Luc brought the rest of the stuff into the house and almost had it put away when the doorbell rang. He tossed Meg a receiving blanket to cover up with and answered the door. He opened it to find a woman he’d never seen, but recognized as Meg’s mom at the door. Behind her were Ginny and Patrick.
“Hello,” he said as he realized that he didn’t know the woman’s name.
“Hello. You must be Luc. I’m Anna,” said the woman and held out her hand.
Luc took the hand, shook it and then pulled Anna into a hug. She smelled okay and she didn’t flinch. “This might work out alright,” he thought. “Hello Anna, come see the babies. Meg is in the living room.
“Thank you. Your cousin Ginny is a nice woman and her husband Patrick is a dream. So nice of them to pick me up from the airport and call me too when the babies were born,” Anna rambled on. “Oh hello Meggie,” she said as she walked into the living room. “Feeding those babies? Good thing. Breast milk is best milk you know. You and your sister were breast fed. Three years each. Although I can’t see why she didn’t turn out as well as you. Oh well, I’ll have Luc show me to the guest room while you finish feeding those babies,” Anna finished.
Meg just smiled weakly and nodded. There was no way to get a word in edgewise and she knew it. At least her mom was talking fairly quietly.
Luc looked shell shocked, but showed Anna to the guest room with Anna still talking ninety miles an hour. Ginny and Patrick came in carrying luggage and more presents. Patrick followed Luc down the hall and Ginny perched on the couch.
“Is she always so talkative?” asked Ginny exasperated.
“No, sometimes she talks even faster,” said Meg.
“She hasn’t stopped talking since the moment we picked her up at the baggage claim,” said Ginny. “I’ve heard all about all of your childhood ailments, your life from birth to about age four and we were just starting on why your sister is such a failure to her when we pulled up here.”
“That’s mom. My sister Jo and I are almost five years apart. It might as well be fifty. With different parents. I’m auburn, she’s blonde,” started Meg.
“Yes, and she’s fat, lazy, works too much at a stupid job, her husband’s a jerk who takes advantage of her and the three grandsons are worthless piles of snot, just like their father,” said Ginny as she ticked the list off on her fingers.
“You’ve got it,” laughed Meg. The sound of her voice woke Elliot who had fallen asleep nursing. Meg put him back to her breast and he started to feed again. “Worst part is that I think Mom really tried to do her best by Jo, and Jo turned out rotten in spite of all of her best efforts.”
“I understand. One of those you say white, she says black, you say yes, she says no types of situations,” said Ginny.
“Yes. Contrary to the last hair on her head. Mom treated us exactly the same… thank you Dr. Spock, and yet we are totally different people,” said Meg. Linsey was fast asleep and Ginny took her out of Meg’s arms and tucked her into a Moses basket next to Meg. “Thanks. Oh, and before they get back, I’m sorry about your hand,” said Meg.
“It’s okay. I healed. And if you don’t mind me asking, who ratted?” asked Ginny.
“No one. I felt it break. I didn’t know I was that strong,” said Meg.
“Neither did I. Patrick set it for me and it just aches a bit,” said Ginny.
The voices which had gotten a bit quite for a few minutes were getting louder. Anna came back into the living room still talking with Patrick and Luc trailing behind her. She did drop her voice to a whisper when she saw that the babies were sleeping, but she was still talking.
“Oh Meggie, they are so precious,” said Anna. “I can’t wait to see them in a few months when they’ve lost that Winston Churchill look. All babies look like him you know. Can’t help it. All that water, squished up in a ball for nine months and of course most as bald as a billiard. Now where did you pick those names from?” she asked turning back to Luc. “Luc here said something about a camping trip you went on and two mountains?”
“Yes mom. Mountains,” said Meg.
“Oh, that is just so sweet and sentimental,” said Anna. “We were going to use our initials to make yours and your sister’s names, but it just didn’t work out, so we named you after my mother and your sister after your father’s great aunt. Then again, I should have known your sister would be trouble. That aunt was a pain in the ass too.”
“Meg, Andrew’s here, and there will be others arriving,” said Patrick from the door of the living room.
“Thanks Patrick. Hello Andrew,” Meg said as the tall silversmith came into the room.
“Hello and congratulations,” said Andrew. “I have a present for you.” He handed Meg a box.
Meg carefully took the box and opened it up. Inside were two beautiful silver cups. Each one had a wolf print on it and then the baby’s name. Meg smiled and blinked back the tears. They were beautiful.
“Oh thank you Andrew,” she said and blew him a kiss.
Andrew bent over and kissed Meg on the cheek. “You are so very welcome. The babies are beautiful and deserve beauty in their lives,” he said. “Blessings on you and yours.”
“Meg, are you going to introduce me?” asked Anna.
“Oh. Yes. Mom, This is Andrew Davis. Andrew, this is my mom Anna,” said Meg.
“Very nice to meet you,” said Andrew.
“Nice to meet you and those are a very lavish gift,” said Anna.
“How could I do any less for Luc and Meg?” asked Andrew in a very soft voice.
“Oh,” was all that Anna said.
Just as Meg realized that Andrew had somehow stopped her mother’s constant jabbering cold, other people began to arrive. Ysabel came in with three very somber pups. Sara, Joe and Ivan had never been as quiet. They came in, said their hello’s and handed Meg a package.
“Its pwesents for ouwr new cuzins,” said Sara almost at a whisper.