25-year-old Annie St. James hopped on her bike and headed down the New York sidewalk. A secondhand bookshop had opened up just a few blocks from her apartment and it was a beautiful day out - perfect for a bike ride to a bookstore and then some reading time in Central Park. Annie had been living in NYC for five months - she had moved at the beginning of January.
Annie was originally from Ohio, but for a majority of the past four years, she had been living in Pennsylvania, attending Carnegie Mellon as a musical theatre major. She had taken a gap year after graduating high school to save up for college and had finally been able to start classes at 20 years old.
Annie heard her phone buzz in her bag. She pulled it out and checked the notification. It was from Jesse.
Hey Annie,
Are you able to come over today? Rachel and I have something to tell you.
Jesse St. James was Annie's older brother and almost four years her senior. They were the youngest two St. James siblings. Eddie, the oldest, was currently in rehab for alcohol and heroin addiction after prior stints in rehab. Maggie, the second oldest, was engaged. Just a few years earlier she had successfully completed treatment for bulimia and was doing well.
Their parents, Ed and Margaret St. James, spent most of their children's childhoods traveling while they stayed with Ed's brother Rick and his now late wife Beth, who had become pseudo parents to their nieces and nephews.
Ed and Margaret had always favored Jesse. Annie was unplanned, and she had always suspected that Eddie and Maggie's mental health issues embarrassed their parents. Growing up, Jesse had a big ego, and his parents' favoritism only inflated it further. It didn't help that he and Annie both loved the performing arts and Jesse constantly criticized Annie's acting, singing, and dancing abilities. She had wanted so badly to make her brother proud and it had just seemed like she couldn't - he always had something negative to say about her work.
That was, until Annie decided to audition for Jesse's friend Tyler's musical at age 19. Jesse was directing the vocals and choreography and she hoped that she would finally be able to prove to Jesse she was a worthy performer. But as it turns out, Jesse had always admired and even envied his sister's talents. He and Tyler ended up asking her to be the stage manager and help Jesse direct the vocals and choreography. She accepted the offer - and she and Jesse had grown a lot closer during the process, as well as over the past five years as a whole.
Rachel was Jesse's high school sweetheart and now wife. They had been married for two years and lived in a house not too far from Annie's apartment. It had been a while since she'd visited - sometimes she would go over for dinner or for drinks and a movie. Rachel and Jesse were successful Broadway stars - Rachel had even won a Tony.
Annie paused. As much as she wanted to go to the new bookshop, she was curious as to what news her brother and sister-in-law had to share. Rachel had been out of commission for a while - back in January, she had given birth to Maya, the surrogate baby she had carried for her friends Blaine and Kurt. Maybe she had been cast in a show and she and Jesse wanted to celebrate her upcoming return to Broadway with Annie. Annie sent Jesse a reply.
Of course! What time?
To Annie's surprise, her brother responded right away.
As soon as you can.
Now Annie was worried. Determining a person's tone in a text message could be hard - all Jesse had said was he and Rachel had news they wanted to share with her as soon as possible. He didn't say it was good news. Was one of them sick? Had he heard something about Eddie? Annie shook her head trying to shake the thoughts away. The only way to find out was to go to their house. After texting Jesse that she was on her way, she brought her bike back to the apartment and hailed a taxi.
Ten minutes later, she arrived at Jesse and Rachel's house. It was rather large - bordering on mansion-size. Annie tipped her driver and headed for the door. Annie knocked and was startled at how quickly Jesse opened the door.
"Annie! Come in!" Jesse greeted his sister with a hug and stepped out of the way so she could enter the house.
"Um…hi," Annie said. Jesse seemed happy, so the news was probably good. Annie relaxed a little.
"Rachel's in the bathroom - she'll be out soon. How are you? We haven't seen you in a while," Jesse said.
"I'm good," Annie replied. "Work is going well - keeping me busy. The theatre is going to do Grease soon - I'm thinking about auditioning," she sat down on the couch next to her brother.
