Chapter 18

"This is terrific news!" Dave said once he was informed that his daughter was pregnant. "I'm so happy for you both."
The excitement and enthusiasm in his voice made everyone smile.
Dave got up from where he was sitting and hugged Michelle kissing her cheek and once he released her, he shook Spencer's hand in congratulations.
"So am I," Lynnette agreed, as she took possession of Dave's lap once he had retaken his seat. "Derrick is going to grow up with a brother. I love it! It looks like there is a ton of shopping in our future. That is if you don't mind me tagging along whenever you get around to shopping for all the necessary baby equipment. I want to see what they've gotten in for baby boys when you go shopping, as Derrick is growing so fast that he's outgrown his clothes a couple of times already."
"That's normal until babies are a certain age," Spencer told his sister.
"I know and I don't mind going and buying some new things and the old ones can be put in storage to either be given to charity at some point or for the next little boy we have. The clothes are still in good condition and look like they've hardly been worn."
"And they're also high quality," Dave commented, "so that means they will last longer and can be washed many, many times before they develop runs or tears or the colors become faded."
"Of course, I don't mind if you tag along," Michelle said smiling at Lynnette. "I also don't mind if Diana or Roxie want to come along whenever I go shopping for whatever swims in here."
Michelle patted her tummy for emphasis. "We can make a girl's day of it. Do the shopping then, share lunch before we all return home."
"So how far along do you think you are, sweetheart?" Dave asked his daughter.
"No more than 5 to 6 weeks," Michelle answered. "I've been taking a pregnancy test every month, but it always came back negative. Well, either that or my period would start and then I would know I wasn't pregnant. I haven't had my period this month like normal, which is why I suspected I might finally be pregnant with Spencer's and my child. Also, I've been eating a great deal more than I normally would just like Lynnette did when she was pregnant with Derrick."
"Really, if you don't get your period and you're eating a great more than you normally do at a meal both are signs that you are pregnant. While the first one isn't a sure indication, as you're menstrual could just be late for some reason, the second sign is definitely the way to tell if you're pregnant for sure," Lynnette said, and only Spencer looked embarrassed at the mention of a woman's menstrual cycle as that wasn't usually information that a man needed to know.
Dave on the other hand, didn't look at all embarrassed like his son-in-law, as he knew it was normal for a woman at least to talk about such things.
Dave though was confident enough in himself and had been around plenty of women in his time, so such subjects didn't embarrass him, but Spencer was different. Spencer hadn't had that many previous girlfriends, and when he had they hadn't talked about such subjects in front of him.
"In my case," Lynnette continued ignoring her brother's embarrassment, "I knew it was very likely I was pregnant, considering how much Dave and I indulged in the sexual act and not just on our honeymoon, but before we were married."
"We had been parted for centuries because of those idiots that murdered you without remorse and there was no way I wasn't going to make love to you so long as you were agreeable," Dave said empathically. "Once you knew about me and what we had used to mean to each other there was absolutely no way I was going to wait until our honeymoon to make love to you."
"I really can't blame you for that," Michelle said. "I mean, the two of you had been apart for a very long time, so it's no wonder you wanted to actually consummate your relationship immediately after having been reunited."
Spencer was still red in embarrassment, as he really didn't need to hear about his sister having sex. Really, he didn't even want to think about that, even though he knew his sister was happy and that Dave was a very good man.
Still, Lynnette was his sister, which meant he still imagined her as the little girl who he had doctored her skinned knees and advised her about what to do about bullies at school when mom hadn't been available.
"I think we had better quit discussing it or my brother might be permanently red in the face," Lynnette finally relented. Her tone was teasing, and Spencer said nothing at all to his sister's rather pointed teasing comment.
"I know you're a grown-up now Lynnette, but I still see you as a little girl in pigtails with a skinned knee as she cried on my lap, because some of the girls at school had been mean to her," Spencer told his sister.
Dave got a big grin on his face as he imagined his mate as a little girl in pigtails crying on her brother's lap because of some mean things, some girls at school had said to her.
The image of his mate as a little girl really resonated with him, which meant his imagination went into overdrive.
"When we have a little girl, I hope she looks just like you," Dave told Lynnette with everyone else listening in. "I can't help but imagine a little blond girl in pigtails with her mother's eyes."
"You'll have one eventually," Michelle said. "Who knows I might be carrying a girl. Unfortunately, it's much too soon to tell, as the doctor won't be able to tell for months."
