All of the bags were packed. All of the homework was turned in. All of the tickets were purchased and seats decided. It took a little finagling but Jake was able to get Jax a ticket with a seat next to Miri. He was struggling with the thought, but he was trying to get out of the way and let his princess fall in love with this young man.
As they flew, Jake smiled as he watched Miri and Jax, They were three rows in front of him and on the other side of the aisle. His parents were sitting across from him and his wife in the same parcel. “That’s took cute”, he chuckled to himself.
“What’s too cute?” his father asked, looking up from the book he was reading.
“Miri and Jax. They’re cute. It kinda scares me, thought Dad.”
“Why?”
“Because Miri’s my princess, like Maddie was yours. It’s just a little difficult to let her go.”
David nodded. “Oh, I understand that. Been there, wrote the book as a matter of fact. It doesn’t change the fact that you have to let go of her and let her fly the nest.”
“I know. It’s just hard, you know?”
“Better than you ever will. I walked three down the aisle, Jacob. Meagan never married and Jordan’s a lesbian. I loved every trip, but they all tore my heart out for one reason or another.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Maddie was my little princess. Makayla was my little teddy bear. Jessi was my baby. Literally. She was the baby. And she wanted everything as close to traditional as she could get it. Nearly killed me.”
Jake chuckled. “I vaguely remember that. She was so dead set on it and I heard you protesting over and over. When and Mom were home from Israel to plan the wedding, you would take regular trips out onto the back patio where you would rant to no one in Hebrew for no particular reason. It would take Mom a few minutes to head out after you.”
“I wanted him to just get it out before I went out after him”, she said, her eyes not leaving the puzzle she was working on her tablet. “I know how your father gets when he wants to fight against something.”
“We all know what Dad’s like when he wants to fight against something Mom.” He chuckled. “Anyway. She would go out after you and get you settled down then you’d go back to planning the wedding.”
“Until I got pissed off again”, he said with a shrug.
“Do you think I’ll be such a pain when my girls get married?”
“I’m positive that you will be, Jake. All of you boys are going to be raging asses when your daughters get married. Have you not been paying attention to Malachai the closer that Miranda’s wedding has gotten?”
“Touché, Dad. You got me there.” He sighed. “I hope Miri doesn’t plan on getting married in the next year. I don’t think I could handle it.”
“Get used to the idea, Dad, because it’s bound to happen eventually.”
“I know. And I’m dreading it.”
---------------
The drive had been a long one with countless stops for the pregnant one to go to the bathroom, but finally Malachai and his family made it to the hotel they would all be staying in while they were there for the wedding. Miranda couldn't have been more relieved. She'd been cooped up in her father's vehicle with the triplets. Eli and B had decided to fly out with the rest of the family.
Checking into the hotel was a relief. They were all ready to get out of the car. Even Malachai- who had driven the entire way- was tired of listening to the bickering. The triplets had always been good at that, especially Kelsi and Shawn. They seemed to love to fight and tried regularly to drag Jennifer into it. It was very rare that the trips didn’t fight and Malachai had reached his breaking point. He looked at them as they waited to check in. “If you guys don’t have the common decency not to have this little spat in the lobby of the hotel, then those involved will be grounded until I get tired of looking at you once we get home”, he said. That effectively ended the entire conversation.
Once they’d checked in and got up to their rooms, everyone scattered for a few hours. The kids all settled into their rooms and chilled out for the night. Eli and B went down to the room where his parents were staying. “How was the trip?” Eli asked when they were let into the room and had greeted his parents.
“A hassle”, his father said. “Shawn and Kelsi wouldn’t stop arguing the entire for a better part of the trip. I thank my lucky stars that Jen is so much like you because if she wasn’t and had joined in that little verbal scuffle, I would have flipped my lid.”
“How bad was it?”
“Bad enough that about ten minutes into the first leg of the trip, Miranda put in her ear buds and put a movie or something on her iPad so that she didn’t have to listen to it. That on top of all of the bathroom breaks we had to make- which I didn’t mind making, I understand Miranda’s pregnant- and I’m ready to strangle the triplets. You’re mother’s the one that’s convinced me that would be a really bad idea.”
