Everyone's night went fine. Callan's family and Miranda's family got along beautifully. They all laughed and talked over dinner as though they had been doing it their entire lives. Everyone was excited for the baby to born. "Grace will be our first granddaughter", Anessa- Callan's mother- said.
"Gracie will be our first grandchild", Amanda said. "Miranda is our oldest and the first to get married."
"I wish that was all true with Cal", Elliot- Callan's father- added. "He's the oldest, but not the first to marry. The Corps has been more important. We're proud of him though."
"We know the feeling", Malachai replied. "All three of our oldest focused on school and career rather than falling in love. The exact opposite of what we did."
One of Callan's sisters had been trying to discreetly stare at Eli. He noticed. "Not to sound like an ass, but what are you staring at?"
She blushed. "I'm sorry. I'm a huge admirer of your work. I've seen a few of your more provocative pieces like the one you called Mankind's Opiate. It was such a strong and political piece. I actually bid on it in an online auction. Unfortunately, it got a little out of my price range."
Eli nodded. “That was one of my favorite pieces. I love it. How much did it end up selling for?”
“Oh, goodness. It had to be a couple hundred thousand dollars. So huge art patron landed that for a private collection.”
“Makes sense. It was a popular piece when I showed it. That one and ‘Darkness’.”
“Yeah. I’d heard. Whatever happened to that one? Rumor has it that you never sold it.”
“The rumor mill is correct. I never did sell it. I gifted it to my grandparents.”
“That was sweet. Is there any way I could commission a piece from you?”
“Depends on what you want, how soon you want it, and how much you’d be willing to pay. I don’t work for free, unfortunately.”
“No, I understand that. I’ll get back to you on that. This is hardly the appropriate place to be talking about such business.”
“Very true. At a later time.”
Miranda laughed. “Wow. We’re here to get to know everyone and Eli gets a proposal for a commission. This is going better than I thought it would.”
“I told you everyone would get along”, Callan whispered in her ear. “This is just proof. Our parents are talking about us when we were all kids. Isaiah is chatting with my twin, Eli and my younger sister were just discussing his work, the triplets and my younger siblings seem to all be getting along. I mean, Jenni seems to have made a connection of some sort with my sister Shania. It’s a beautiful thing, baby.” He kissed her temple. “And everyone is excited to get to meet Gracie. Hell, I’m excited to finally meet Gracie.”
“Me too. I’m done with this being pregnant thing, Callan. I can’t do this much longer.”
“I know sweetheart. At least for the last few weeks of your pregnancy, you’ll have me there.”
“I know. I can’t believe that it’s finally here. We’re going to be married in two days. We’re going to have a hell of a wedding and a reception. Then we’re going to have a baby.”
“Exactly. Your family, my family- we’re all going to party like there’s no tomorrow only to get up the next morning, pack our things and go home to your parents’ house until you’re cleared for travel then it’s off to Japan.”
She smiled. “Yeah. I can’t wait.”
---------------
Once they were settled into their room for the night, Brie sighed. “Two more days, David, and you’ll be 85. Can you believe it?”
“Not really”, he responded. “I never thought I’d see 85. I was always sure I’d be gone by my 80’s”, he chuckled briefly. “What about you? Did you ever think you’d live to see 82?”
“I never really thought about it honestly. You know me; I’m a live for the day kind of person. I started being that way after I was declared dead.” She laughed quietly. “I wasn’t quite paying attention to your conversation with Jake earlier. Were you two talking about what I think you were talking about?”
“When did you come into the conversation?”
“Talking about Jessi’s wedding.”
“Ah. Jake was telling me that he’s scared to let go and let Miri get married.”
“Ah- ha. And you told him that he really had no choice in the matter.”
“Pretty much.”
“Oh I’m sure he’ll get over it. He might be slightly obsessive and anal retentive, but I don’t think he’s the one that’s going to have problems letting his girls go. I see it being James.”
“Why?”
“No particular reason. I just think he’s going to have to most trouble letting his little red heads go.”
He chuckled. “Probably. He’s over protective of them as it is; worse than Jake ever was with Miriam.”
“You see my point?”
“Yeah.” He sucked in a deep breath. “Connie was a handful tonight, wasn’t she?”
“When isn’t she?”
“Touché, but she seemed more amped than usual.”
“How often does she get to eat a meal with both of her grandfathers?”
“Granted. I see your point. I’m glad that JJ was there though. He kept her in check. I was too exhausted. I’ve been really tired all day, you know?”
“I know. Neither of us is sleeping well no matter how tired we seem to be. Speaking of, we have to be up relatively early in the morning so that I can start getting pampered for the rehearsal dinner tomorrow night. You have it easy. All you have to do is put on a suit and you’re ready. I have hair, nails, makeup. Then I can get dressed.”
“I’m sorry”, he chuckled.
“No you’re not. I know you better than that, David”, she giggled. “At least you don’t have to wrestle with a tie.”
“Thankfully. Buttoning my shirt is going to be a bitch enough. Fighting with a tie, considering how much I hate them, would be a nightmare. I’m glad that Miranda understands.”
