by Cee, DW
“We have a big order to finish and ship off by Monday. I don’t think I can move on Saturday or Sunday.”
“Seriously?” It was pissing me off that she wasn’t as excited about moving in together as I was.
I could hear the laughter in her voice. “My sweet fiancé. As much as I want to shack up with you, this order is huge and will bring us a good chunk of change. I’ll take us on the honeymoon of our dreams once this order is complete, and the rest of the money is deposited into our account.”
OK, so now, I wasn’t as upset. But, I needed Bee to understand, “The honeymoon has always been up to the men in our family. I will take care of it.”
“You Reids sound like you’re stuck in the June Cleaver era. Can’t I do something for us?”
“You bought us the house. I’m feeling insignificant again.” I really wasn’t but I wanted to hear how she would respond.
“I’m sure your fragile ego will recover. I must go make money so I can take care of my student-fiancé. Good-bye.”
There were giggles on the other line before she hung up on me.
Regardless of Bee’s availability, it wouldn’t hurt for at least one of us to go to Emily’s and see what was available.
“Nick.” I ran into Donovan, who was holding one of the twins. Which one—I had not a clue!
“Why are you headed to my brother’s?”
“This is the last feeding before the twins go down for the night. Henry is feeding right now, and Scott is antsy so I thought I’d take him to his Uncle Jake’s home as a diversion.”
Did infants actually understand a diversion when they saw one? Could they even see well enough to know that they had a change of scenery? Why the hell did I even care? “OK…!”
“Wait till you and Bee have kids. Your entire life will be about your kid—or in our cases, kids. Everything that comes in your path reminds you of your kids. Just today, I was having lunch with your sister and…”
“Why are you all out here?” Thank God my brother interrupted this conversation. Call me a cynic, but these babies didn’t interest me all that much. I loved my nephews and niece, and I’m sure I’ll end up loving Donovan and Laney’s kids just as much, but I had no desire to hear every last detail about them.
“I brought Scottie here to get his mind off the fact that his brother was having a king’s meal but he was starving like a pauper.”
Dear God, again! I rolled my eyes and walked in to greet Emily. “Hey Sis. Can I look through the basement?”
“Sure.” She came over and greeted me with a hug and kiss to my cheek. I always felt like a little boy around her. “How about some cake and coffee, first?”
“Coconut?”
“No.” She giggled. “I can’t stand the smell of coconut this time. It’s German chocolate.” She giggled louder this time.
“Doesn’t German chocolate also have coconut?” I didn’t want to be a contrarian in front of a pregnant woman. Pregnant-Laney didn’t take to my sarcasm too well.
Emily now laughed. “It does,” was all she chose to say.
After she laid all the food and drinks out, she offered to hold Scott and gave Donovan a break.
“Thanks, Emily. These critters are a lot more work than I ever imagined. Delaney says that all she does during day is feed, change diapers, and put the babies to sleep.”
“That sounds about right.”
There was a beep coming from Donovan’s pocket. “That signals time to swap kids. I’ll be right back.” He took back his son, and hurried home.
I saw and heard the laughter coming from my brother. “Go figure. Donovan Casanova Taylor, ultimate family man. If Kate could see him now.”
“I think it would break Kate’s heart if she saw how devoted he was to his wife and children. She was very much in love with him. Do you know where she is these days?”
“I believe she still works for AAP Europe, which goes under a different name that I can’t recall at the moment. She chose not to come back to LA. I don’t know if she still owns the beach house at the Montage. Maybe Donovan can tell us.”
Sure enough, Donovan came back with what looked like the same child in his arms.
“Hello, Henry. Come to your Auntie Emily.” Emily held out her arms again.
“Have you heard from Kate, lately?”
Donovan looked up from his bite of cake. “Um, no. Why would we contact one another?”
Jake shrugged his shoulders. “Just thought you might have heard what she’s up to—whether she was able to fix her broken heart after you threw it against the wall and smashed it into pieces.” Now my brother was snorting in between his laughs.
Donovan smacked Jake on the head. “Do not bring up the subject of Kate in front of my wife. That’s a sore topic for her. Delaney told me she didn’t want to hear about Kate for at least ten years.”
Once Jake brought himself under control, he asked, “You up to taking a family trip?”
Donovan stopped mid-bite and said, “You understand my wife just gave birth to twins? It’s heaven and hell simultaneously with these boys getting up every three hours and sucking up every minute of what should be our—mine and my wife’s—time. What would possess you to think I’d want to change locations and suffer?”
“Since school is starting soon and with Emi pregnant again, I thought I’d take the family to the Disney resort on O’ahu. Ellie is obsessed with Elsa and Anna from Frozen, and James and JR can’t get enough of Buzz Lightyear. The Aulani has a fantastic kids’ club that will take all three of my kids for a few hours a day. What do you say? You want to go away for five days? We can rent a three-bedroom villa to share between our two families, or we can each rent our own villas.”
