House of the Scotts
When I met with Tracy for tutoring after school, I immediately felt that she had something on her mind. We were working concentrated for two hours before I finally addressed her cautiously. "Don't you want to tell me what's bothering you?" She looked at me in surprise, I gave her an encouraging nod.
"Is that so obvious?" She put her books aside with a sigh. "Okay, I'll tell you, but you have to promise me that this will remain among us."
"I promise," I said and waited what she would tell me.
"I told you that my parents are leaving this weekend," she began hesitantly. "And Brandon wants to go camping with some of his friends. It's the last chance before it gets too cold for it." She cleared her throat. "So far so good. I asked Jude if he wanted to come over. We would have the whole house for ourselves then."
She stopped in the middle of the sentence and I knew what she wanted to tell me with this statement. "You want to be alone with him because you want to sleep with him," I said immediately and smirked as she blushed. "No need to be embarrassed. That's just natural. You've been together for a while now."
"Did you have sex with Justin yet?"
Now I was the one who blushed. "Um... no," I admitted, grinning sheepishly. "We don't want to rush things. We have decided to take it slow."
"You're a virgin, aren't you?"
I've never had such an open conversation with Tracy. Only with Lydia, because we both knew each other forever and we could really talk about everything. It was weird to discuss things like that with Tracy. "I... yes," I admitted hesitantly. "I didn't have a boyfriend before Justin. The boys were interested in me, but there was nobody there I was interested in. Besides, I've been in love with Justin since I was 14."
"And he is ready to wait?"
I wondered what I could answer her. In fact, Justin and I hadn't talked about this topic yet. It was the first time I realized that a young man of 22 might have some needs. "He would never force me into something I'm not ready for," I said slowly. "But we are completely off topic. What about you and Jude?"
"He called me and told me that he had other plans for the weekend."
I looked at her and saw disappointment in her eyes. I sensed that Jude didn't tell the truth. I remembered that Lydia had once told me that Jude was a virgin too. He probably was just scared of the first time - just like me. "There are other weekends coming," I tried to cheer her up.
"It's not about the weekend." She rolled her eyes. "Apparently he doesn't want to sleep with me." She sighed. "Am I so ugly?"
I let my eyes wander over her and frowned in confusion. She was pretty with her slender figure and honey-blond smooth hair that reached almost her waist. If she really believed that it was her appearance that he didn't want to have sex with her, then she was naive. "The question wasn't serious, right?" I asked, shaking my head. "Do you think the boys at the school are all looking at you because you're so ugly? You are the most popular girl. Every boy wants to go out with you."
"The same with you," she countered. "That's not proof."
"It's not about me, it's about you. I just want to make clear that it's not about your looks. It's probably because he's not ready for it yet."
"He's turning 18. I thought boys of his age can't wait to have sex," she said with a shrug.
"Well, most of them," I said. "But Jude is different. He is more the intellectual type who doesn't allow himself to be guided by emotions. Davis is completely different. But that's not always good. You see where it took him." I looked at her thoughtfully. "Do you want my advice?"
She nodded. "Yes, that's why I told you."
"Don't put pressure on him. I think if you push him too hard, he'll try to avoid you. And sooner or later you will lose him."
"Seems you know a lot about Jude's inner life," she said, stunned. "How come?"
"When Lydia was with him, she often came to me and talked about her issues with him," I admitted with a sigh.
"OK. Thanks for the advice, Sawyer. "
When she jumped up and gathered her things, I looked at her in surprise. "Do you want to leave now?"
"I have to talk to Jude. I need to tell him that I will wait for him. The last thing I want is losing him."
"That's good," I said with a smile. "Then our talk wasn't for nothing."
"No, it wasn't. Thanks again."
I looked after her as she left my room and then returned to my school duties.
