Speechless

They lost track of time. That was Jordan’s grandparents’ excuse when the boys returned to the house with them in tow. “They bumped into old friends,” Jordan explained when we finally settled around the dinning room table. “We found them standing in the parking lot, chatting like they had all the time in the world.”

Chuckling softly, he told me that his grandmother was shocked to see his brothers and him. “She didn’t seem to understand why anyone would be worried about them. She told me that they knew where they were and that was all that mattered.”

Dinner went by without an incident, which was unusual for his family. The biggest ‘argument’ that erupted was a heated discussion about potty training – Harriet was trying to get Jordan to start without talking to Heather about it and his grandmother was on Jordan’s side, telling Harriet that it wasn’t up to her. “Harriet, you didn’t like it when I stuck my nose into the way you raised your boys, don’t you think you should leave Jenna’s care up to Jordan?”

As Harriet gave into her mother in law, I wondered if that would be me in a couple years. Would I be going along with whatever she said just to keep the peace? Or would I argue my point until she gave in? I really didn’t have the answer to that question but, for some reason, I wasn’t really worried about it either; I knew I would do whatever I needed to make sure that we understood each other – or tried to.

Jordan’s arm slipped around my shoulders, “Are you coming?”

“What?” I gave him a confused look and he motioned around the nearly empty table.

“Everyone is moving into the living room,” he informed me as he stood up. “Are you coming? My grandparents have big news, apparently.”

“Oh, of course I’m coming.” I felt silly as I slipped my hand into his. “I’m sorry, I spaced out there for a minute.”

“I know,” he chuckled while we followed behind everyone else as they headed towards the living room. “I wanted to do that as well when they started to criticize my parenting skills.”

“You Nan stuck up for you. I heard her tell your mom to butt out.”

With a grin, Jordan told me he almost laughed out loud when she said it. “Mom won’t say anything back but you know I’m going to hear it later when if she manages to get me alone.”

Squeezing his hand, I gave him a smile. “Don’t worry Jordy, I got your back.”

We were the last ones to enter the living room and with everyone watching us, waiting for us to sit down, we quickly made our way towards the far corner where the only vacant seat remained. Offering that last seat to me, Jordan knelt down onto the floor beside the chair and rested his shoulder against it. “Hope this doesn’t take too long,” he whispered, his head tilted back to watch me as I took my seat. “Don’t want my butt to fall asleep.”

“Don’t worry,” I ruffled his hair. “I’ll help you wake it up, if necessary.” I guess my comment wasn’t expected, Jordan laughed out loud drawing the attention of his whole family who wanted to know what was so funny. “It was nothing,” I replied as Jordan asked what the big news was.

His grandparents glanced around the room at all of us and then at each other. “Do you want to tell them?” His grandfather asked his grandmother. “Or do you want me to tell them?”

“You can tell them Dear,” she replied with a smile. “I’ll just….” She trailed off as she turned to grab something that wasn’t there. “Johnny, where did you put my purse?” John told her he believed she left it in the dining room. “Could you fetch it for me Johnny?”

Beside me, Jordan grinned and I knew it was because of his father’s immediate move to get up to ‘fetch’ his grandmother’s purse. Jordan always got a kick out of seeing his dad do his grandmother’s bidding because it was the only time John let anyone tell him what to do.

While John left the room to fetch his mother’s purse, Jenna, who was up with John when we sat down, now found herself standing in the middle of the living room unsure of what happened. I watched her slowly look around at the many faces in the room before her big green eyes settled on her daddy. “Dada,” she giggled as she started to run towards us as quickly as her tiny feet could take her.

Jordan laughed when Jenna plopped her butt down on his lap. “Thought you forgot about me,” he teased her as she wiggled around and ‘talked’ to him.

When John came back in the room with the purse, the first thing he seemed to do after he sat down was look across the room at Jordan and Jenna playing. I don’t know if it was just my imagination but he looked a little disappointed that Jenna wasn’t waiting for him to come back. It was only a moment though, for he quickly turned towards Nick, Amy and Bradley and stood again. Holding out his hands for Bradley, John asked if he could hold his grandson.

Not a word was spoken as John lifted Bradley carefully from Nick’s arms and returned to his seat next to Harriet. Once he was seated comfortably as possible with Harriet hanging over his shoulder to coo at Bradley, John happened to glance our way again.

I caught his eye and smiled at him.

He cleared his throat. “Mom, dad, what was it you wanted to tell us?”

As if he reminded her, his mother reached into her purse and pulled out a small handful of envelopes. Flipping through them, she smiled when she came across the one she was looking for. “There you go Johnny,” she held out the envelope to her son.

“What is this?” John asked as he took the envelope.

“Open it,” his mother replied as she stood, flipping through the rest of the envelopes as she went. “You father will explain it.” Glancing up from the envelopes, she smiled and headed for Mike and Eric. “Here you go Michael,” she said as she handed him a similar envelope before moving on to Nick.

“Nicholas,” she read off as she handed him one. “And Bradley,” she handed that one to Amy.

Curiosity and confusion, that’s the look that most of his family had on their faces as she crossed the room to where Jordan and I were seated. “Jordan,” she held out the last two envelopes to him. “One is for you and the other is for Jenna.”

“What is it Nan?” Jordan asked as he stared up at her.

“Why,” she smiled at him. “It’s a gift.”

No one made a move to open the envelopes. “Go on,” she prompted them. “Open the envelopes.”

“Yes,” her husband jumped in. “Open them up.”

They waited and waited but still no one moved. “Oh my,” Jordan’s grandmother turned to her husband. “Maybe you should tell them now so they will open it.”

“Oh of course,” Jordan’s grandfather grinned as he glanced around the room at his family and announced, “We sold the farm.”

Jaws hit the floor and John hit the roof. He demanded to know why they sold and why he wasn’t aware of it. He had so many questions, all of which he fired off immediately but his parents weren’t shaken, they told him that they thought long and hard about it and it was the right choice for them. “We didn’t sell it all,” they explained when John demanded to know where they were going to live. “We kept the house and a couple acres. We didn’t need all that land Johnny.”

We watched in shock and horror as John continued to rant and rave about them selling the land without letting him or the rest of the family know. “Calm down Johnny,” his mother snapped. “Your father and I had been talking for years about selling the land and giving a little something to our kids and their families. We aren’t getting any younger and we wanted to do this now instead of burdening our children with it after we passed on.”

“Brian and Meredith already know about this?”

“No, they don’t know. We decided to tell you and your family first, since you are the oldest Johnny.” Noticing that no one had opened the envelopes still, Jordan’s grandmother ordered her grandkids to open them.

Jordan and Mike didn’t make a move to open it but Nick, after being poked in the ribs by Amy, turned the envelope over and ripped the flap open. Amy leaned in over his shoulder as he pulled out the cheque inside. Amy’s eyes popped out of her head and Nick went pale as she shrieked, “$50,000?”

“That’s right,” Nan replied. “$50,000 for each of the grandkids and $25,000 for our little great grandkids.”