Chapter 15

“They're coming! They're here!” Nathaniel Bartholomew Finster shouted.

“Hold on,” Abby picked up six-year-old, Annabelle, who was wearing her very favorite ruffled pink dress. Just like her mother.

“Hey there, Pink Lady,” Jacen Williams greeted her with a hug.

“Glad you made it, Jacen.” Abby hugged him back, eternally surprised by how much he had changed in the past decade. Gone was the pudgy joker, replaced by a six-four mountain of muscle with a wicked, but more mature sense of humor.

“Come in, Auntie Dre!” Nathan yelled, having inherited Abby's demeanor.

Alexandria 'Dre' Williams entered with a smile. “Abby! Hank!”

“Welcome, welcome.” More hugs were exchanged. Abby genuinely liked Jacen's wife. She was calm and quiet, which somehow complemented her loud gregarious husband. She was in no way humorless, which was important considering she worked at the post office.

“Did you forget me?” Noah followed them in. Abby internally laughed because he'd gone gray at thirty-two, same as she had. Her hair was full-silver which Hank had said made her a silver vixen after a round of Twenty Questions.

“I thought Kathleen was coming,” Abby observed. His girlfriend of almost a year had RSVP'd and not shown up.

“Sorry about that. She had a family emergency,” Noah explained.

“On Thanksgiving?” Abby had met Kathleen twice and was not impressed.

Hank clamped a hand on Abby's shoulder before she was tempted to say more. “It's great to see you, Noah.”

“Up, Uncle Noah. Right now. Please,” Annabelle demanded, remembering to add the magic word at the end.

“Wow, that is a lot of pink,” Jacen said because Hank and Nathaniel wore pink polo shirts. “Was there a pink explosion?”

Nathan had an answer for that. “It's the Pink Lady thing. Annie loved the story and decided everyone else had to wear pink. Mom was going to wear pink anyway, but then it was me and Dad, too. Boys don't wear pink.”

“I wear pink,” Jacen said. “All the time.”

“You do?”

“Absolutely. It's very manly. It shows that you are a man if you can wear pink.”

“Are you wearing pink now?” Nathan doubted.

“Keep it PG,” Hank warned.

Jacen took off his jacket and revealed a pink tie. “Love pink!”

“I wore pink.” Noah hung up his coat and showed off his white, blue, and pink pinstripe dress shirt with pink tie.

“What about Aunt Dre?” Nathaniel did not sound convinced that men wore pink.

“She's not wearing pink because pink is for boys,” Jacen said.

Annabelle started crying, “I can't wear pink?”

“Don't listen to him.” Dre dropped her coat on top of her husband's head. She was wearing the adult version of Annabelle's dress. This had been preplanned by Abby and Dre well in advance.

“We're twins!” Tears gone, Annabelle jumped from Noah to Dre. “Twins, twins, twins.”

Silent laughter was exchanged because Annabelle had Abby's skin tone, and Dre was a few shades darker than Jacen.

“Exactly like twins,” Jacen agreed.

The amusement was short-lived because Annabelle had an announcement. “I'm having a baby. Are you having a baby? You should have one. Did you forget it at home?”

Dre's eyes fell, but she soldiered on. “No. No baby right now. I'll tell you when I get one.”“I got six. And my teacher’s having a baby and—”

“Why don't we get inside?” Hank swung his daughter onto his hip. “No need to get cold, and the turkey is in the oven.”

“Who cooked this time? Was it you?” Noah asked Nathan.

“It was Mommy and Daddy. You know they kept kissing. Gross!”

“Are you sure he's your child, Abby?” Noah took his nephew's hand and passed the framed photo of the elder Bakers, Hank, Abby, and Noah. It was taken a year before their parents’ deaths. They had faded slowly over the first two years, and Hank and Abby had put off children till afterward.

Anabelle brought her doll collection, then her construction truck collection, and then her firetruck collection. Dre patiently learned the names of every item while Noah and Hank were thoroughly educated on the latest comic book adventure Nathan had read.

“Jacen, why don't you help me in the kitchen?” Abby invited him in a blatant fishing expedition because Jacen had joined Noah in Wisconsin for the first Thanksgiving after 9/11. His recruitment to help Abby cook had been a mistake. Once they turned off the smoke detectors, Abby had let him try his hand at chopping vegetables. After they’d applied pressure to his consequential wound, he was banished to the couch with her dad who believed they were re-living the glory days of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers.

