Miranda met Carter and the boys in front of the hotel to drop off the key. When they rolled up, the more rowdy boys of the five all piled out and moved to swarm Miranda. “Boys, if you want to walk away from this hotel, you’ll all back the hell off”, Eli said as he stepped in front of his sister.
“We will not hesitate to kick asses over the pregnant woman”, Callan said.
Carter’s eyes swept over Jake and Jeremiah. “Her uncle are carrying, boys.”
“How can you tell?” Logan- one of the large goons- asked.
“How can I tell what, you empty headed hoodlum?”
“That they’re her uncles and that they’ve got guns?”
“They’re considerably older than she is and I can see the bugles in the backs of their pants, you dolt. Back off, I will get the key from her and let you idiots run ahead of me up to his room. Try to be respectful of everyone and remember that Zack can’t speak. His jaw is wired shut. Act like you’re adults for the love of God.”
“We’ll behave”, Chris said. He was another one of Zack’s loser friends.
“Somehow I doubt that.” He rolled his eyes and approached Miranda. “It’s good to see you, Miranda.
“And you.” She gave him a hug. “Here’s the key to Zack’s room. Warning, he is naked. My uncles had to strip him down because he pissed himself in the lobby.”
Carter looked back at her uncles. “Is that true?”
“I wasn’t here”, Jake said. “I did, however, patch him up so I can attest to the fact that he’s probably sleeping right now because he is high on pain medication.”
“I was here and I know for a fact that he pissed himself”, Jeremiah added. “My twin brother and I stripped him down after we got him up to the room.”
“Neither of you are her father, are you?” Logan asked.
“No. Her father is our older brother. We’re both her uncles.”
Carter took the room key and turned to the other four guys. “Again, I urge you to use your common sense, not that that’s any of your strong suit. The room number is on the card holder. I’ll catch up.” The guys all ran ahead, leaving Carter to talk to Miranda. “I’m so sorry about him and them, Miranda.”
“When are you going to stop apologizing for those Neanderthals?” she asked.
“This is the absolute last time.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’m done. After he’s back in new York with his parents, I’m done. If he's really this stupid, I can't hang with that. There's adolescence and there's this and I'm DONE with this. I can’t do this shit anymore, Miranda. You were smart to get away when you did. He would only have dragged you down and that’s no place for you. You’re far too classy for that, Miranda.”
She smiled. “Thanks, Carter. That means a lot.” She hugged him again. “You need to go wrangle the Philistines up there, so we will temporarily go our separate ways.”
“Sounds good. I’ll call you soon.” He headed into the hotel and she turned to the sea of men with her.
“Did that just happen?” she asked them.
“I believe it do, dear niece”, Jeremiah chuckled.
“I have to agree with Uncle Miah. It happened, niece of mine. Not how you expected it to go?” Jake said with a grin.
“Not at all. I knew whomever Carter brought with him was going to be a goon because that’s all Zack is friends with. Nothing but goons, save Carter.”
Callan wrapped an arm around her. “Better that it go this way than them getting stupid, wouldn’t you say, baby?”
“Yeah, very true. I’m glad it went off without a hitch. Can we go back to homestead now? I’m tired already and I’d like to lie down for a nap.”
Jake nodded. “No problem, Miranda. It would probably be wise for you to lie down for a time. The stress had to have had its effects on the baby.” They all got in Jeremiah’s van and headed back to homestead.
---------------
When they got back to homestead, Jeremiah bid his parents a good evening before going out to his little house to grade papers. His history and theology classes had recently done huge essays on Ancient Greece that he needed to read. He wasn’t looking forward to it, but it was a necessary evil when you were a college professor. He kicked back on the couch after putting on a boring movie to ignore and got down to business. It may have been fall break, but his students were expecting their papers as soon as he could get them back. They were all in pins and needles to know that their grades were, especially his Theology students. The paper was a substantial cut of their grades.
Rina came through the living room and paused to see what her Daddy was up to. “Hey Daddy. Whatcha doin’?”
“Working. What are you doing, Rina Brielle?” Jeremiah asked his little girl.
“I was thinking about going out to ride Ranger, but I can’t put the saddle on by myself.”
“Get your big brother to help you out. I would but I’m busy and I think Mama is helping Aunt Lilah with dinner.”
“Who is that guy in there with Miranda?”
“His name is Callan. He’s her boyfriend.”
“Why would she want a boyfriend?”
“There are several reasons to want a boyfriend, Rina baby. Remember, Cousin Miranda is pregnant. She’s going to have a baby.”
“Is she having a boy or a girl?”
“We don’t know yet, baby girl. Could you please stop with the twenty questions so that I can work, Rina? I have a lot of papers to grade and my students want them by their next class period with me.”
She sighed. “Ok, Daddy. One more really quick question. Do you know where Mattie is?”
“Nope. He may be inside with Seth.”