House of the Bakers
Two months later
When I woke up in the morning of November 17, my first thought was that it's been 18 years since I've been taken to the hospital with labor pains. Julian had been with me the whole time, during and after the birth, when the twins had to stay in the incubator for weeks. Today, 18 years later, those tiny twins had become two tall, handsome young men who took their lives into their own hands. Sighing, I turned on my side and let my hand slide over the empty pillow next to me. As so often these days, Julian was in L.A., but he had promised to take an earlier flight to celebrate his sons' birthday with the family in the afternoon. I looked at the clock. It was only 5 o'clock in the morning. A time when everyone was normally asleep, but I could clearly hear soft music coming from downstairs. Reluctantly, I got up, put on my robe, and went downstairs. Surprised, I stopped on the doorstep to the kitchen. Lydia stood in the middle of the kitchen, fully powdered with flour, and was in the process of mixing the dough she had just produced. Smiling, I looked around in the chaos that she had caused. "What are you doing here?" I asked, though I could clearly see what she was doing.
"I'm making a cake for the twins," she explained smiling. "It should be a surprise. That's why I set the alarm clock and then snuck down."
I pointed to the dough. "Can I help you?"
"No, but thanks for asking. All I have to do is fill the dough into the baking pan and put it into the oven."
Smiling, I watched her for a while and then began to clear up. "You should lie down again. I'll wait for the cake to be ready."
"I can wait, too." Sighing softly, she dropped into a chair. "I can't sleep anymore anyway. The baby kept me up all night."
I looked at her sympathetically. I could still remember how it had been with me when I was in my last stages of pregnancy. "You shouldn't walk around that much anyway. The doctor said that you should take it easy." My concern was justified, because it was only a few days ago that Lydia had experienced premature contractions. I knew what it meant to have premature babies. I don't want that for my son and Lydia.
"I'm fine," she said and rolled her eyes. "I'm only in the house all day. This idleness is starting to annoy me."
"I know," I said, putting my hand comfortingly on her arm. "I remember very well how it was with me. You'll see. The time until the birth will pass quickly. And all of a sudden your baby turns 18."
She laughed and put her hands on her belly. "I doubt that this will happen that fast. I would like to enjoy the time between."
"You will," I said smiling and went on to clean up the kitchen. "Now let's celebrate the twins' birthday first. Then we'll see."
"Can I help you?"
"I remember well that I just said that you should take it easy. The catering service I've hired will do most of the work," I explained with a smile. "And someone is coming later to take care of the decoration. I would have liked to do it myself, but I have to go back to my store afterwards."
"Is Julian coming too?"
I nodded. "He promised to be here on time for the party. And I'll have to do a lot of work by then."
"Can I perhaps do something else, such as wrapping gifts or folding napkins?"
I looked at her in amusement. "You don't give up, do you?"
"I'm bored." She got up and went to the window and looked out. "I looks like it's going to rain. So we probably can't celebrate in the garden," she sighed.
"We have a few hours left until then. Maybe it will clear up." I knew this hope was very low. Because for today, the weather forecast had predicted rain in our area.
Lydia looked at the clock. "I think it's time to take out the cake," she said, pointing to the oven.
We were about to take the cake out when suddenly Izzy appeared in the kitchen.
"Hm... what is smelling so good?" She inhaled the scent of the cake. "Chocolate cake!" She exclaimed enthusiastically. "My favorite cake."
She was about to reach out for it when I knocked her hand away. "Hands off! It's for the twins."
"Yeah, I thought so," she said grinning and dropped on a chair. "I couldn't sleep anymore. And when I opened the door and smelled the scent, I couldn't resist. "
"The cake is for later in the afternoon," Lydia said with a smile. "You'll probably have to wait until then."
"No problem," she said casually, reaching for an apple that lay in a bowl. "I have to do something before the party starts anyway."
"Where do you want to go?" I inquired curiously. "Today is Saturday. You don't have school."
"I'll meet with Brandon for tutoring." She raised her eyebrows meaningfully. "Later we'll join together the party."
"You often spend your time with Brandon," Lydia said, smirking. "Are you two dating?"
I looked back and forth between the two, surprised to find that Izzy was blushing. So now my baby was old enough as well to be interested in boys, I thought and sighed inwardly. I suddenly felt really old. I turned to the girls. "I'm going back to bed. You two can chat a little more." When I turned around again, I saw them both huddling together and whispering. Wistfully smiling, I went upstairs to the bedroom.
