End of November
"Hey, Van. Happy Thanksgiving, honey," Lucas said, gathering his daughter into his arms.
"You too, Daddy."
"Vannah, baby, you forgot your homework," Josie, Lucas' ex-wife said, walking toward them. "Lucas."
"Jose."
"Its going to be a big holiday for you this year, Van tells me."
"Just family," he said, shrugging. It was going to be special but he wasn't going to make a big deal about his girlfriend to his ex.
"Spending the holiday with your girlfriend and her kids and our daughter…sounds big to me."
Lucas nodded and took Vannah's messenger bag. "Geez, Van. This thing weighs a ton."
"Its fine," Vannah told him. "We should go."
"Right. Have a good weekend, Jose."
"You too."
"Love you, Mom."
"Love you too, baby."
"You ready for this, Daddy?" she asked as they hopped on the expressway back to Denver.
"Sure. It's just dinner."
"Leave it to you to downplay it. This is a big deal. I'm going to finally meet Marley and Ivy and Allie! They could be my stepsisters soon. I've always wanted a sibling and I could have three!"
"Van, Beth and I haven't been dating long. We aren't getting married anytime soon."
"But you could. It's not like you haven't known each other forever and you're not young. Why wait?"
"Is that your way of telling me I'm old?"
"You're almost 50," she pointed out.
"I'm not even 47 yet."
"A month, Dad. You'll be 47 next month."
"Music? Sure," he blurted, attempting to change the subject.
Vannah giggled and shook her head. "But you do love her, right?"
Lucas looked at his daughter for a moment. "I do."
"At least you admit it. Yep, I'm going to have sisters."
….
Elizabeth couldn't contain the excitement brewing in her. Marley, Ivy and Allie, all home for the holiday and with Lucas and Savannah joining them. It was going to be a good day.
"Coffee?" Marley mumbled walking into the room. "Extra strong please."
Elizabeth gestured toward the coffee pot and sipped hers. "How's Ivy this morning?"
"Same."
"And she hasn't told you what's going on?"
"Mom, trust me. She will be fine but it's her thing. It's not my place."
"So it's big?"
"Mom."
"I'm fine," Ivy said, walking into the kitchen for her own coffee. Elizabeth wasn't convinced.
"Babe, you were so upset last night and it doesn't look like you slept a wink."
"I'm an adult and I'm going through some stuff."
"You're twenty years old."
"Yes. I am. I'll talk to you when I'm ready."
However, she had no intention of telling her mother about the poor choices she'd been making lately.
"What time is dinner?"
"4pm. Lucas and Savannah will be here just after lunch."
"Great." Ivy sipped her coffee and headed to the guest room she and Marley were sharing.
Elizabeth sighed and headed to the living room to drink her coffee by the fire.
"Morning, Aunt Beth," Allie greeted, joining her on the couch.
"Hi, sweetie. How did you sleep?"
"Same as always." She flicked at her neck brace. "This thing…I feel like I'll never get rid of it."
"Two more weeks. You'll have it off before Christmas."
"I can't wait. Then I'm gonna burn the thing."
"I'll help."
"Tim is coming for dinner."
"Tim? I thought you….nevermind. sweetie, I can't keep up with you two. Or your sisters."
"You don't have to." Allie got up and headed into the kitchen. Elizabeth shook her head. These girls.
….
At about 1pm, Lucas and Vannah arrived. "Hey," Lucas said, pulling her in for a hug. "Hon, you remember Vannah, right?"
"Of course. Hi, sweetie. It's great to see you."
"You too, Mrs. Grant."
"Oh, call me Elizabeth."
"Alright. Elizabeth. Thank you for having us over."
"You're welcome. My daughter's are in the kitchen if you want to go say hello."
"Is that code for me to leave so you guys can kiss?"
"Savannah Rae, scoot," Lucas said, laughing.
He walked forward and gave Elizabeth another hug, this time his lips finding hers almost immediately.
"Mm hi," Elizabeth whispered, her cheeks that pink color he loved.
"Hi."
"I'm glad you're here."
"Uh oh. What's wrong? I hear something in your tone."
"I thought the teen years were hard but I'm thinking the adult years are worse."
"What's going on?"
She led him to the living room couch and they sat. "That's just it. They won't talk to me. I know something is up with Ivy, potentially something big, but she won't tell me."
He put his arm around her and just let her vent. He learned to do that being a dad of a teenage girl. Van didn't always need a solution, just a listening ear.
"I know they are grown and don't always need or want my input but I'm not sure how to reconcile that in my heart."
"That sounds hard," he acknowledged, kissing her hair, his fingertips rubbing circles on her shoulder.
"It is."
"I'm sorry, Mom," Ivy said, walking into the room. "I'm just not ready to talk about it."
Elizabeth got up and hugged her daughter, tight. "I love you, sweetheart. I'm sorry that I pushed you. I'm struggling with the thought of you not needing me anymore."
"I'll always need you, Mom. But…just not in the same ways as before."
Ivy looked at Lucas and pulled away. "Hi Uncle Lucas. I'm sorry I interrupted."
Lucas stood up and gave her a hug too. "Its alright. Are you safe, Ivy?"