“You sure?” Jacen went through the door to the kitchen.

“I'm not letting you touch anything hot or sharp. You're getting the table settings out unless you’ve learned to cook.” She pointed to the cupboards, and he began to remove the dishes and cups.

“I'm allowed to make coffee. My firehouse even lets me do it unsupervised.”

“I'm sorry about Annabelle. She's marriage and baby-obsessed lately. She asks me every day if I'm having another one. I am not ending up like Mom,” Abby said because she was forty-seven now, almost the age her mother was when she got pregnant with Noah.

“It's not your fault,” Jacen said, “Dre’s doing okay, and we'll see my family for Christmas.”

The reason Jacen had jumped on the invitation for a Wisconsin Thanksgiving was because of the baby rain in their families. His sister Caitlyn had her third in October, and Dre's sister-in-law was pregnant. Jacen and Dre were married eight years without children.

Abby bobbed her head. “Nothing?”

“Nothing,” Jacen said. “Trying is fun. Though, eventually it becomes work.”

Abby had the option of cracking a joke or letting him speak. She went for letting him speak. “Work?”

“It's not 'work’ work, but timing it around my shifts, performing on command with those stupid ovulation kits.” He shook his head. “I love her so much, and she's amazing with kids. I think about seeing her with our baby and… the idea of being a dad and our child…”

His words trailed off, and Abby gave the only appropriate response. “I'm sorry.”

“That's all right. At least I'm good at the work.” He tried lightening the mood. “Really good at the work.”

“Usually, I'd give you some type of snappy suggestion, but are you seeing somebody about this?”

“We got a new doctor. I've been saving up money, working extra shifts. Even my stupid ass boss gave me time off to get this stuff done.”

“You mean that ‘stupid ass boss’ that’s my brother?” Abby guessed Noah would give Jacen anything he needed to make his family.

“That's the one. Has he told you the big news?”

“He's buying a pony?”

“He’s on the short list for promotion to battalion chief. You may not realize this, but he is insanely deliberate. Chief Pegg is impressed.”

“Really? What he did he do?”

“Noah scored a big coupe when he convinced Munnis to come up from Columbus. He's going to be section chief of the East. And since you and Noah keep in touch with the New York guys, Noah got in touch with Taggert. He's joining arson investigations and is going to be probably the next fire marshal in Cleveland.”

“If Noah gets promoted what happens to you?” Abby assumed a promotion would finally move Noah out of active firefighting, leaving Jacen behind.

“Hopefully, I move from lieutenant to captain and get a pay raise for a future Baby Williams.” He mimed cradling a baby. “But enough about me, why did you call me back here?”

“Tell me about Kathleen. How serious are they?” Abby didn’t mince words.

Jacen tried to edge toward the door. “Is Hank calling my name?”

“No, he's not. In fact, Hank, I need you for a second!” Abby beat him to the punch. “You will stay here, and you will tell me.”

Hank came in and got himself a stool and a beer. Abby was in her Abby interrogation mode, so he offered some advice. “Save yourself the time and spill whatever it is she wants.”

Jacen sighed, “What has Noah told you?”

“Nothing. He does his mandatory once a week phone call but won't say anything about her. The two times I met her and tried to corner her, he blocked me out.”

“That should tell you something if he's keeping you away from her. What do you want to know?”

“Job? How they met?”

“She's an interior designer. He met her at an interior design class.”

“Was this a class about designing the Starship Enterprise? My brother doesn't interior design,” Abby said. Time hadn't changed the geeky core of Noah Baker.

“No, he has zero artistic talent. We're lucky he can draw smiley faces. He was studying combustible materials involved in interior design products and construction.”

“That does sound more like him.”

“It was for his Master's of Fire Science. The point is, they met, she talked to him.”

“That alone would get her foot in the door.”

“Since he's so quiet, she just kept talking. When she took a breath, he asked her out, and she said 'yes,'” Jacen said.

“It's his passive listening strategy. It’s really effective. Right, Hank?”

“So effective,” Hank agreed. Long ago they had realized that Abby would be talking and Hank would be listening. The trade-off was that when Hank spoke up, Abby had to listen.

