Steffi had heard for years and seen all the Christmas cards, festive slogans, and commercials that pushed the ‘family’ and ‘togetherness’ aspect of the holidays… but her ‘Folgers-Commercial-Moment’ was, shall we say, a little ‘off’.
Drake’s mother was a joy. She insisted on being called ‘Mama Walker’ or ‘Mom’ – and nearly smothered Steffi in a bone-crushing hug the moment they’d arrived in Quinlan. Drake grew up in a small frame house on a dead-end street, clapboard siding, shutters, a wooden porch, complete with a clothesline attached to a tree outback. She looked around, drinking in everything, and once again marveled at her husband – and how down-to-earth he was. Money wasn’t everything… but family was. They were about to get very cozy with family in the small three-bedroom frame house for the next week or so.
Tommy arrived with his wife, Jamie, and their son. Jamie was demure, composed, cool, and collected – classic CEO vibes – until she sprinted up to the front door of the house, hugging Mama Walker with enough enthusiasm to topple a mountain.Tommy was grinning, walking up to the house with a ‘baby’ in one arm – and a diaper bag on the other – and that baby had to be the size of a small dog, with rolls of fat everywhere. It was utterly adorable, and a strange cooing sound escaped her throat before she could stop it.
Drake noticed.
Tommy chuckled with a knowing look.
And Mama Walker literally released Jamie so she could fist pump the air with an emphatic ‘Yes’ before shouting “Gimme my sweet baby boo…” – and took the child from the carrier before anyone could get a word in edgewise.
“Should we talk?” Drake murmured to her – and Steffi felt her face flush as she ignored his comment, only to get hugged immediately by Jamie, then Tommy… as yet another car pulled up to the house.
Jeez… this was an onslaught of Walkers, apparently,she thought silently as the driver’s door opened and a tall man with dark hair got out, stood up on the frame of the car to boost himself so he had a better vantage point, and yelled at Drake.
“Hey, look – I think little Drake is getting shorter…”
“Really, Pete? Are you freakin’ kidding me?” Drake muttered with a groan and chuckled, looking toward Steffi. “I used to be the tallest of the three kids, but then a certain hard-headed big mouth hit his growth spurt finally…”
“Do you lose an inch with every homerun?”
“Unbelievable…”
Steffi looked between the car, the smiling faces beside her, and her distinctly perturbed husband, who was frowning at his brother’s arrival.
“Awww! W-2! Hi-ya!” a blonde woman with glittery buns on the top of her head exclaimed happily, waving practically her entire arm, including her shoulder, so hard that her bodywobbled. “Is that Steffi? Ugh! I’m so in love with any woman that can put up with your arrogance and that ‘Walker-Sassafras’…”
“And that would be Sunny - Pete’s wife,” Drake chuckled again in defeat. “I think I left my ego and sanity in Wichita Falls. It might be a long week.”
“Nahh,” Steffi smiled, feeling a rush of warmth in her heart, realizing that she’d fallen in love with a man who simply had a very sarcastic and loving family that was welcoming her in the only way they knew how… by teasing her husband. “Enough of that, everyone. If you are smart-mouthing my husband, how am I supposed to hug and kiss all those sweet babies?”
“Oh, I like her,” Mama Walker exclaimed to Jamie – and immediately pushed the roly-poly little boy into her arms. “Watch him because that sweet little pumpkin drools like a rabid squirrel…”
Steffi laughed nervously. “And what does a drooling, rabid squirrel look like exactly?”
“Your husband’s O-face, I’m sure,” Tommy grinned as Steffi’s husband cussed under his breath as everyone else burst out laughing wildly – except their mother, who grabbed the tall man by his ear like he was five and yanked him into the house. “Mama, I was joking… It was funny. Drake knows I was just teasing… Mama, my ear hurts - that’s my ear! Owww!”
Sunny walked up beside her, holding their daughter and grinning. “Hope, this is your cousin, Jabba…”
“Sunny!” Jamie exclaimed, horrified as another ripple of laughter passed through the onlookers who were family. “That’s not funny – and his little rolls are adorable.”
“They are – no doubt,” Sunny agreed, unfazed. “I cannot wait to snuggle him to bits and pieces.”
“You don’t mentally scar my child, and I won’t mentally scar yours.”
“Don’t make me get mad…”
“Uh, ladies?” Steffi said nervously, unsure of what was happening right now – only to have Sunny laugh easily as she bumped her hip playfully.
“Relax, Steffi-fo-feffi,” she exclaimed in a happy voice. “If you can’t play nice, then you learn to play nasty – but it’s still playing, and Jamie knows I love her to pieces.”
“We’re just drawing the lines,” Jamie agreed, plucking Hope out of Sunny’s arms and nuzzling the infant sweetly. “Don’t you let your Mommy put those goofy buns on your head, sweet girlie… You just call your Auntie, and I’ll straighten her out.”
“See?” Sunny chuckled, grinning, before clapping her hands at Steffi. “My turn to snuggle the baby – go make your own, Newbie.”
“Oh my gosh,” Steffi laughed as Drake and Pete hugged, disappearing inside where Tommy was still getting a talking-to from his mother in the distance.
“Is the coffee ready, Jamie?”