Thank you to everybody who read or provided feedback for the previous chapters. You are all so fabulous.
I was originally going to go straight into Marc's baby shower, but we need to spend a little time with team London. You get more Betty and Daniel goodness this way, though. I'm sure you won't complain.
So I'm taking creative license, and I'm having Premier League start a little early in late July. It was either that or send the boys to a cricket game. Apparently, Pakistan was playing England on July 31, 2010. Yes, I spent quality time looking up sporting events in 2010.
Chapter 45: Parenting 301 A
July 25, 2010, 6:33 PM London time
Boss Daniel: I need an activity to take my sulky angry teenager to next weekend for bonding purposes, and I have yet to find anything.
Boss Daniel: Anything that he won't back out of. I tried for us to go to the movies together this weekend, but he ditched me for Justin. Do you have any suggestions?
Sumreen: That seems like perfectly normal 15-year-old behavior. You're coming to me because I have a sulky teenager of my own?
Boss Daniel: You're also my local culture expert right now. If I was still in New York, I would take him to a baseball game, but that's not an option. I need better suggestions.
Sumreen: Why?
Boss Daniel: He is not handling getting new baby cousins well. I thought it would be good for us to have some bonding time together.
Sumreen: I assume the teenager in question is Danielle, not Justin? Proper nouns can be useful. You're an editor; you should know this.
Boss Daniel: Yes, DJ. Justin is ecstatic about the baby cousins and has binders full of design options for both nurseries. DJ is trying to pretend none of this is happening. He didn't even want to come to the ultrasound, and he leaves the room anytime we even start talking about baby stuff.
Sumreen: This is normal teenager stuff. But maybe spending some time just the two of you together would help.
Boss Daniel: I hope it would. It would be so much easier if Justin was the one having a problem. West end show or high-end shopping.
Boss Daniel: Actually, we will have to check out something on the West End before Justin returns to New York. He will never forgive me otherwise. Apparently, he really wants to see Les Miserables again. Actually, Justin probably wants to see everything.
Sumreen: I really wish I had your nephew. Because we don't really do professional baseball here doesn't mean there's not a wealth of sports to choose from. It's not that hard to find a good football game.
Boss Daniel: Isn't that more of a fall sport?
Sumreen: You are such an American. I am referring to soccer. There are almost a dozen professional and semiprofessional clubs in the city. Premier League is starting this weekend.
Boss Daniel: What do you recommend? I haven't had time to look at any of the teams. Fixing everything here has been exhausting.
Sumreen: And that's on top of the new babies and fiancé. Thankfully for you, my husband Zuwayhir is a club member of Arsenal. He has tickets for this weekend. I was supposed to go with him, but I think you and DJ would enjoy the game more than my daughter and me.
Boss Daniel: Thank you.
Sumreen: I understand what you're going through. When I was pregnant the second time, my son threw a fit. Rayan was furious at me for allegedly replacing him.
Boss Daniel: What did you do?
Sumreen: I made sure that Rayan knew that we weren't replacing him. Which involved multiple trips to various amusement parks. Eventually, he realized the new baby wasn't going to make us love him less.
Boss Daniel: I think DJ is amusement parked out after Disney Paris recently. His grandparents are so awful they ruined the happiest place on earth or at least the happiest place in France.
Sumreen: I feel like there's a story there, but I'm going to be polite and just ask Justin. Also, the happiest place in France is a good winery.
Boss Daniel: There are multiple stories there, but basically, DJ's grandparents are awful, and that's why I have custody right now. Because they are awful, DJ can't be in Cleveland with his mom and new sister. A sister he found out about two months ago.
Sumreen: Your sister is in Cleveland because she's receiving treatment at Cleveland Clinic?
Boss Daniel: Yes, for the same cardiac issue that killed our father. Which is already freaking DJ out. His Mère died of cancer three years ago next month, which left him with his horrible evil grandparents. This is just a lot for a kid to take.
Sumreen: And now you're adding twins on top of that.
Boss Daniel: Yes. I realize he can't deal with one more thing. I had to add twins on top of everything else. Maybe DJ feels like he's competing against the twins. Perhaps he's jealous that I will be raising the twins when I couldn't raise him. I need to reassure him that that's not the case.
