Chapter 16
Six months later
Derrick Spencer Rossi was six months old and everyone in the family had fallen in love with him, including Lynnette's siblings Roxie and Rocky.
Roxie and Rocky had become frequent visitors to the Rossi home. Apparently, all it had taken was the birth of Lynnette's son to get Rocky to visit, since he never had before the birth of Derrick other than to his siblings weddings.
As for Roxie, she was there at least once every couple of weeks to see her nephew and always brought him a present when she visited. Baby Derrick had more stuffed animals than any other kid, but his favorite was a stuffed dog that he always had somewhere close to him. The stuffed dog had been given to him by Rocky and he absolutely adored it and refused to be parted from it, even when he slept at night. If it was taken away to be washed or something, he cried and cried some more until he either tired himself out or his toy was given to him once more.
Both Lynnette and Dave had thanked Rocky for the gift and Rocky had told him that every kid needed a stuffed dog.
"Aren't you just the most adorable baby in the world Derrick?" Roxie told her nephew, as she held him on her lap. She tickled his tummy causing him to laugh and grasp her finger.
"I never knew you had this motherly side to you Rox," Lynnette told her sister with a smile.
"I've always liked children you know that. After all, I helped raise you and Rocky."
"Yeah, but we're your siblings, so it's different, but I suppose, it's not so different since Derek is your nephew. Still, you'll make an excellent mother whenever you decide to settle down."
"Well, maybe," Roxie said considering it seriously not overreacting to her sister's statement like she did her mother's. Then Roxie knew that her mother's motives were different from her sister's, which is what made the difference in her not overreacting when Lynnette mentioned her settling down and having her own children. "I'm nowhere close to settling down though, as I haven't been as lucky as you and Spencer were to find somebody."
"Which is the main reason mom keeps constantly bringing up you settling down," Lynnette said amused.
"You might be amused but believe me she can annoy you when she gets an idea in her head. I love mom to death you know that, but that doesn't mean she can't annoy the crap out of me, especially since she keeps bringing up me settling down. It's not even that I don't want to, just that I haven't found anyone to do that with that's all," Roxie explained.
"Believe me, I understand," Lynnette said. "I know she can be annoying, but she loves you Rox and she wants to see you settled before she passes and she's not getting any younger."
"None of us are getting any younger though," Roxie said.
"True enough," Lynnette agreed. "The difference here though is mom will be gone in 25 years at the most while we'll live on."
Getting older was true for Roxie, Rocky and her mother, but not for anybody else, Lynnette thought.
She was going to miss her siblings when they finally passed, but that was life at least normally.
"Still, you know what I mean, and don't pretend you don't. Getting two of us married off within a month of each other was a red letter day for our mother Rox. All she wants is for the last two of her children to settle down. Yes, I know she's been rather persistent and pushy about that subject but give her some slack as she only wants what's best for you and for Rocky.
"You have to remember that she raised us by herself after our father left and that finances were rather tight for four children. She would've managed better if it had just been Spencer, you and Rocky, but there was also me, even if I know I was unexpected. She has sacrificed a lot for us, so you need to show that you love her by not getting annoyed when she brings up this subject or at least don't let her know you're annoyed. You owe her that much at the very least. You need to appreciate her while she's here, as it won't be more than a decade or two before she's gone."
Roxie listened and then begin to feel ashamed of how she been reacting when her mother brought up her settling down. It wasn't even that she didn't want to settle down just that finding a man to do that with had been a losing proposition at least so far.
"I'll try, because you're right," Roxie finally said after a lengthy silence. "I was acting like a teenager instead of a grown woman. I know mom loves us and that we struggled somewhat, especially with the addition of you, though at least he did pay child support for the three children he knew about. That money only went so far though and before mom knew it was gone, but considering that he only sent the minimum amount, it is no wonder. He wasn't about to go out of his way for the children that had so disappointed him."
Roxie snorted in disdain at that last part in Lynnette couldn't blame her
"Which just totally disgusts me, which is why I'm glad he never knew about me. How can a father not support his children, especially when he makes plenty of money? If William Reid hadn't been a lawyer and made a bundle and had some job where supporting three kids he knew about would've put a strain on his finances I could understand him doing that. The fact is though he did have a very good job, so he could've more than afforded to pay more than the minimum amount of child support. This just proves to me that William Reid never cared about our mother and also never cared about his children. I'm actually surprised that he bothered to send any money at all even if it wasn't very much."
