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Chapter Nine
Marissa
Everyone is here as we watch the car pull onto the lane and toward the house. Samuel, Jensen and his son, Max, Harper, Mom, and I all wait on the porch for Meghan to arrive. What we weren’t expecting was the second car that follows.
“I thought only Meghan and Nick were coming?” Harper asks as both vehicles pull off the lane and park in front of the garage.
“I thought so too,” Mom replies, taking the steps down to meet our guests.
A woman gets out of the driver’s seat in the first car, followed by another young couple with a baby. When the doors to the second car open, I see an older man and woman emerge from the front, followed quickly by the elderly couple that I now know to be my mom’s brother and sister-in-law.
“What a pleasant surprise,” Mom says as she approaches her brother and his wife.
“You didn’t think I was going to let Meggy come here without tagging along, did you?” Emma asks, pulling Mom into a big hug.
I start to make my way down the stairs, my siblings hot on my heels. We join the small group and introductions begin immediately. “These are my children,” Mom starts, making a gesture to each of us. “Samuel and Jensen. My daughters, Harper and Marissa. And this little guy is my grandson, Max,” Mom says with love in her voice as she ruffles Max’s full head of thick hair.
“Lovely to see you again,” Emma says, taking the lead.
“This is our son-in-law, Brian, and his lady friend, Cindy,” Emma starts. Instantly I recall hearing that Emma and Orval’s daughter, Trisha, passed away from ovarian cancer when the girls were younger. Brian was her husband and with the help of Emma and Orval, raised his six daughters.
“Pleasure to finally meet you,” Brian says to Mom, stepping up and giving her a warm hug.
“And these are a couple of my granddaughters. This is Meghan, who’s wedding your mom attended earlier this month. Nick, her hunky dentist husband, is on his way in the sailboat. He should be here in another hour or so,” Emma states. I notice immediately how Meghan blushes and shakes her head when her grandmother refers to her husband as hunky. Personally, I would have probably died from embarrassment, but after only spending a very short time with Emma, I know that this is just how she is.
“And this is AJ and Sexy Randall. You might remember him from his Playgirl spread a few years back,” Emma coos, stepping closer to me, since I’m directly across from her. “That photo gave me wet dreams for days.”
“Grandma,” AJ groans. “Stop being dirty in front of new family.”
“It’s the truth! Don’t tell me you didn’t tickle the piano keys late at night when I showed you that photo, Alison Jane,” Emma chastises, causing my sister Harper to giggle and my brother Samuel to look like he’s about to stroke out.
“My husband can just be called Sawyer, not Sexy Randall,” AJ says as she steps forward and shakes Samuel’s hand. “No need to stroke that ego.”
“As in the Sawyer Randall?” Jensen asks, his baseball-loving ears already piqued.
“That’s me, but it was a while ago. Now I teach junior high adolescents all about physical education and listen to them complain about having to detach from the cell phones for an hour,” Sawyer replies, juggling the baby boy in his arms to shake Jensen’s hand.
“Pleasure to meet you,” my brother replies, moving his own son so that he can shake the former pro baller’s hand. “My son, Max, is about to start his first year of T-ball. He loves baseball.”
“Yeah? Maybe we can throw the ball around later. Would that be okay, Max?” Sawyer asks, instantly taking a liking to my nephew. Max doesn’t reply, but promptly nods his head in agreement. “Great.”
“And this little cookie is my great-grandson, Nolan. Named after Nolan Ryan,” she says, making AJ turn a deep shade of red in annoyance. Sawyer chuckles before he pulls her into his arms and kisses her forehead. Yeah, there’s definitely a story there.
“Well, let’s go around back,” Mom says. She instantly starts telling the newcomers about the house, the property, and the history of the bed and breakfast. Normally, I’d be up there with her, filling in all of the gaps and sharing my favorite tidbits of details, but right now, all I can think about is the food situation. When I was preparing tonight’s dinner, it was under the assumption that we’d have nine in attendance. Now, with sixteen mouths to feed, I’m not sure I planned enough.
“Everything all right?” Harper whispers when we reach the sitting area around back.
“I don’t have enough food,” I confide quietly.
“How is that possible? You’re always prepared to feed an army.”
“Well, with the power still out, I only have a portion of my refrigerator and freezer space.”
“So run to the store,” she says, as if it were no big deal.
My mind flashes through recipes, trying to figure out which ones I can make quickly and easily. I settle on a cucumber salad, fresh fruit, and the homemade deviled egg salad with avocado slices. Before I can ask my sister for her keys, since my car is now blocked in, my phone chimes in my pocket. My heart starts to skip around in my chest when I see the name on the screen.
Rhenn: Do you want me to bring anything?
