I woke up on Sunday morning to the wonderful sound of my two-week-old daughter shrieking. I refused to open my eyes and poked Ty in the ribs, but he didn't move. The guy was pretending to sleep! I knew there was no way he didn't hear her. Liana had vocal cords strong enough to shatter glass. I nudged him again, harder this time, but he still pretended to be asleep.
"That's how you want to play this? Fine! But don't think I won't remember this," I stated.
With a sigh, I rolled out of bed and stumbled out of the room, nearly tripping over my packed luggage. I crossed paths with Mom in the hallway, holding baby Dylan. I smiled, looked around to make sure Lily wasn't there, and kissed Mom on the lips. I then gave my baby brother/stepson a little kiss on his bald head.
"I didn't hear a peep out of him all night," I said with a touch of envy.
"Yeah, he's such a good baby," Mom replied, smiling down at him.
"Must be nice," I muttered.
Mom laughed. "I just got lucky, Sky. That's all. And besides, that little screamer takes after you, so you only have yourself to blame."
"I was that bad?"
"Oh, honey. Wait till the terrible twos, because you and Ty... were absolute monsters."
I groaned and Mom patted my shoulder. She walked away as I went into my daughter's room.
Later in the morning, my other siblings began to arrive. Billy and Millie arrived together, Billy must have picked her up because Millie's car was in the shop for some minor repairs. Andy arrived soon after.
I didn't know if Ross would come on our trip. After Mom and I told him we were pregnant, he didn't talk to us. He came to the hospital to meet Dylan the day after he was born, and only for a few minutes, but he didn't bother to meet Liana. It insulted me, of course, but I wasn't surprised. I had a feeling Ross would only distance himself more and more from us. He never brought his kids around anymore, and we hadn't seen Vanessa either.
I thought that was strange, and Mom was starting to suspect they weren't together anymore. We lived in a small town, and Mom often ran into Vanessa in town. But she hadn't seen her in a few months now. Instead, she'd see Ross, struggling to wrangle his two energetic kids into a shopping cart, or reprimanding them for running off to the candy aisle at the supermarket. Mom believed Ross and Vanessa had quietly separated and that Vanessa had moved back to the city where she was born, where her parents still lived.
Ross showed up half an hour before we were set to leave for the airport. The entire family gathered at the window and watched as Ross' children jumped out from the back seat of his car. Vanessa wasn't with them.
We ran from the window before Ross could see us spying and hurried to find spots on the couch and nearby seats. Mom placed Dylan in Ty's arms before heading to the door to greet Ross and the kids.
The front door swung open, and two blonde haired kids bolted into the house and right into my mother's loving arms. She hugged them tightly, and I saw her tear up but wipe her eyes. I knew she missed them.
"Oh, my babies! I've missed you!" She planted kisses on their foreheads and hugged them again. She then shared what looked like an awkward hug with Ross, before taking the children's hands and leading them into the living room. She sat beside me on the couch and lifted both children onto her lap.
"Babies!" Ethan squealed in his adorable two and half year old voice.
"That's right. This is your uncle Dylan, and your cousin Liana," Mom introduced.
"Cute babies," Ethan giggled.
"Right, Congrats Sky. I've been meaning to come around," Ross said. But I could tell he was only saying this to avoid Lily getting suspicious there was something going on.
"Thanks," I replied simply. I looked down at Liana who was sleeping my arms and frowned. I wished Ross could accept our family. Ty reached his free hand over and held mine to comfort me.
"So I need to know everything that is going on with you. Are you excited about starting first grade?" Mom asked, tickling Victoria's stomach, making her squirm and laugh. Victoria was five, but she would be six in May and would start first grade in the fall.
"SO EXCITED!" Victoria exclaimed.
"Use your inside voice please," Ross told her.
"Right, sorry."
"Where's Vanessa?" Lily asked.
"Oh um, she's visiting her parents," Ross replied.
"But left her kids? Wouldn't Vanessa's parents want to see them?"
"Our grandparents never even wanted to meet us," I muttered. No one heard me.
