Chapter 32

It was not often that Theresa Donovan went over to her parents' house in spite of the fact she had been told by various members of the family, including her beloved grandmother, that her parents had moved home to be near her and the baby specifically. She did not know why she made it her life works to try and defy them, even though she was not a teen any more but somehow she did feel the need. It was all she could do to hope that her son was not going to feel that was about her when he was older.

But that day she had turned up there because she had a feeling she was going to have to do something which she did not like to do if she could possibly not… and that was to admit defeat.

It was something which was neither in the Brady or the Donovan hand books.

But it did seem as if she was coming to the end of her tether with Brady Black.

When she had moved into the Kiriakis mansion she had been sure that she was going to get him to see sense.

Now she had a horrible feeling that the one who was seeing sense was her.

"It's us," she called as she opened the door to the front hall and walked in, with her baby son gurgling in her arms.

Inspire of the fact that she had not moved in, her mother had given her a front door key and told her to use the place as if it were her home, as soon as they had got back to Salem.

She had thought Kim was over stepping at the time but right then she felt grateful.

"Oh my god, I can't believe you –"

"If you are on track to forgiving JJ, cant the two of us just talk?"

So Eve and Paige were here she thought with a smile.

Well, she had just come for dinner but it did seem as if she was going to get a show as well.

"So what is the hot topic on The View today ladies?" she asked as she headed in to the kitchen to find that her nieces eyes were brimming with tears and her sister looked equally ready to cry.

Her mother and her father were there. She could well imagine that when Eve and Paige had started laying into one another they had tried to referee before they had realised there was nothing which they could do, so now they stood quietly.

Paige huffed.

"I am going to go see some of the girls for coffee."

"Sweetheart please we have to sort this out!" her mother cried.

"There is nothing to sort out. I am never going to forgive you!"

And with that she left the room.

"Well I wonder where she gets her flare for the dramatics from," said Theresa as she put the baby bag she had been carrying down on the counter.

"You know you are not making things any easier?" Eve shot.

"I am not here to make things easier. I am here to raid the fridge."

Actually, she thought if she was being honest, then she would just tell her folks that she was there as she just wanted to be about people who did not treat her as if she was a leaper for five minutes.

That was all.

But she knew how they would react to her admitting something like that and she could not shake the feeling that it would not just be better if she were to keep the truth to herself just then.

"Well if you want to raid the fridge then I had better look after my grandson," said Shane as he came over from the chair in which he had been sitting.

Theresa could not help but laugh at the master spy who could save the world if he tried too, contrasted with the dad who wanted to melt away every time one of his kids started an argument.

She was not sure she could blame him. The Paige and Eve dispute was putting a downer on things.

"Come here, little feller," Shane said as he took Tate from his mother and put a kiss on his cheek.

Theresa could not help but smile as she watched the two of them together. Shane had not been the best father to her when she had been growing up because he had never been there. But now that she saw him with her son and her niece it seemed to her that he was born to be a grandfather.

He just relished the role.

"He is doing good. He slept through the night last night."

"Well that is because he is such a good boy."

"He must get that from Brady because I assure you, you never slept through the night." Her mother reminisced. "Can I get you a cup of coffee, honey?"

"You know what, that would be so good," she said as she sat down. "So what have the two of you got planned for today?"

"Well, I do not know what your father is doing but I am going to head over to the pub in a while. Your grandmother wants a little help planning Thanksgiving."

It was, after all, Was Caroline kept saying the first one in a while which they were going to be all together and that was something which was worth celebrating.

"And I do not have a lot on so if you do not mind then I would quite like to spend a little one on one time with my best boy here," said Shane kissing his grandson.

Theresa nodded. "That's fine. Then I can go with mom and see grandma."

No matter who else made her mad, Theresa could never feel that way about her grandmother.

Caroline was the one who was always there for her – who never doubted her.

A trip to see her and some of her cookies would do her the world of good, Theresa thought.

"I would like that," Kim smiled.

Theresa rolled her eyes.

Somehow, she did not think she and her mom were ever going to get past the stage where her mother was not going to make a thing of every little thing which they did together but just then…

It actually felt kind of nice.

X x x

"So you are not going to believe this."

"What?" Bo asked as Caroline came out the kitchen.

He was sitting with his sister and niece who had just arrived at the pub.

"What is it mama?" Kimberly asked.

"Your sister has already made plans for thanksgiving. They are all going to the Hortons!"

Kim could not help but feel for her mother.

The truth was she had had a horrible feeling that Steve and Kayla were going to end up spending the holiday with his family but she hadn't wanted to suggest it in case there was no need.

As soon as she was sure she was going to have all her babies in Salem for the holidays, Caroline had set her heart on a big Brady Thanksgiving. She had just assumed it would happened….

