A/N: How many times do I have to tell you people that I don't own Miracle?
Emador: Well, maybe I'll do a chapter with them doing that at some point.
Meadow567: Yeah, I guess Herb is a second dad. But Patti is a lot nicer than Mrs. McClanahan.
Darkdestiny2000: Yeah, this will be an interesting chapter all right.
StarrShyne: yeah, the real Rizzo's a little old for you, but he has two sons who are like 16 and 20. But meatballs are yummy!
Killerkeanegirl: Yeah, she's going to grow up emotionally scared from that experience.
Gilmoregirl: Well, it's all right here.
Klinoa: Yeah, the Internet people are silly. Sometimes boys are just incompetent; plus, that was so much fun to write.
Ellie's POVThursday morning, I had to be ready to leave for my parents' house by noon. I was also picking up Jack and Rizzo on the way. Gabby would be meeting us at my parents' house. Gabby Pierce has been spending Thanksgiving with my family since freshman year of college; her parents spend the holiday in exotic locales. This year Mr. and Mrs. Pierce are spending Thanksgiving in Rome.
Emily called me around eleven and told me that we needed to talk. "What's up?" I asked her.
"None of my skirts fit me," she moaned.
"What about your dresses? Do any of them fit you?" I asked.
"I'll check and call you back."
"Okay."
I had an easier time finding clothes to wear than Emily. I took out a black dress that my mother had bought for me to wear the previous Christmas; thankfully, it still looked great on me. Heidi was wearing a pink baby dress that had once belonged to Annie O'Callahan-about seventeen years ago. True to her word, Mrs. O'Callahan had brought me a box of Annie's baby clothes when the boys played Harvard and she promised to bring more clothes to the Olympics.
Emily called me back while I was dressing Heidi. "I found a dress that fits!" she squealed.
"That's wonderful," I told her. "What dress is it?"
"That navy blue dress I wore to Leah's wedding," she told me.
Leah was Emily's cousin who had gotten married back in April. "That dress looks great on you."
"I know. That's why I'm so happy that it still fits me and it doesn't make it that obvious that I'm pregnant."
"That's great. Well, I hope you and Robbie have a good time at your parents."
"I'd say the same thing to you, but I don't know if that's possible on your end."
I laughed. "I'll do my best. After all, Jack is coming."
"Well, you two kids behave yourselves," she teased.
"Oh, we will."
When I got to the dorms, Jack and Rizzo were waiting for me on the front steps. They came running over to the car when I pulled up at the curb. Jack opened the door and smiled at me. "Can we have a ride, ma'am? We're two poor lowly hockey players who really want to eat a nice meal for Thanksgiving dinner."
"Get in and let's get going," I told him. "We don't want to be late; my mother is a stickler for punctuality."
"Who will be there?" Rizzo asked. "I mean besides us, Gabby, and your parents and siblings."
"My dad's family will be there; they're pretty decent people."
"How many people is that?"
"Probably somewhere between ten and twelve. My uncle Raymond and my Aunt Dorothy have three children. Charlotte is ten, Clarissa is eight, and Dennis is six. My aunt Victoria and my uncle Henry have five kids. Henry Jr. is twenty-one, Rose is nineteen, Donna is sixteen, Charles is fourteen, and David is twelve. I don't know if Henry and Rose will be there; it depends. Oh, and my mother's brother will be there with his family and my grandparents."
Jack gasped. "Are they like your mother?"
"My grandparents are, but my aunt and uncle aren't. My mother hates my aunt, but she has to invite her for family events because it's socially unacceptable to snub your siblings," I told them.
"What's wrong with your aunt?" Rizzo asked.
"She's Italian."
"Your aunt is Italian?" Jack gasped.
"And she's from Boston," I said with a smile. "Her name is Regina Alessandra Eusani-Hampton. She married my uncle Michael ten years ago when he lived in Detroit; they live in St. Paul now."
"Do they have any kids?" Rizzo asked.
"Yep, they have three little girls. Samantha is seven, Andrea is five, and Joanna is three. They're really sweet and incredibly cute."