Sumreen: I feel like I'm missing something.
Boss Daniel: DJ originally thought I was his biological father. So did I and his Mère, for that matter. Unfortunately, a DNA test told us that my sister pre-transition fucked my girlfriend. It only takes once.
Sumreen: I can see why he is upset and jealous of the new babies. They get you for a dad, and he is back in the same situation as before with a sick mom that may leave him soon.
Boss Daniel: The doctors are hopeful, though. Alexis is working with one of the best cardiologists in the world. I don't think this is going to end like it did with my dad.
Boss Daniel: I hope not anyway.
Sumreen: I know you're going through a lot. You're all worried about your sister. In the meantime, you just have to make sure DJ knows he still has a place in this new family that you're creating.
Boss Daniel: He's part of this family, and he always has been. I'll just make sure he knows that. Thank you for helping.
Sumreen: I am here for all of your parenting dilemmas. My expertise should count for something. Also, I'm grateful.
Boss Daniel: Why?
Sumreen: That you made me your equal and not just in name only. I've been here for 20 years, and I didn't think Mode UK would ever have a British Pakistani woman in charge. Especially after saving Pratt's ass for the last few years with not a single word of thanks.
Boss Daniel: You are good at what you do. Once Mode UK is stable, this will be yours. I will focus on all the other magazines in the Meade Publications European empire.
Sumreen: Or by that point, you will have your nephew well trained. I'm trying to convince him to go to my alma mater. Basically, I just want to keep him here. He's more competent than half of the people in our office. Charlotte never wants him to leave.
Boss Daniel: I think Justin is planning to take over Monique's job in 10 years. Maybe that's Monique's plan.
Sumreen: I'm thinking more like five.
Boss Daniel: That seems likely.
Sumreen: However, if you're feeling very generous, I would be happy to take your nephew to a matinee this weekend. It would actually help explain to my husband why I'm giving you my tickets to the game.
Boss Daniel: I'll take care of the tickets. That will give Justin something to do since Betty will probably be in the office all weekend with Amanda finalizing her new issue and preparing for the launch party.
Xx
July 30, 2010, 4:58 PM London time
Adorable fiancé: Hey, I've just been informed of a last-minute meeting. I'm not going to be getting out of there until at least 7 PM. Can you pick up dinner?
Betty: Pizza or curry?
Adorable fiancé: Pizza. I'm sure Amanda will join us, and the baby doesn't like curry right now. Or anything spicy. You might just have to get a cheese-only pizza for her.
Betty: OK, the shop by the office is pretty good. I'll get the usual plus a salad for Justin.
Adorable fiancé: Actually, you should just text him a copy of the menu.
Betty: Good point. Have you checked out the August issue of Mode US?
Adorable fiancé: I have not looked at any of the issues since June, where I had my own retrospective. Marc wrote it and did a surprisingly good job on it.
Betty: The August issue has a retrospective on Wilhelmina, and you really need to read it.
Adorable fiancé: She claimed that she did all the work?
Betty: Actually, Wilhelmina said some complimentary things about you per Amanda. She read it first and then made me read the article or at least the highlighted portions.
Adorable fiancé: That is surprising. Now I have to read it.
Betty: A lot of stuff that happened between her and Renée at the wedding makes a lot more sense now. Did you know that Renee is adopted?
Adorable fiancé: She found out shortly before we got together. She was looking for her biological mom. What does that have to do with the article?
Betty: Wilhelmina is Renée's biological mother.
Adorable fiancé: Justin just came into my office and showed me that part of the interview. I'm going to go yell at my successor as soon as I get out of my meeting. I can't send Monique angry text messages when I'm supposed to be trying to fix a crisis at UK Parenting.
Adorable fiancé: Why do I keep accidentally sleeping with the daughters of my father's girlfriends?
Adorable fiancé: I think I understand Wilhelmina a lot better right now. Also, her stepmom was a total bitch.
Betty: In your defense, your father did sleep with a lot of people.
Thankfully, I'm pretty sure my mother was never one of them.
Adorable fiancé: That makes me feel strangely better.
