Epilogue 3

Dave entered his office and gently woke his granddaughter from her nap. She'd been asleep for a couple of hours now.
"Come on sweet cheeks, your grandmother and the rest of our family have just arrived," Dave said.
"Yay!" Dana said, clapping her hands excitedly, her earlier temper tantrum forgotten. "Let's go! I want to see Nana!"
"Of course, sweetie," Dave said picking her up since his legs were longer so they get to where the party was being held faster.
Dave walked down the hallway quickly and soon came to where the party was being held.
"Here's the birthday girl," Dave called once he reached the entrance of the room, "who is ready to party and open presents."
"Nana!" Dana called holding out her arms for her grandmother to take her from her grandfather's.
"There's my sweet, well behaved angel," Diana said, and everyone else just stopped themselves from snorting at Diana's words, because Dana was not an angel and in fact, she often acted like a little devil.
Diana took her granddaughter out of Dave's arms and held her kissing her cheek wishing her a happy birthday.
Rocky and then Roxie took a turn on wishing their niece a happy birthday, also kissing her cheek.
After the greetings were over, Spencer took his daughter and put her in her highchair. Spencer kissed his daughter's forehead, ruffling her hair that had been styled differently than normal for the special day.
"So, what do you want to do first open presents or eat cake and ice cream?" Michelle asked her daughter.
"Presents mommy," Dana demanded. "I want to open presents!"
"Presents it is," Spencer agreed and so one by one Spencer placed the presents on the tray of the highchair for his daughter to rip open, creating an avalanche of paper.
"There were quite a few presents from the family. From her parents, her grandparents from both sides as well as Rocky and Roxie. Dave in particular had gone overboard on presents for his granddaughter just like he had done for his son when it had been his birthday. He figured why have money if you couldn't spend it on people you loved to make their special day even more special? Soon the floor around Dana's highchair was covered in brightly colored paper, but nobody seemed to care as it could all be cleaned up by the cleaning droid, as soon as every present was open and all the cake and ice cream eaten.
Dana was bound to make a mess with the cake and ice cream, because she had not yet learned how to be a neat eater but then, she was only two.
As each present was opened, Michelle took what the package contained and put it to the side, so that the next one could be opened.
Soon every package was open, and the floor was covered in colorful bits of wrapping paper.
"Well, I think it's time for cake and ice cream, now that all the presents have been opened," Dave told his granddaughter and Dana clapped her hands excitedly.
"I'll call Giorgio and tell him to bring out the cake that Kelly's staff left here just this morning. It's been in the fridge in the kitchen until it was time for Dana's party and the ice cream comes from a gourmet place," Michelle said.
"So, the cake is chocolate, right? Chocolate is Dana's favorite," Roxie commented.
"It's most children's favorite," Diana commented. "Of course, there are some that prefer vanilla to chocolate, and Spencer was one of those when he was child."
"I don't believe you preferred vanilla to chocolate when you were Dana's age," Michelle told her husband filing that little fact away.
"It's not that unusual as a small percentage of children simply prefer vanilla over chocolate," Spencer said. "I like chocolate now, but not when I was really young. It was simply too rich when I was Dana's age and upset my stomach, I believe if I'm remembering right."
"Vanilla is certainly a little healthier for you than chocolate is," Diana said. "I was actually happy that he did prefer vanilla at least at that point in his life."
Michelle called Giorgio and asked him to bring out the cake and also the ice cream. The ice cream, of course, was chocolate, but there were also other flavors like vanilla with brownie bites or chocolate mixed with vanilla and caramel. There was even a strawberry since that one was Michelle's favorite.
"Well, you certainly have enough ice cream to feed a small hoard of children," Rocky said, as he saw Giorgio come out of the kitchen with a cart with the cake and several cartons of ice cream.
"Everybody in this family has different tastes," Dave shrugged. "I do try to keep everybody's favorite on hand. It's not like I can't afford to and there is an industrial size fridge in the kitchen so there's plenty of room."
Giorgio cut the cake without being asked and gave everybody a piece on the plates he had brought from the kitchen.
