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“Five minutes ago I thought I was pregnant with Josh’s baby,” I blurted out as my father dropped the spatula on the kitchen floor, his mouth open in shock.
Great, Dallas, you have officially lost it.
My mother laughed loudly at my father’s reaction. “Seth, she’s almost twenty-eight years old. I’m pretty sure that ship sailed years ago.” My mother chuckled as she gave me the dirty eye for being so forthcoming.
“Yeah, well, I thought you’d be more upset that I might have had a baby out of wed lock,” I muttered carefully, still silently cursing my mouth.
It never failed. Whenever I was nervous about anything, I was instantly sarcastic about the situation. It had proved to be a nightmarish flaw over the years and was no less mortifying now. If all else failed, my brain was convinced sarcasm and denial were my best defense.
“When the hell did you or Rose ever do anything conventionally?” my father pointed out as he picked the spatula up and walked to the sink to rinse it.
“So true,” my mother said, eyeing me with a smile. “As a matter of fact, your father and I placed a bet a year ago on which one of you would get pregnant first.” My mother nodded at me and my jaw dropped. “So you picked me, Mom?” I snapped, offended.
“And I was close, wasn’t I?” she said with a wink and smiled at my father.
“You chose me, Daddy!” Rose shrieked, now equally as irritated.
“Girls, please you are both plenty old enough to have kids,” my mother piped happily.
“What the hell is wrong with you people?” Rose said, eyeing us all. “That’s not the way of things. It goes love, marriage, children,” she huffed, scolding us all.
“Ah,” my mother said, eyeing my father. “So you’ll set the example for us all. Well, that’s a relief,” my mother added, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she added a few casserole dishes to the table and gestured again for us to sit.
“Maybe I will,” Rose said smartly, refusing to meet my mother’s eyes. My mother was the complete definition of a liberal. She hated what the world considered ‘the norm’. She encouraged us at all times to live out loud, and resist conformity when it was a bad idea. My father, on the other hand, was a conservative man. They made for an interesting parenting combination, leaving Rose and I to muddle through their conflicting advice our entire lives. Still, somehow…it worked. I grinned between the two of them and could see the wheels turning at the idea of a grandchild. They would have been thrilled, both of them.
“Can we change the subject?” I begged, bored with the conversation. “Disaster averted.”
“Babies are not a disaster. They are an absolute blessing,” my mother said, grabbing my hand. Lowering my head as my mother said grace, I ignored the tugging feeling threatening me.
You have come too far, Dallas.
My mother spoke her next words with one eye open. “And Lord, if possible, I would love to be a grandmother sometime this century. Amen.”
“I’m sure Dad will win the bet, Mom,” I added, circling my fork around my burnt fish. “I have no interest in any of that.”
“Don’t you dare put that burden on me,” Rose choked out through a sip of her water. “I don’t need that right now, either.”
“Lightning will strike for you one day, Dallas. You, too, Rose,” my father assured us.
“Lord, Dad, what are you harping about now?” my brother Paul said, waltzing into the kitchen all smiles with his wife Hilary by his side as he took turns hugging each of us. We all stood to exchange greetings to a shy Hilary who gave us all warm smiles. She was 5’1” and one hundred pounds soaking wet with hazel eyes and classic features. She had worked hard to chip away at Paul’s resolve to never settle down. But according to Paul, it took him ten minutes to fall in love with her.
“Your sisters just indirectly told us we would never be grandparents. For now, your bet is safe.”
Paul smirked as he looked straight at me.
“Great, you too? Who did you bet on Paul?” I asked, knowing I was the one he had wagered on.
“I had to weigh in, Dallas. I practically raised you with them.” Paul was twelve years older than I was and fourteen older than Rose. He had done it all for us and with us. As far as big brothers went, Rose and I had been incredibly lucky. My brother was the spitting image of my father with strawberry blonde hair, striking jade green eyes, and fair skin. Their likeness was unmistakable.
“How’s business, son?” My father addressed my brother as he took a seat, eyeing the fish with distaste before opting to load his plate with sides.
“Great, Dad, but could you please come back a day this week and stomp Jose’s ass? He won’t listen to me again.”
“It’s all yours, my boy. He is the best foreman in the state of Texas, but he’s a mean old bastard. You will just have to figure out a way.”
“Seriously, Dad, I will fire him before I deal with him much longer,” he said, forking some potatoes.
“No you won’t. You are