"Unfortunately, it's not exactly uncommon for a man to abandon his family leaving them to struggle," Roxie said. "You made me realize how lucky we really are Lynnette to have mom who loves her children unconditionally and would do anything for us."
"You're exactly right. Mom would never have abandoned her children like that man did," Lynnette said.
Dave listened from the doorway and neither of the women noticed he was there, but since it seemed to be a private conversation, he headed for his office.
~~~Dave and Lynnette~~~
An hour later
Lynnette arrived at Dave's office door to find what she suspected, and that was her mate doing some business since she had been busy with Roxie and Derrick.
"Are you busy?" Lynnette asked Dave who looked up and smiled when he saw his mate standing there, sans baby and also her sister.
"Never too busy for you," Dave told her smiling gesturing for her to enter and to take a seat. "I was just keeping myself busy while you were occupied with Roxie and our son."
"Yes, we've certainly seen more of both my siblings ever since our son was born," Lynnette said smiling. "Derek has both of them wrapped around his little finger, as all he has to do is coo at them and they melt, like ice cream cones left out in the sun," Lynnette told Dave with a grin.
Dave chuckled at the description, for it was pretty accurate.
"Sometimes a birth in the family can bring out those nurturing instincts," Dave suggested.
"I always knew that Roxie had a softer side, as she did help raise me and Rocky along with Spencer and mom of course, but Rocky was something of a surprise. Roxie is a lot like Spencer and mom in many ways, but Rocky is a totally different thing altogether and I'm not sure who he takes after."
"Perhaps he takes after your father?" Dave suggested delicately. "Not the uncaring part, but the rest of it. Unlike William Reid, Rocky cares about people and I don't think your father really does, probably not even his clients."
"By God, I hope not," Lynnette exclaimed horrified. "I don't want Rocky to be anything like that that man that abandoned his family."
"Every child inherits traits from both parents Lyn," Dave told her using her nickname. "They might not be obvious, but every child has traits from both sets of parental figures. I see a lot of your mother's traits in you and also in Spencer. I see it, in your caring natures, how you love wholeheartedly, holding nothing back. I see it in your unselfishness and how you're willing to give anybody a chance, even if they end up hurting you emotionally. I see how patiently you deal with the idiots that want you to sign an autograph or just want a minute of your attention, even when they're very rude about it, not caring that you might have somewhere else to be or something else you need to be doing. As for the traits you inherited from your father, I suspect, though I don't know for sure, because I've never met him, the way you swore revenge against him when I gave you the opening is probably like him. I don't know that for sure, but it seems like something that he would do to someone he hated or at least disliked."
"I really don't want to think that. I don't want to be anything like that man, even though I've never met the man. All I know is he abandoned his family for no reason really and that was more than enough for me to wish as a child that I didn't turn out like him."
"You are nothing like him, darling," Dave assured her. "Just because you share some of his traits, doesn't mean your anything like him really. You have loyalty for one thing, loyalty to your family and loyalty to your friends, something that William Reid doesn't possess. You could never abandon those you cared for unlike the man you share DNA with."
"You're right, I could never abandon those I love," Lynnette agreed calming down. "Just because I share some of my father's traits, doesn't mean I'm anything like him, as I strove not to be when I was much younger, once I was old enough to understand why my father wasn't part of mine and my siblings lives. I believe I was 7 or 8 at the time. It was then I swore I wouldn't turn out anything like him."
"And you succeeded in that," Dave promised her, as he got up from behind his desk and came around to take Lynnette onto his lap by picking her up and then sitting in the chair she had just occupied.
"Even if Rocky takes after your father, he's still a good person, because he still has plenty of his mother's personality traits as well, it's just that the traits he inherited from your father are more obvious than in you and your other two siblings. He just has more of William Reid's personality or at least that's what I believe."
"I suppose we'll never know, but he probably is," Lynnette conceded.
"It doesn't really matter as Rocky will die someday as will your sister Roxie and I know you'll mourn them for a very long time."
"Yeah, I will, but we'll make sure their names live on in our family, by naming two of our children after them and not just middle names like we did for Spencer."
"We can do that," Dave agreed without arguing because he thought it was a very good idea. A long time in the future after both Roxie and Rocky were dead.
The two of them sat and cuddled together in the office chair that was in front of Dave's desk for quite a while. No one disturbed them.
The interaction did both of them good.
~~~Dave and Lynnette~~~