Jack smiled. "What are your grandparents like?"
"Reginald and Helen Hampton are just like my mother, stupid and stuck in the past," I told him; letting the frustration I was feeling edge into my voice.
"Just jolly," Rizzo sighed.
"They're fine with Italians, but they think that all Irish people are drunks," I said. "Oh, Rizzo, my grandmother might ask you how the Corleones are; she thinks that everything that happens in movies is real."
"Oh wonderful," Rizzo sighed. "How would I know? I'm from Boston, not Brooklyn or Jersey."
"Just tell her that and she'll leave you alone," I told him. "Don't worry; she's a harmless old woman."
"I hope so," Jack said. "I really don't want people lecturing me about the drinking problem I don't have."
Rizzo gasped in fake horror. "You're Irish and you don't have a drinking problem? That's scandalous."
"I know," Jack said. "My mother wouldn't let me develop a drinking problem when I was younger and I never really wanted to develop one anyway."
"That's good," I told him. "I could never be with a man who had a drinking problem."
"Then why are you dating an Irishman?" Rizzo asked me from the backseat.
"Because the nighttime action with Irishmen is just astounding," I teased.
"Really? That's why you're dating me?" Jack asked, sounding shocked. "I thought you were dating me for my charm and good looks."
"Nope, those are just added bonuses," I told him with a teasing smile. "But I do love you."
He smiled at me. "And I love you."
Rizzo looked at the sleeping baby in the carseat next to him. "Heidi, I love you very much."
She sighed in her sleep and I laughed. "That means 'I love you too, Michael.'"
"Ellie, we probably shouldn't tell Gabby that she has some pretty strong competition from a six-month-old," Jack joked.
Robbie's POV
I rang the bell at the Sibleys' house and smiled at Emily. "Don't worry, sweetie. It'll be fine; they won't try to kill you or anything," I told her.
"I hope not," she whispered.
Just then, Mr. Sibley opened the door. "Robbie, Emily, it's great to see you. Come in!"
"Daddy!" Emily beamed, hugging her dad the minute we were in the house.
"Emily," he said with a smile. Then he hugged her. "Oh, Rob, Alex and Nathan are in the living room watching the football game. Emily, your mother is in the kitchen with Kate and Mara."
I went and joined Emily's older brother, Alex, and her older sister Kate's husband, Nathan, in the living room. "What's the score?" I asked.
"Detroit's up seven to nothing over Dallas," Nathan told me as I sat down.
"Great."
A few minutes later, Mr. Sibley walked into the room. "I was kicked out of the kitchen by my own wife and daughters."
"Well, that's love for you," Nathan told him. "I've learned just to avoid the kitchen when Kate is cooking. Otherwise she tries to kill me for interfering and making a mess."
"That's my sister for you," Alex said. "Mara lets me help her cook sometimes. She's teaching me some things." Mara was Alex's wife.
"What about you, Rob?" Mr. Sibley asked. "Does my daughter ever let you help out in the kitchen?"
I laughed. "Emily let me in the kitchen? That's ridiculous. She says I'm fed well enough at the dorms that I don't need to come begging food from her."
"Doesn't she ever cook for you?" Alex asked.
"About once a week, but she says that Rizzo's a better cook than she is, so she doesn't see why I put up with her cooking."
"Don't you take her out to dinner?" Alex demanded.
"We do that at least once a week," I replied. "But lately, your sister hasn't been up for going out to dinner as much as we used to. We're staying in more often these days."
"Really?" Alex asked. "Emily used to always love going out for dinner."
"And she still does," I said. I felt a little bit awkward because I didn't know when Emily wanted to tell them about the baby, which was why we hadn't been going out for dinner lately.
Dinner started at three o'clock and as Mr. Sibley said grace, I said a silent prayer that my mother and grandparents would behave themselves during their celebrations. After all the food was served, Emily took my hand under the table and said, "Robbie and I have an announcement to make. He asked me to marry him on Sunday and I said yes; we're planning to get married this summer."
