Eve was doing the dishes. Jayson was in finishing his homework and Zoey and the twins were watching a movie in the living room. But all of them were in her field of vision the whole time. It was nice to have a few minutes of quiet. She hummed to herself as she washed and then dried the dishes that they had used to eat dinner. She liked doing dishes, she found as of late that was the only time she could just let herself think. The phone ringing broke the silence she had been enjoying. She frowned as she went over to answer it.

"Hello." she said while wiping her still damp pants on the back of her jeans.

"Eve it's Lori." Eve's insides froze. All she could think about was something had obviously happened to her father or her siblings.

"What's the matter? Is Dad alright?" she prayed he hadn't drank himself into a stupor and now was in the hospital or something."

Lori laughed a little. "Everyone is fine." She could understand why Eve had been so quick to jump to that conclusion. "Actually I wanted to invite you and the kids over for dinner on Friday. That is if you don't already have plans."

Oh my God, she must have had a stroke, yes that was it. She had a stroke and was now in a coma in some ICU somewhere. This was all some sort of drug induced hallucination. There was no way Lori would just call her and invite her to the home she shared with Eve's own father willingly. She pinched herself and was rather surprised when it hurt, really hurt. So she wasn't dreaming.

"Y-you want me and the kids to come over for dinner?" she found it hard to get the words out of her mouth.

"Yes, no tricks I just thought it would be nice to have a dinner with the whole family together." Lori explained.

"Someone has to be dying. Is it me? Am I dying?" she didn't think she was dying but one could never be too sure. "Or are you dying?"

"No-I am not dying and I am pretty sure you are not either." she sighed then. "Look I know that we may not have gotten along in the past but I really do want you and the kids to come over for dinner. It would mean a lot."

"Yea-yea sure we can make it." Eve just couldn't wrap her mind around what she was hearing. Lori, the same woman who hated her while she was growing up, the woman who made it almost impossible for her to have any real kind of relationship with her father and siblings, suddenly wanted her and her children to come over for dinner.

"Great. See you around six on Friday." with that the women hung up with each other.

Eve shook her head. "I still think I must have had a stroke." she placed her hand against her forehead. Things were certainly strange. She walked back over to the sink in a confused haze. What weird dimension had she stepped into. John now lived two houses down from her, if that wasn't weird enough the wicked witch of the entire planet now wanted her and her family for dinner. Strange times indeed.

–

"Mom do I really need to wear a tie?" Jayson whined. "I look like such a tool."

"You look very handsome." Eve kissed his cheek. "And yes you do have to wear the tie. I want Lori to think that we at least have some of our act together."

"I don't see why you are trying so hard. Who cares what she thinks." Jayson reasoned. When had her son become to voice of reason in her life. Wasn't she supposed to be the one helping him?

"Please Jay. Just do this for me." she begged.

"Fine." he relented. "But I want something in return."

"Extortion? Really?" she raised a brow impressed. Where was that innocent little boy that he had once been. "What do you want?"

"I want to have a barbeque this weekend. Dad and Skylar are invited. No Chase."

"So basically you want to have a family dinner with burgers and hot dogs?" she asked. It didn't seem like such a big deal.

"Yes but I also want to get those fun sparkler things. And remember no Chase."

"Fine no Chase. I will tell him to go hang out with some of the guys that he works with." she caved. She knew that wasn't going to be a fun discussion to have with her boyfriend. But if that is what Jayson wanted she would do it.

"Ok then I will wear the dress shirt and tie but I refuse to wear that ugly sweater vest."

"Fine Jayson."

–

"Hey Daddy." Eve squealed a little before throwing her arms around her father's neck. She hadn't seen him in a couple of months.

"Hi Evie." James gave her a grin. "Now let me see how big all my grandchildren have gotten. Oh my Jayson if you get any bigger you'll be in college next week."

"Don't rush him Dad. I still have a little bit more time with him before he's going to leave." she kissed the top of her son's head. Jayson made his way into the home, his hand still firmly holding Jonathan's. Eve followed with Braylen in her arms, Zoey's hand was in her's as well.

"Wow look at all of you. You all look so nice." Lori gushed to the children. Eve wanted to roll her eyes but she refrained herself. "Eve is great to see you too."