The cake was indeed chocolate, but there was chocolate frosting between the layers as well. Giorgio passed the first slice that he cut from the cake to Dana and handed her a spoon before serving the others.
"Happy birthday, Miss Dana," Giorgio told her ruffling her hair.
"Dana, remember your manners," Spencer told his daughter when Dana didn't even thank Giorgio for the piece of cake. "What do you say when somebody gives you something?"
"Thank you," Dana told Giorgio.
"You're very welcome, young Dana," Giorgio bowed slightly causing the two-year-old to giggle before he headed back to the kitchen.
By the time the party was over, Dana Reid was all out of energy and didn't put up a fight when her father took her up to bed.
It was a real bed, as a crib had been replaced within the last few months when Dana had started climbing out of her crib.
"I have some news while Spencer is putting Dana to bed," Lynnette announced.
"So, what's the news?" Rocky asked before anyone else could.
"I'm pregnant!" Lynnette exclaimed
"You are!" Diana exclaimed, as she got out of her chair and hugged her daughter, kissing her cheek before shaking her son-in-law's hand.
"She is," Dave said beaming.
"This is great news!" Roxie exclaimed, giving her sister a hug.
"We figured it was time before I got any older," Lynnette said. "We would've had one sooner if not for Dana."
"We know that she will not take the news well, but we can't put off having children because of her as Lynnette isn't getting any younger," Dave said. "I'm sure there will be temper tantrums of mega proportions when she hears the news, which is why we didn't say anything until Spencer took her to bed."
"She'll have to find out eventually," Rocky said.
"Well, yes, but we're going to try to wait until I'm farther along. When I start to show, we'll we tell her about the pregnancy," Lynnette explained.
"Does Spencer know?" Diana asked her daughter and Lynnette shook her head.
"No, but Michelle can tell him in private and explain our reasons for not saying anything in front of Dana," Dave said.
"He'll understand why we said nothing while Dana was present," Lynnette added.
"So do you want another boy or a girl?" Rocky asked.
"Either one is fine with us, as we're going to have an uneven number of sexes either way," Dave said. "I only hope that they don't take after Dana, as she is enough of a drama queen we don't need any more of those or drama kings for that matter."
"You have to remember that, technically I'm not yours by blood and Derrick is nothing like Dana," Michelle reminded her father. "I know you love me, but that doesn't mean we share blood. While I would love to have another Dana is enough of a handful and we all know how she's going to react if Spencer and I try to give her a sibling."
"Is Dana going to be an only child then?" Diana asked looking disappointed. Michelle had made a very good point, however about Dana pitching a fit if her mother got pregnant again. There was no way to tell how Dana was going to react to her grandparents having a new baby since her daughter was pregnant.
"No, we'll give it another year and when Dana is three, I'll get pregnant again," Michelle said. "Spencer and I have already discussed this and we do want other children and it won't matter if I get pregnant now or in a year, as Dana is still going react the same way."
"I wouldn't wait a year, especially if you want other children after this second one," Roxie recommended. "If my niece is going to react the same way in a year that she would now if you got pregnant, I don't know why you want to wait."
"That's a good point," Michelle said looking thoughtful. "I'll talk to Spencer about it, but I'm sure he'll agree to go ahead and get me pregnant now."
"Oh, another baby!" Diana said delighted.
"I wouldn't get your hopes up as it might take me awhile to get conceive like it did the first time," Michelle said.
Everybody continued to discuss it for a few minutes and then Lynnette and Dave picked up their son, who was starting to fall asleep right there in his chair with his head on the table and headed up to take him to bed.
And so, the second birthday party for one Miss Dana Leslie Reid ended as everybody went their separate ways for awhile
Dave felt contentment sweep for him as he carried his son upstairs in order to put him to bed and thought that he had everything that anybody could want.
A mate he utterly adored, a son he loved beyond reason, a granddaughter that would grow into a beautiful young woman, one with a dramatic bent, with another child on the way. He would be grateful for his family for the rest of time.