Dave whistled, as he prepared a large breakfast. He knew that his family and their guests would be hungry.
"Well, looks like you beat me here," Ivy said, as she came into the kitchen. "I was just coming to prepare breakfast."
"You and Juan are our guests," Dave told her. "There's no need for you to work."
"I like to keep busy," Ivy said.
"I don't blame you. Still, you're on vacation you should relax, not worry about fixing breakfast," Dave agreed, as he flipped the pancakes expertly. "If you want to help I don't mind, but you certainly don't need too."
"So what can I do?" Ivy asked.
Dave directed her to toast a whole loaf of bread.
"Your food bills must be outrageous," Ivy said, as she saw all the food that was being cooked. "I mean you have six children and four adults in this house."
"Aaron and I don't mind," Dave shrugged with a half smile. "We split the cost between us. Sometimes I'll pay the grocery bill, other times he does. It works out. Living in general is expensive anyway, no matter how many people live in a household. There is car insurance, house payments, food, utilities, doctors bills, money paid to the nanny or some other servant like a gardener, housekeeper, plumber or a handyman. There's also taxes to consider."
Ivy was nodding at this because it was true. Living was expensive.
"Both Aaron and I are so happy to finally have found women that we can be happy with that we don't mind the cost. Between us we have more money than we'll ever need. Neither one of us is going to skimp on the quality of food and buy cheaper just to save a little money. Cheaper stuff doesn't taste as good and it's also probably worse for you."
"Yes, you're right though, it's unusual to have so many children in one family," Ivy said.
"Well, technically, we're two different families living together, so really six children isn't too bad when you think about it that way," Dave shrugged while continuing to cook.
"But you are intending to have more both of you," Ivy pointed out.
"Well, in Emily and Aaron's case it's necessary. Emily really wants her inheritance and I can't blame her for that. It's not so much the money either, as you know," Dave shrugged.
"It's to at least partly make up for her crappy childhood," Ivy finished.
"Exactly," Dave agreed. "Even though I know it's been stated, I'm actually surprised that Emily let's her mother see her grandchildren at all. I'm not sure I would be so generous, if my parents were like her mother, even though I've never met Elizabeth Prentiss. Aaron has, however, and he told me all about the one meeting he had with her. He said she was a hard, miserable, uncompromising woman. It was actually a very mature decision on Emily's part."
"I doubt I would be either," Ivy admitted. "It would depend on what the situation was."
"It doesn't matter. I doubt very much that Elizabeth Prentiss will be alive more than another 10 years. She's already in her early 70s and I doubt very much she'll live much past her late 80s. I admit that women tend to live longer than men, but she's bound to be lonely in that big house all by herself, except for the servants. Loneliness can kill you just as surely as a heart attack or at least make you bitter. You can die just because you're very lonely. You stop eating properly for one thing. You tend to skip meals and don't realize how hungry you are. Depression and loneliness can do that, and even someone like Elizabeth Prentiss is suspectable. Actually, I suspect, she's even more suspectable, simply because she probably doesn't have many true friends, just business associates and acquaintances. People she's helped out with donations. She's not the type that has a lot of close friends or any at least from what I know from Emily. I won't be surprised to discover that's what happened to Emily's grandfather, that he died sooner then he could have just because he didn't have very many friends or any, so died of loneliness. I mean from what I understand it was him that forced Elizabeth into marrying Alan Prentiss and from reports he was a hard, cold, nasty, domineering man, much like Emily's mother."
"From what I know she brought it on herself," Ivy suggested feeling entirely unsympathetic, the emotions of which came out in her voice. "I might feel sorry for her, if not for the fact that, she's the one that ignored her children and tried to arrange their lives to suit her, instead of letting them be free to make their own decisions.
"Even after they were adults she couldn't stay out of their lives. People like that get what they deserve in my opinion. They are simply reaping what they sowed in life. I now understand that her father was the same way, but Elizabeth should've thrown out everything that her father taught her by being like he was.
"From what Emily had said, neither of her parents paid any attention to their four children. They were basically ignored and brought up by the servants, so Elizabeth Prentiss shouldn't be surprised that none of her children want anything to do with her or that they turned out nothing like her, not where it counts anyway.