"That's wonderful," Mrs. Sibley said.
"Congratulations," Kate told us.
"You're not going to be so happy when you hear why we're getting married," I said slowly. "In fact, you'll probably want to kill me."
"What's going on?" Alex, ever the protective older brother, asked.
"I'm pregnant," Emily whispered.
You could have heard a pin drop in the ensuing moments. Finally, Mrs. Sibley spoke. "When did this happen?"
"Well, I'm due in April, so I'd say sometime in July," my fiancée said softly.
"When do you two plan to get married?" Alex asked us.
"We were thinking June," I said.
Emily nodded and her father sighed. "Well, your mother and I will pay for the wedding. We'd be more than happy too."
"Your father's right," Mrs. Sibley said. "We're going to support you two throughout all of this."
"Just take good care of my precious baby sister," Alex told me. "But I'm going to help you two out. Goodness knows you two won't get much help from Rob's family."
"Ellie wants to help us," Emily said.
"Yeah, but she's the only one who will," Kate remarked. My experience had shown Katharine Elaine Sibley-Merchant to be a good friend but intensely cynical, very defensive of the people she loved, and extremely good at holding grudges. Once you were on her "hate list", it was incredibly hard to get back in her good graces. But she is an amazing ally; once she's on your side, she won't leave. (And I mean that in a good way.)
As I listened to my fiancée's family offer to help us during the next several months, I wondered what was happening at my parents' house.
Jack's POV
From the minute I walked in the McClanahan house, it was like being the middle of a war zone. Mrs. McClanahan was trying to avoid her husband's family and her brother's wife at all costs. Ellie and I ended up in her old bedroom playing with her younger cousins. Charlotte, Clarissa, and Dennis were playing Go Fish on Ellie's old bed while Ellie and I found ourselves playing dolls with Sam, Andie, and Jo. Heidi was sitting in my lap watching everything.
Andie looked at me. "Are you going to marry Ellie?"
"I don't know," I replied, looking into her big brown eyes. "I love her, but we're not sure if we're going to get married."
"You should," Sam told me. "I like you."
"You're not too bad yourself, kiddo," I told her.
"And since I like you, you should marry my cousin," she informed me.
"I'll see what I can do," was my reply.
Sam looked at Ellie. "Ellie, are you going to marry Jack?"
Ellie shrugged. "Probably, we love each other."
"Then why don't you just get married?" Andie asked.
"Because we haven't known each other long enough," she said. "We've only known each other for four months and Jack's busy with the Olympics. Maybe after the Olympics we can talk about getting married."
"Really?" I asked her.
"Sure," she told me. "But we'll keep that for after the Olympics."
Ellie confided in me that she was afraid that Jennie wouldn't be able to keep the secret. "She's never been good at keeping secrets, especially something this big," she said.
We were called down for dinner just then, but Ellie's words hung in my head until I heard Ellie's Grandmother Hampton ask, "So, why isn't Robbie here?"
"He went to his girlfriend's parents' house," Mrs. McClanahan said. "Apparently, he prefers slumming with them to spending time with us."
"What a silly boy," Mrs. Hampton said.
"Emily's not just his girlfriend," Jennie burst out. "They got engaged on Sunday."
"Really?" Mrs. McClanahan asked. "How come I didn't hear about this?"
Ellie slammed her head into my shoulder as Jennie said, "It's supposed to be a secret because Emily is pregnant. She's due in April."
I felt the force of my girlfriend's head slamming in my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder as I noticed that Kathie wasn't paying a lick of attention to what was happening around her. She was staring intently at Rizzo like there was nothing else in the world.
Ellie must have noticed the same thing because she barked, "Kathie, please pass the salad."
Nothing happened.
Again, Ellie said, "Pass the salad, Kathie."
And again, nothing happened.
"Katherine Patricia McClanahan," Ellie yelled. "Pass me the salad, now!"
"What? Huh?" Kathie mumbled. "What do you want, Ellie?"
"Could you please pass the salad?"
