“Don’t worry, a year from now you’ll be able to do this kind of thing in your sleep.”
The next step was dealing with Mom and the twins. Every couple of weeks, Mom or one of the twins, or all of them would drive up from Santa Teresa and spend the day with us while the kid cousins would wreak havoc and mayhem together in the back yard. They were concerned about my well being after all the shit from Barbara and wanted to make sure everything was going ok. Once Colleen was showing, we started coming up with excuses to keep them from coming to visit.
By the seventh month, Colleen was as big as house. Most of the weight that she gained was all in the front where the baby was. She had been like that with Meghan and Molly too. She looked like a lady who had shoved a beach ball up under her shirt.
It had reached the point where we couldn’t put off telling Mom and the twins any longer. I called Mike and Jimmy and asked them to meet us at Mom’s house the next weekend. So bright and early on Saturday, we loaded Meghan and Molly into the car and headed out for Santa Teresa.
When we pulled up in front of Mom’s house, Meghan and Molly had the car doors open by the time the engine was off. They flew up the steps and burst through the front door yelling. “Grandma, Grandma we’re here.” I walked around to the other side to help Colleen get out of the car and saw Jimmy step on to the porch. He took one look at Colleen and stuck his head back in the door and yelled.
“Mike, get out here, quick.”
Jimmy and Mike watched as their brother and sister, Colleen holding on to my arm for support, walked up the steps of the house we had all grown up in. Their sister who would only dress in the most sophisticated of clothes was today wearing a pair of navy blue track pants with a white stripe down the side. On top was one of my t-shirts and a sweatshirt from college that was not zipped up because it couldn’t stretch far enough to close around her belly. She had accessorized her wardrobe by putting on a baseball cap with the stray ends of her blonde hair sticking out from underneath going in a dozen different directions. The last thing she wore was a beatific smile that made her look like Pintirelli’s “Madonna.” In plain and simple terms, Colleen looked beautiful.
Colleen had to hold on to my arm to get up the eight steps to the porch. Mike came half way down to meet us and took her other arm to help get her the rest of the way up. As we walked past Jimmy I heard him say, “I can’t wait to hear this.”
Once in the living room, Jimmy and Mike, and their wives just stood staring at Colleen. Finally Jimmy’s wife Mi Lin spoke. “You’ve been in the car for over an hour, you probably need to go to the bathroom and we can talk when you’re done. Jimmy, go outside and get your mother… and tell the kids to stay outside.”
Mom came in followed by Mike’s daughter Patricia who was now three years old. She ran over and held out her arms for me to pick her up. Mom smiled at us while everyone else was fidgeting and looking at me.
“What’s so important that the kids need to stay outside? Where’s Colleen?”
“Right here Mom, I just went to the bathroom.”
Colleen walked into the room and came to stand next to me, holding my hand as I held Patricia in my other arm. Mom took one look at Colleen and her eyes began to bug out. She took two steps back and sank down on the couch, her eyes wide and mouth open staring at Colleen’s mid-section. After several minutes of deafening silence Mom spoke.
“Colleen, is there something you would like to tell us?”
“Mom… Jimmy… Mike… I’m pregnant.”
“I can see that for God’s sakes,” Mom snapped. “I’m not blind. Could you elaborate? As in who is the father?”
“I am.”
There was an audible click as all eyes snapped towards me and jaws fell even further. Mike’s wife Sharon was the first to recover. “Excuse me, what did you just say?”
“I said, I am the father. Colleen and I are having a baby… together.”
Everyone looked to watch Mom. The color in her face had turned white as she said. “Oh my God,” and placed her head in her hands. After a long pause she raised her head back up and shook it hard as though trying shake things back into place. Mom took several deep breaths that seemed to calm her down somewhat and stared wide-eyed at Colleen for several minutes then asked, “Why?”
Colleen squeezed my hand a little harder and answered, “Because I love him.”
Mom looked to me. “Bobby?”