“I have to agree there, Dad”, Eli laughed. “Killing the trips would be bad.”
"I know, I know." He sighed. "How was your flight out?"
"Not bad", B said. "It was really nice of Jake to cover my ticket. It seems my parents have frozen my bank account."
Malachai's eyes went wide. "What?"
"Yeah", Eli said. "We went to buy our tickets and his card was declined. He called the bank to see why and his parents froze his account because of me. 'If you want to be with a less sophisticated life form that is totally up to you', they said. 'We refuse to pay for it.' After he hung up with them he put in a call to his grandparents. They said one way or another; the issue would be resolved by the time we got back to Colorado. They also sent Miranda and Callan a wedding gift as well as a baby gift. They arrived right before we all left to catch our flight."
"Are they at the house?"
"Yeah." Eli looked around the room. "Where is Miranda?"
"In her room, probably calling her future husband."
Eli and B laughed. "Not shocked. I'm sure they miss each other", B said.
"I know I'd miss you we were separated the way they've been the last few months", Eli said with a laugh.
"Case and point."
Malachai chuckled. "If you two say so. I've got phone calls to make for the rehearsal tomorrow. Hopefully Callan and his folks will be here soon. We're all supposed together for dinner tonight. His family will finally get to meet us rather than just go off of the impressions they had from what Miranda's told them and the media's impressions."
"What time so that we can be dressed?" Eli asked.
"I'll get back to you on that. It all depends on what I hear from Miranda and Cal."
"Ok let us know something. We're gonna go take a bath or something."
"A bath? Wine when do you take baths?"
"Since he's been with me. It's an intimacy thing."
"I know, Brandon. I have been married for 30 years. Eli's mother and I do the same thing."
---------------
Miranda was in her room on the phone like her father predicted. She was talking to Callan while he had a little free time on base. “The good news is that I’m off from now until you’re cleared to travel after the baby is born. My CO says that I deserve the short vacation”, Callan said with a laugh.
“So are you looking forward to one last night in the single’s barracks?” she asked with a laugh.
“What are you talking about?” he joked. “I’m staying with my family.”
“Ah. I see. Where is your family staying?”
“My folks are picking me up from the base here soon, so I’ll find out. Oh, speaking of parents, where does
your Dad want everyone to meet for dinner and when?”
"Hold on. Let me go ask what his plans are. I think he has reservations at some German restaurant out here that he enjoys. Your folks aren't opposed to German, are they?"
"No. My Dad's of the opinion that it's edible if it doesn't eat him first."
She laughed. "Your Dad cracks me up."
"Maybe he'll crack your Dad up as well. What are Gramma Brie and Grampa David up to tonight?"
"They're taking Matt and Connie to dinner, as is tradition every year for their birthday grandbabies."
"Ah. And because we chose Grampa's birthday to get married, they're moving tradition up a couple days."
"Yeah something like that", she said with a grunt as she gained her feet carefully. She was so ready to have the baby already. She felt like a blimp. She waddled into the main part of the suite when she was finally on her feet. “Daddy, I have Callan on the phone. He wants to know what the reservation time is.”
“I told the restaurant between 6 and 7:30 was when we would all arrive. Is that ok?” Malachai answered as he tinkered around with some things on his iPad.
Miranda relayed the message. “That should be good”, Callan said with a chuckle. “Tell him thanks from me and mine.” She did and went back to her room. “I can’t wait to see you, baby. I bet you’re so beautiful.”
She laughed. “That’s debatable. I think I’m a hippo.”
“No way in hell, Miranda. The last time I saw you, you were stunning. You amaze me every time I see you. I’m sure you’re just as beautiful now as you were when I took you home after New Year.”
She laughed. “If you say so, Cal. I’m not going to argue.”
He chuckled. “I don’t suggest it. I know that you’re usually right, but this is one of those moments in which I will not be swayed.”