She nodded and walked away. She needed to find someone to help her get the saddle on her horse. She didn’t want them to do it for her. She was far too independent for that. But she needed someone to help her lift the huge saddle up and put it on his back so that she could fasten it to him. After the saddle was on, she was set. She was taking horseback riding lessons so that she could ride the horse properly and she loved it. Eventually, she wasn’t going to need the help.
Jeremiah grinned as he watched his daughter walk away. She was Miss Independent and hated asking for help so for her to do so took an act of Congress, he could have sworn. He sighed. The papers will be here when you get back, Jeremiah Alexander, he thought. “Rina wait up, baby.” He said as he stood up and stretched momentarily. “I’ll go out there with you. I want to see you ride.”
“What about the papers?”
“They’ll still be here when I get back.” He watched her face light up with a smile.
“Sweet!” she said. “Let’s go, Daddy. You can watch me jump him.”
“Sounds like fun, Rina. Lead the way.”
Rina took her father’s hand and went with him out to the four wheelers so that he could drive them out to the stable. The drive was a short one. Jeremiah knew a short cut out to the stable that Rina knew nothing about. “How did you know about that short cut, Dad?”
“I’ve been riding these four wheelers all over this property since I was your age, Rina. I know the property, probably better than Uncle Jake does.” He kissed the top of her head. “Come on now, let’s go put Ranger’s saddle on him so that you can ride.”
They walked into the corral and Rina called to her horse. “RANGER”, she called. “Come here boy.” Ranger came trotting out. “Ranger, this is my Dad. Dad, meet Ranger.”
Ranger lowered his head and Jeremiah petted him. “So you’re the handsome devil that’s taking all of my little girl’s attention. As long as you treat her well, we won’t have any problems. You hear me buddy? Throw her one time and you’re gone.” Ranger huffed and Jeremiah chuckled. “As long as we understand each other, Ranger.”
“Daddy, it’s not like I’m dating him or anything. He’s a pet.”
Jeremiah laughed. “I know Rina baby.”
“Anyway, boys are gross.”
He covered his face and turned his head. That was too cute. “Please keep thinking that for a very, very long time”, he laughed.
“What’s the matter, Daddy?”
“You’re too cute, that’s what the matter is. I’m trying not to laugh out loud at what you just said.”
“Don’t worry Daddy. I don’t see myself liking boys anytime soon.”
“Keep it like that, Rina. Stay my baby girl as long as you can.”
---------------
Jake had Sammi show Miranda and Callan to one of the spare rooms while he went to his office to get his stethoscope and things so he could check Miranda to make sure that everything with the baby was going ok. Kenna was told by Jeremiah that it was going to happen when he went through the kitchen to go out so that he could grade the essays his students had recently turned in. Once he was assured that everything was ok- as the stress of the day had made Miranda ill- Jake let Miranda and Callan lie down and he headed downstairs. Miranda had asked him to check on her because they last thing any of them wanted was for her to lose the baby. The child she carried was to be the first great- grandchild.
He sighed as she sat down in one of the arm chairs in the living room. “Is it over yet?” He was exhausted.
“Is what over?” David asked.
“The day. Are there any more crazy things that are going to go down?”
“Not that we know of, son”, Brie responded. “How did the key drop go?”
“Pretty much without a problem. The good tried to swarm but Eli and Callan stepped up between them and her. The guy she called immediately too control of the situation by pointing out that Jeremiah and I were both carrying so they backed off. Once they has the key, they went up to Zack’s room after being told by Carter to act like they have some common sense. Carter then told Miranda that he was done with Zack once he was safe with his parents. He called Miranda on the way back here to get doctor’s instructions for Zachary. I emailed them to him on the way.”
“Sounds like it was rather uneventful”, David laughed.
“Pretty much. This is just more excitement that I’m used to anymore. I’m already tired.”
“Getting old, Jacob?”
Jake chuckled. “Hell no. Just set in my ways.”
“I remember a certain young man calling me old when I was his age.”
“And now I know why you so adamantly deny it to this day. The spirit is willing, but the body is saying, ‘I don’t think so’.”
“Exactly. Not going to lie though, there have been times over the years that we both felt our ages.”
“Like when we all started getting married and having kids?”
“Yeah”, his mother said.
“With each trip down the aisle with one of your sisters in my arm, I felt just a little older”, his father added.”
“But, we’re still young at heart. In spirit, we still in our… what would you say, David?” She looked up at her husband from where her head rested against his arm.
“Mid-thirties?” he said looking down at his wife.
“I can live with that.” She looked back to Jacob. “In spirit, we’re still in our mid-thirties.”
“You have to confer to figure out the answer to that question?” Jake asked as he laughed.
“There’s nothing wrong with double checking to make sure we’re on the same page.” She coughed. “I think the brisk weather is trying to get me sick.”
