The night came and went and now Tess was sitting on the porch stairs with Tenley.
"I don't know what to do Tess," Tenley sighed as she sat next to Tess handing her a coffee cup.
"About what?" Tess said as she settled on the stairs with her gloves and hoodie on.
"My name, this is getting more and more complicated."
"What are you talking about Ten?"
"Well, my full last name right now is Seaborn hyphen Hayes space Moss hyphen Lyman."
"What about if you both were Seaborn-Moss?"
"Don't you think two parents would have a problem with that?"
"I wouldn't want to see the eruption that would happen with my dad and your mom."
"Exactly"
"You could be Mister and Missus, Christopher and Tenley, Seamoss-Hayman.
"You need to stop that now," Tenley says warning her jokingly.
"It works! All four parents are happy! Everyone has part in the name," Tess says trying to keep a straight face.
"I'll run it by Chris," Tenley responds as she lets it sit for a moment. "I've missed you Tess."
"You've been a little bit busy with my brother."
"But that shouldn't ruin our friendship."
"You fell for my big brother, it doesn't ruin anything, it does change things though, whether we want it to or not."
"Yea I guess"
"We need to shop soon."
"Yea, when everything gets back two what ever normal is after this you me and Carley should go shopping and to CakeLove, that's supposed to be amazing. It could be like old times."
"Yea," Tenley says, hoping normal is what normal was two days ago.
They sit in a comfortable silence for a moment.
"There's the car," Tenley says as she stands up and dusts herself off. "Are you sure you want me to be out here?"
"Yea, you're good, hell you're one of the most normal people here."
"Yea, I guess," Tenley says with disbelief as the car pulls up and the driver gets out and opens the door for Evan. He climbs out of the car and wraps Tess in a hug as his bag is handed to him.
"Thank you," he says to the driver.
"Thank you for coming," Tess says as he lets her go to take his bag.
"You wanted me to be here, that's all that mattered," he says looking sincerely into her eyes.
"Okay," Tess says turning to Tenley. "First thing's first. This is a huge family. I'm going to introduce people as we go."
"Okay," Evan says with a smile.
"This is Tenley Seaborn-Hayes Lyman-Moss, she is my sister-in-law because of Christopher."
"You're Ten? The first daughter?"
"Right," Tenley says as she offers her hand to him.
"I'm Evan Leahy."
"Pleasure to meet you."
"It's all mine," he says as he gives her a hug.
The three of them walk up to the porch and then to the front door. Evan puts his hand in Tess' and stops at the door.
"How many is big Tess?" he asks as her hand goes to the door.
"Um, about 58 people," Tess answers.
"Okay then," he says as he nod his head.
They enter the house in a rare moment of quiet. But as the door shuts Sam comes charging down the stairs, with a book in hand. He stops and kisses the girls on the cheek and then he smiles at Evan.
"You must be Evan!" he says.
Evan's eyes go wide and he stammers out "Um, yeah, uh, I mean yes sir."
"No sir, not around here," Sam laughs. "No one goes by sir around here! Not even Jed"
"Right," Evan says as he still stands in awe of the man in front of him.
"Just call me Sam, and welcome," he says as he walks off to the library.
"Tess that was the President!" he says.
Tenley laughs, "No that was just Dad."
"Okay," he says taking it all in.
Tess looks at him and smiles. "Are you hungry?" she asks him.
"Yea, there was no breakfast on the plane."
"Okay," Evan says hesitantly.
"I'm going to go get my husband out of bed," Tenley says quickly, "I'll see you two later." With that she scampers upstairs.
Tess leads Evan to the kitchen she opens the door to find her mom, CJ, Toby, Annie, Molly and Liam, with Abbey showing Allie, Tina, and Clara how to make pancakes.
"And then you add a little sugar to the pan, and then what?" Abbey asks.
"The goo in the pan!" Allie yells.
"Yes and then what?"
"The sugar on top!" Tina calls.
"What happens next, Clara?"
"Wait and then flip!" Clara calls jumping to emphasize flip.
"Yes! You girls are smarter then any of your parents at picking up on this!"
Evan and Tess take in this scene and Donna sees them first and goes over to them.
"Evan, this is my mother, Donnatella Moss-Lyman," Tess says.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Moss-Lyman," Evan says to Donna
"The pleasure is mine, but, please, call me Donna," Donna replies.