"The nanny had more influence then she or the father did. I mean she apparently even forbid the nanny from reading the children bedtime stories. They were just supposed to go to sleep with nothing to make them sleepy. I wouldn't be surprised if they stayed awake for hours, staring at the ceiling trying to go to sleep unless they were really tired, as most children have a lot of energy."
"I have to agree," Dave's sighed. "I feel bad for Emily especially, because her relationship with her mother is so bad. They might be getting along better these days, but that's likely because Emily doesn't spend much time with her. A few hours once a month, really isn't all that much. I suppose, knowing Emily like I do, Elizabeth Prentiss is lucky she gets that much."
"Well, at least Emily's happy now and that's what matters," Ivy said. "Her kids are just adorable."
"My mother certainly thinks so," Dave snorted in amusement. "You can't get my mother to release them when she's here. She's always holding one of the newest additions. I expect the same thing this time when they visit."
"Right now, there are two infants in the house," Ivy said.
"Which means there's one for you and one for mom when she and dad visit, but only if you and Juan are still here when my parents arrive. The other grandchildren will get plenty of attention to. Now, we had better get this food on the table, as the family will be down soon. The nanny should be getting them all dressed, though the oldest are certainly capable of doing that themselves."
"Which means the nanny doesn't have as much to do," Ivy said and Dave nodded.
"We might need to hire another. We'll of course, help out, but Camila sure has come in useful once we started having children."
"Hey, if you have the money to hire a housekeeper or nanny I would say go for it. It saves you from doing all those things that take up so much time. Cleaning, cooking and so forth," Ivy said.
"Yes, Camila can get them to any appointments and take them on outings, though they are not like the ones Emily went on at all. We don't regulate their every breath like Elizabeth Prentiss did her children. They are allowed to get their clothes dirty and play outside without supervision. If they get too messed up to where they won't come clean then they will be replaced without any of us fussing at the child in question for ruining their clothes. It's not that big a deal. Aaron and I had furniture bought that was meant to be hard used and not just for show, so it doesn't matter if they mess it up or not," said Dave.
Ivy thought that Dave and Aaron were very good fathers to their children, as so many men simply weren't husband or father material. Of course, to be fair to the same was true of women to, though they tended to be far fewer of those types. Elizabeth Prentiss was a perfect example of a woman who should never have gotten married or at least never had children considering how Emily and her brothers had been treated growing up. Ivy could understand wanting the money that should've been hers by right once she had married Alan Prentiss, but that didn't excuse her coldhearted attitude towards her children. As for the husband, the less said about him the better.
"Children are meant to be children and not soldiers, which is basically what Emily and her brothers were. Even Christmas probably wasn't that great if all they got was things like clothes. I don't know that for sure of course, as Emily has never said, but considering her parents general attitude and also, that they got clothes for their birthdays, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case," Dave added.
"That's something I agree with," Ivy said, as she buttered toast and then popped them into the toaster four pieces at a time, as it was one of those quadruple ones. It took up quite a bit of counter space, but it certainly made it faster to do a lot of toast in less time then it would take for a two slot toaster and with a such a large family it made sense to have one that could do four slices at a time.
"Something that a lot of parents fail to realize until their children are grown. They don't realize what kind of damage they have caused to their offspring by basically ignoring them. It shouldn't be surprising when their children resent and even hate their parents, but those parents only have themselves to blame and no one else. Also, a lot of children, go down a bad path thanks to being ignored and get involved in a bad crowd," Ivy said.
"Yes, they do," Dave agreed soberly. "Emily's lucky that she had her brothers to look after her or she might very will have gotten involved in a bad crowd and it would've been her parents fault if she had. She might even have committed suicide as she mentioned a few days ago after the birth of Ivory. It would've been tragic if that had happened and Aaron probably never would have found anybody else that he liked enough to consider marriage with. As for me, I never would have met Penny and that definitely would've been tragic."
Dave didn't say so out loud, but he knew that Aaron never would have married at all if Emily had committed suicide, as he truly believed that the two of them were soulmates, which was why Emily had been reincarnated in the first place, even if it had taken many hundreds of years for that to happen."
"Let's be glad that didn't happen," Ivy said fervently.
"Believe me, I'm grateful every day, that I met your daughter and I know Aaron will say the same about Emily," Dave told Ivy. "Penelope is the light of my life along with my children. I never imagined I'd finally find somebody to settle down with no matter what my mother wanted."
The two worked in companionable silence, and soon had breakfast ready.