“You’re so goofy. I look a hot mess right now. And the trips were trying to drive me crazy the entire drive out here. I wanted to fly, but being pregnant I couldn’t.”
“I’m sorry, baby. You’ll be able to fly soon enough though, love. And from there, we’ll take little Gracie to Japan and take tons of pictures so that we have something to show the family when we get to come home on leave again.”
“Gracie needs to get here first.”
“How far along are you?”
“Thirty- seven weeks. I could pop at any time.”
“Let’s just hope that it’s not until after the wedding in two days.”
“No kidding. Well, baby, I need to get ready soon. I’m going to try to do something with my hair and not look so damn fat so at dinner.”
“How many of your weird cravings have you given into the last few months?”
“All of them. I can’t help it. When I want fried pickles and mint chocolate chip ice cream, I want it them. Not the following day.”
“I know. And just think, you’re going to have me there the last month to send out to play fetch when you need your fried pickles.”
“I know. I can’t wait.”
---------------
“Ok you two”, David said with a deep breath in, “where are we going for dinner?”
“Is it the usual rule that we have to agree on the place?” Connie asked her grandfather. She was excited that she got to spend her birthday with her grandparents. She always loved going to dinner with Gramma Brie and Grampa David. This time around, her Abuelo was coming along too. She didn’t get to spend a lot of time with either set of grandparents so for all three of them to be going to dinner with her was a real treat.
“Yes Consuela. The usual rule applies”, her Gramma Brie said. “You and Matt must agree on where we go.”
Matt and Connie stepped aside and discussed the options. JJ couldn’t help but laugh. “Is this the way you do things every year?”
"Yep", Brie said. "We take her and Matt out every year on the 13th of March and Miri and Ezekiel out every year on the 22nd of June."
"Ok. I know that March 13 is David's birthday. But what is June 22?"
"My birthday."
"Ah. Now it makes sense. You take your birthday babies out every year for a special dinner. That's sweet."
"We started with Miri and Matt", David said. "It's become tradition. We still do it with Miri even though she's an adult now. It's the least we can do."
"Why is that?"
"Because from what we understand, Miri is seeing a nice young man who seems to have impressed Jake. That may be something more soon and it's doubtful that she'll want to hang out with Gramma and Grampa anymore. Plus, like we told you when we stayed with Marc, we don't know how much longer we have. We just want to enjoy the time we have left with all of them", Brie explained.
"That makes sense."
Connie and Matt turned around from their huddle. "We've made a decision", Matt said.
"Where?"
"We want Mexican."
"Sounds good", Brie said. "Any place in particular?"
"There's a really good place in Old Town that Dad takes us to when we're in town", Connie said. "It's really good."
David looked to JJ. "Are you familiar with the place, Juan?"
"Yeah. It's pretty good. I'll drag Marc , Mercedes, and the kids down here every few months so that Marc and I can do business."
"What business do you have in San Diego?" Brie asked.
"I'm usually scouting actors and Marc's checking out new equipment and software for editing. The most recent trip, we were both looking for actors- mainly to play the two of you as adults."
"Oh joy. Did you find a bald guy to play me?" David chuckled as he started ushering the two children out the door toward the elevator.
"Yeah. His name is Michael Davis. He's got you nailed, brother. And he can mimic your speaking voice near perfectly."
"What about the noise?"
"He's pretty good at that too. He can sing, he can do the noise. He's actually supposed to be studying your mannerisms when your on stage so that he can mimic that when we shoot certain concert scenes."
"Nice. I know can't wait to see it. It's going to be a bit surreal seeing someone playing me in a movie."
"I bet. It would be strange for me too. But, the entire family is cast up until you retired. Anything that's happened since your retirement will be mentioned in and after note. Marc really wants to put a portrait of the entire family in at the end, along with a photo slide show of his siblings' favorite memories."
"That will be good", Brie said. "Do you think he'll object to Mom and Dad helping out with that?"
"I'm sure that he'll welcome any input from the two of you. You are, after all, his parents. He respects your opinions more than anyone else's."
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