"Oh, yeah, sure," she said, passing Ellie the salad.
Rizzo looked at me and raised his eyebrows. I shrugged and sighed.
"Elizabeth," her mother barked.
"Yes, ma'am," Ellie answered meekly.
"Did you know about Robert and Emily's little surprise?" her mother demanded.
"Yes, ma'am," she said again.
"And why didn't you tell me?"
"Robbie wasn't sure how to tell you and he wanted to tell you himself. But they wanted to wait until they knew how to tell you before they told you," Ellie told her mother firmly. "And besides, Mother, with the way you treat Rob and Emily, I have no idea why they would ever tell you to begin with."
"I am Robert's mother."
"You know, you might want to try actually behaving like a mother to him sometime," Ellie retorted.
"I do behave like his mother!"
"Really? When? Is it when you're insulting his girlfriend or his career choice? Or when you're insulting his clothes and hair or is there another time I don't know about? See, the way I look at it, Miranda, you've never been a mother to Rob or me in anyway except blood. Since the minute we were out of your body, we've just been annoyances to you," Ellie yelled. "I honestly don't know why on earth you'd ever want me around. I'm through with you and this house, for good." She stood up and picked up Heidi. "Come on, Jack; let's go. Dad, I hope I'll see you and the girls soon. Rizzo, Gabby, I'll see you tomorrow. Oh, and Miranda, I feel nothing towards you; I don't have the time to waste on loving you or hating you."
"We're coming with you," Gabby said. "I don't want to stay here if you aren't." Gabby and Rizzo both stood up at the same time I did.
We were in the hall putting on our coats when Ellie's uncle Michael and Aunt Regina joined us with their children. "We're leaving too," Michael Hampton said. "You're right, Ellie. As long as your mother is the way she is, there's no point in being under this roof."
Ellie smiled at them. "I'm sick of my mother and I have no reason to be under this roof anymore. I love my dad and my sisters, but I can't stay under this roof as long as she treats Jack and Emily like they're second class citizens. I'm out of here."
With that, she walked out the door and I followed her out. The minute we were out the door, she said, "Jack, you're driving."
"All right." I found out why she wanted me to drive as I was pulling out of her parents' driveway. Ellie started crying. Not just crying, sobbing like her heart was breaking. "What's wrong, Ellie-bear?" I whispered.
"I can't believe it finally did it," she sobbed. "I finally told my mother what I felt. I finally told her that I wanted her out of my life."
"And that was very brave of you," I told her. "I'm proud of you for standing up to your mother."
"But I'm scared," she whimpered.
"Of what?"
"I don't know," she sobbed.
When we reached Ellie's apartment, I settled Heidi in her playpen and sat down next to Ellie on the couch. "You were very brave, sweetie," I told her.
She smiled. "Thanks. I still can't believe I actually said all that stuff to my mom."
"But you said it. You threw it out in the universe and you can't take it back. When I was a little kid, my mom used to squeeze toothpaste all over a plate and then she would try to put it back in the tube. It never worked."
"Yeah, what's the point?"
"Your words are like that toothpaste. Once you say them, you can't take them back. And I, for one, am glad you said all those things. I'm glad you stood up for yourself."
"And it didn't hurt that I stood up for you too," she teased me.
"No, that's true and I'm glad you did that," I said, before kissing her.
"Hey, I love you; why wouldn't I stand up for you?"
"Because I'm a drunk Irishman from Boston?"
"No you aren't," Ellie said. "You may be an Irishman from Boston, but you sure as heck aren't drunk. I've smelled your breath before."
"How do you know I don't use mints?"
"Honey, I love you, but when I kiss you, I do not detect a hint of minty freshness."
"Excuse me," I said in mock disgust. "My breath is not disgusting."
"I never said you have disgusting breath," she replied. "I just said it doesn't smell like mints."
"What does it smell like?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out," she replied coyly.
A/N: Please review! I hope you liked it. More reactions to the baby and Ellie walking out of her parents' house will come in the next chapter.