Thicker Than Ink

Nine

I had promised myself that I wouldn't cry telling anyone the news... But the minute I got out of the truck and Grammy came into view... Tears had started swimming in my eyes... And when she had walked off the porch in order to meet me halfway I can't help but tumble into her surprised arms sniffling and trying not to let her see just how many tears are actually making their way down my face... Silas sauntering up behind us and letting his presence soothe me enough to collect my thoughts and pull away from Grammy with the biggest smile on my face... 

A smile that takes her a second to mirror, her eyebrows raising as I pull in one corner of my bottom lip to chew on it just a bit before nodding my head just in the slightest... Grammy's smile growing wider as she pulls me back in for a hug that is so tight at the shoulders that I almost get a little lightheaded, the sniffles no longer coming from me, but from Grammy... Her tight hold on me softening the moment I feel the need to squeak, a tight apology leaving her lips before she pulls away from me, her eyes darting to a squinting Silas as they both try to decide how to react to each other... Grammy maybe trying to figure out how he's going to react at her squeezing me a bit too tight on accident... Something that he thankfully decides to let go despite his newfound heightened sense of overprotectiveness... Though he does move closer to me, Grammy backing up to give us some breathing room. 

...

Silas

...

"Congratulations, both of you... Now come on! You shouldn't be on your feet. Right inside and I'll scare you up something to drink! Then we can talk!" The cheer in Agatha's voice nearly catches me off guard, the way her smile stays when she looks at me nearly making me question whether or not this is really Agatha... Or an Agatha shaped alien who has come and taken her place but hasn't figured out her penchant to be the only sour element to her whiskey sours or that I'm not very high up on her favorites list... 

But it seems genuine...And even though she doesn't reach for my hand the way she reaches for Adrian's in order to escort us into our home clearly much too comfortable for my likings, but not enough for me to pitch a fit when the three of us are currently on good terms and she seems actually agreeable for once... She doesn't pull the smile from her face when she looks at me... She keeps her eyes warm and open and for once she keeps from making direct eye contact with me, instead choosing to incline her head as if she's finally chosen to accept that here she is not the boss. Not of Addy, and not of me, not ever...

 So I keep my mouth shut and follow, my focus only on Addy, and the way he has so much cheer on his face... Because this is what he's always wanted... A moment like this... Him telling Grammy that she's becoming a Great Grammy and her being overjoyed instead of jealous or upset or feeling like she's being abandoned... He had been so nervous about her possibly rejecting her first great-grandbaby because she is so back and forth on not wanting to accept the fact that he's grown up now and starting a family of his own... 

...

Adrian

...

"Grammy you don't need to worry about getting us a drink. Why don't you sit? I'll get us all some tea? I was thinking some chamomile? Doesn't that sound yummy?" My throat feels so thick right now that I feel like a nice warm cup of tea is exactly what's needed to calm the nerves I feel... And the way my hands are shaking... 

I didn't expect to feel so jittery telling Grammy... Or even really at all... But I am... So nervous in fact that when she leads us into the kitchen via pulling my by the hand I actually don't object when she tucks me into one of our kitchen chairs... Even though I told her she's the one who should sit... Her words bringing me just as much warmth as her hand had, "You let me worry about the tea, Sweetheart, and don't bother telling me where you keep it, Liam was a doll and showed me last time I came over. You just sit back and tell me what you were thinking for who should throw you a shower. I was thinking... We could do two for you. One for here at home, and one over at North Pine so we all can celebrate, even if everyone can't make it over here? You wouldn't have to worry about a thing though, Quinn and I can coordinate, that way you won't get repeats of the same gifts... Though that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, you wouldn't believe how fast pups can wear out things like building blocks and rattles..." 

I don't know how to bite back the excited sob that bursts through my lips as she busies herself in our kitchen... Silas pulling me up and out of my chair just long enough to settle his bottom where mine had been just moments before, the way he pulls me back so I can be in his lap so affectionate and comforting that I don't feel the need to pull myself together... Not one bit... I know that I am safe with everyone in the room... All of the love in Grammy's voice telling me that there isn't an ounce of meanness in her body towards my little Nugget and I hadn't even realized how much I had needed to know that she wouldn't hate Silas for getting me pregnant... Or be afraid that the two of us will do what my parents did and leave her all alone in this world with a whole new baby to raise and no one to help her do it this go-round with Gramps being gone...