After spending a few minutes just chatting outside, Santana along with Rachel, invited Marcus and Maribel into the cabin where Santana spent a few moments showing them around. Her father was truly interested in seeing the root cellar and was more than happy to take the offered jars of homemade salsa and mixed berry jam that Santana had made. Maribel had gushed over the mini studio that Santana had built, she had unfairly underestimated her daughters talents. Now that they were all full of warm gooey bread, and smoothies or coffee. Santana couldn't contain her curiosity any longer. "So..you know how I am. What's in the bag Papi?" Santana asked as she leaned over the counter trying to sneak a peak.
Marcus had been guarding the bag ever since he sat down at the island. Discreetly he placed his hand protectively on the bag. "Wouldn't you like to know?" He asked while raising his right eye brow. That's definitely were Santana got her signature look from.
"I really would." Santana fluttered her big brown eyes at her father.
"Oh, Marcus. Just show them. I want them to see the outfits we got for the girls." Maribel stood up from her stool and walked around her husband so that she could get in the bag herself. "But first, these are for you girls." Maribel pulled out two fairly large boxes wrapped in shiny gold paper. Rachel and Santana looked at each other and grinned before tearing into the paper like little kids on Christmas. "Now, if you don't like them, we can take them back."
"Mami, Papi..."
"Marcus...Maribel...These are so pretty and oh my..so soft. Look Santana! Mine says Mama!" Rachel gushed over the plush purple robe that she was holding.
"Mine says Mami on it." Santana began to get choked up, she couldn't help getting a little emotional.
"What's wrong honey?" Rachel asked, immediately concerned. She laid her gift back down into the box before proceeding to rub Santana's back.
"We didn't mean to make you upset." Maribel stood beside Marcus resting her hand on his shoulder.
"I'm not upset really..it's just this is just such a sentimental gift. I'm going to be a mother, a Mami to two precious little girls. I still can't believe it, I won't believe it officially until they are here for good with us." Santana sniffled and wiped at her eyes.
"Maybe we should wait on the other gift then." Marcus tried to whisper to Maribel, however he had a naturally loud voice.
"What other gift?" Santana wondered. She was still trying to compose herself.
"This." Maribel reached inside the bag and pulled out what looked to be a jewelry box of some sorts. It was too big to be a necklace or bracelet. "I found it when I was going through some boxes in the attic at the house." Maribel watched as Santana opened what turned out to be a watch box.
"Mami..this is Abuelo's pocket watch that he lost one week when he came to stay with me." Santana carefully lifted the watch out of it's box and turned it over carefully in her hands. The pocket watch itself was gold with an ivory clock face. The front cover had a rose pattern, her Abuelo always said it was for his late wife. The back cover contained his initials, AML, Alonso Martin Lopez. "He still had his chain, but the watch itself was gone."
"I found it in a box of old video tapes. Home movies, your favorite kid movies. He must have been hunting one out for you two to watch and he didn't notice it. I had it restored as you can tell and there's a new chain in here if you ever wanted to wear it." Maribel reached across the counter and lifted up the sponge cushion in the box. The chain was a perfect yellow gold match to the watch. Santana was impressed, her mother and father must have spent a small fortune getting this watch back to its original condition.
"What year is it? Both of my fathers used to love pocket watches." Rachel asked as she tried to get a better look at the watch in Santana's hands.
"This one in particular is what Mami, 1910, I think?" Santana had her thinking face on trying to remember.
"I believe so." Maribel nodded in agreement.
"I have his others, they're in a wooden lock box, or safe, whatever you want to call it. But this one...this one was always missing and it felt like a piece of him was missing too." Santana just couldn't get over finally having this watch in her possession. However, she wondered how her mother really felt about it. "Mami, why are you giving this to me? Are you sure you want me to have this?"
"You were his number one. He fussed over you from the day I told him I was pregnant to the day he passed away. The day you were born, everyone in the hospital knew about it. He sat outside with boxes of cigars passing them out, even to people coming in the emergency room." Maribel chuckled as she wiped her eyes. "He didn't want anyone touching you. When the nurses were around he hovered over their shoulders. They were being too rough, which they weren't, or they had you swaddled too tight. Lord forbid you even make a peep like you were going to cry when he was around. He always wore those flannel button downs over his regular shirts and when Santana would cry, he would undo his shirt and snuggle her to his chest. She would hang on for dear life to the pockets on his shirts while he buttoned his flannel back up. All you would be able to see would be the top of her head, that little tuft of black hair sticking out."
"Awh, San! You were a little snuggle bug!" Rachel cooed as she practically wrapped herself around Santana's arm.
"When I got too big to fit under his shirt, he bought me flannel blankets or made me one out of his old shirts." Santana smiled at the memory. She honestly still had some of her blankets, maybe she should get some of her least favorite ones out for the girls. Her favorite one in particular, no one could touch, it was the first blanket he ever made out of his old shirts. The man couldn't sew to save his life, the whole blanket was slanted and every shirt was a different size, but that blanket was special in every way.