“You’ll help us with our kids if we share a villa with you?”
“Of course,” Emily answered while patting Henry’s back. Like magic, he burped and then yawned as if he was taking a 100-year nap. “You’re ready to go nigh-nigh?” Emily now cradled him and rocked him gently. “I think he’ll be down within the minute.” She whispered to the baby’s father.
Donovan grinned as if he’d won the lotto. He was one happy dude. “Are you paying for the villa?” The grin never left.
My brother returned the humor and responded with, “Only if you can convince Roland to lend us his plane. Imagine the nightmare of transporting five kids through LAX. Trust me, every time we do it with the kids, it ain’t fun!”
“Deal.” Donovan agreed, and carefully held out his arm while Emily transported the twin. “Let me talk to the wife and I’ll text you.”
“Fantastic! I’ll tell Ellie she’ll be singing with Elsa and Anna really soon.”
Donovan nodded his head in agreement and turned to leave until he saw me. “If I were to do it all over again, I’d skip the fancy wedding at home and do a simple ceremony on the beach. How much easier can it get?”
True…how much easier can it get than a beach wedding?
Hmmm…
August 18, 2014 BEE: An Agreeable Kinda Love
“Another vacation?” I was horrified at the thought of leaving the warehouse again.
“I thought you said as soon as you were done with the shipment we could party.”
“No…I said I would take you on a dream honeymoon, not a vacation when we just got back from New York, London, Florence, and Las Vegas. Some of us have to work in order to support my soon-to-be student-husband.”
“Come on, Bee. Donovan borrowed Grandfather’s plane. All we have to do is book a room.”
I was at a loss for words. In my perfect world, would I want to be at the Disney resort in O’ahu?—NO! I loved the Reids but I didn’t want to vacation with them at a kiddie resort. “There’s nothing for us to do there and tons for me to do here.”
“We don’t have to stay with my family at Aulani. We can sleep anywhere. I’d like to go.” OK…that was a bit abrupt. What to say…
After a long pause, all I could
ask was, “Why?”
“Why what?” Was he kidding me?
“Why do you want to go to Hawaii?” I asked again.
“Do you really need an answer for that? Isn’t that a rhetorical question?”
I was getting nowhere with Nick today so I changed topics. “Did you find some furniture at Emily’s the other night?”
“No. I didn’t even look.” Now he was pissed and surly. Lord help me if this was his behavior any time he didn’t get his way. “Hawaii?”
“Let’s go look at furniture, and after I’ve had some sustenance, we can talk, again.”
Nick’s mood only improved slightly when we started perusing furniture. It wasn’t so much that his mood had improved, he just forgot to be pissed. What the hell was up his ass today?
“Hello Auntie.” Laney walked in with two wonderful distractions for us. “Have a baby.” She jutted her arm into my ribs and forced me to hold her son.
“Which one is this?” I asked to annoy Laney.
“The grandnephew you are holding is Scott. Can’t you tell by his coloring that he takes after the Taylor side of the family?”
At age thirty, no woman should be called a grandaunt! “I see no difference between the boys, but I’ll take your word for it.”
“What brings you by?” Laney plopped Henry into Nick’s arms and helped herself to the German chocolate cake sitting on the kitchen counter. “I need the calories.” She mumbled, shoving a ginormous piece into her mouth.
“Now that I look at you, you’ve lost a lot of weight.”
“Between two plus weeks of nursing twins, staying up all hours of the night, and walking up and down the stairs to pacify these two, I believe I’m only fifteen pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. At the rate I’m going, I’ll be thinner than ever.”
Laney looked good—not that there was ever a time when she didn’t look good.
“Where are Emily and the kids?”
“Emily’s upstairs putting everyone down.” Laney answered. “Jake is working late, and Donovan went into the office to put out a fire. I was all alone with the boys, so I thought I’d walk here and hang with Emily.”
“How did you get both boys in your arms?” Nick asked while staring at Henry.
“Don’t ask,” she answered after downing her milk and pouring another glass. “It took me two straight weeks to figure that one out. Did you both receive your AAP LA checks?”
“We did.” Nick and I nodded with a large grin. There was definitely more money in those checks than he or I ever imagined.
“Hubby says to save up your money. AAP NYC real estate is happening before the end of 2014. That one is going to be huge. Excuse me,” she stopped our conversation to answer her phone. “Hi Donovan!” The excitement was contagious. I couldn’t help smiling with her. “I’m at Emily’s … You’re home already? … I’ll be right there.” She looked to us and explained, “Hubby’s back. Walk with me and say hello. Donovan can fill you in on the details of AAP NYC.”
Nick and I figured why not? Considering the bonus we received thanks to his ingenious plan of creating a real estate company, we wanted to invest with Donovan every time.
