“Oh, call me Mary-Anne. None of that Mrs. Day stuff. And no, honey, you just sit down. I don’t want you straining yourself in your condition.”
Ross grabbed Teela’s hand, ignoring the shiver that skittered up his arm at the contact, and led her over to the large table. It was one of those monstrous things that was way too big for his taste but his mom liked it. She’d chosen upholstered chairs in a black and white floral pattern to put around it. The thing housed eight of them it was so huge.
“That’s code for helping me in my own kitchen is sacrilege,” he whispered under his breath as he pulled out a chair.
Teela dropped into it and cast him a murderous glance. He grinned back. He vowed he’d stop trying to get under her skin, but he couldn’t help it. She was so darn attractive when she was mad that it got him all fired. He shouldn’t like being fired up where she was concerned, but, well, everyone had their failings.
In a few short minutes his mom had filled up the table with plates and bowls overflowing with beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, creamed corn, and biscuits. She even added a bowl of ambrosia salad and a dish of peach pie.
“Hank, dear, get those honey buns to the table,” Ross’ mom called out as she plunked down a batch of serving utensils.
Ross cringed and had to stifle a laugh at the same time. Teela shot him a look and he could tell that she was probably biting on her inner cheek to keep from bursting out into laughter herself.
Ross’ father ambled into the room. He pulled out a chair, sniffed the air like he always did and sunk down. “Smells delicious. You’ve outdone yourself, sweetheart.”
“Oh, goodness sakes,” Ross’ mom brushed the compliment off but her cheeks were flushed when she sunk down in the seat beside his dad.
He was seated by Teela and his parents were on the other end. As usual, the other four chairs were empty. They probably had never been used, but his mom wouldn’t hear of getting a smaller table. Heaven help the world if they had guests over and there wasn’t enough room for everyone and they had to bring out the dreaded folding chairs.
Everyone dug in, filling their plates. Teela had probably taken two bites before his mom set down her fork. She had that tell-tale ear to ear smile on her face and Ross knew it wasn’t going to be good. Oh no, here we go.
“So, dear, how long have you been pooching my son for?”
CHAPTER 16
Teela
Pooching was a new one. She couldn’t say that she’d ever really heard that term used before. She knew what it meant, but dear lord. It was all she could do not to spit out her mouthful of roast beef. As it was, she had to chew quickly and take a big gulp of water to keep from asphyxiating.
“Mom!” Ross ground out under his breath.
“Oh. I’m sorry!” Mary-Anne’s eyes widened like she didn’t actually realize she’d said anything wrong.
Hank sat beside her, studying his plate like his meal was the most interesting thing to happen that side of the century. He was probably dying a little inside.
“Teel and I- we’ve been er- seeing each other for a while. We were just easing into the relationship, as neither of us have had an easy go of it in the past and we didn’t want to jinx anything and then we found out that she was expecting.”
“So, you’re going to do more than just ease into it now? You’re going to do the right thing, aren’t you son?” Hank cocked a brow and Ross shriveled beside Teela.
Oh god, kill me now. Why aren’t spontaneous sink holes a thing?
“We’re still working it out. It was extremely soon to find out and no one gets married just because they have a child anymore. We want to be good parents and whether that means together or just as friends, then that’s what we’ll do. We’ll put that kid first, don’t you worry.”
“See that you do,” Hank said quietly, but firmly. He sawed off a piece of roast beef and popped it into his mouth followed by a huge swallow of mashed potatoes. He sighed. “This is really good, Mary-Anne. You’ve outdone yourself.”
“Oh nonsense.” Mary-Anne swatted at her husband’s leg underneath the table and it was pretty darn obvious that they were still in love, even after years of marriage.
It made Teela’s chest ache a little bit. Her parents loved each other. She figured they did, but they were never one of those touchy couples. She really hadn’t even seen them hug or kiss over the years. She just assumed they saved that stuff to do in private. Given that her dad slept on the couch nine nights out of ten because he said the bed hurt his back and the TV was much more interesting and just kind of lulled him into an early evening coma that lasted until morning, she thought that was the natural progression of relationships.