"If we do have a girl, I want to name her after my mother," Spencer said immediately finally getting over his embarrassment.
"That's a great idea, Spence," Lynnette told her brother grinning. "If you do have a little girl and name her after mom, then that will prevent me and Dave from doing the same, as I was thinking that whenever we had a girl, we could name her something like Diane to differentiate her from her grandmother. I concede that if you have a girl first, you can name her after mom, while if Dave and I have a girl first we have the right to name her after the woman that raised us so well."
"Now there's a good idea," Spencer mused smiling. "I agree that is a good compromise, so if Michelle and I have a girl this time we'll name her after mom but if we don't, then you and Dave can name your first little girl after her."
"That's an excellent compromise," Michelle spoke up. "And I definitely don't mind naming a girl child after your mother, as I really like her a lot. Also, your mother's name is nice, classical and still well used even today which is a bonus."
"We lucked out in the mother-in-law department," Dave said. "Believe me, some spouses don't get along with their mother-in-law for different reasons and sometimes that's because the mother-in-law is nothing but a harridan. Your mother on the other hand, is a wonderful woman who clearly loves her children. You can't say the same about every mother, especially when their child gets involved with anyone of the opposite sex."
"Yeah, I've seen it a few times myself," Lynnette agreed. "I have this friend whose mother was a shrew and didn't want her daughter to get involved with anyone seriously enough that she married him, as that would mean that her daughter was no longer under her control. She was a control freak, the type that tried to control every aspect of her daughter's life, so she could live through her instead of just letting her daughter form her own personality."
"And she tried her best to break up your friend from her boyfriend," Spencer asked his sister in his normal calm voice, with a raised eyebrow, as he had never heard this story.
"She did," Lynnette agreed. "The mother and daughter weren't exactly close though, not like mom is with us anyway."
"So, what exactly happened?" Michelle asked Lynnette. "That type of situation can go one of two ways. The daughter defies her mother and continues seeing the guy and perhaps marries him and the other is the daughter breaks up with the guy because of parental pressure and is then likely miserable, because she realizes after the fact, she really loved the man she was dating but listened to her mother instead of doing what she wanted.
"The first option," Lynnette said. "The daughter's whose name was Anne by the way, moved away, and she and Chester got married in Vegas. I have no doubt you can guess that the mother was not invited to their wedding."
"I certainly wouldn't invite someone like that to my wedding because they are bound to try to disrupt the ceremony," Dave snorted. "I mean, that they had to go to Vegas in order to get married instead of having a wedding with a lot of guests, which ought to tell you all you need to know about the mother-in-law."
"I would say it does," Michelle said, even as she unconsciously continued to rub her stomach where her and Spencer's baby was growing. "Now that we've told you to though, we need to call Diana and tell her the happy news and then she can tell Roxie and Rocky."
"Well, I feel blessed that you came to tell us first before contacting Diana," Dave told his daughter with a smile.
"I felt you deserved to know right away, as I know you've been wanting grandchildren from me ever since Spencer and I got married," Michelle answered rising to walk over to her father and kiss his cheek. "You're finally going to get your wish, even if it took a little longer than for you and Lynnette."
"Babies are conceived in their own good time," Lynnette told Michelle wisely with a smile. "You're probably just not quite as fertile as I am as every woman on the face of the planet have different fertilities. I'm looking forward to the birth of my well, I suppose they would technically be considered my grandchild, even if I'm much too young to even think about having grandchildren."
"We're going to have a very weird family tree," Spencer said.
"Yes, we are," Dave agreed. "But that just makes life more interesting that's all."
"I suppose so," Spencer finally agreed. "In any case, I'm really looking forward to my son or daughter's births, as this will be the first child I've ever had with anyone and that it's with the woman I love is just icing on the cake."
"Well, you'll get you'll wish in less than nine months," Michelle told him kissing his cheek.
"I can hardly wait, and I never believed I would say something like that," Spencer said, grinning at the thought of the birth of his child a few months down the road.
"Welcome to normal life," Dave told him patting Spencer on the back in a friendly manner. "This is what everybody should have, a spouse they love and children they adore. You're just now discovering what a normal life should be like, which is something that you should have discovered years ago, but I'm certainly glad you didn't have a wife or a girlfriend when you met Michelle."
"I'm definitely glad that wasn't the case," Michelle wholeheartedly agreed with her father leaning against Spencer's shoulder.

~~~Dave and Lynnette~~~