8.32 Discoveries

Saturday morning, somehow Viviana managed to be awake before Brady at 5 a.m. But, by the time she came out of the bathroom, he was already awake.

“Good morning, sugar bear.”

“Good mo–hey! You look–”

“Uh huh…”

“Really?!”

“Uh huh…”

“Oh sweet plumnuggets!! This is the greatest day! Come here, you!”

He jumped up and grabbed Viviana and gave her a passionate kiss. Then he sat down to process this totally awesome news. Viviana laughed.

“We need to eat,” she said and went to the kitchen.

“We need to eat,” Brady repeated while his mind was 10,000 miles away.

An hour later, the Holmes’ were waking up too. Alayna isn’t one to sleep in, but she usually wasn’t awake before 7:00.

“What are you doing up so early,” Roland asked in the middle of his stretching and yawning.”

“There’s just so much to do! We’re closing in a few days. I need to get our documents together!”

“You don’t have to do that, baby. Why don’t you just relax? It’s Saturday! We can do it together tomorrow afternoon.”

“Pfft! Like you even know where that stuff is.”

“…Touche.”

“You relax. I’ll handle this.”

“You’re such a good wife,” he said sarcastically.

“Hmph! Yeah…your good wife deserves a good vacation!”

“Already in the works, baby. Already in the works.”

“Uh huh. Sure.”

Alayna went to the downstairs office to pull up some bank statements and tax documents. As many times as she sat at this very computer over the course of her entire life, she never took notice of the big stack of books that had been sitting there for the past five generations.

She dusted them off, opened them, and found some old papers and pictures.

“Wow! These are so old, the writing has almost worn off! Wow…Donnie and Joy!”

“Whoa…the living room sure was ugly,” she said laughing out loud. “It was probably gorgeous in those days.”

“Wow! That was amazing! There’s probably tons of other pictures in these other books. Hmmm…what’s this?”

Among the old papers was the document by which this family exists.

“[sigh] Heirs must choose a wife…oh, Watcher…please help Owen get it together!”

Alayna put all the pictures and papers back into the books and went back to gathering their financial data. Later that night, at dinner, Alayna and Roland decided to break the news to the boys.

“Boys…mama and I have something important to say,” he said and look at Alayna to finish.

“[sigh] Sure, honey…leave the dirty work to me! Fine…Devan, Anthony…it’s time for us to get our own house. We’ll be leaving in a few days.”

“Ooooh! Does my room have lots of toys in it,” Anthony asked excitedly.

“Yes, son! It does,” Alayna said keeping her eye on Devan.

“Dev…you don’t look excited…”

“I’m not!”

“Why,” she asked although she knew the answer.

“Because this is our house! This SUCKS,” he yelled and stormed upstairs to his room.

“Come back here young man and apologize to your mama!”

“Let him go, Roland. It’s ok. I understand why he’s upset.”

“Ok, but he shouldn’t be walking out while we’re talking to him!”

“Ok, yes, but…let this one go…please?”

“Fine then.”

“Thank you. Anthony, are you finished with your food?”

“Yes. I don’t like shrimp.”

“Ok, that’s fine. Put you and brother’s plates in the fridge for me, ok?”

“Yes, mommy.”

“And then go to bed.”

Alayna and Roland waited for him to clear the table before revisiting their conversation. Anthony said goodnight and got hugs and kisses from both parents and then ran happily upstairs.

“Roland…you haven’t lived in the same house your whole life, so you don’t know what he’s going through.”

“But, you do…”

“Yes! I do! I know I probably sounded confident when I told you we had to move, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t upset about it at some point. I mean, I’m in my late forties, and I’ve never lived anywhere else. The thought is just very jarring. I’m excited now, but the idea had to grow on me…even though I always knew one day I’d have to leave. Just give him some time, ok?”

“Yes ma’am. You always know what’s best.”

“And don’t you forget it!”