Adorable fiancé: I'm so glad that nobody here knows that Renee was an ex.
Adorable fiancé: Actually, I'm enjoying that nobody here knows about my Playboy reputation. At least the details of it. I was never really famous enough to make the tabloids here until we moved to London.
Betty: Even with the Amanda thing?
Adorable fiancé: Justin has told everybody that it was a post wife dying comfort sex situation. Dorion from features invited me to his surviving spouse's support group.
Betty: Dad went to one for a while.
Adorable fiancé: The last time I went to a support group, it turned out to be a cult.
Betty: I'll check it out for you ahead of time.
Adorable fiancé: This is why I completely love you.
Betty: Topping choices?
Adorable fiancé: You know what I like. Just make sure you get something that won't make Amanda sick. Also, extra mozzarella sticks if they have them.
Betty: Of course.
XXXX
About two hours later
EIC London Daniel: You could have warned me about the Wilhelmina article. I'm glad Betty told me about it before Justin did but only by about two minutes. He is making very good use of his digital subscription.
Monique: I did. I told you we were doing a retrospective article on Wilhelmina just like we did for you in June. Remember we had that conversation while you were trying to get me to move Matt to Player.
Monique: Which is actually working out great. Cory adores him. OK, the recently single Cory really likes him and is sad he's a subordinate. Everybody would like to avoid a repeat of the State Department incident.
EIC London Daniel: That would be best.
Monique: Do I tell Cory that technically Matt is a partial owner, and HR would probably be cool with it.
EIC London Daniel: Not yet.
EIC London Daniel: You're still playing matchmaker?
Monique: I've stopped.
EIC London Daniel: Really? So you weren't the one responsible for the custody arrangement that has tied Cliff and Marc together for life?
Monique: Actually, Amanda came up with that. I went along with it because it keeps baby Jade away from the clutches of the evil cousin. It wasn't a matchmaking thing; it was for the baby.
EIC London Daniel: As somebody dealing with weird custody stuff, I completely understand.
Monique: I assume you're still referring to DJ's grandparents. It can't be Amanda.
EIC London Daniel: Thankfully, yes. I couldn't deal with going through two awkward custody situations. They're already trying to back out on our deal from Disney Paris. They didn't think I would get our lawyers involved, but I did because I don't trust them one bit.
EIC London Daniel: Amanda is so much easier to deal with. We've already made arrangements. After the babies are born, Amanda will move in with us for probably a couple of months and then will do shifts. I'm actually thinking of maybe getting a bigger place where we can live together.
Monique: Good luck. London real estate is ridiculous. You could try to get two smaller places next to each other, but you do seem to collect kids.
EIC London Daniel: I know. DJ is really upset about the new babies. It had gotten worse since the ultrasound last week. I tried to do a day out with just us last weekend to talk, and he backed out. So I'm bringing out the big guns this weekend to try again.
Monique: Good luck getting your teenager to talk to you. I still don't know everything that went down between Antonella and the asshole.
EIC London Daniel: Now, getting back to what I contacted you yell at you about, why did you not warn me about what would be in the Wilhelmina article. I really would like to know that I've slept with two daughters of my father's mistresses.
Monique: And you're going to be raising a child with one of them.
EIC London Daniel: Monique, why wasn't I warren this was going to drop?
Monique: There was an embargo.
EIC London Daniel: Despite being in London, I'm still a partial owner. The embargo doesn't apply to me.
Monique: It did in this case. I didn't even tell your mom. I had her clear on a different version of the book without that part of the article. Only one person from legal knew this was going to happen. It had to be this way.
EIC London Daniel: I'm not mad, but I would like to understand why you kept this quiet.
Monique: During wedding madness, you know Renee was here. She discovered recently that Wilhelmina wasn't her sister but her biological mother.
EIC London Daniel: Renee discovered she was adopted a little before we got together. She was looking for a while.
Monique: I'm not surprised. Wilhelmina has recently come into a lot of cash because of her Mode stake sale. Renee decided to blackmail Wilhelmina since she learned the real circumstances of her conception. I offered Wilhelmina an alternative outside of not going through with the sale of her shares.
