The next night, Julian gathered everyone in the den. “We’ve got an announcement to make,” he said with pride.
Although Jeannette was only in her first trimester, she was showing quite a bit. Julian didn’t even need to complete the rest of his statement as the cheers and congratulations broke out all over the room.
Brady: “Oh, sweet Watcher! This is awesome!”
Emmy J: “Yaaaaay! More Unicorn fans!”
Callie cleared her throat. “Well…while we’re all making announcements…I have something to announce myself…”
All eyes were on her as they were all curious about what she had to say.
“Callie,” Brady said brashly, “are you sure this is the right time for this?”
“Time for what,” Viviana asked.
Callie took a deep breath. “I’m leaving. I have my own place.”
“You’re moving out,” Viviana said.
Brady was nervous about how she would react and got very tense. He knew that she would be more upset that they hid if from her than her actually leaving.
“You knew about this,” she asked him.
“Y-yes, angel.”
“Wow,” she said. “That’s really huge.” Bittersweet tears were beginning to form in her eyes. “Congratulations!”
Brady breathed a sigh of relief when Viviana got up to hug Callie.
“I love you, sweet princess,” Viviana said. “I am very happy for you. All of my babies are growing up too fast!”
“I love you too, mother. I’m sure I’ll be over here for dinner a few times a week.”
Brady was proud of Viviana’s response and thought that either he was going to be in trouble later that night, or she took it a lot better than he and Callie suspected. Julian was proud of his little sister too. He always had a deep respect for her and expected that she would do great things. But now that she was leaving and had her own house, he saw her in a completely different light. She was a woman now.
“Come here, you! What are you trying to do? Get grown on me,” he said.
“I should say the same to you, Mr. I’m Expecting A Baby!”
Viviana watched as her two oldest embraced and congratulated each other. These two were going on without her just as she always wanted them to. For all the times she was nervous about raising children; for all the awkward conversations; for all the advice given; all of it was for this moment: the moment her children took control of their own lives and prepared the way for the next generation. She was beyond proud.
I had to giggle seeing Julian’s shirt matching the furniture. It’s like wearing a sign saying: This is my house now.
Poor Viv, mothers are never ready to see their children leave the nest.
HA! I didn’t even see it like that. Good eye!
What’s interesting to me about Viv’s reaction is that as much as she’s getting on Callie’s case about getting married, she just realized that she’s not ready to let her go yet.
They’re all growed up! I am so excited for this Pruett baby!
All growed up!
This is truly a time of transition for the family but I’m excited for them and to see what you’ll do to start slowly winding the story down. Beautiful chapter and I’m glad Viv is taking all of this transition so well!
Ugh! The end. I’m nervous about what I have planned. I guess I’ll see what you all think when we get there!
Great chapter as always! I hope we’ll be seeing lots more of Callie! (She’s my fav Pruett) She even has the same name as me!
You’ll see her tomorrow!