Chapter Three
Previously:Nick froze mid air, his best shirt draped over his arm. "Why did I ever fight Heath being part of the family?' Nick thought as he smiled wide. "Thanks, Heath. We'll see you at supper."
Heath said nothing, but he threw Nick a crooked smile and then turned around and walked back out the door.
~oOo~
"Breathe in… my family doesn't bite and this dress isn't that tight; you said so yourself." Nick smile as he buttoned the back of Hannah's dress for her, one he'd bought for her once they'd arrived in Stockton. "Nothing wrong with you having a new dress; in fact, I'm sure my sister will be more than happy to go shopping with you later and refit you with a whole new wardrobe! Remember, we already discussed this" had been his exact words. Hannah would have argued only he was right; they had discussed it at some length. There was no need to beat a dead horse.
"I didn't say they did." She then shook her head and let out a slight chuckle. "With everything I'd seen in my life, and everywhere I've been, why am I so nervous? Eating dinner with your family should be a piece of cake." Hannah held her hands in front of her; they were little shaking. All right, they weren't shaking badly, but they were still shaking.
"If you weren't a bit on edge, I'd wonder about you. I don't care what you've done or what places you've seen." Nick told her as he walked over to where Chad sat on the rug in Nick's room; the child was playing with a small wooden horse. Bending over, he picked up the boy. After explaining it was time to put the toy up and go eat, Nick took the toy from the child and put it on top of his dresser. Naturally, Chad tried to reach out and grab it only to have Nick repeat himself as he walked back over to Hannah. "Ready or not," He nodded towards the door as he started walking towards it.
"Or not is more like it," Hannah chuckled, as she hurried out of the room with him.
~oOo~
The family sat around the dinner table discussing Nick's arrival with wife and child in hand, but stopped abruptly when Nick, who held onto Chad's left hand with his right one walked in with Hannah by his other side. "Don't stop talking on our account." Nick told them as he pulled out a chair with one hand for Hannah. He had to smile when he saw the chair next to hers and in between his. Probably Silas' idea. A high chair would have to be the another thing for the shopping list. Soon he had Chad on the upside down pan softened with a cushion on top, before he sat down.
After some light, but somewhat awkward conversations, Victoria looked at her new daughter-in-law and asked firmly, but politely, "May I ask where you're from?"
Remembering everything they'd discussed in the past, Hannah took a deep breath and did her best to smile. "I was born in Pennsylvania, but both my parents moved constantly due to their work with the theatre."
"The theatre!" Audra, who just adored plays, grew excited thinking that; maybe, her brother now had famous in-laws and that was why he hadn't said anything.
However, that theory was shot down when Hannah replied, "They weren't performers; they worked backstage. Many of the sets the theatre group they belonged with was built by father. My mother helped with a lot of the painting when she could."
"So, how did the two of you meet? Nick doesn't go to too many plays." Audra again asked.
Nick and Hannah knew what kind of answer she expected, only they weren't about to give it to her. Instead Nick, after glancing at Hannah, answered, "Through her cousin if you must know; he's worked at various auctions in the past." Nick knew Audra and the others would assume he meant he and the cousin had met a long time ago, but he wasn't going to correct what would be a wrong assumption.
"I think that's enough for right now, Audra." Victoria, who had every intention of cornering Nick later, shot her daughter a silent warning with her eyes, "This is supper, not a sheriff's office." After the initial shock, Victoria had decided that, no matter what Nick had done in the past, her middle son was making things right, and she wanted to enjoy her daughter-in-law and new grandson.
"If you want, I can boss the round up." Heath spoke up after a few moments.
The round up; Nick groaned inwardly. He had been struggling with that one since the day he agreed to show up back home with a wife and son. He should be the one bossing the round up, yet the men more than respected and liked Heath now. He turned and looked at Hannah, explaining what his brother was talking about.
"Of course, he'll do it! I'm not going to stop him." Hannah exclaimed when the family looked at her as if to see if she was going to encourage Nick to take Heath up on his offer. "I knew what Nick did for a living before I ever boarded the train with him! Though," she looked at Nick and added, "You don't to leave tonight do you?" She knew what the others would think she was implying, and she was proven right when a smirk that came onto Audra face while Jarrod and Victoria pretended to cut their meat that didn't need cutting. Heath simply said nothing, waiting to hear what came next; it made her blush inwardly. She just hoped Nick would hear what she was really saying; he did.
"No, we don't have to leave for a few days." He told her and then purposely geared the discussion away from them. A ploy that might not have worked only Heath, seeing his brother and new sister-in-law didn't want to talk about themselves, helped to keep the discussion on anything but them. It was something Nick would later thank him for.