Mark and Sara arrived thirty minutes late, and his mother gave them the evil eye that Kylie feared so much. The pot roast with vegetables and gravy took center stage. On either side were fresh green beans, hot dinner rolls, a mixed green salad and a homemade apple crumb pie. Jackson’s mouth watered.
His plate looked like he’d just gone through a buffet and couldn’t leave any space unoccupied. He filled up a plate for Kylie who had Abby against her shoulder while she took small bites of her food and topped off her coffee.
“Let me hold her, honey, so you can eat.” His mother reached for Abby.
“Thanks,” Kylie answered, handing her daughter over.
Kylie picked up her fork. “It’s so unfair that you can cook like this.”
His mother laughed while she held Abby and picked at her food. She had those blue eyes that people thought held miracles. Her smile was kind and she had the most beautiful hands he’d ever seen. Surgeon’s hands. His parents, as a couple, were oxymoronic. She was delicate and refined while his father was big and burly, like the guy on the Brawny paper towel wrapper.
“So, Mark. When are you and Sara going to add another grandchild to the mix?” Jackson antagonized his brother and Mark gave him that shut your pie hole glare. Jackson smiled. He couldn’t help pulling Mark’s chain. That had been Jackson’s style since he was a kid. He had a knack for pressing the right buttons to elicit the desired reaction and it worked well in the courtroom.
“We’re not ready just yet,” Mark answered. “And we can borrow Abby when we need a baby fix.” Sara kept her head down and continued to fork pot roast into her mouth so as to not make eye contact with her mother-in-law or have to offer any explanations on the baby subject.
His mother rolled her eyes from across the table, and Abby started to fuss at the sound of her name. She turned her head and opened her mouth—baby signal for feed me. Jackson watched Kylie scarf down the food left on her plate so she could nurse Abby. Downing the rest of her coffee, she dabbed her mouth with the napkin and excused herself. His mother followed her into the living room cooing to the baby.
“Is there any ice cream, Dad?” Jackson helped himself to a slice of apple pie. He licked his fingers after scooping up the crumb topping that fell onto the table en route to his plate.
His father scooted his chair back and stood up, towering over the table. “Of course, I made some vanilla this morning.”
Homemade apple pie and homemade ice cream. All his favorite foods had been on the menu tonight. Sometimes he missed his childhood home. But he only had to lay eyes on his wife and daughter for that feeling to pass.
His father returned with the cold, silver canister and scooped two generous helpings of ice cream atop Jackson’s man-sized slice of apple pie. He dug into the steaming apples and cinnamon, careful to incorporate ice cream into each bite. His father smirked as he watched him devour his dessert.
“So, Jack. Are you handling any interesting cases?”
Jackson took a sip of coffee to wash down the last bite of his pie. “Since I transferred into violent crimes, they’re all interesting in a morbid kind of way.”
“I wish someone like me had been in the DA’s office when Joy was killed. I would have put a lot more effort into that case. They didn’t seem to care. Or maybe it seemed that way because I was too close to the situation. Anyway, a lot has changed since then. I care and it makes my job tough, but at the end of the day, when I go home, I can look in the mirror and be proud of who I see.”
Jackson had a few glasses of wine while Kylie sucked down coffee throughout the evening as his family told funny stories from their childhood. “I remember when these two got the bright idea to climb down in the storm drain to rescue Penny Perry’s Barbie doll that the little dimwit sailed down the ditch in a homemade paper boat.”
“We only did it because Penny promised to show us her boobs,” Mark offered with a straight face.
“Yeah, if she’d been ugly and flat chested, we never would have done it, Mom,” Jackson added, laughing.
“Did she show you her boobs?” Sara cocked one eyebrow at Mark.
“Yes, but it turned out she stuffed her bra. So, we were disappointed.”
“Speak for yourself,” Jackson said. “They were still the first pair we’d seen in the flesh.”
“She doesn’t have to stuff her bra anymore,” Laci chimed in. “She’s married to a dentist who bought her a real nice pair.” Everybody laughed and nodded their heads.