"Well, don't worry about it too much, Grandma I mean – we are going to be here and Uncle Bo and Uncle Roman. Besides, Christmas is just about the corner so I am sure you are going to be able to use this as a barging chip to make sure we are all together then."

Kim could not help but be impressed and worried by how fast Theresa had come up with that.

Still it did seem to settle her grandmother and she did have a point.

If they were not all together at thanks giving then they would have to be for Christmas.

"I know you have had a scary year with Kayla. But it is all coming good, mama. She can hear now and she is going to be about for many Thanksgivings to come."

Caroline nodded as she sat down. "I know she will. It - it is just no matter how big you girls and your brothers get you are always going to be my babies."

As long as she was able to remember them the way they had been when they were small they were going to be her babies.

"Let's focus on the good. And give thanks for that. Besides if we all came – god knows how we would all get in the room!"

Space was going to be an issue – that went without saying.

But then, it always had been in the Brady house. First it had been how to get four kids into two rooms and not have them arguing. Then the kids had started getting married and then Roman, Kimberly, Kayla and Bo had had babies of their own. And then they had more babies. And now many of those babies had babies…

Still, Shawn had once said they had a magic table. And that no one who sat own about it was going to want for warmth or food.

That was how Caroline was going to see through this Thanksgiving and Christmas.

"Well – I guess we can get them to stop in on their way home from Jennifer and Jack's."

"You know Kayla and Steve, Mama, they are not going to have any problem doing that," said Kim with a smile.

"Yeah. They are going to want some Irish whiskey before bed." Theresa agreed.

And there was no place in Salem that did Irish whiskey better than the Brady pub.

X x x

"So how does that look?" Justin asked as he got up off of his knees and admired his handy work.

For a guy who spent most of his time in a courtroom or in an office, he did not think he had done too bad a job. This was his first bit of DIY in a while and – and it was passable he thought.

He looked up at Adrienne as she too admired his work.

"I think it is just the most adorable thing I have ever seen."

The crib before her was wooden and had been painted white. The ends were a little high than the sides and the mattress could go up a level or down, for when her baby got a little more active.

"It's gorgeous." It was going to be even more so when she put the babies bedding in.

When she had first been thinking about it, she had considered calling one of her brothers but even as she had thought about it, she had known they were the wrong men of the job.

Putting together the crib for each of the boys was something which Justin had loved doing. Something she had known he was going to relish doing again.

Of course between Alex and the twins they had barely had time to take the one their eldest boy had slept in down. And then they had to set up another so that Joey and Victor did not have to sleep top to tail from the day they were born.

Then they had taken both cribs down, moved to Texas and they had had to put one back up pretty sharpish for their Sonny.

So the cribs they had had then had been recycled and shared between all four boys.

And then they had ended up being lost or thrown away in all the moving about and the divorces which the boy's parents had been through.

When Adrienne had realised that she had felt so guilty – so guilty that she and Justin had allowed such a huge part of their family's history slip away. It was not as if they were ever going to be able to get the back.

But just then she did not think she was too sorry.

This baby was going to be new – and everything about the experience should be new.

A blank slate. A fresh start.

"You have done a truly beautiful job and I think this little peanut is going to love it," said Adrienne as she sat down on the couch just looking at the crib in which she was going to lay her daughter down in to go to sleep every night for the next year at least.

She still could not quite believe that this was where they were at stage in their lives but at the same time she did not think she would want to be anywhere else. She gas going into her fifties soon and she had had her job at the restaurant but if she did not have this baby coming then she did not like to think of what she was going to do next. She knew she would have felt anchorless. Rudderless.

Directionless.

But now she was going to be going in the best direction in the world and she was going to get to feel so much pride and love every day.

Justin sat by her side.

"Are you sure we are not setting up this nursery in the wrong place?"

"Yes."

The two of them had edged back together since summer really.

And the fact that he was holding her hand just then and she was not doing everything in her power to pull it away was a testament to that.

The more she thought about the more she knew she did not want to take this baby back to the Kiriakis mansion.

She knew that Victor and Maggie were going to love the child. Maggie already did though Victor was going to wait to lavish it with affection till he knew it was of Kiriakis linage no doubt.

But living there with them, at the mansion – the thought did not appeal.

She wanted space – a judgement free space and she did not think the mansion had ever been that as long as it had been ruled over by Victor.

Justin nodded as she looked at him.

The two of them had known one another long enough that she did not have to put any of this in to words she hoped.

He knew the way she had felt about his uncle since they had been sweethearts. .

True, she did not hate him as she once had but he was not top of her Christmas card list either.

"Ok," he nodded knowing that tone of voice.

It was the one that said he was not to push and he did not want to do that. He did not want to do anything to risk the work he had already done in getting her back when they were moving closer at last.

"It just means when she gets here you are going to have spent a lot more time here."