EIC London Daniel: Blackmail doesn't work when everybody knows.
Monique: Exactly. Basically, I gave Wilhelmina a platform to come out on her own terms.
EIC London Daniel: I still would've liked a warning. I'm getting interview requests. Candy is very unhappy about it. Thankfully I was in a meeting at the time.
Monique: I feel like you would be getting those for a lot of different reasons. Besides, I don't think your relationship with Renee was ever public.
EIC London Daniel: It wasn't. Which was miraculous after the fire.
Monique: Marc said that Wilhelmina covered it up.
EIC London Daniel: It's the least she could do since she caused it.
Monique: OK, yes, she did take Renee off of her medication, but it turns out Renee was allergic to the medicine. It was killing her so that one's a little mixed.
EIC London Daniel: Everything with Wilhelmina is a little mixed. I thought about calling her, but I don't know if we have that type of relationship. The last time we talked was a few weeks ago when she told me everything she knew about Faye's pregnancy with Amanda. Most of that happened in email form.
Monique: Maybe send her congratulations flowers for the new restaurant. We will mutually agree not to talk about the article. It didn't happen.
EIC London Daniel: OK. I understand.
Monique: She's doing good at the restaurant. We're also working on the St. Paul/St. James baby shower together for Sunday.
EIC London Daniel: How is that going? Did you get our presents?
EIC London Daniel: The second batch. You might want to give Amanda's original present to Marc and Cliff privately. I don't know what she got, but it involved taking Justin to a sex shop.
Monique: Only Justin?
EIC London Daniel: DJ didn't want to go because they would be shopping for the babies. He regrets that decision now. Betty wants to ban her from taking the kids on the weekends alone, but I talked her down. Honestly, I'm just happy she did it, so I don't have to now. We mutually agreed never to tell Hilda what happened.
Monique: It's best to go your first time with a trusted friend. The second batch got here yesterday. I already had Antonella gift-wrapped everything. I have no idea now which are the first Amanda baby gifts. Thankfully, nobody younger than Antonella will be at the baby shower.
Monique: Not counting the guest of honor, and she won't remember it.
EIC London Daniel: True.
Monique: Everything was going great for the shower until we lost our venue again about an hour ago.
EIC London Daniel: How did you lose your venue? The invitation said it was happening at one of your mom's hotels. Was there another fire?
Monique: No fire, but I found out that somebody at the hotel is friends with Marc's mom and told her about the new time and location. We need to move to a new location that she doesn't know about, after changing the date and location once before.
EIC London Daniel: How do you even know that she knows?
Monique: My mom. Don't ask how Vivian knows. She just knows things. Vivian even knows about Sunday's emergency meeting. She's our new double agent because she's well entrenched in the country club circles. Our contentious public relationship is finally coming in handy.
EIC London Daniel: What about your restaurant? Couldn't you do this there?
Monique: The restaurant is booked solid for lunch and dinner because Wilhelmina is that good. Including the private room.
EIC London Daniel: Isn't it supposed to be a small Baby shower? Why don't you just have it at your house?
Monique: My house is in the middle of renovations right now. I'm actually at a hotel for the next month. I may be throwing a little bit more work Britney's way.
EIC London Daniel: Really? Isn't she about to pop soon?
Monique: I want this to be our place and not just my home. Therefore extensive renovations are necessary. It's just a bonus keeping Britney employed. Her new OB/GYN adjusted her due date, so she has two more weeks. That gives her time to start the project. Once she has everything planned out, the team can work without her during her maternity leave.
Monique: My mom is also planning to have Britney work on some of the hotels once the baby is born. Thanks to Dominique being a firebug, mom is going to redo the whole place.
EIC London Daniel: So definitely no wedding there in December of this year?
Monique: However, I have you booked for next year. Renovations will be done the month before if all stays on schedule. It is yours if you wanted.
EIC London Daniel: Monique: I'll talk to Betty, but I think we will take it. I really didn't want the wedding to happen with the kids being so young.
Monique: Check with your fiancé and then get back to me.
EIC London Daniel: Will do. Can you do the shower at the Mode offices?
