"No, you sit, babe; I'll go."
"Are you sure, hot stuff?" Dave asked.
"Positive," Kara giggled and gave him a big, fat kiss. "I'll be right back."
She stepped out of the theater to get some more popcorn.
Kara and Dave had been going out for two weeks now, and Kara couldn't have been happier with her pick. Although, at first, it was Oliver who'd caught her attention, Dave made her quickly forget that his brother was ever a contender. She'd found her soulmate in Dave, she felt, and Oliver did seem to her a bit of a brooding bore compared to her jovial boyfriend—which was a massive relief for her BFF, who had done all that she could to desexualize Oliver in Kara's eyes. Ellie didn't want to give her best friend up, but she would in a heartbeat had she kept pursuing him.
Kara returned to the theater with the popcorn and coke. She climbed down the stairs to the row they were sitting in when something unexpected made her stop in her tracks and observe.
She and Dave had gone out on a double date with Gena and Jack, with Ellie and Oliver tagging along. It was in fact a triple date. That, however, was known only to half of the six. The seating arrangement from left to right was as follows: Ellie, Gena, Kara, Dave, Jack, and Oliver. The girls had orchestrated that before the movie commenced. They wanted to opportunity to be able to chat if the picture proved to be a bore as it was guys' pick.
Kara dismissed the disturbing thought with a resolute head shake and returned to her seat, scolding herself for even suspecting such a vile thing.
***
Christmas eve, the Jensen residence.
Dan, Alice, and their children were seated round the table and enjoying a festive meal laden with strong booze and delectable food. Jack's newly fiancée, Gena, was also there along with Dave's girlfriend and little Michela. Jack had popped the question two days ago, and it seemed the Jensens would be getting their wedding after all.
"You'd better not be pulling an Ellie on us in a couple of months," Dan quipped while twirling his glass of cognac on the table.
"Dad!" Ellie objected with the majority of the table voicing its amusement.
"I'm just saying, pumpkin! I don't feel like paying for two weddings and have none of my kids married. We want to see some grandchildren around here for crying out loud. We're not getting any younger."
Ellie shook her head in mock ire before giggling into her glass of orange juice.
Truthfully, she didn't mind her father's banter at all. She was the happiest she'd ever been, and she knew that calling off her wedding had a great deal to do with it.
"Well, Dan, you may not need to wait for much longer," Gena said timidly and glanced at Jack.
Jack studied her face, realization slowly shaping his. "You're pregnant?"
Gena nodded in a blend of excitement and apprehension. She'd learned that just earlier today.
"Oh my god!" He slapped a kiss on her lips, cueing the rest of the table to commence the festivities.
All the women lurched to their feet to congratulate them, including Michela. The guys followed suit, and the Christmas cheer hit new highs. Dan left the table to fetch an exceedingly expensive bottle of Merlot, and by the time he returned, the seating arrangement had been reshuffled, with the women now clustered together and discussing everything pregnancy, from the sex of the baby to the due date. The head of the family uncorked the wine bottle and started filling glasses while the ladies were already conjuring up possible names and throwing out décor ides for the nursery.
"So, was it a part of the plan or was it an accident?" Dan asked, wreathed in the smoke of his Cuban cigar and elated at thought of a baby crawling around the house soon.
"How can something like that be an accident nowadays, with the pill?" Kara said. "It's downright impossible, isn't it?"
"You'd be surprised," Alice said knowingly and tried hiding her smirk as she took a swig from her wine.
Jack chuckled at his mother, noting the not so subtle smile. "Oh my god, what did you mean by that?"
"Nothing," she blurted with blush in her cheeks from either the wine or from—
"Dad?!" Jack said.
Dan guffawed at his perturbed son. "What you mother meant to say was that... accidents do sometimes happen."
"Who?!" Ellie said, also agitated at the news. "I bet it was Dave, wasn't it? He has
accident
written all over his face."
"Why me?! I bet it was you!"
"Hey!" Jack exclaimed. "If it was her, then it was me, too!"
The siblings kept bickering, none ready to be labeled as the
oops child
.
Oliver didn't participate. He sipped his wine as he looked across from him at his girl, who while perched in his mother's lap, was enjoying a scrumptious piece of blueberry pie. He smiled at her, yet she couldn't tell, or maybe
because
she couldn't tell. Her attention bounced back and forth between her quarrelling uncles and her pie. That little feisty Italian was loving every second of it.
"Dad," Ellie said with a haughty smirk, "tell Dave the truth, so he can start accepting that no one wanted him, and that he imposed himself on our family."
"Ellie, look at this face," Dave said, pointing at his face. "This is the face of a
love child
.
You're
the accident! Embrace it."
"
I'm
the accident?! You're so..."
Dave and his sister were going at it incessantly and cracking everyone up. Unlike their brothers, they found great pleasure trading banters and wits and could probably keep going all night long.
"Dad, tell Ellie—"
"No, you tell Dave—"
"Knock it off," their father ordered with a chuckle and poured himself more wine. Seeing Dave and Ellie going at each other's throats was entertaining as ever. "You want to know? I'll tell you. One or more of the four of you was an unexpected yet a very welcome surprise, and that's all I'm gonna say on matt—"