"Yes."
"Alright. That's what I care about."
He kissed her forehead and walked toward the kitchen where he heard giggling, happy that Vannah was happy.
….
Allie watched the time. Tim was ten minutes late. He had assured her the night before that he would be coming and she'd believed him.
She had agreed to give him another chance and she really hoped she wouldn't regret it. Was she too naive to think he was a man of his word, someone responsible that she could count on?
She liked to believe she was an independent woman but after falling for Tim, she realized that she relied on him alot. Too much?
The doorbell rang a few minutes later, after they had said their blessing and started passing food.
Allie excused herself and walked to the door.
Tim stood there, so adorable in his leather coat, open collared, white dress shirt and black pants. Not to mention a bouquet of daisies in his hand.
"Sorry I'm late."
She stretched up and kissed him and pulled him inside. "We already prayed and started passing food."
"Allie…"
"Let's eat," she told him. "We will talk later."
"Allie, I'm sorry. Please, can we talk?"
"Now? Fine. Let's go get ice cream."
"Won't that spoil your dinner?" he teased.
"I don't care. You want to talk so we will talk."
She put her coat and boots on, put the flowers on the table by the door and then left the house. He followed to his truck, opening the door for her. She raised her eyebrows and climbed in.
Twenty minutes later, after a silent drive with her watching the snow falling out the window, they arrived at the ice cream place.
She let him open her door for her again and slipped her hand into his elbow when he offered it.
"I'll have chocolate chocolate chip," she told the teen behind the counter. "Cup please."
"And you, dude?" the teen asked.
"Mint chip, waffle cone."
As they sat in a booth by the window, he started talking. "I'd like to blame the way I've treated you on my dad dying when I was eight. But that wouldn't be fair. It's all me. I do love you, Allie, but I'm still dealing with the guilt from our accident. I started therapy last week and he told me that I need to figure out what's really causing my guilt and deal with it."
Allie quietly ate her ice cream, letting him talk.
"I know what it is. My dad died in a car accident. Very similar to the one we were in. I was the passenger that time and I barely had a scratch. I had been nagging at him to get me a new skateboard and when he said no, I started yelling. Apparently that distracted him enough that he went over the center line and hit someone."
"Oh, Gosh. Tim…"
"So I carried that guilt for years and years. When I think that I could have lost you too, because I was lazy and didn't get my airbag fixed... Crap, Al. It's so hard."
She switched sides of the booth and wrapped her arms around him, trying to comfort him. Her stupid brace was in the way but she did her best.
"I don't blame you, Tim, and I forgive you for not being there when you were struggling. I will try to be more patient."
"How many chances are you going to give me? I certainly don't deserve them."
Allie took his hand and held it between both of hers. "I'm not a religious person but I know God exists. Uncle Nathan made sure of that. I know God gives us chances when we screw up, even though we don't deserve them. Because he loves us. He forgives us if we are really sorry about it. So I try to do the same thing. I'm not the most patient person, Tim, but I'll forgive you if I know you are sorry."
"One day, Allie Grant, I'm going to marry you. One day, after I'm not struggling so much with the past. I'm going to be the kind of man you deserve."
…..
"The twins are awesome!" Van said on their way home. "We get along great. They acted like I was part of the family the second I said hi."
"That's great, sweetie."
"So my point is, I'm good with that. I'm good if you decide you want to marry Mrs. Grant, I mean Elizabeth."
"Good to know, Van," he chuckled.
"Dad, I have something to tell you."
"Sure, baby. You can tell me anything."
"I sort of have a date."
Lucas looked at his beautiful daughter, almost seventeen years old. He wasn't surprised there were boys that took a liking to her. But he wasn't sure how good he felt about her going on a date with one of those boys.
"Dad?"
"Um, okay. How old is he?"
"Eighteen."
"Nope."
"Dad, Mom already said yes. She met him and knows his mom from the PTA."
"I don't know him and I've never met him. If he's eighteen he is an adult technically, and you are sixteen. Not an adult."
"Dad…"
"Van, once I meet him and his parents, I'll let you know."
"Mom said you'd be like this."
"Like what?"
"Like this. Unreasonable. Unfair."
"Hey, respect, daughter. I'm not being either of those things. I will talk to your mom about it."
"Fine."
"Fine."
Elizabeth may have issues with talking to her grown daughters, but teenagers were no joke.
As soon as they got home, she headed upstairs to her room and slammed the door. He took out his phone and called his ex-wife.
……
Later on the phone with Beth
"She told me that since she has primary custody she gets to decide whether Vannah gets to date! That's crazy, Elizabeth. Don't you think?"
"Um…I'm not going to give my opinion on that."
"You agree with her?"
"Luke, I'm not part of your previous marriage or your custody agreement. I don't get to give my opinion."
"Fine."
"Luke, are you mad?"
"Frustrated. Not mad."
"Well, I'm sorry that I frustrated you. Forgive me?"
"No, not frustrated at you. At the situation."
"Do you want to go get some ice cream?" she asked him, changing the subject with a bit of flirtation in her voice.
"Yes. I'd love to. I'll pick you up on 30."