Monique: It's a possibility, but Marc's mom keeps showing up here. I would like to give security a break from kicking her out. I think we have a leak. She knows when to be outside to catch Marc leaving for outside meetings. Thankfully she is scared of most of the security team now.
EIC London Daniel: I wouldn't even be surprised. Marc made a lot of enemies when he was with Wilhelmina. What about Wilhelmina's apartment? Or what about my mom's townhouse? I know she's going to be the venue for Ignacio's farewell dinner party in two weeks.
Monique: I don't want to ask her to host two events back to back, but I will talk to Willy. I'm on my way to a restaurant meeting right now. I'll also text Cliff to see if he has other ideas.
XXXX
"You're already here?" Betty said as she walked into the kitchen, holding dinner. DJ was behind her carrying another pizza.
"I just got here like two minutes ago," Daniel said as he grabbed the box out of Betty's hand and placing it on the counter. And leaned over to kiss her.
"Kiss later, dinner now," Amanda remarked as she walked in carrying what appears to be Justin's salad and probably the garlic bread.
"Sorry, I hate to deprive the kids of their dinner," Betty replied back. Daniel was shocked that Betty and Amanda were getting along so well, considering everything. They were even closer friends than they were back in New York. Although maybe part of that was because they just had each other right now. Christina was supposed to come back soon, but she hasn't been able to because of family stuff. He doesn't even know what family stuff involves because Christina isn't really saying anything.
"I'm glad you're here. That way, I won't have to put it in the oven. I think I found a new pizza place that I like. I may I have a Slice in the car."
"I have a feeling you weren't the one who decided to break into the pizza on the drive back," Daniel said as he looked directly at Amanda.
"That may have been me, but your kids were hungry. That's why we bought three pizzas."
"They were hungry?" Daniel asked.
"They kept kicking, which is how they tell me they want food." At that moment, Amanda placed his hand on her stomach. He loves that. Daniel knows that the babies aren't biologically his, but he already loves them so much. He'll do whatever he has to protect them. Of course, Daniel looks over to see DJ quickly leaving the room. Daniel was just starting to realize that DJ did this anytime he interacted with Amanda and the babies. They will definitely be discussing this tomorrow.
"I have to get a picture," Justin said, pulling out his phone. "It's for the baby scrapbook."
"Mine or Marc's?" Daniel asked.
"Both really," Justin said as he quickly snapped the picture with his iPhone. "I have the picture; you can take your hands off her stomach now."
"No more pictures for right now. Justin, go and help DJ set the table. We'll be there in a few minutes. I think, unfortunately, we have to put the pizza back in the oven." Betty said as she placed the plates in Justin's hand.
"Fine, I will go set the table in the dining room."
"I'm helping because I want a breadstick. Those are perfectly good cold." Amanda said, taking the box with her to
Daniel couldn't help but roll his eyes as Amanda and Justin left the room. It was cute but ridiculous.
"So, did you talk to Monique?" Betty said as she started to place a few slices from each pizza on the baking sheet.
"Yes, on the way home. The article was heavily embargoed to protect Wilhelmina's privacy. Monique did remind me that she told me that they were planning to do the retrospective a few weeks ago. I kind of forgot." Daniel admitted.
"It has been a busy couple of weeks with the baby and DJ's evil grandparents. Also, you have your own magazine to worry about. Actually, you have all of the EU publications to worry about. It's not surprising that you forgot something. Although it was a bit of a shock to read."
"I wasn't as shocked as I thought it would be because I suspected this for a while. But it is weird." Daniel said as Betty wrapped an arm around him.
"That you dated Wilhelmina's daughter instead of her sister?" Betty asked.
"That I keep ending up with the daughters of my father's mistresses. Thankfully none have ended up being my half-sister."
"This family is a little incestuous," Betty remarked.
"Without actually being incestuous. We approach the line, but we don't quite go over it."
"Wait until Justin finds out about Austin," Betty whispered just on the off-chance Justin was listening from the dining room.
"Austin will have to find out first," Daniel whispered back.
"This is true."
"Also, when I was talking to Monique, she informed me that our dream wedding location is not available for Christmas this year."
"I figured it wouldn't be after the fire and water damage," Betty said, placing the pizza in the oven.
