A week after Halloween Party
Rhonda View

Howie and I headed over to his parent's house for dinner. We were meeting Pollyanna's new boyfriend.
"So what's this new guy like?" I asked Howie.
"Tall, dark and handsome, just how Pollyanna likes them."
"Just remember to be nice and don't scare this guy away."
"But she's my sister – that's my job!" I gave Howie a look and he knew that he better behave.

We got to the house and grabbed the bags from the backseat of the car.
"MOM!! I'm home!!" Howie shouted. We took the bags into the kitchen where we were greeted by the rest of the family. "Here mom, we brought a few bottles of wine."
Howie's brother John went to the cabinets to get glasses. "Okay there are 10 of us, so we need 9 glasses."
I thought about it for a minute and figured that John didn't want to have a drink tonight. I grabbed one of the glasses of wine and headed into the dining room. John took the glass from my hand.
"Here I brought you some milk," he said as he handed me a wine goblet filled with milk.
"Thanks John – but I'm over 21 you know. I think I'll take the wine." John wouldn't let go of the glass. "MOM!!"
Howie and his mom walked into the dining room as John and I were fighting over the glass of wine. "What's going on?" Howie asked. "She wants to drink the wine!" John exclaimed.
"So? If she wants the wine, give her the wine," Howie said as he took the wine from John and gave it to me. Everyone stood there in shock.

Pollyanna and Angie came into the dining room with all of the food. We took our seats and John began to whisper to Pollyanna, who in turn whispered to Angie.
I looked over at Howie and he shrugged his shoulders and began to eat. I knew that Howie missed his mother's cooking since I hardly cook. I quickly turned the conversation to Pollyanna and her new boyfriend, Jonathan. Luckily, the rest of the family decided to follow my lead.

After dinner everyone headed into the living room. Howie helped his mom clean the dishes off the dining room table. "What?!?!" I heard from the kitchen. "Uh – NO!!" Howie came into the living room and sat down beside me as if nothing just happened. I looked over at him and he just started to laugh.
"Is there something going on with your family that I should know about?" I whispered to him.
"Oh it's just that my mom still thinks you're pregnant. I guess I forgot to call her after the Halloween party."
I got up and walked outside and sat on the front porch. I couldn't help but laugh. Why did everyone think that I would be the one pregnant? Howie came outside and sat next to me.
"I'm sorry – I really did forget to call her."
"I know – it's just – you're mom knows we have sex!"
"Honey," he said taking my hands in his, "she knew that when you stayed here."
"Yeah – but she didn't share it with the entire family then!!"
"We've been together for a year now, I think they all know we have sex. I think they would worry if we didn't!" I looked up at Howie and knew he was right. But I didn't want to admit that they knew. "Who knows – maybe one day soon we will tell them that you are pregnant."
"Not until there is a ring on my finger," I winked at him and went back inside for dessert.

Amber's View

"I'm so not ready to tell your mother about this," I said.
"But babe, we've been putting it off for almost a month now, she's gonna find out sooner or later. Eventually you're gonna start to get big." With the thought of that I ran into the bathroom and threw up. AJ was trying to be supportive from the doorway of the bathroom without looking at me. "It will be alright. The morning sickness will be over soon."

"You've been reading too many of those damn baby books." I yelled out at him.
"Enough to know that this moodiness is caused by the baby and not my mother," he shot back.
I walked out of the bathroom to finish getting dressed for our dinner with his mom. "What the fuck should I wear?"
"Babe, you can still fit into all of your clothes – just put on whatever outfit you like best." I shot AJ a look that could kill. "I'm not helping, am I?" I shook my head no. He put his arms around me and said, "I meant to say – you'll look good in whatever you pick." I felt kinda bad for giving him such a hard time. He had been trying for the past month to be as supportive as he could.

AJ gave me a kiss and then leaned down and kissed my stomach. "I love the both of you."
I ran my fingers through his hair and knew that he would make a wonderful father.

We had decided that it would be best to tell his mother at a restaurant. We figured that it would be hard to make a scene in a public place. AJ leaned over and whispered into my ear, "When do we want to tell her?"
"After they've cleared all the knives off the table."
"She's not going to react that bad!"
"Well then how about we tell her after the baby is born?"
AJ didn't seem too happy about waiting that long. "How about after the meal but before dessert?"
"Alright – if we have to do this, we'll do it before dessert."

The waitress came over to take our order. "And for you sir?"
"I'd like some baby back ribs, with baby carrots and baby corn. Oh and a Non-Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri," AJ said. I kicked him under the table and he tried not to hunch over in pain.
"And for you ma'am?"
"Some chicken broccoli soup with extra crackers, um, a burger with extra pickles and some French fries with mayonnaise." AJ's mother looked at me as if I was insane.

The dinner went okay but by the end AJ's leg was getting pretty sore. He kept making odd baby references thinking that I would just give in and tell her already. I didn't want to be the one to say it – it was his mother, he had to tell her. We were about to order dessert when AJ realized that I wasn't going to say anything.

"Mom – guess what? We have some good news..."
"When is the baby due?" she asked.
AJ was shocked. "How...how did you know??"
"Honey – I ate French fries and mayonnaise when I was pregnant with you. Besides, I had the same look of terror on my face that poor Amber has had on hers ever since she got here."
"So you're not mad that you're going to be a grandma at such a young age?" he asked.
"I figured it would happen sooner or later with you. I'm just glad that it's later!"
"Well," said AJ "That's one down and that only leaves your parents to go." At the thought of telling my parents I stood up and ran to the bathroom to be sick again.