“Mom, I love Colleen more than life itself.”
After a long period of silence, Mom gave a sigh of resignation then stood up. She came over and put her arms around both of us. “I don’t understand what is going on here, I just pray to God that you kids know what you’re doing. I don’t want anyone to get hurt. When is the baby due?”
“January 3rd.”
“Your grandfather’s birthday, he would be very honored.”
During this time Mike and Jimmy had been whispering to each other, getting more and more animated. Finally Mike asked his question.
“Listen, guys, when did you… um… the first time… the very first time… uh… you know… first time… um… uh.”
Jimmy finished Mike’s question. “When was the first time you guys did it?”
Colleen looked down at her stomach then back at the twins with a smile. “This March, first time’s the charm. Why do you ask?”
Jimmy said, “HA!” at the same time Mike exclaimed, “Damn it.” Mike pulled out his wallet, counted out five singles and handed them to Jimmy who was grinning from ear to ear. Mom watched this and asked, “What’s this all about?”
Mike had a sheepish look on his face. “Oh… well uh, when we were in high school I bet Jimmy five dollars that Colleen and Bobby were doing it.”
“MICHAEL THOMAS O’CONNER! That’s a disgusting thing to say about you sister!”
“Oh come on, Mom. Until Colleen met Bill, she and Bobby were practically joined at the hip. Half the kids in school thought they were doing it.”
Our mother looked like she was about to have a stroke.
“JAMES, IS THIS TRUE?”
Now it was Jimmy’s turn to look awkward. “Yeah Mom, but I didn’t. Remember, I’m the one that won the bet.”
One of the many things that we have always been able count on from Jimmy has been his ability to defuse explosive situations, especially when it came to our parents. He walked over, put his arms around both Mom and Colleen and grinned. “Just relax Mom. Take a look at Colleen, you can see how happy she is… and that big doofus brother of mine. Everything is going be fine. Besides, you’re going to have one more grandchild to spoil rotten. Now where is that casserole you promised? I’m not leaving here until I get some.” Still grinning he leaned in to me and whispered so that no one else could hear. “Do anything to hurt Colleen and I will kill you.”
I knew that he meant it.
I whispered back to him, “If I ever do any thing to hurt her I’ll load the gun for you myself.”
“Good, just so we understand each other.”
As lunch was started the tension was still there but once Mom showed signs of accepting the situation, things started to smooth out. After lunch, Colleen and Mom, Sharon and Mi Lin stayed in the kitchen talking about all of the things women talk about when one of them is pregnant. The twins and I wandered out to the back to keep an eye on the kids and sat on the steps of the deck. Jimmy was watching the kids and didn’t look in my direction. “You don’t have a clue about what you’re doing, do you?”
“Probably not, but Colleen and I have never been happier.”
“Just remember what I said.”
“Don’t worry, I will.”
Mike turned his head, looked at me with a serious expression and said, “Don’t ever let Colleen get more than twenty feet from a bathroom or you will live to regret it.”
That was the last time either Jimmy or Mike said anything about the pregnancy.
All too soon it was starting to get dark so we rounded up the girls to head back to San Miguel. The girls were buckled in the back and Colleen and I were standing on the sidewalk saying our good-byes. Jimmy and Mike shook my hand and gave Colleen a quick hug then headed back into the house. Mom gave Colleen a hug that seemed to last forever and finally whispered something in her ear that made both of them smile and tear up. Next she gave me my hug and whispered in my ear. “I know she’s the oldest but she’s my baby, just make her happy.”
“I will Mom, I promise.”
As we pulled away from the house, Colleen reached over and took hold of my hand. I glanced over to see a tear trickle down her cheek.
“What’s wrong honey?”
“I know Mom is upset, but she and the twins are so accepting of us and I love them so much… we are the luckiest people in the world to have them for a family. I don’t know what we would have done if they had rejected us.” I didn’t say anything, just nodded my head in agreement and tried not to cry myself.