"Mommy Wyndham West has decided to use this as an opportunity to remodel the entire hotel. However, it will be available if we wait a year. Monique says it's ours if we want it."
"I want that hotel. Even with my father moving to California, I still want to get married in New York. But there's too much happening right now for it to happen this year. I love you, but it's been a lot. I'm in the middle of launching a new magazine, and we're going to become parents of twins soon."
"So, let's definitely not add wedding planning on top of that."
"Exactly." Betty leaned over to kiss him again.
"I'll let Monique know."
"Good."
"I also was informed that our presents did arrive for the baby shower. Unfortunately, they now need a new location. Monique has to change locations because somebody told Marc's mom again.
She's looking for a new venue."
"Can't she just have it at the Mode offices?" Betty asked.
"She said no because the Mode security team is already exhausted. Monique would like to give them the weekend off from Mrs. Wiener guard duty." Daniel explained.
"I don't have any other suggestions. I threw all my baby showers at the house. Granted, the last one was for my then boyfriend's baby's mommy."
"That could work. Your dad actually likes Marc. If I'm doing the math right in my head, if I call now, he won't be at work yet."
"I will call, and you can finish getting dinner together. I want to tell him about the new wedding date anyway. Also, I have not contacted him for like four days, and you know he gets worried if I don't call him every few days."
"This is true. I will bring hot pizza to the living room in a few minutes,"
"You are perfect," Betty said, leaning over to kiss him one last time before going upstairs to call her father.
XXXX
15 minutes later, Betty arrived in the living room as Daniel started to plate the now warm pizza. Of course, a third went to Amanda. Daniel wondered if he should add more pizza to the oven even if Justin is only going to have half a slice with his grilled chicken salad.
"What did your dad say?" Daniel asked as Betty took the seat beside him and grabbed a slice of pizza for herself.
"That he completely agrees with our decision to not have the wedding until Christmas next year. This will also give him more time to plan the menu." Betty answered.
"Oh, thank God," Justin said in relief. "I wasn't sure how to pull off a fabulous wedding with only a couple of months' notice. Especially when I'm already doing the black and white ball along with the nursery plans."
"My first wedding was pulled off in a couple of hours. It was lovely." Daniel remarked.
"And because of that, I wasn't there," DJ said resentfully.
"I'm sorry about that. That was my biggest regret. However, since Molly didn't actually sign the marriage license, this is technically my first marriage. So you didn't miss anything." It's been over a month, and Daniel is still bitter about Molly's decision to do that.
"Wait, what?" Everybody but Betty asked simultaneously. That's when Daniel realizes that only Betty knew the truth.
"During Monique's wedding, I found out that Molly purposely did not file the paperwork for our marriage, so legally we were never married," Daniel explained.
"How did you find this out?" Amanda asked.
"Molly left Gio a video to give me on the first anniversary of her death. Molly knew I was in love with Betty and decided that Betty should be my first marriage." Without even bothering to consult Daniel on the matter.
"It's kind of sweet. You know Molly put Monique in charge of getting you two together. She knew Mo would need a distraction to help her deal. You two were a good distraction." Amanda added.
"We know." Betty and Daniel said simultaneously.
"It's cute but also a little creepy. Although, I will fully admit that I was part of the conspiracy." Justin remarked.
"At least this means I won't miss the wedding this time," DJ grumbled.
"Of course not. You're going to be my best man." DJ's entire face lit up at that.
"Although I will take over planning the bachelor party." Amanda's words caused DJ to frown. "You're too young to be able to book a stripper. But I promise to consult you."
"No more corrupting of minors. You already took Justin to a sex shop." Betty admonished.
"It's better if I take him than someone else. That way, Justin doesn't do something stupid like accidentally use lubricant you are allergic to. Did you know that they put mushroom extract into organic lubricant?" Everyone stared at Amanda for a moment.
"Thank you for coordinating," Daniel said, trying to move things along. "And with the delay, you'll probably be able to at least drink at the party."
"Actually, no. I'm not going to start drinking again after the babies are born. I am well aware I have a problem. Besides, if Tyler is going to be there, it's better that the party is dry."