"Thank you Lori. And thank you for inviting us over." she said politely.

"I am glad you accepted." Lori gave her a smile.

The awkwardness was so thick in that room it was almost smothering. But Eve plastered her best fake smile on her face and tried to ignore it. She would do a good job of it too for her father and sibling's sakes. But truth be told she wanted to be anywhere other than that house at that moment. But she was excited to see Krysten and Jake.

She did her best to relax but she knew she would not feel any less stressed until she was out of that house. But she tried to hide it the best she could. She would get through that dinner because she had to. It was best for everyone in the long run that she at least try to make nice with Lori.

The dinner was cheery, or at least as cheery as it could be. Krysten told everyone her stories from life in the dorms and Jake talked about his new job at the bank. Jayson seemed to become very fond of his uncle very fast which was great because he needed all the positive male role models he could get. Once dinner was over they talked for a little bit and Lori began to clear the table. Eve offered to help because it was the polite thing to do. To her surprise Lori accepted her offer to help.

"I am glad you came over tonight Eve." Lori said once they had gotten all the dishes into the kitchen. Lori was washing them and then handing them to Eve to dry.

"I am glad I came too." she lied. At that point she would rather have had her leg caught in a bear trap. But once again she needed to be mature and suck it up.

"So how have you been doing?" Lori asked.

"Alright I guess. It's really hard but we are all managing. We are trying to keep things as happy as possible for all the kids."

"I understand that. Look Eve I know that I was horrible to you growing up. I was mad at Jim and your mom for what they did but I took it out on the wrong person. It was never your fault what happened. I knew it back then but it was so much easier to be mad. I regret not making an effort to get to know you."

"Thank you for admitting that but I don't understand. Why now?" Eve asked confused. Why was all this coming out now. Why was she trying to make an effort when Eve was an adult and it no longer mattered.

"I saw how much it hurt your father and Jake and Krysten not to have you around. I could have been the bigger person and let you know them more. But it was hard to look at you, to be reminded that your father made a bad decision. That is what I saw you as, a reminder of a horrible time in my life. I never saw you as an innocent little girl who just wanted to know her family."

"While I appreciate how hard it must be for you to say all this I don't get what this has to do with anything."

"I know about Skylar." It all seemed to click in her head then. "I know you still love John but you cannot forgive him for what he did because of Skylar. Eve you are in the same situation that I was in all those years ago. I am begging you make the other choice. I live with the fact I inflicted so much unneeded emotional pain on the people I love over the years. I know that it will be unpleasant and sometimes down right hard but you need to accept that innocent little baby into your heart. Be the person that I could not be."

"How can you just expect me to do what you couldn't?" Eve asked.

"Because you know how it feels. I don't think you want Skylar to go through what you did when you were a child. You have to be the bigger person Genevieve, all that little girl has in the world is John. She doesn't have a mother anymore. I know about Zoey, I know she is not biologically yours. Accept her like you accepted Zoey.

"It was easier with Zoey. She was already created before I even knew John. I could not fault him for having a kid. I hate what he did, I hate that he did it while I was giving birth to our sons. I hate that he could not even tell me about it himself. I just wish that I could just erase that terrible time from our lives. My kids have suffered enough."

"But look at them Eve." Lori pointed over the half wall. They could see all the kids laughing and playing with Jim and Jake in the living room. They all looked so happy. "They are all thriving despite what happened. But they need their dad and Skylar needs a mom. I know you can be that to her if you would just let yourself. Eve you a better person than I could ever dream of being. You have a huge heart and I think you are very capable of loving that baby. Just let go of all the hurt and anger. It's not getting you anywhere. Believe me I know, I wish I had someone to give me this advise back then."

"I don't know Lori. I just don't know." Eve shook her head sadly.

"I am not saying make your decision right now. Just take all I have said into consideration. We all have suffered so much over the years. It's time to just stop and look at the bigger picture. We are all a family it's about time we all started acting like it. You have the room in your heart for another daughter just like I have the room in my heart for another grand-daughter."

There was so much to process. Eve needed to sit down and think through it all. Lori was right it was so much easier to be mad. But did she want to live with the regrets that Lori said she lived with, not really. It had sucked for her growing up but was she ready to forgive and forget. Who knows, she certainly didn't."