Talk about horrible timing. When Peggy finally stopped crying, I turned and saw Mona leaning against my bedroom door with a neutral expression on her face. I guess if you just started dating someone and found a naked pregnant gal that your new guy had a history with crying in his arms, you might have an issue or two. I winked at Mona and rubbed Peggy’s butt. Either Mona accepted it, or we were done before we started.
“Hey, Peggy, how’ve you been?” Mona asked.
Peggy jerked her head off my chest and gave her a sheepish look.
“You want next? I’m giving out massages,” I offered.
“Sure, why not,” Mona said, which caused me to smile.
By the time Mona came out of her long hot shower, Peggy was putty in my hands and moaning. If you had only heard her, you would make some inappropriate assumptions.
“I hope David makes me feel as good as you sound,” Mona teased Peggy.
“Just wait, someday you’ll be pregnant and ache all over. You’ll be lucky if Magic Hands is around to make you feel better. Uh, yes, right there,” Peggy groaned.
When I finished with Peggy, Mona lay down next to her, because my first victim was sound asleep. Mona’s massage was a little more sexual. I think it might have gotten out of hand if my mom hadn’t called us to dinner over the intercom. Of course, I insisted that Peggy join us because Uncle John must have brought half a cow for us to eat tonight, so we had plenty of food.
◊◊◊
I hadn’t considered what it would look like when I was the last one to join our expanded family get-together with two girls on my arms, one of them obviously pregnant. The kicker was they both looked like we had just had sex, or that was what Angie told me afterward. I guess I could see her point, since they were both freshly showered, with damp hair, and were both very relaxed. Mom gave me a look that told me I was lucky we had guests, or she would have made some comments.
My new uncle Phil had a big smirk on his face. Looking at his mother, I figured she must have been young when she had him. His stepdad was older, closer to my parents’ age. Phil’s mom had a shocked look on her face. I pointed at Peggy’s baby bump.
“Not mine,” I blurted out, which got Angie and Bonnie to laugh.
Phil brought his parents up and hesitated. It was easy to see he was nervous, so I took over the introductions.
“Hi, I’m David, and this is my good friend Peggy Pratt,” I said, pointing to my cute redheaded housekeeper. “This is Mona Wingman, my girlfriend and head cheerleader at Lincoln High.”
“You’ve met my son Phil. I’m Victoria Wesley-Prince—I’d like it if you called me Vickie—and this is my husband Carl,” she said.
I shook their hands. I couldn’t get over how young she seemed. Vickie had to have been my age or younger when she had Phil. That would have made Grandpa Dawson close to fifty at the time. I had a hard time wrapping my head around an attractive woman like Vickie sleeping with a man more than twice her age.
My thoughts were interrupted when I heard Duke give a soft warning growl. He only did that when one of the kids was abusing him. I saw him lying down on the edge of the patio, and Mac sitting next to him with a hand full of dog ear. I quickly walked over and rescued Duke, and Mac began to cry because I had stolen her toy. Of course, Kyle then wanted to be held too. I scooped him up. These two little rug-rats were growing like crazy. I kissed Mac on the forehead to get her attention; she immediately stopped crying when she saw that her Uncle David was holding her.
I turned around, and Peggy, Mona, and Phil had followed me. I then heard Nate start to fuss. Angie was busy in the kitchen, so I handed Kyle to Peggy and Mac to Mona. I’m not sure who was more unsure of the sequence of events, Mona or Mac.
“She won’t break,” I assured Mona as I picked up Nate out of his car seat.
He made a happy gurgling sounds, and I put him into Phil’s arms. Phil looked like I’d handed him a live hand grenade.
“Nate, meet your new great-uncle Phil,” I said.
“What do I do?” Phil asked.
“Just talk to him. He needs a little attention,” I said.
Nate was pretty good with strangers, so I wasn’t too worried he would throw a fit. I think everyone watched Phil and Nate. Phil took Nate over to his mom to show her his grandnephew.
It was a beautiful summer evening, so we ate outside. Mom had set up several tables, and she directed the guys to one. I was sure this was planned so that my dad, uncle, brother and I could get to know Phil and his stepfather better. Phil made a point to sit next to me instead of his stepfather. Uncle John’s eyebrows scrunched up for a moment, but then his face changed to a practiced blank look. I knew something was up because he had used that face on me many times. It was his professional psychologist face.
I cut into my steak and found it to be a little raw. With good-quality fresh meat, like my uncle’s Angus steaks, I liked it cooked medium-rare instead of my usual preference for medium, but this was rare.
“Excuse me, but I need to cook this a little bit more,” I said, getting up.
“Me too,” Phil said, and he followed me to the grill.
I put our steaks back on the grill and could tell Phil wanted to say something.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I realize we don’t know each other very well, and I’m only a freshman …” he trailed off.
“I won’t hold that against you. I was a freshman once also,” I said. “Look, I know this is all new to you.”
“Actually, it’s not. I’ve known about you all my life,” Phil said, which shocked me. “One of the reasons my dad took the job at the university was because I wanted a chance to get to know the rest of my family, especially you.”
“Did you know my grandpa?” I asked.
“Of course I did. He loved my mom and me, but we always knew we couldn’t meet you. He told me he had too much respect for his wife. I was always a little jealous that my real dad had another family and couldn’t be with us all the time. I think when Mom met Carl, it was probably for the best. At least with him, I got a full-time dad, but that didn’t stop my real dad from seeing me. Mom says he set up a college fund for me because he believed in a good education.
“When he died, I wanted to meet the rest of my family, but my mom was against it. She was afraid of how you’d treat us. But I watched you play football and the interviews you did. I convinced her you were a good guy, and if you were, I knew everyone else would be. Now that I’ve met you, I hope we can be good friends,” Phil said as he looked down at his shoes.
I saw a nervous kid who yearned for acceptance. He was at that age where he wasn’t yet quite sure of himself. I recognized it because Uncle John had pointed it out in me when I lived with him for the summer. With some guidance, Phil would grow and get past this. Football would be a good start. I wasn’t ready to commit to being his friend just yet; I hardly knew him.
One of my life goals was to be better at saying ‘no.’ In a lot of ways, I was a people pleaser. Most of us are. We want to be accepted by people. If I wanted to be a better man, I needed to be able to be honest with someone and say ‘no’ when I wasn’t willing to do something. I wasn’t willing to accept Phil as a good friend just because we shared DNA. If my word would ever mean anything, I couldn’t make a promise like that, and then if he turned out to be a jerk, walk away. Well, I could, but it was the promise I had the problem with. I put my arm around his shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze.
“Tell you what. Let’s get to know each other and see what develops. I mean, heck, you might find out I’m a jerk,” I said.
◊◊◊
I thought the first meeting had gone well. My mom talked to Peggy and Mona, and they went home because Mom called a family meeting. We hadn’t had one of these in a while. The last two had been because of the stalker, and then we had one because my relationship with Tami had changed. I guess uncovering one of my grandpa’s love children was a sufficient reason to have one.