I wish they were mine, but the wonderful characters in the world of Plum belong to JE.

Chapter 19

"Steph, are you here?"

"In here Rachel, I was just packing Jake's diaper bag, other than that we are ready to go."

"Great, I can't wait to see how everything looks. Grace is going to be so surprised tomorrow night. Do you even know how excited she is that you are dropping Jake off with her for the afternoon?"

"I can imagine, she sounded pretty happy when I talked to her earlier."

"She is, Grace was so worried that you wouldn't want to bring him around because of what is going on right now."

"Rachel, I love her as if she were my own mother and I know she loves Jake. I would never keep her from him, I'll talk to her today and reassure her about that. Family is important and I want Jake to know his family, especially since he doesn't have is daddy right now."

"Steph, I honestly don't know how you are doing any of this. If it were me, I wouldn't be able to stay away from my husband."

"I don't have a choice right now, if I say something to Lester it could hurt him. Ric and I have an appointment with his doctor's on Monday to discuss his case."

"Well that's good isn't it?"

"I hope so Rachel, I hope so."

A few minutes later I had everything I needed packed up and we were off to Newark. Neither of us really talked on the ride and I drifted off into the past, thinking of the first time Lester took me to Newark to meet his family.

I was in my apartment trying to figure out what to wear.

"Beautiful, it doesn't matter what you are wearing my parents are going to love you."

"I'm sorry, it's just that this is really important to me."

"There is nothing to be sorry about, can you just trust me that they are going to love you?"

"I guess so."

"Good, now go get dressed before we are really late."

I turned to look at him and saw his eyes darken, I ran to my bedroom to get dressed quickly.

The drive to his parents house was kind of quiet, I don't know how they do it but most of the guys go into some kind of zone when they drive. Since Les was so quiet I started thinking about his family. Ric and Lester were half brothers, Ric's mother passed away when he was a little boy. Ric also had an older brother and sister, Antonio and Celia. When Ric's father Carlos married Grace they had Lester, Mateo and Gabby. Antonio and his wife Marissa lived in Boston and have one little girl. Celia was married to Greg and they have twin boys, neither Mateo or Gabby were married. I had already met everyone except his parents, and that was making me nervous.

We finally pulled up to his parents house and my nerves were starting to get the best of me.

"Relax," Lester told me and then leaned over to kiss me. "Everything is going to be fine, you know almost everyone here."

He got out of the car and come over to my side to help me out, he extended his hand and asked if I was ready.

"As ready as I'm going to be."

I could hear talking and laughter coming from the house and when we entered Lester was attacked by two little boys. I could see Celia trailing behind them.

"Hey Steph, Lester. Boys, let uncle Lester and Stephanie come in before you start. Get in here you two, everyone is in the living room."

We followed Celia to the living room and his parents were making their way over to us.

"Momma, Poppa, this is Stephanie. Steph, my parents Grace and Carlos Santos."

"Mr and Mrs Santos, it is a pleasure to finally meet the both of you."

"Oh please, it's Carlos and Grace. Stephanie, I can not even begin to tell you how happy we are to finally meet you."

"Steph, you still with me?" Rachel asked, as I finally noticed that the car had stopped and we were parked at the house.

"Sorry Rachel, I was just thinking about the first time that I was here with Lester."

"I remember, you were so nervous that day."

We were getting out of the car when Grace came out of the house and wrapped her arms around me.

"Oh Stephanie, I have missed you."

"I've missed you as well Grace, and so has this little guy." I told her as I took Jake from the back seat.

"Let's go in, Celia, Gabby and Miranda just arrived."

We all got settled around the kitchen table for a cup of coffee before we left.

"So girls, what are you all getting done at the spa today?" Grace wanted to know.

"Facials, Manicures and Pedicures," Miranda answered. "And if we don't get a move on, we are going to be late."

"Well you girls have a good time, Stephanie, don't' you worry about me and Jake. Carlos is going to be home soon and I think he is just as excited as I am to spend the day with him."

"If you have any problems just call me and I can come back."

"Hush, Jake and I will be fine. You go and enjoy your afternoon with the girls and don't worry about the time."

We made it to the spa in record time; we laughed and giggled the afternoon away like teenagers.

"So now that we are done here how about we head over to my house and see how the party is coming along and have a late lunch?" Celia suggested.

"Sounds good to me, I am looking forward to seeing how it is all turning out." We all agreed with Miranda.

Celia's house was the most logical choice for the party, her home is huge and the backyard even bigger. When we were looking for a place to have the party, nothing really jumped out at us. When we arrived at the house it was crazy, people were all over the place getting things set up. We decided to have a giant tent (that looked more like a house) set up with heaters all around. The entrance had a beautiful canopy that would be decorated with flowers. The inside was decorated elegantly with beautiful centerpieces made with flowers and candles. We even had a dance floor set up in the middle of it all.

"I know it doesn't look like much now, but tomorrow night it will be beautiful. Why don't we go in the house and have that lunch that I mentioned."

Once we were all settled the questions started.

"So Steph, you are still coming tomorrow night?" Rachel wanted to know.

"What? You better be here tomorrow night, you are part of this family." Gabby stated.

"I am going to be at the party tomorrow night, it just might be a little weird. Lester seems to think that Ric and I are having an affair and that Jake is a product of that affair."

"You have got to be kidding me?"

"Nope, I told Ric that if he didn't tell Les the truth that I would. We are going to meet with his doctor's on Monday morning to see how to handle this mess. Hopefully they will give us the green light to tell him the truth, if not...." I had no idea what I would do. "You know what, let's change the subject, this is supposed to be a fun day. Celia, do you need any help with anything out there?"

"No, it's all been taken care of; but thank you for asking."

I looked down at my watch and noticed it was 4:30, I needed to get Jake and get home. Rachel must have noticed and suggested that we get going.

Arriving back at the Santos house we both noticed one of the Rangeman trucks parked outside. Rachel and I looked at each other trying to figure out who it was, but in the pit of my stomach I already knew. Lester was here. I couldn't get out of the car fast enough.

Entering the house, all was quiet. Carlos must have heard us come in and came out of the family room to greet us.

"Stephanie, before you go in there...."

I didn't even let him finish before I took off for the family room, once there I stood there staring in shock. Lester was standing by the fireplace with a sleeping Jake in his arms. I looked around and everyone looked uncomfortable. Lester walked over to Grace and handed her the baby and without a word walked out of the house and left.

"Stephanie, I am so sorry. He stopped by to have lunch with us, Jake woke up a little bit ago and started crying. I changed him and gave him a bottle; he seem to calm a bit after that and then he started screaming again. Lester took him in his arms and he calmed down right away."

"Grace, calm down; it's okay. He is Jake's father, even he doesn't know that, he just thinks that..." I couldn't say the words again, it hurt to much.

"He thinks what dear?"

Rachel spoke up and told them what happened at the office a few weeks ago.

Carlos came over and wrapped me in his arms. "Querida, I am so sorry about all of this mess."

"It's not your fault, and hopefully on Monday we will be telling him the truth."

Once we were home, I made Jake a bottle and put him to bed and prayed that he would sleep through the night. I went downstairs to make sure everything was locked up. It was then that I noticed that someone was sitting on the couch in the family room, I knew who it was right away. He must have heard me coming and looked up at me, I could see sadness and confusion in his eyes.

"I think we need to talk." He said seriously.

"What do you want to talk about, Lester?"

"My son."

TBC