"This is very true." And it's for the best because he knows that the two teenagers went through a bottle and ½ of wine together in Paris last weekend. He found the bottle. Thankfully they did it at home, and it was not something worse. Daniel did much worse at their age.
"Who's going to be your maid of honor?" Justin asked, trying to get them on to safer ground. "Christine or mom?" Or maybe not. Things have been very complicated the last month with Hilda. Daniel has actually talked to her more than Betty has. Thankfully he has successfully negotiated Justin's return for London and Paris fashion week in February. Hilda even promised to help convince Tiffany to let Austin come along.
"I'm hopeful that your mom will be on speaking terms with me by Christmas 2011." Daniel was hoping for that as well. "However, I'm going to go with you." That cause Justin to jump up and hug his aunt.
"Thank you so much. I have so many plans. This means I get to design everything, right?" Justin asked.
"With our input. We are getting an actual wedding planner because we do want some say in our own wedding, but you will be our New York liaison." Betty explained.
"We don't want a repeat of the brunch incident," Daniel added.
"We all kind of took over, didn't we?" Justin said sheepishly as he returned to his seat.
"A little," Betty remarked.
"I promise I will let you have a say in your own wedding. It makes sense to have someone local taking care of a lot of the details, and I will be that person." Justin said, looking at his aunt. "However, all fashion choices, including bridal party attire, are going to be left up to your future husband."
"I'm not that bad anymore," Betty remarked with a glare aimed squarely at Justin.
"Because you let Daniel dress you," Amanda responded before Justin could.
"I pick out my own clothes," Betty said in her defense.
"I don't think you realized it, but Daniel has been purchasing about 90% of your outfits for the last three years. Even most of your closet swag were really gifts from Daniel." Justin explained.
"There is no way that would have happened without me noticing it." Betty obviously didn't believe Justin even though Daniel knows what he saying to be true. He's surprised she didn't notice it.
"I like buying you things, so he's kind of right. A lot of your clothing came from me, especially your current wardrobe since Justin burned a lot of the other pieces." He reminded her.
"I was doing you a favor. Granted, Daniel does let you get whatever crazy things you want, but they're all designer brands. If it's designer, you can get away with just about anything." That was very true.
"OK, anyway, what did your father say about opening his house to the baby shower?" Daniel asked, wanting to get away from this dinnertime conversation about his tendency to dress up his girlfriend. He has a fashion fetish. He's aware. So is Betty but maybe not entirely.
And this conversation can go to a place that he doesn't want to in front of teenagers.
"He's going to see if the restaurant is available," Betty answered.
"Oh, that would be good because I would hate for Marc's baby shower to happen at the house in Queens." Justin sounded relieved. "Austin is supposed to live text me the whole baby shower. And get lots of videos."
"Good thing the showers on Sunday now because Sumreen would like to know if you want to go see a show with her on the West End tomorrow? She has an extra ticket, and her son prefers to be at a soccer game with his dad."
"So would I," DJ mumbled under his breath. Daniel smiled at that. He chose the right thing.
"Normally, I would ask which show. However, I know the whole schedule right now.
There are really no bad shows, only ones I've seen already. All of those I am perfectly happy watching again."
"I don't know which one because she forgot to tell me." Daniel knows which one, but he doesn't
want to make Betty upset.
"You can text her yourself to let her know you're interested."
"I'm interested." Justin practically squealed.
"Also, speaking of soccer games, I have two tickets tomorrow to the same game that Sumreen's husband is going to
be at. DJ, do you want to come with me?" Daniel asked.
"Don't you want to go with Betty?". DJ suggested.
"No, because she hates sports. Besides, I think it would be good
for us to just hang out together alone." Daniel argued. Betty already knew what he was doing. They planned it earlier in the week.
"I don't hate sports." Betty glared at her fiancé. "I hate playing sports, but I don't hate watching sports. However, the final book is due to Lindsay Monday. Amanda and I are going to be busy all weekend finalizing the magazine. So I actually prefer having a kid and boyfriend free weekend to finalize things."
"OK, I'm in." Daniel couldn't help but smile at that.
To be continued…
I hope you enjoyed the family fluff. More to come.