Heaven’s Gate
46 Babies and Mothers
“Josh, do you accept Cassie as your spouse according to the laws of Indiana?” Rose asked as we gathered in front of the fireplace. It was too wet and cold to hold the wedding at a bonfire and this was a family affair. Josh’s dad, Don Whitaker, stood behind him. Next to him was Mary’s brother, William. John and Bea Clinton stood behind Cassie. In a slight reversal, I stood next to Cassie and Mary stood next to Josh. Our casa was ranged around the family room.
“I do,” Josh said.
“Cassie, do you accept Josh as your spouse according to the laws of Indiana?”
“I do.”
“Brian, as cónyuge to Mary and Cassie, do you consent to the union of Cassie and Josh and commit yourself to support it?”
“I do.”
“Mary, as cónyuge to Josh, Cassie, and Brian, do you consent to the union of Cassie and Josh and commit yourself to support it?”
“I do.”
“Then I now pronounce Josh and Cassie to be husband and wife. You may kiss your spouse,” Rose giggled. Cassie and Josh kissed each other as the rest of our family clapped. Then Josh turned to Mary and Cassie turned to me with kisses every bit as hot.
“That is a kiss with promise, Brian,” Cassie whispered. “Just in case you couldn’t identify it.”
“What are you promising, love?” I asked.
“To kiss you with intent soon.”
“You know what’s strange?” I said softly as I made bread at Casa del Agua. This ritual of waking up in the morning early and talking to Hannah while I made bread was so deeply ingrained that it didn’t make any difference what house I was in. Two days ago, I’d woken up to make bread at the Clinton/Whitaker house. Last week, I made bread when Dani and I stayed at the Wood house. And, of course, each day I woke up in the big house, I baked bread. It didn’t make a difference. I was thinking maybe I’d just become a baker when I finally grew up. “I’m part of three different households. Josh, Cassie, and Mary have pretty much established a household, but they don’t want to separate from Casa del Fuego. I guess it’s sort of a practical thing. Where would we put three more kids in the big house? And it’s not like the three of them spend every night at their new place. They are with us in the big bedroom half the week anyway.” I punched the bread down and poured a cup of coffee. Then I turned around and gave Matthew his hot chocolate. He sat quietly at the counter listening to ‘Papa talk’.
“I have four wonderful children with three on the way,” I said. “Four on the way if Rhiannon is right and she’s already caught. Of those eight, only three will have my last name. Of course, we won’t know for sure who fathered the Whitaker kids. But there’s a good chance that at least one of them got a start with me. The Swift children will all have Doug as Daddy. He’s got a houseful now. One or two more will be about as many as this house will hold. It’s a relief in a way. Can you imagine what the tabloids would say about eight kids with five mothers running around with the last name of Frost? They’d get hold of that story, for sure.”
“Papa? Can I be Frost and Swift, too?” Matthew asked. My son was almost six years old and didn’t miss much.
“Of course you can,” I said. “In fact, you are. Mommy and Daddy’s name is Swift, so that’s your name, too. Papa’s name is Frost, so you can have that name if you want it. You get to decide that when you are grown up.”
“You are Papa to all us kids,” Matt said. “Can everybody choose?”
“Well, I guess so. Aunt Elaine and Mama Dani and Mama Liz chose to become Frost. Who else would want to?”
“Ellie says you are her Papa. So does Leslie. Even Henry calls you Papa.” It was true. All the kids on the ranch called me Papa. I guess that was better than having them all call me Patrón. Even Lionel’s kids called me Papa when they were on the ranch.
“There are lots of names out there. We can all choose to be who we want to be. But you know what is more important?” I asked. Matthew shook his head. “It is more important to be who we are.”
It’s a wasted effort to try to be lowkey on big holidays like Thanksgiving. Families want to be together. A few people wanted to go to their parents’ homes for big Thanksgiving dinners. Some of those were facilitated by proximity. It seemed that if there was a family with a home in the village, the family would not come to the big house for Thanksgiving, but the hearthmate or several would go to the family home after our big meal to have another one. So, we had a big meal with our casa and a few parents before the Whitakers went to the Clintons’ for another Thanksgiving meal. Hannah and Samantha went to the Cortaleses’ home. Dani took Xan to the Wood house and I promised to stop in later. I needed to go to all three houses.
Liz and Nikki weren’t with us at the big house. They went up north because all Liz’s brothers and sisters were gathering to celebrate her parents’ fortieth anniversary. Of course, she took Céleste with her. They were not going to ride motorcycles. Liz was nine months pregnant and I threatened her with unending punishment if I had to come to Mishawaka for our child’s birth. Nikki had a brand new Toyota Camry. Between her new house and her new car, I had a feeling Nikki was living on slightly more than she was earning, but with her salary from Hearthstone, her royalties, and her family money, I figured she was okay.
My folks and Anna went out to Seattle for Thanksgiving so they could come to our place for Christmas. I’ve heard there’s some kind of rule about alternating holidays with your own family and that of your spouse. Mom and Dad didn’t seem to mind at all being the ones who did the traveling, alternating holidays in one way or another. Dad didn’t take any vacation time over the summer and saved it all for the holidays. I really wished he could take more time off work, but even with three of them having an income, it wasn’t like my parents were wealthy.
After our Thanksgiving dinner at the big house, Jennifer and Courtney went to Kokomo to have another dinner with Courtney’s parents. I needed to head to the Cortaleses’ home for the first of my after-dinner dinners so Hannah could move to her sister’s house where her parents would be.
Logistics. We needed a staff just to keep track of our schedules and tell us where to go next.
“When are we seeing more grandbabies in this family?” Bart asked at the Woods’ dinner table. George blushed. He was completely pussy-whipped by Debbie and Dolly. I was pretty sure there would be another baby any time one of them decided. As for Dani and me… She looked at me and smiled.
“Pap! George has to get through his PhD. We need him set up so he can start psychoanalyzing our family before we start popping out babies,” Debbie said. “Besides, we’ve got the café here and it’s popular enough that we’re scouting a location in Columbus. We might have two cafés operating by this time next year.”
“That all depends on whether we can find good management. I’m nervous about taking local talent or even a fresh college grad. People don’t understand what it takes to run a restaurant,” Dolly added. “Which means that for now, it’s all up to Danielle.” Bart looked at us.
“It will happen when it happens, just like Xan did,” Dani smiled. She looked a little wistful.
“Dani, honey, do you want another child?” I asked as I was preparing to leave and head to the Clintons’. She giggled at me.
“Do I not show you enough how willing I am?” she asked.
“My love, you show me how much you love Xan and you love me so much… If you want another baby, then go off birth control and let’s get one started,” I said. We had a place and we had money. I had a career that was turning out lucrative. We all loved the children. Why not?
“Brian, I’m not on birth control. I’ve never been on birth control of any kind,” she said. “That’s how we got Xan. Remember?”
“But… Dani, we make love… I mean… a lot. I’ve never used protection with you. Honey, should we see a doctor?” I asked. She shook her head.
“My love, it will happen if it happens. If not, we have Xan. What more do we need?” she said.
“I love you, Danielle. Do you want to come with me to see the pregnant girls?”
“Tomorrow night, darling. I’ll see you in the master suite. Bring someone else along if you’d like. I love the company.”
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