Jackson stole a glance at Kylie’s breasts. She always had a nice rack. Not too big, not too small. They fit perfect in his hands. But, now, while she was nursing Abby, they were more than ample. He wished she wouldn’t shed the last ten pounds she was struggling with. He really enjoyed the curve of her hips and fullness of her breasts. Installing a stripper pole in their bedroom was high on his mental priority list.
They finished up dessert and the men went one way while the women went the other. The ladies settled in the living room and marveled at how smart and beautiful his daughter was.
Kylie stepped out onto the porch and wrapped an arm around Jackson’s waist. He ruffled her hair and kissed the top of her head.
“What do you see in this big dope?” His dad gave Jackson a playful punch in the arm.
“I’m not sure, Lou. He’s just so pathetic. How could I turn him down? He’s got that puppy in the pound look.” They all had a good laugh at his expense, and he hugged his wife. Good natured teasing was par for the course in this family.
“Are you ready to head out, babe?”
“Yeah, it’s getting late, and Abby is starting to get fussy again. And judging by the wine on your breath, I think I’d better drive.”
Jackson chuckled. “Good idea. You’ve had enough coffee to keep an army awake.”
They gathered up their daughter along with a large care package of his mother’s leftovers and piled into the BMW. They waved goodbye to his family as Kylie backed out of the driveway.
“Did you have a good time?”
“Yes, I absolutely did. I’m so glad that I love your family. So many of my girlfriends have those monster-in-law stories. I’m truly lucky.”
“No, I’m lucky.” He placed his hand on her leg and gave it a light squeeze. He admired her profile. Her shiny dark hair had grown out some, now hitting about her shoulder blades and had a nice bounce to it. His eyes wandered down her body.
“I’m gonna jump your bones when we get home, Mrs. McAllister.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her and gave her thigh another squeeze.
“Promise?” She looked at him from the corner of her eye as she sped onto the Causeway.
“Oh, baby, yes. You will never be the same after I’ve had my way with you.”
His daughter started to whimper in the backseat and he turned around to look at her. Her big brown eyes filled with tears and her bottom lip quivered, threatening to expel her pacifier. He could only imagine her at sixteen—minus the pacifier—making that face when he refused to let her borrow the car, followed by his relenting and handing over the keys and throwing in his credit card for good measure. Jackson was in a ton of trouble because she already had him wrapped around her little finger in a very big way. She regained control of her pacifier and closed her eyes.
“So, where are your parents going for their annual trip this year?”
“Dad said they’re thinking about going to Majorca. You remember when they went to Madrid a few years ago and mom just fell in love with Spain? He’s been trying to talk her into going to Dublin, but she has her heart set on Majorca.”
“I’ve never been to Spain. We should plan an annual vacation, too. Maybe start next year once Abby gets a little easier to deal with. Where should we go?” she asked, smiling at him.
“Well, let’s see.” He remembered their honeymoon in Jamaica and their trip to Maui. “We’ve done the tropical childless people locations. Where would be a nice place for a family vacation?” He tapped his finger on his chin while he thought about it.
“How about Florida? I bet Abby would love Mickey Mouse.” Kylie looked over at him with an excited grin.
“That would be awesome. She’ll love that. My parents took us when I was about eight, had the time of my life.”
“I’ve been to Disneyland in California, but not to Disney World. Maybe we could take that Disney cruise, too. It’ll be so fun, Jack.”
“Yeah, it will be. We’ll plan it out. Next summer. Abby will be almost a year old. We’ll make it part of her birthday present.”
Abby let out an earsplitting wail from the backseat. Jackson looked over his shoulder again and saw that she had tossed her pacifier next to the door in the rear passenger seat behind Kylie.
“She threw her pacifier. I can’t reach it from here.” He pressed the release on his seatbelt and climbed over the console and into the backseat. He retrieved the pink plastic binky, as Kylie called it, and placed it in front of his daughter’s mouth, teasing her lips until she grabbed onto it and silence filled the car again.
“Oh, shit! Jack, hold on!” Kylie screamed.