"I think I can cope with that."

She smiled as her eyes went a little wide.

She drew the hand she was holding to her stomach and their fingers unlaced for he knew that look and just what was going on.

He had got used to that over the last few months.

He lay his hand flat over the spot which she was guiding him to and felt his heart fill with love as there was a little force against it.

"God she has no idea just how much we love her already, does she?" asked Justin as his thumb caressed back and forth.

He felt shivers go through him as Adrienne's hand found his hair and begun to brush through it.

"No, I do not think she does. And do you know I have had Sonny ringing me five times a day to see how I am doing and the twins and Alex are on me to make sure I am getting enough rest and promising to come home once she is here…"

It was not just the two of them who were looking forward to this baby coming.

"Her big brothers are going to be just crazy about her."

She nodded. "Yeah… and I think Sonny is rather looking forward to passing on the title of 'the baby of the family.'" Their active little man had always seen it as a dubious distinction – even more so when the other boys had used it against him.

So now to have a younger sibling… it would be nice for him.

"No doubt," said Justin as he continue to stroke Adrienne's' stomach.

As he felt the baby become less active and eventually rest easy, he could not stop himself from, leaning down to kiss the bump.

There was a day soon when they were going to be able to have their own thing but for now – for very obvious reason – Adrienne was in the middle of every interaction which Justin had with the new baby. When he sat back up, he looked into her eyes and Justin knew he was very grateful for that fact. There would have been no way the two of them could have rebonded so fast if it wasn't for the little one.

Adrienne shifted so that she could lean back in to him, her back to his chest, and shut her eyes as he rubbed her back a little.

While she loved being pregnant she had to admit she was going to be glad when she had the child – her daughter – in her arms.

And even more glad when she and Justin were able to get on with their lives and put the events of the previous year behind them.

X x x

"Hope, can I talk to you quickly?" said Bo as he got into work the day after he had had a chat with his mother and Kim.

The discussion about the Thanksgiving meal and brought one big question to his mind and that was if he was going to be spending it with his daughter.

In an ideal world he knew he would love to spend it not only with Ciara but also with her mother, but he had an awful feeling that might just be asking a little too much. Still he was a born trier and he was not going to give up the holidays with his girls. Not if he did not strictly had to.

"Sure – what's up?"

The summer had been good for the two of them he decided. Ever since Kayla's op the two of them had been able to be more the civil to each other.

They had managed in fact to be something which they were never very good at being before.

And that was just friends. It wasn't what he wanted, but it was more than he deserved.

It had always got so complicated in the past and when they had been fraught and in pain but it did seem to Bo as if, at last, they had managed to grow up and just be a dad and mom for the sake of there little girl. That was the best thing they could do.

"Sure," she said as she sat back. "What can I do for you?"

"I was just wondering what you and our little one are going to be doing for Thanksgiving?"

She smiled grimly. That was quite the question just then.

She and Aiden had not had their greatest summer to date. They had only had two – that was fair to say – but she was sure the last summer they had had a bit of fun together.

That one they had been formal and trying to make it work. She knew he was feeling threatened since Brady had been home.

But she was beginning to doubt if there was anything which she was seriously able to do to change that.

The night before she had tried to talk to him about what they were going to do for Thanksgiving. She knew that Doug and Julie were going to be around and they had said they would like it if they were to go for a meal with them, but then she had also known there was a strong possibly that she was going to get asked to go to the pub by Caroline.

Before he had said yes to any of that she had wanted to check with Aiden and see if there was anything which he especially wanted to do.

She did not know why, as she normally would not put him above her family and it angered her – at herself - that she had asked at all.

Especially when he had said to her that he had already set something up with an aunt she had never heard of for him and Chase. It had been a very much closed invite and it had made her face the fact that they not going anywhere fast.

Maybe earlier in the year she could blame Bo for the fact she and Aiden were face a parting of the ways now, even after all he had done – she found she could not.

Because he was the one who had sort her out to speak about Thanksgiving plans and he was the one who… seemed to want to be there for her.

"Well, the truth is I am not too sure yet."

"I – you know if you wanted to come over to the pub and spend it with the family, you'd be more than welcome."

"You know what I know Ciara would love that."

As much as she knew Doug and Julie were going to want she and Ciara with them, it did seem as if it was more important to Hope just then to let her daughter be with her dad.

And besides she was sure Caroline would not mind laying to extra plate.

She could still well remember pop Brady talking about that magic table of theirs.

There was always another seat available.

And she was suddenly aware that it was not just their daughter who this meant a lot to. Bo's face lit up the same way it had the day he had found out his sisters operation had gone well.

He was such a paradox to her those days, she just could not piece together what she knew of him – but then maybe she should not try.

"That would be great, I would love it if the two of you came."

She responded without thinking. "So would I."

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