Chapter 293: Izzy's Brood

Monday, January 30th, Evening

Ivy finished her mouthful of food. Slowly, she studied Izzy, making Izzy uncomfortable. The woman from Chicago wiped her mouth and leaned closer to Izzy. "You have children too if I remember correctly," Ivy said.

Izzy nodded, measured Ivy a bit. "Yeah, I mention that earlier, and you've met them," she said.

"In passing," Ivy said, casually, "I've heard this beautiful story about Wyatt. Why don't you tell us about your children?"

Izzy nodded, taking a full measure of Ivy. "Sure," she said and sipped her beer. Izzy let the amber liquid sit on her tongue for a minute before swallowing. "You've met Nomi and Ellis," she finally said.

"I think that's their names," Ivy said.

Izzy nodded, "That's their names," she said.

"I've never heard the name Nomi before," Ivy said.

"It's Naomi, she couldn't pronounce her name, and it kept coming out as Nomi; it stuck," Izzy said.

"Ellis, was he named for Ellie?" Ivy asked.

"Most people think that, but he's not. We liked the name Ellis, but we toyed around with Lucas, Lawrence, and Michael. Ellis just kept winning out," Izzy said.

"So, your father's name isn't Ellis?" Ivy asked.

Izzy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After a long ten count, she felt calmer and opened her eyes. Izzy focused on Ivy. "No, my dad's name is Chase, and I'd never name my son after him," she said.

Ivy nodded, "Okay," she said.

"Well, Nomi, she's sort of one of the reasons I had two weddings. I'm sure the same night Keith proposed to me, we conceived Nomi. It's no fun finishing college pregnant and working for Senator McMichael afterward. When she was born, she had this tuft of black hair and beautiful blue eyes. As you can see, she kept both," Izzy said.

"What was Keith like when he found out he had a daughter?" Ivy asked.

"Keith has four sisters; he thought it prepared him. Well, Nomi is very active, to the point we had her tested for ADHD. She's fine, just very active, and Keith, not to mention me, was often tired out chasing after her. That's where basketball came to us as our savior," Izzy said.

"Savior?" Ivy asked.

Izzy nodded and smiled. She took another drink of her beer. Izzy wanted Ivy to stew on the last statement a bit longer. "It helped her burn off energy. With my long hours working for Senator McMichael and Keith's at the label, she could be overwhelming. Luckily her cousin's PJ and Key, my sister Chase's oldest two, are around the same age. Nomi is between them in age. Their dad was playing basketball with them, and Nomi took right to it," Izzy paused and laughed, "My father-in-law still to this day takes Nomi to the River Court to shoot hoops," Ivy said.

"What's she like otherwise?" Ivy asked.

Izzy shrugged, "Nomi's ten; I doubt she's found herself to that extent, yet. At sixteen, ask me again; hell, we might be calling her Naomi by then. A friend of mine from college has a daughter who's a great artist but plays ice hockey, so, who knows where Nomi's road will lead," she said.

Ivy nodded and looked at Izzy. "Who do you think Nomi looks like more?" she asked.

Izzy chuckled, "She's a Davis; those genes, so dominate are they that Nomi and Key often get confused as sisters," she said.

"Can you tell them apart?" Ivy asked.

"A mom can, but Key has dark eyes and is a bit taller. Hell, PJ and Key are both going to be tall. I wouldn't be surprised with House of Davis won't be featuring Paige Davis and Keelan Davis walking the runway in six years," Izzy said.

"Paige and Keelen?" Ivy asked.

"PJ and Key, that's their full first names," Izzy said.

"No, Naomi Davis?" Trin asked.

"If she wants," Izzy said.

"You don't want her to get the same experience as you did?" Trin asked.

Izzy shrugged, "I want Nomi to be Nomi," she said.

"Made the mistake of trying to push Brett in a certain direction," Ashlyn said.

"How did that work out?" Ivy asked.

"Failed miserably and has been a source of tension between us ever since," Ashlyn said.

"Och!" Ivy said.

"I've seen them go at it; it's not pretty," Izzy said.

"We've only talked about Nomi; we've not spoken about Ellis," Ivy said.

"What's there to say about Ellis? He's six; Wyatt wasn't that interested in anything but dinosaurs," Trin said, "I was constantly taking him to the Nature History Museum."

"Well, Ellis, is as Trin said six. Most of his time not involved with the school, he watches his Aunt Sawyer stream her video games. She even lets him play like Keith use to let Sawyer play," Izzy said.

"It's not the only thing he's into," Ashlyn said.

"True," Izzy said.

"Yeah, tell us," Trin said.

"What's going on?" Ivy asked.

"Just something Izzy doesn't find funny," Trin said.

"What's that?" Ivy asked.

"Ellis is into dinosaurs, too," Izzy said.

"What's wrong with that?" Ivy asked.

"Nothing," Izzy said.

"Nothing, just that Izzy teased me about that with Wyatt," Trin said, "She got away with it then because Nomi wasn't into them."

Ashlyn laughed, "Karma," she said.

"Yeah, bit you on the ass, Izzy," Trin said.

"Yes, karma did bite me on the ass," Izzy said and took a draught of her beer, "And I deserved it."

"Well, thank god you didn't make Chase's mistake," Trin said.

"What was that?" Ivy asked.

"Our dear older sister got her nephew Phelan a loud toy for one Christmas," Trin said.

"So?" Ivy asked.

Ashlyn laughed, "Karma," she said.

"Kelly got PJ something loud for her birthday," Trin said.

"Oh," Ivy said.

"The first rule of gift-giving, never give a loud toy, or you'll get one in return," Trin said.

Ivy nodded. Izzy looked her over and nodded.

"Ivy, what's bothering you?" Izzy asked.

"Did you guys choose to be parents?" Ivy asked, "Sorry, I mean did you want kids?"

Trin made a face. "I made a choice to have sex, that led to me being a parent," she said, "Honestly, I never thought about being a mom until it was too late."

"Of course, I thought about being a mom, married and all that," Izzy said, "Of course, the path I took didn't match the thoughts or dreams I had."

"I was so young when I became a mom," Ashlyn said, "So, there's little choice there. As Trin said, I made a choice where I became a mom. My whole life has been as a mom; I've never been an adult without children."

Ivy nodded, "I see, thank you," she said.

"What's wrong, Ivy?" Izzy asked.

"Nothing," Ivy said.

"Seriously, what's on your mind?" Izzy asked.

"That, I'm, well, not sure I want to be a mother," Ivy said, nodded, and took a drink of her beer to cover her quivering lower lip.