"That first blanket he ever made..." Maribel shook her head at the memory. "I swear when he brought it over that day, he had a whole box of band aids on his hands, but he was so proud. Santana took that blanket to pre-school with her in her back pack. If it ripped, he would just patch it up with a piece from a different shirt."
"We need to do stuff like that for the girls. Not necessarily make the blankets for them, because that's your memory with your Abuelo, but like I don't know. I just feel inspired to make little keepsakes and stuff for them. Do you know what I mean?" Rachel asked Santana with a pensive look on her face.
"Of course, we can do stuff like that for them. Make them little treasures and treats. I promise we will make sure they have wonderful memories to think back on when they need them." Santana nuzzled her nose against the side of Rachel's head before placing a gentle kiss on her temple. Maribel and Marcus watched on, both with giant smiles on their faces.
"Also, don't forget, we plan on being around to help make memories too with the help of Leroy, Bayani, Shelby and Cassie. Those babies will never know what hit them. As grandparents, we faithfully promise to spoil them and send them home wired on sugar." Marcus laughed heartily before lightly smacking his hand on the counter.
"Nope, nope, nope on the sugar part. If they even act like they are wired on sugar when they come home, you can turn right around and take them back home with you. Mama and Mami will just have a date night." Santana grinned as she hugged Rachel close to her side.
It was going to be vastly different once the twins got here. No more making love all hours of the night and sleeping all day on their days off. They were going to have to eat less take out, even though it was fairly healthy take out, that was beside the point. Santana had already been looking up kid friendly recipes that she could cook for the girls. There was going to be way more toys than Dax and Dahlia's on the floor. The words no and don't touch that were going to be every day words, no you can't ride the dog would probably be a phrase that Santana would get tired of hearing. However, on the other hand, she couldn't wait.
She couldn't wait for the morning snuggles and cooking with the girls. It would be tragic when they both get their first boo boo's and owies that only Mama and Mami can fix. But in the end it would be okay because a kiss can make a lot of things better. Bed time stories would become routine, which reminded Santana they needed to order the girls some books and book shelves to put them in. Their little room would be everything they never knew they wanted and more. It was going to be glorious.
"Okay, since we gave you your gifts we want to show you what we got for the girls. We can't stay much longer we have early dinner plans with the others." Maribel announced as she dug through the bag that was still sitting beside Marcus.
"Early dinner plans?" Santana asked curiously.
"Yes." Maribel pulled out two medium size boxes and laid them on the counter. "We're having a parent slash grand parent meeting to discuss the wedding and other things." What a perfect time to be vague, however Maribel knew she couldn't spill the beans about the party that was possibly being planned in celebration of bringing the twins home. It was all talk at the moment until they knew for sure that Rachel and Santana were adopting the girls. Yes, they had been approved but they still had the case plan, the home study and all the meetings to do before the final word was given.
"Ohh, that sounds like fun. Just remember don't try to write a check and pay for a bunch of stuff because I promise that is covered." Santana made it a point to look directly at her father. Marcus gave her an innocent smile.
Rachel reached out and ran her hand over the boxes laying on the counter. "If these are for the girls, why are we opening them?" She asked.
"Technically their for the girls and you, just open them and you will see." Maribel clapped her hands together excitedly. She loved giving gifts and being able to give gifts to her daughter and daughter in-law for her grand babies was just out of this world.
Santana and Rachel ripped the paper off with equal excitement. Rachel squealed when she finally got the box open, really who ever gift wrapped them must have used a whole roll of tape. In her hand she was holding a neon green tiny little shirt that said fifty percent Mama, fifty percent Mami, equals one hundred percent cute. Above the words there were two stick figure drawings representing Rachel and Santana respectively. Santana held the same type of shirt, however instead of neon green, it was a bright orange.
"Mami, how were you two able to get such personalized gifts in such short time?" Santana was honestly amazed.
"We found a little shop down town that already had the robes. We couldn't pass up the personalized embroidering that they offered. The shirts came from a printing place that you choose your design and they print it. If it's something they don't have, they give you a discount for bringing them a new design. Now we know that they're going to be a little big since we got the twenty-four month ones, but they can grow into them." Maribel reached across the counter to show the women the tag sizes.
"As you know, it really won't take them that long. They're already growing like weeds. We were planning on getting them stuff all the way up to 2T for the winter. They need room for layers, because we plan on playing in the snow a ton." Rachel spoke as she continued to gush over the cuteness of the shirts. She just couldn't get over how out of their way Marcus and Maribel had went to show how excited they were for the twins. Rachel really hoped that Santana recognized just how hard they were trying. The whole Lopez family deserved a fresh start, making amends and just enjoying life together again.