“Me too. Now, my love, why don’t we get a little bit of shut eye? We have a huge day ahead of us as a family and they’ll be looking to us to keep everyone’s head in the game.”
“I know. Good night my angel. Sweet dreams.” He kissed her temple.
She smiled. “Good night my heart. Same to you.”
“How could they not be when they star you?”
---------------
“My big sister is getting married in two days”, Eli said, his voice sounding of shock. He was getting ready for bed when the revelation hit him.
“Yes baby, your big sister is going to be married in two days. Is this just dawning on you?” B asked.
“No. I think it’s just sinking in. I know we’ve had her entire pregnancy to get used to it, but it just hasn’t sunk in until just now.”
B nodded. “I understand, I supposed. My sister’s wedding was the same way for me, but then again I couldn’t wait to get rid of her. She was an evil bitch.”
“I know”, Eli said as he walked back into the room from the bathroom. “I’ve had the displeasure of meeting your sister and her in laws. Can’t stand any of them, from her husband up to her monster in law.”
“I don’t like them either. I’ve had to learn to be tolerant of them though. Makes holidays a little easier that way.”
“I will never learn to tolerate stupidity. ‘Attention to all whom I have not offended’,” he laughed as he climbed between the sheets, “‘Please be patient. I’ll get to you shortly’.”
B kissed his man. “Oh baby, I will never stop loving that joke.”
“I’m glad. I tell it about your family though. I think the only people I can’t seem to offend are your grandparents. They just flat out love me too much.”
“That’s right. They adore you. No one else matters.”
Eli settled into the bed and curled against the back of B’s body. He always downed himself for the way he looked, but Eli knew what was really going in. B had a boxer’s body and it was so sexy. Eli was tall and lanky like his Dad. His metabolism didn’t allow him to put on a lot of weight. B was self-conscious; unnecessarily so. Eli would spend the rest of their lives trying to convince him that he wasn’t chubby if that’s what it took. He buried his nose behind B’s ear and took a deep sniff of the man he loved. “Good night, babe. I’ll see you on the other side of the sunrise.” He lips brushed against the delicate skin behind B’s ear.
B shuddered lightly. “Good night, hon. I see you in the morning. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
---------------
Callan spent another night without the woman he loved. In the hotel room he was sleeping in was dark and lonely. He was used to the dark because of the single’s barracks on base. It was always dark at night. It was the lonely part that he was having trouble dealing with. His future wife was in the exact same building yet he couldn’t be with her until their wedding night. They were about to be parents and they still couldn’t see each other. It made no sense but it was it future father in law’s request.
Still, he needed to hear her voice at least. He grabbed his phone and called her. “Hey sweetie”, he said when she answered the phone. “Are you ok? I’m worried about you?”
“I’m fine Callan”, she said with a soft laugh. “I’m tired and Grace is active as hell but I’m going to be fine. My Mom gave me some ideas on how to sleep while Grace is moving around so much.”
“Your Mom would know, huh?”
“Yeah, considering that Gramma is the one who taught her the tricks.” She yawned. “What has you calling this time of night?”
“I needed to hear your voice again. I don’t know why, but I’m suddenly really lonely.”
“Could it be because you’re used to having people around you in the barracks and tonight you’re sleeping alone?”
“Probably.”
“What can I do to help you sleep, babe?”
“Just talk to me until you start falling asleep. Keep me company.”
She laughed again. “Ok. What do you want to talk about?”
He picked a subject and they started talking. They floated from the rehearsal the next night, to the wedding itself, to Grace’s impending arrival. “I really hope you make it into April. Two more weeks and I’ll be happy.”
“I’m so tired of being pregnant, Cal. You have no idea. Like, I’ve been carrying this little girl around for almost nine months. It’s seriously time to put an end to it.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m tired of having this baby inside me. I’m ready to finally meet her and hold her in my arms. I’m ready for my grandparents to finally meet her. It’s time for this craziness to end.”
“Can you wait a week?”
“As long as I don’t go into labor tomorrow I’ll be happy. If I have the baby tomorrow or the day after we can kiss the wedding bye- bye.”
“No. No, no, no. We’ve all put too much into this wedding to have it go down the tubes now.”
“Precisely. I don’t think we’re going to have any trouble, but just in case we should pray and keep our fingers crossed.” She yawned. “Baby, I’m not much longer for the waking world. The land of Morpheus calls my name.”
“Ok honey. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Of course you will. Tomorrow is the rehearsal. Is your uniform ready for the day after tomorrow?”
“I’ll deal with that tomorrow, honey. I’m not in a big hurry to deal with it tonight.”
“Ok. Well, I’ve got to close my eyes now. Good night. I love you.”
He smiled to himself. “Good night. I love you too.”
After they hung up he stared at the ceiling and smiled. Soon, she would be his wife and they would have a beautiful little girl. He’d completely dismissed the fact that the baby wasn’t biologically his. Grace was his little girl. She would carry his last name and that’s what he cared about. As he settled into his hotel bed for the night he thought about something that had always been drilled into his head by his father and grandfather, Any man can father a child. Only someone truly special could earn the title of “Dad”.