It was true. They had never asked to meet us, never even wanted a picture of us. If Lily hadn't written to them, we wouldn't be on our way to meet them. I didn't understand why they had agreed to meet Lily. If they were against Mom and Dad having children, going as far as to wish death upon a newborn baby before he was even born, why did they want to meet Lily now? Lily was almost fourteen, and she was the youngest of Dad's kids. Ross was 33 now! They waited 33 years to decide they wanted to meet one of us?
And did I want to travel across the country with a two-week-old baby? No! I was exhausted and still adjusting to motherhood. And Mom wasn't young anymore. She didn't have the energy to take care of a baby like she did when she raised the first seven of us. To add travelling to meet her estranged parents, who hate her to the plate, was a lot to ask.
But Ty and I felt it was important for Mom to finally stand up to them. So we pushed her to go. And I was worried that if we waited until the babies were a few months older, my grandparents would change their minds about meeting Lily. Especially if they got suspicious that Lily wasn't the only one making the trip.
"Mommy's been gone a really long time," Victoria announced, snapping me out of my thoughts. "But I talk to her on the phone."
I thought it was odd that Vanessa didn't take her children with her to visit her parents, and found it even more strange that Ross wouldn't push her to take them just to keep them away from us. And judging by the look Mom gave me, I could tell she was thinking the same thing.
We made it to the airport early, but things went downhill from there. Ethan was in a foul mood, throwing tantrums left and right. And Victoria wouldn't stop running around. Everyone was staring at our family. Ross grabbed Ethan by the arm and warned him to stop, but it had no effect. So, he picked him up, which made the tantrum worse.
And this might sound like kids being kids. But Ross' children, while they had their moments like any other child, were well-behaved. Victoria was usually polite and quiet, and Ethan was normally a happy toddler who didn't get upset by much. But today, they were playing up at every turn.
"This is about their mother being gone," Mom whispered to Ty and I.
"What do you mean?" Ty asked.
"Vanessa probably left quite suddenly and Victoria made it sound like she's been gone a while. The children are probably confused and don't know how to cope or communicate it, so they're acting out."
"Do you really think Vanessa left them?" I asked.
"Yes, I do," Mom replied.
I glanced at the children. Maybe Mom had a point. I looked down at my watch, there was still an hour before we had to board our plane.
"Ross, why don't I take the children off our hands for a while, get them something to eat?" I offered.
"Uh..." Ross glanced at Victoria who was running around in circle on all fours barking like a dog. "Yeah, that would be great, Sky. Thanks."
Ross handed Ethan to me and I rubbed his back as he continued to cry. I held out my free hand and called my niece's name. She looked up at me, barked once, then decided she was human again and ran over to take my hand.
Just before we boarded, Victoria threw a fit because she didn't want to sit with her father and brother, she wanted to sit with me. Finally, Ross looked at me with this defeated expression and I agreed she could sit with me. And Mom took Ethan off Ross' hands to allow him some peace.
Ty was supposed to sit with me and our daughter. Instead, he sat next to Mom and held both of his children while Mom had Ethan on her lap. And Lily, who was supposed to sit with Mom, sat with Ross instead. Everyone else kept their original seating arrangements.
During the 6-hour flight, I saw Ty across the aisle struggling to keep our daughter happy and quiet while his son occasionally cried. And Ethan fell asleep on my mother's lap fairly early into the flight. Victoria talked my ear off, but I didn't mind. I always found children's chatter amusing. After an hour or so, she snuggled up to me and listened to music on her MP3 player.
We arrived in California from North Carolina and settled into our hotel rooms for the rest of the day. Mom, Ty, Andy and I had booked a shared room with two beds so we could enjoy our sexual activities, but Mom was a wreck with nerves. So we ended up having a family game night with the board games we had packed instead.
The next morning, my grandparents were supposed to pick Lily and me up from the hotel. Lily had told our grandparents that she would come, but that our mother wouldn't let her go without an adult, so I would go with her. They were fine with it as long as Mom wasn't coming. Boy, would they be mad when they saw the whole family.
We gathered outside the hotel and waited. A black car pulled up in front of the hotel, and when I saw my mother's face fall, I knew the people getting out of the car were my grandparents. They were older folk now, grey hair and wrinkles. You're average looking grandparents. They took one look at us.