"Okay, everyone!' Tess says to the room as they turn to her she smiles and places a hand on Evan's chest, "this is Evan, my boyfriend. Evan this is my Aunts CJ and Annie, You remember my Uncle Toby. This is his daughter and son-in-law, Molly and Liam Ziegler-Williams, and Margaret McGarry. Over here is Allie Ziegler-Williams, and Tina Nichols, and Clara Wilson, and of course, my Grandma Abbey, Abbey Bartlett."
"You look like you could use some pancakes!" Abbey says to Evan.
"Yes Dr. Bartlett," Evan responds.
"Oh my dear boy, none of us use those pesky titles anymore, please call me Abbey."
"Okay," Evan responds nervously as he sits at the table.
"So Evan what do you do?" CJ asks.
"Um, I'm a graduate assistant in the career center of the university I attended."
"And what would that be?" Toby asks.
"Mount Saint Mary's University, sir," Evan responds.
"Don't call him sir, Evan, it goes to his head," CJ chides him as Tina and Clara bring the pancakes to the table for him.
"Thank you, Clara. Thank you Tina." He says as they hand him the plate.
He takes a bite, and CJ turns to him and smiles.
"Isn't Mount Saint Mary's near Camp David?"
"Yes, it is."
"It's a Catholic college, right?" Abbey asks as she sits down at the table next to Evan opposite Tess.
"Oh for Pete's sake will you please stop integrating him? You all know where it is! I go there! You've all been there!" Tess says as she rolls her eyes.
"We were only having fun with him Tess," CJ says as she laughs and leans against Toby.
"These are wonderful pancakes ladies," Evan says as he looks from Abbey to Allie, Tina and Clara who have settled in to their parent's laps. Donna beams at him and Tess from the other end of the table. All she ever needed was for Tess to be happy with a non-gomer and this guy was as non-gomer as they come. As they all settle into their breakfasts the door swings open and Josh, Charlie, Doug, Mitch and Nick all enter huffing and puffing followed quickly by Noah, Brad, Carter, Andrew, and JT laughing and joking around and carrying a basketball and Joey is running around their legs smiling and laughing. Abbey laughs and Donna looks up and shakes her head and opens her arms and lap to Joey who more than accepts his grandmother's offer.
"Water," Charlie gasps.
"Have you ever thought that you all are too old to play basketball with the kids?" CJ admonishes the older men as the younger men look sheepish. "And have you guys ever thought about going easy on those old men?"
Toby looks smugly at Josh and Charlie, "Think about how your feeling right now." He looks smugly into his coffee cup as he takes a sip. "That feeling is why I don't play these boys anymore."
Everyone laughs until Josh and Noah notice the young man sitting between Tess and Abbey. They nudge all the other men until their staring Evan down. Tess notices what's going on.
"Nuh-uh," Charlie says as Josh nudges him, "I already met him, I like him."
Tess' head snaps up and she stares down her father.
"Daddy, stop it!" she says.
"Why don't you introduce us to your friend Therese?" Noah says with a smirk.
"Trouble maker," Tess mumbles as she turns and smiles at Evan, "Men of men, this is Evan, I love him be nice." Josh smiles sheepishly at his daughter as she continues, "Evan this is my father, Josh, you remember my Uncle Charlie, this is Doug, Annie's dad, his son-in-law, Mitch, Nick, Ellie's husband, this is my eldest brother, Noah, my brother-in-law, Brad, Carter Seaborn-Hayes, Andrew, Margaret's son, and JT, Charlie's son," Tess finished with a smile.
Andrew tosses the ball at Evan, "You play?"
"Yea," he says tossing it back at Evan.
"We'll see your talents on the courts later?"
"Sure."
"Awesome," Andrew says as he begins to walk out of the kitchen. He turns around and smiles at the group. "I get the boy's shower!" He says as he races away. The other younger contingent of the group follows his lead and race out of the kitchen.
Margaret shakes her head as the older men take seats around the kitchen table.
"No matter how old they are, when they get together they act like teenagers," she says as she pushes herself up from the table. "I am going to see if Leo wants breakfast, is there anything I can bring Jed, Abbey?"
"No, he already ate this morning."
"Okay, I'll go drag Leo away," Margaret said as she leaves the room.
As they sit there the rest of the family comes in and begins filling their plates, next through the door from the direction of the bedrooms are Paige and Lou, and Huck and Vinnie. Then through the back door comes, Carley, Jen, Zoƫ, Emma and Lauren from riding. Everyone begins to hunker down and Tess stands up to help with the dishes as everyone introduces themselves to Evan. Evan begins to clear the table of the empty plates. He kisses Tess on the cheek and leans in and whispers, "Once we're done here can we go for a walk to see if I've got this straight?"
Tess giggles, "Five minutes."
"Thanks."