“That’s the last thing you need”, David said. “We’re probably going to head back to Israel soon. We’re acclimated to the climate out there. Not so much out here anymore.”
“It would be better and keep me from getting sick. Anyway, I have a doctor’s appointment coming up soon.”
“When?”
“In a week. We could leave in a couple of days and we’d be fine.”
“It will suck to see you guys leave again, but we’ll see you at Thanksgiving”, Jake said. “Who do you have to go see, Mom?”
“My endocrinologist. Just my usual diabetes checkup. Speaking of checkups, how is Miranda?”
“She’s fine. Her blood pressure was a little elevated, so I suggested to Callan that they lay down and relax. She needs to take it easy so that she doesn’t end up with preeclampsia. It would be a bad for her to have high blood pressure during this pregnancy.”
“No kidding. She just needs to relax. You know who’s sudden appearance today rattled her. She should be fine.”
“No kidding. His appearance rattled everyone today. Like I said, this is more excitement than I’m used to anymore. I’m tired already.”
“You’ll be ok, Jake. You will recover”, David said. “You have a lot of life ahead of you.”
“I know, Dad. I’ll be fine after a good night’s rest. I just need to recover after the excitement. I have to admit though, watching Pete wire his jaw shut was awesome. I was acting as the ‘gas man’ as we call the anesthesiologist in the medical field, and watching Pete work in awe. That was awesome.”
“At least you got to learn a new procedure”, his mother said. She coughed again. “I need some orange juice. Apparently, I’m not taking in enough Vitamin C.”
Jake pushed up from sitting and poked his head into the kitchen door. “I hate to interrupt, but Mom needs orange juice. Would one of you ladies be so kind as to pour her a glass real fast?”
He came out with a glass of juice and handed it to her. “Thank you, Jacob. This will certainly help.”
“While you and Dad are here, your health is my primary concern. Believe me, Mom, it was nothing.”
---------------
Miranda and Callan were just lying in the bed in the spare room. She was glad that the Zack S. T. Winfield chapter of her life was finally over. He was a loser.
Instead, her mind pondered what she would name the baby once it came. She had a few ideas in mind but none were for a boy. She was almost sure she was having a girl. She thought of names like Isabelle, Fallyn, and Grace. She really liked the names Isabelle and Grace. They would have sounded beautiful together, but that’s not what she had in mind.
Callan saw that she was deep in thought. “What’s going through your head?” he asked.
“Just thinking of what to name the baby.”
“Really? Any ideas?”
“I have a few, but none that really stick out for me.”
“Well, seeing as this is my baby too, why don’t you bounce them off of me and I’ll give you my two cents.”
“Ok”, she said with a smile. “I was thinking about names like Fallyn, Isabelle, and Grace.”
“I like Isabelle Grace.”
“I do too, but it doesn’t pop out at me. You know what I mean?”
“I think I understand. You want a unique name like yours.”
“Yeah. My middle name isn’t so unique other than it’s spelling. I mean, my Aunt Maddie’s middle name is also ‘Jade’ but it’s spelled like the stone.”
“But you’re the only Miranda.”
“Exactly. There are all kinds of names after my grandparents. My own brothers are named for Grampa.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Isaiah’s middle name is David and Eli’s middle name is Michael.”
“What about your Gramma?”
“Hannah is named after her and her twin’s middle name is for Grampa. Rina is named after Gramma as well. Her middle name is Brielle which is also Gramma’s middle name.”
“Wow. How is Hannah named for Gramma?”
“Hannah is Gramma’s first name and Nicole was Gramma’s middle name a lifetime ago.”
“Your Gramma changed her name?”
“Well, it happens when you’re declared dead.”
“WHAT?”
“Yeah. Gramma’s supposed to be dead already. She was declared dead back in 2010.”
“Holy hell. What’s her alter ego’s name?”
“Her alter ego- which is what she calls her past life- was known, I believe, as Irian Nicole Cartwright.”
“And that’s where Hannah gets her middle name. I see.” He took a deep breath and thought for a minute. “Just bouncing this off of you, let me know if I’m being stupid. But, how about Grace Irian Maguire?”
She looked at him with and AHA look. “Really?”
“Yeah, why not?”
“No reason. I actually love it. It pops. It’s unique. No one in my family is named Grace. Hannah actually means Grace in Hebrew.”
“So, in essence, we’re taking a page out of your Uncle James’s book and completely naming our daughter after your grandmother. Now, I have a question.”
“What might that be?”
“What if this little girl we’re talking about is actually a little boy?”
“We have time to come up with a boy’s name, but I’m almost positive that this is a girl.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“It’s just a feeling, you know? I can just feel it. I’m having a little girl.”
He nodded. “Far be it for me to argue with a pregnant woman’s intuition. If you say we’re having a girl, then that’s what we’re having. I will be the father of a beautiful baby girl in about 5 ½ months.”
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