"You should," Jesse replied. "We love seeing you in the box office when we get our tickets but we've missed seeing you perform. Rachel was just saying she thought you'd be a good Rizzo, actually."
Annie smiled at this. Her sister-in-law rarely complimented others' performing abilities. The two of them got along very well and - Rachel was just hard to impress.
"Hi Annie!" Rachel said, entering the room. Annie stood up and gave Rachel a hug. They exchanged the usual pleasantries and Jesse told Rachel about Annie's desire to audition for the Hudson Theatre's production of Grease. Rachel echoed her husband's sentiment about Annie auditioning and sat down in a nearby chair.
Jesse clapped his hands together. "So, Annie, you're probably wondering why we asked you to come over."
"I thought it was because you guys liked me," Annie joked. Even with an exciting announcement hanging in the air, she couldn't help but be sarcastic - especially when the sarcasm was directed at her older brother.
Jesse and Rachel laughed.
"Well, yes," Jesse said. "But Rachel and I have some pretty big news to share. Annie…Rachel's pregnant."
Well this certainly wasn't the news she was expecting.
"I…wow. Congratulations!" Annie stood up and hugged both of them. She really was excited for them - she had never been an aunt before and this very well could be the only niece or nephew she ever had. But Rachel had given birth to Maya just five months earlier. Annie was no doctor, but didn't a person need more time for their body to heal after doing that before they did it again?
"It came as a complete shock to both of us," Jesse said. "We had wanted to wait for a bit before having our own baby because Rachel practically just gave birth - but sometimes you just get caught up in the heat of the moment and you don't have time to open your nightstand drawer before you -"
"Honey, I think we get it," Rachel interrupted quickly, much to Annie's relief.
Jesse shook his head. "Sorry," he said to Annie, who was desperately trying to get those images out of her head. She just shrugged.
"That's okay. When are you due?" Annie turned to Rachel.
"The end of November," Rachel replied.
"We may have to alter our Thanksgiving plans," Jesse said. Rachel and Annie laughed.
"Well, I'm really happy for you two," Annie said. "And I just know that if it's a girl - you'll name her after me," she grinned. Jesse and Rachel chuckled.
"Actually, we do have a girl name and a boy name picked out - as lovely as Anne is," Rachel added.
"Oh really? Would you like to share them with the class?" Annie asked.
"For a boy we were thinking of Simon Jesse," Rachel said.
"And for a girl we're thinking of Olive Maria," Jesse added.
Simon Jesse was certainly a choice, but Annie was more curious about her hypothetical niece's name.
"Olive Maria? How did you come up with that?" Annie asked. She hoped she didn't sound sarcastic - she definitely liked it more than Simon Jesse, but it was not what she would've expected them to pick.
"Well I was actually grocery shopping the other day," Jesse started. Good start, Jesse. "And I was going down the aisle when I noticed a jar of something on the shelf," he continued.
"Let me guess - a jar of pickles?" Annie asked. Jesse rolled his eyes.
Rachel laughed. "Your brother called me right then and there and told me he wanted to name our baby Olive if it was a girl," she said. "All because of a trip to the grocery store. At first I was shocked because…what the hell? But it's a pretty name and it grew on me fast. The middle name came from our viewing of The Sound of Music a few weeks ago."
"I like it," Annie replied. "And, obviously my hypothetical nephew's name is inspired by the beloved American Idol judge and Uncle Jesse Katsopolis of Full House?"
Rachel laughed again.
"Okay, you know what, I was going to offer to feed you but you can just leave," Jesse playfully threw a small pillow at his sister but couldn't help laugh along.
"Actually, the Simon is after Neil Simon, but you're right about the middle name," Rachel laughed again while Jesse pouted.
Annie stayed for supper (delicious hoagies from a local sandwich shop) and Jesse and Rachel insisted she stay for a movie. Annie naturally suggested Grease to which her brother and sister-in-law agreed wholeheartedly.
The months passed, and November came and went with no baby. But on the morning of December 3rd, when Jesse texted Annie a stock photo of a jar of olives, she knew exactly what he meant.
