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Carl touched my mother’s elbow and leaned in to finish the story. “I’m going along for the ride. I’m not sure either your mother or I can do without our red wine at the end of the day, let alone exist on celery puree for forty-eight hours straight.”
“I do not want to be around either of you if you’re denied wine,” Meghan said. “I’m afraid for my life.”
More laughter. Then Annie regaled us with some of the crazy stuff she had cooked for Carl when they first got married.
“I was trying to impress him. I hauled out my mother’s impossibleJoy of Cookingand made this roast and that roast, rabbit stew—ugh, to think about it now, every meal was so heavy. I honestly thought the success of our marriage would be won or lost on whether I could flan.”
“I don’t think that’s a verb.”
“Oh, if you’ve ever tried to flan, you would say it’s a verb.”
The lightness and warmth in the room was comforting. It was so nice, that real family feeling. The idea that talking led to laughter, which led to more laughter—even when the stories were ones you’d heard a million times. We had all drifted back to the dining room table. The coffee was scalding hot, exactly the way I liked it, and the cookies were delicious. After my sister had her fourth helping, she took some teasing from her husband. “That baby must have one hell of a hollow leg. You’re eating like Joey in that episode ofFriends,” Jason said. “You know, the one where he’s wearing stretch pants.”
My sister punched her husband hard in the thigh, and he mock fell off his chair. “The strength, the superhuman strength that fetus is giving her! We won’t survive, it’ll eat us both!”
“God, I hated being pregnant,” Annie said. “Hated giving birth, it was awful.”
Daniel grabbed another cookie before heading back downstairs. “Mom, happy to know how much it pained you to bring us into the world.”
“I loved you both when you got here, and you know it.” Annie sighed. “But pregnancy … I was so bloated with both boys, couldn’t get comfortable, and I was so sleep deprived. I don’t even remember Josh’s conception because I was on a tired high from Danny. What a colicky kid. He’d refuse to settle unless he was on the boob or on my belly. Slept in bed with us until he was at least ten.”
“I did not!” Daniel yelled from the stairway.
“Did too,” Annie retorted.
“I could have been better then,” Carl said.
My mother grabbed his forearm. “You were just fine,” Annie said. “Everything has turned out as it should. And I’m sure that Meg will make sure she gets enough rest. Jason works nights sometimes—he’ll be well used to the dark hours of the night that haunted me.”
“Our problem was having our kids too close together, wasn’t it, Annie?” my mother asked.
“Would not disagree with you there. It’s all a blur.”
“Meghan,” my mother said, “wait until the first is out of diapers before you start on the second, please.”
“As I have not even birthed the first, believe you me, the second is not even on the horizon.”
“Stay away from her!” I said to Jason. “Hands to yourself until your kid is at least three.”
“Three? She’s pretty sexy,” Jay said. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to control myself for three years.”
Rob joked. “I’ll bet if you’re in the delivery room during the birth, those images alone might do it.”
“Enough,” Meghan said. “I can’t believe we’re talking about my sex life, my birth plan, and my family planning at the Christmas dinner table. Subject change please.”
A stillness descended, like how a snowfall quiets a forest. It was a deep, echoing quiet that signaled the end of the evening, except no one moved.
“Oh my god!” my mother suddenly shouted, making us all jump. “Kelly, you absolutely can’t schedule your wedding anywhere near Meghan’s due date. We can’t have her about to pop or to be forced to wear a tent because formal maternity clothes arehideous.” She counted on her fingers. “So, Meghan’s due in July. No one in their right mind would have a wedding in the middle of the summer in Canada—too hot, too hot. Plus, Kelly needs at least a year to plan. That gives you a good six months to get the baby weight off, Meghan. If you’re anything like me, it’ll just fall off. You’ll be run off your feet between feedings and keeping the house up—it’s a marathon. My girls, my girls, what a Christmas.” She squeezed Carl’s hand. “Our family will look so different a year from now. Who knows, maybe by then Kelly and Rob will have similar news.”
“No. Babies,” I said, pouring myself a fresh glass of wine. “And no wedding. If we get married, I’m going to convince Rob to elope.”
“My mother would have a conniption,” he said.
“My thoughts exactly.” I smiled.
My stepbrothers had drifted back to the living room to play a video game. Electronic beeps and boops floated into the dining room, followed by heavy-duty machine gun noises and lots of shouting. Rob and Jason looked at one another, then at me and Meghan.
“Go, just go,” I said to Rob.