"They should all be down momentarily," Dave said. "We have breakfast at the same time every day so they know when they need to be here."
Ivy started hearing the sounds of running feet and soon the older children appeared in the kitchen and took what appeared to be their normal places at the large kitchen table.
"Dig in," Dave told them amused. "I'm sure Penny, Aaron and Emily will be down soon."
"So how is my daughter this morning," Ivy asked.
"She's doing much better, though she's still a little tired," Dave reported. "That's to be expected, because the labor was long and intense. If I can convince her, I'd like to get her to stay in bed for another day, but I doubt I'll be able to."
"Yes, my daughter can be stubborn," Ivy agreed, smiling.
Juan came into the kitchen just then having followed his nose.
"Sit down honey, have some breakfast," Ivy said.
"Smells good," Juan said, as Dave placed a plate before him.
"Dave did most of it, I only helped with the toast," Ivy said. "He was already in here cooking when I arrived."
"I certainly don't mind cooking for my family," Dave shrugged casually. "I never imagined I'd ever have a wife or children to lavish my affection on."
Dave didn't bother to tell the elder Garcias exactly why he had never imagined that he'd have a family to show his love and affection to, as they would never believe it.
Juan was nodding in understanding, because he had thought the same thing once himself. It wasn't long after that he had met his wife, so he couldn't blame Dave for having such thoughts. He was sure that many men did.
"Good morning," Dave told Emily, Aaron and Penny, as they came into the kitchen.
"Good morning," Penny told him kissing his cheek. "I should've been down here to help."
"It's okay your mother helped me out. You need to rest," Dave told her. "At least for another day. I know very well that giving birth is hard work. Remember, you probably won't get many breaks for the next 18 years and more than that really, because we do intend to have at least a couple more."
"That's what Camila is for at least until they're a little older," said Penelope. "She's here to take some of the pressure off me and Emily."
"So where are the rest of the children?" Juan asked.
"They're up in the nursery," Dave said. "They're too young to really sit at the table, so this is just easier. When they're able to use normal silverware then they'll be allowed to join their siblings."
"We have a small fridge up there that holds bottles of milk," Aaron explained. "While Emily and Penny feed them in the morning the rest of the time they're fed from bottles."
"They've already been fed this morning," Emily added.
"If they hadn't been you would've heard their wailing all the way in here," Penelope said with a smile. "They could probably bring down the house if they cry long enough.
"I remember those days quite well," Ivy said smiling. "It doesn't seem all that long ago when you were just a tiny baby, crying to be fed."
Penelope blushed and glared at her mother "Mom!" Penelope protested.
"What?" Ivy protested innocently. "Why are you so embarrassed? All of us were babies at one point in time."
Everybody chuckled, including Dave at Penelope's expression.
"I have plenty of pictures at home," Ivy added, with twinkling blue eyes.
Penelope simply rolled her eyes and turned her attention to her breakfast.
"I thought all parents took pictures of their children, well, the ones that are proud of them anyway," Ivy said.
"My parents never bothered," Emily said shortly. "We weren't important in the grand scheme of what they wanted. You won't find a single photograph except those taken at school where I'm surrounded by my classmates and the same is true of my brothers. As for individual shots or family photos my parents simply didn't care enough to even get a professional photographs done."
"We do have plenty of pictures of ours though," Aaron reminded Emily who nodded.
"Yes, we have several photo albums worth," Emily admitted. "I'm proud of my children."
"That's the way it should be," Juan said speaking for the first time.
"We'll have to show you the albums," Dave said smiling. "Since we have six kids between us we have quite a few albums and the same will be true for our two newest additions."
"I'll look forward to seeing them," Ivy said.
"I'll get out a couple of them out right after breakfast," Dave said.
"Emily and I will clean up," Aaron said.
"Okay, with me," Dave said not arguing, because this was a normal way of things.
"It won't take us, but a few minutes, as Dave cleans up behind himself, as he cooks," Emily said.
"There's no point of leaving to much of a mess, as it will just take longer to clean up if I do. This way it doesn't take long at all to set things to rights," Dave commented.
"Me, I'm a messy cook and don't clean up until afterwards," Ivy admitted. "I never even think about cleaning up while I'm cooking."
"To each their own," Dave shrugged.
~~~The Immortals and the Businessman 3~~~