Donovan was waiting for his wife and children out in the driveway, and standing next to him was a big surprise.
“Beatrrrice!”
“Luke.” I walked into his outstretched arms to give him a hug. I knew Nick would give me hell for this later, but what was a girl to do when a beautiful Spanish man wanted a hug?
“How have you been, Beatrice?”
“I am well. How are you? My nephew still overworking you?”
“That damn nephew of yours is killing my social life. I don’t think I’ve been on a date since you broke my heart.” Luke’s smile told me he was kidding, I think?
“Give the poor man a break, Nephew.”
Donovan answered, “Can’t. Lots of money to be made in real estate,” and went right back to cooing to his boys.
Only when we wrapped up the jovial reunion did Nick and Luke tersely greet one another. Nick’s scowl bothered Luke none at all. He put his arm around me in a greeting-a-long-lost-cousin sort of way and led me into the house.
“Tell me the damn rumor isn’t true, Beatrice,” Luke implored in a jesting sort of way.
“What rumor?” I had no clue what he was saying.
“Your nephew tells me you’re engaged.” That mischievous tone continued. “I told him I would kick his ass if he was saying this to purposely hurt me. I know you wouldn’t throw yourself into marriage with some random guy who happened to be related-by-marriage to your nephew. I mean, it’s practically incest what you and that manly man over there,” he nodded his head to my fiancé, “are doing.”
Between Luke’s comedic monologue, Nick’s growing glower, and the ticklish whispering in my ear, I was uncharacteristically giggling. That only made Nick even more upset. As much fun as I was having, it was time to relieve my fiancé’s anxiety.
“My nephew was not lying when he told you that I was happily engaged to a wonderful man. I wish you the same kind of joy that I have found with Nick.”
Luke smiled without much enthusiasm, and pulled me in for what was to be one last hug. Kissing me on the cheek, he whispered, “Be happy, Beatrice.”
He let me go after those three sad words.
Nick and I went back to Emily’s, and after sorting through furniture, I went home with an angry man.
“He was only kidding, Nicholas.”
“I don’t give a damn what his intentions are! I don’t want to see you in the arms of another man.”
“All right. So noted, so appreciated, and so agreed!”
“That’s it? You’re agreeing that easily?”
“Yep.”
“Hawaii?” He pushed again.
“Let me see what I can work out with the warehouse. Give me the particulars, and I’ll see what I can do.”
I guess we were on our way toward a relaxing and uneventful vacation to Hawaii.
August 21, 2014 NICK: A (Deranged) Surprising Kinda Love
Damn! Where was the Wedding Planning for Dummies book when I needed it? What the hell had I gotten myself into when I decided to follow Donovan’s on-a-whim statement about having a simple wedding in Hawaii? Simple, my ass! This was more complicated than what he pulled off for his own wedding.
There were so many to-do’s on my list, I didn’t have a notepad long enough. First and foremost, I clued in my family on my deranged idea of surprising my bride with a wedding in Hawaii. Every single one of them laughed at me when I unveiled the plan. Not only did they laugh with tears in their eyes, they suggested I tell Bee of my “surprise” and plan together. This was what each family member said.
“Why the hell would you torture yourself like this?” – Donovan Taylor
“Are you sure, Bro?” – Jake Reid
“Oh Nick. That’s going to be real hard to pull off.” – Emily Reid
“You’ve never been the romantic type. Why start now?” – Laney Taylor
Laughter, laughter, and more hysterical laughter – Jane Davis
“We will help you any way we can.” – Max Davis with a somewhat disguised laughter
“I guess we’re off to Hawaii, Son! What can we do?” – Sandy Reid
“Wedding time!” – Barbara Reid
As the comments continued, the grown-ups were more encouraging.
Next, I needed to talk to Missy and see about finishing up a wedding dress and gathering a list of Bee’s friends who’d be able to attend the wedding on such short notice.
“Seriously? You’re putting together a wedding without Bee’s knowledge? You are too damn cool, Nick Reid. I’ll email you a list of friends, and we can definitely finish the wedding dress before the week is done. Don’t worry about a thing.” – Missy Chang
A few changes happened because of the wedding. Rather than O’ahu, we were all headed to the Big Island, a
nd back to the resort we all couldn’t get enough of last year. As a wedding present to us, Grandfather and Gram bought out a section of the resort to house everyone for five days. It was a wonder the resort was able to accommodate so many of us and at such last minute. I don’t know what Gram did, but the entire portion of the resort that faces the beach was ours. It was times like these where having rich grandparents was a blessing.
After my conversation with Missy, I drove to Scott and Jamie’s house, but couldn’t find them there. What an idiot I was expecting them anywhere other than at Laney’s house. When I pulled into the cul-de-sac, I saw their car parked out front. They excitedly explained that Donovan had taken Laney out to dinner, amidst lots of protest from my cousin.