony, but otherwise, the ceremony will be outdoors. I figure April will be nice and cool, for an outdoor wedding."
"Definitely better than August," Jessa added, looking at her husband with a giggle. "But we were pregnant with twins, we had a deadline..."
"Oh, speaking of the twins," Tina interjected. "They just had a birthday, didn't they?"
"Can you believe they're twenty-eight?"
"I can't believe I'm not twenty-eight," Santana sighed. "Not sure I ever thought I'd be a forty-six year old bride, but here goes."
"Sweetie, you don't look a day over thirty-five," Sam said, helpfully, as Santana smiled and planted a kiss on his lips.
"I always knew I'd like kissing that trouty mouth," she said, and Artie had to bite his lip to keep back a snarky remark. If Sam didn't like being teased about his mouth, he gave no indication.
"Back to wedding details," Mercedes said again. "You've got a few months, that's not long. Is this just going to be simple?"
"Pretty simple," Santana replied, shrugging as she helped her plate to some catfish filets. "I haven't found a dress yet, but I'd love for you and Jess to help me look..." Santana glanced over at Tina, adding, "You can come, too, if you want."
"I-I'd like that." The exchange was awkward, at best, but now that they were all living in Columbus, this group would be getting together often. It was time for Tina and Santana to learn to let their guards down around each other. It would go a long way in helping Artie out, too, for it had always been awkward for him to remain friends with Santana, while married to Tina. The fact that she was now with Sam seemed to help matters.
"Bridesmaids? Flower girl?" Mercedes wanting details. "Colors? Come on, Santana, don't hold back. I'd love nothing more than to talk wedding all night long."
At this, Matt let out a well-timed groan, and the group laughed appreciatively.
"Alright, alright, well." She paused, and smiled. "I was thinking your little Mackenzie, she's what, four? A perfect age for a flower girl."
As Mercedes squealed and hugged Santana, the other girl laughed. "Well, do you still want to hear the rest?" As the other three ladies nodded emphatically, she went on. "Not sure about colors, but I'm trying to keep it really simple. I'm just going to have Valerie and Sam's daughter, Evyanna, as my two bridesmaids. His son, Vance, will be the best man. That's how you do grown-ass parent weddings, afterall."
Jessa exhaled. "You need to let me help you with the details," she said. "It's been so long since anyone I knew got married. And now I've got a friend getting married, friends having a baby, it's like we've gone back in time!"
"Please, won't you guys reconsider this whole not finding out the baby's gender thing?" Mercedes begged, turning her attention to Artie and Tina. "I'm a total planner, and you guys make it pretty hard to do that."
"We got the idea from them," Artie said, pointing to Jessa and Isaac. "They didn't find out the gender of the twins, and it was really exciting, the way Ike got to come and tell us."
"Tina?" Jessa noticed that Tina had helped herself to the hot wings. "You craving the spicy stuff? I couldn't do it when I was pregnant, everything gave me heartburn."
"Oh, my gosh, yes," Tina reported. "Anything spicy and anything sweet. It's terrible, I wind up struggling to control my weight gain. I'm having to be a little more careful this time. You mentioned it yourself, Mercedes, and it's true. My doctor can't quit talking about this pregnancy being high risk. She's giving me anxiety, which I think is a little counter-productive."
But Mercedes and Santana weren't listening anymore. Both had huddled together on Santana's phone while Santana showed her a few flower girl dresses. Tina pretended not to notice. She started up a conversation with Ike and Jessa instead, about the what the twins were up to. Artie started talking to Sam about a house flipping project he was going to undertake soon.
"Would have been fun to do a place for you guys," Sam said. "But you're probably right to do a new build. Much more energy-efficient."
This, in turn, led into a conversation about Artie's work. "Nothing much for OSU yet," he said. "I do move into my office on Monday, to get ready for the start of the next term. I've been doing some work remotely for the next phase in the procedure." Artie noticed Isaac was suddenly attentive to their conversation. "The next step is working with the FDA to get their approval, as well as several other approvals. And, it's a long shot at this point, but we'd like to move this from an elective procedure to something that could be deemed medically-necessary, for insurance purposes."
"Hey, Artie," Isaac suddenly spoke up. "I've been thinking and, well, you'd be giving up your record of oldest patient if you used me but — I think... I'm interested. If I'm even a candidate, that is, what with being so old."
Artie felt his heart jump into his throat. He couldn't decide if he was thrilled or terrified, kind of the way he'd felt when it had been his turn. He hid his nerves well. "You aren't that much older than me," he said. "And even if you don't end up walking all the time, I think you'll really be grateful for all the other benefits. Can... can I tell anyone that you're interested?"
Isaac nodded. "Please do."