“They kept going out. She's fine.”

“That’s a glowing recommendation,” Abby pouted.

“I don't know what to say about it. He and I have widely different tactics with women. He never hesitates to ask one out, but then he doesn't talk. Me, I tend to talk faster and faster, so it's good Noah convinced Dre to give me a chance.”

“Your motormouth is part of your charm. Is Kathleen fun? Likable? Does she make Noah happy?”

“There's nothing wrong with her,” Jacen said neutrally.

“Solid recommendation from the best friend for the job opening of Mrs. Noah Baker. No dodging; Is she the One for Noah?”

Jacen craned his head backward to check the kitchen door. “The truth is, I thought Noah would go for someone who balances him out more. Someone who makes him smile and loosens him up while respecting his drive. She does appreciate his drive and appearance and prestige of dating a fire captain.”

Abby blinked hard, and Hank cracked up because she knew she looked like she swallowed a frog.

She recovered to pat Jacen on the cheek. “I've got to save that one. 'Appearance and prestige' are the new codewords for 'superficial bitch.'”

Hank put his hand over Abby's mouth with a long-suffering sigh. “She values your opinion, and her main goal is for Noah to be happy. Abby is happy, so everyone around her should be happy, and she will do what it takes to make everyone happy. Oww!”

“Are you happy now?” Abby smiled, having bit Hank's hand.

He took it in stride and playfully kissed the side of her neck. “Never better.”

“Not the kissing again!” Nate whined, entering with the rest of the group.

“You didn't let Jacen near the food, did you?” Dre said, this being her first Thanksgiving at the Finsters.

“I only let him touch the plates. What's the worst thing he burned in your house?” Abby reassured her.

Dre had an immediate answer. “Noah's birthday cake.”

“You made me a birthday cake?” Noah was surprised.

Jacen said, “I tried two weeks ago. Then I broke down and went to Giant Eagle afterward.”

“He must have taken a blowtorch to it. I had to throw out the pan, too,” Dre leaned against her husband. “Fortunately, he has other good qualities.”

“He does? Because if you can't cook, how do you eat?” Nathan didn't let anything get in the way of his pre-teen stomach.

“I, unlike your uncle, am a great dancer, so I dance, and she cooks,” Jacen reassured Nathan.

“But his boxing is still so-so,” Noah said. “I admit he's a solid firefighter, and he'll make captain soon.”

“Does that mean you're moving to battalion chief? Or are you going to be fire chief next?” Abby inquired innocently.

“Maybe fire chief in twenty years.” Noah snorted and dodged the question. “Cleveland FD likes their battalion chiefs to serve as an assistant in Operations for a while first. The assistants go to a lot of scenes and work as incident command.”

Dre pointed to the clock. “Jacen said there's some pre-lunch rituals. A phone call and musical theater thing?”

“True. We call Nate and Barry in New York, but this year we're doing it in the afternoon,” Hank said.

“It's guitar time!” Nathan opened the door to display two full-sized and one smaller acoustic guitars.

“That's right. What are we playing this year?” Hank picked up his guitar.

“Same thing we play every year because that's the only one Uncle Noah can play,” Abby said as she settled on the couch with Annabelle on her lap.

“At least my voice is better than yours,” Noah said. That led to a chuckle in the group.

“Is this the only song Uncle Noah knows how to play?” Annabelle asked. “Nathan and Daddy practice a lot of different songs all the time.”

“That's because Noah's not very good.” Jacen put his arm around Dre. “He played the same song at your parents’s and my wedding.”

Sitting together, the Finster-Baker clan began strumming the first notes of I Don't Want to Miss a Thing from the movie Armageddon.

For once, Abby sat back and took a deep breath, giving herself a moment of enjoyment. Hank had proven to be a perfect father, husband, and lover in every single part of her life. He’d held her hand through the loss of her parents. Then he hadn't flinched when she’d nearly squeezed his fingers off during the births of their children. A day never went by without her marveling that she'd picked him up on the side of the road.

Then Noah crooned out the part about staying in the moment forever. While he was no Steven Tyler, this was a good moment. She and Hank had found their family. Jacen had grown up, and, hopefully someday, Noah would be as happy as everyone else around him.

Maybe nothing lasts forever, but it only takes fifteen minutes to recognize a good thing.