1.14 Housewarming Dinner

Author's Note: So there was way too much in this day not to break it into two chapters. But I also felt like it was a lot to ask you to wait the entire weekend for an update so... Bonus chapter!

When the kids got off of school, Adaleigh walked outside to greet them. Apparently the bus had to dropped them off on the far side of their lot so they were a little less than thrilled with the walking.

"Ugh, that's going to be a long walk everyday, Mom." Collin said as he ran into her arms for a hug.

"She smiled over his shoulder. "Well, we're having a little housewarming party so why don't you run in and get yourself all ready, ok?"

She said the same to the other two kids who went inside with a little less gusto then she hoped. It must have been a really rough day at school for her three energetic triplets to come home in such a bad mood. But it was friday, so at least that meant no homework to worry about. By the time Monday rolled around, her three kids would be three teens...

And that opened up a whole new can of worms, because it meant she needed to have a talk to them about the legacy. She pushed that thought aside for now. Today was about celebrating the completion of her genertions goals. There would be time for legacy thoughts tomorrow.

When the guests began to arrive for dinner, Summer was the first to arrive.
"You look beautiful in that dress." she said warmly as she noticed for the first time the small baby bump that Summer sported.

The two hugged and then Summer introduced a dapper young man in slacks with a sweater tied around his neck. He seemed to be dressed a little casually for their party but hey he came that was what mattered.

"It's very nice to meet you, J." she said kindly and the three walked into the house. 

The other guests quickly arrived and soon they were all happily munching on the shrimp appetizer that Laurent had made. There wasn't quite enough room at the main table and Adaleigh made a note that if they were going to have more parties in this house, they needed to get a larger main dining table.

A few requested some drinks, and although he had mainly been a chef, Laurent obliged them with a few of his acquired mixology skills behind a bar they had rented just for the event.

Adaleigh found herself sitting with Eliza Pancakes. Eliza was one of the earliest friends she had made but the two had never quite hit it off. As she talked this evening with her she realized why.

"I simply love this house. It's so much nicer than the old one you lived in."

"Yes, well, our original home was only ever intended to be a greenhouse. They are breaking ground on the new Park & Gardens there now. We never planned to continue living there forever."

"As one should. Better to donate such things for charity."

Adaleigh founded herself choking on her food in her attempt to not laugh. Despite the house being too small for her family of five she had actually been quite proud their little greenhouse-house. 

"Besides this home already suits your family so much better." Eliza continued, oblivious as always.

"Yes, well," Adaleigh cleared her throat. She looked over her shoulder and saw that Laurent was just finishing up his bar tending. "If you'll excuse me, Eliza."

Walking over to Laurent, she smiled at him and then pulled him aside from the bar for a moment. For a moment the two of them stood in the corner looking out over their little house taking in their friends and their children just enjoying the space.

Suddenly struck by how happy she felt, weird comments from Eliza aside, she kissed him soundly on the cheek.

And for a moment, they were the only two people in the room. This man who had given so much and at last she had been able to give him just as much in return. She hoped.

He smiled when they finally pulled apart. "Hello, Mrs. McGinnis."

"Hello, Mr. McGinnis. You're going to make sure you go and enjoy your guests right?"

He nodded his head. " I was just going over to see how everyone was doing."

True to his word, Laurent joined the other guests and Adaleigh went to check on the kids. Cameron and Laura had tucked themselves into bed but Collin was determined to stay awake with the adults as long as possible.

At the moment, he was glued in front of the television watching the kids network.  Adaleigh raised an eyebrow at the strange characters but in the end she let it be. After all, it was Friday night and one of the last days that Collin would be a child. She decided to let him stay up as late as he wanted to.

Joining the other adults, Adaleigh noted that J and Summer were not staying together. She made a mental note to pull Summer aside before they left for the night. But for now, she let it be. She didn't want to embarass Summer in front of her coworkers.

Everyone was enjoying themselves, except Collin who apparently had the TV rested away from him by snobby Eliza. Laura had even woken back up and apparently decided the adults were too messy because she was cleaning up the plates from the kitchen.

Laura was such a sweetheart. She knew that her mom and dad would be up late cleaning everything up so she had decided to help. She had raised such wonderful kids.

As they were talkuing, Summer excused herself to the bathroom. Adaleigh remembered those days. Sometimes it felt like she would pee just because she moved the wrong way.

She noticed that J was still by himself in the kitchen by the bar. Now was a great time to get to know him a little better on his own.

Unbeknownst to Ada, while she had initially needed to pee, Summer was using her time in the bathroom to escape from the pressures of the party for a little while. She loved Adaleigh but while some marriages could work out... not all of them could be so perfect.

"So J, how's married life?" she asked conversationally coming up to him as he stood in the kitchen.

"Well, if I'm going to be married I guess Summer is a great first marriage as any marriage." he answered honestly.

She smiled. She wasn't really sure what else to say. But it bothered her a bit. Still both she and Summer had heard about how non-commital he was so it shouldn't really surprise her but... still this was her best friends' husband.

She needed to give him the benefit of the doubt. J walked around and sat at the bar. "Yes, married life can be interesting sometimes, right? So what kind of work do you do?"

J launched into an animated discussion about his work then. Adaleigh smiled and she nodded her head. But aside from learning he worked in [Enter Job Here], she  didn't really listen to much of what he said.

After a while, she realized that Summer hadn't come out of the restroom in a while and she excused herself to go and check on her friend. She found summer back in the dining room. The party had begun to die down and already Laurent had said goodbye to most of his coworkers, only Dina, Timothy, J and Summer remained behind.

"Hey are you okay?"

Summer didn't say anything. She just looked guilty for a moment and then she smiled. "Oh you know, pregnancy. It takes a lot out of you." she gently patted her belly.

"I know." She also knew it wasn't easy if you weren't sure if your partner was happy about the baby or not.

The girl's sat down at the table, Summer easing gently into her chair.

"So the party seems like it was  a great success." she said trying to shift the topic.

Adaleigh smiled. "Well, when you cook like Laurent, it's very difficult to not have a great dinner party. He'll be happy, he's been wanting to have this dinner party for a while... but well, the old house just wasn't big enough to manage it."

"I think you could have managed it just fine, the two of you seem like ou can handle anything together." Summer said.

She smiled. "It might seem like it, but you know we had our problems." she looked more seriously at her best friend. "And you know that if you want, I'll always be here for you if you need someone to talk through your problems. Just like you were there for me."

Summer stopped smiling but she nodded.

Tomothy headed out the door and Summer turned to see J standing by the door patiently waiting for her. "Looks like the parties over. I'll see you again soon ok? We need to start brainstorming some baby names and you're going to have to clue me in to how to raise a baby. After all, you raised three great ones."

"You're welcome any time Summer."

As the last guest let themselves out, Adaleigh sat for a moment in her new kitchen listening to the quiet sounds of a new house. Laurent had done the dishes and slipped off to get some sleep. Tomorrow he would be going back to work and the kids would be going to school. She told herself that she would get up and make the kids breakfast.

It was the weekend and the last one that the kids would have as, well, kids... Sunday the kids were turning into teens and Monday morning that meant High School. It also meant that she needed to talk to Laurent about how they should approach the kids about the legacy. 

They all knew that she had the goal of building a park and that someday it would fall to one of them to build something new. But she needed to make sure that they all understand what being the McGinnis Heir entailed for them and their children.