This one went on waaaaaay too long, so this part shall be split in half. I will post the second half once I’m done writing it. Thanks for sticking this out with me! I’ve been swamped with work and with being an awesome mom. :) Feels good to write a bit again.
Seven months later, on a bright but chilly Sunday afternoon, an already-exasperated Bracken led a somewhat nervous Kendra to the front door of his family home. He knew exactly how this evening was going to go: open the door, and Kendra would immediately be whisked away by his sisters, who were bound to overshare about him and his childhood for hours on end. They’d all have dinner together, Father would give him way too many knowing glances over their meal, and Mother would be so pleased to finally have Kendra over that she’d be smug about it. There’d be laughter, Kendra would fit right in, she’d be fawned over, and Bracken would be on the receiving end of much teasing.
“I apologize for my family in advance,” he said, pausing in front of the door.
Kendra squeezed his hand. “They can’t be that bad.”
“For you? Oh, no. I expect you’ll have a wonderful evening. It’s me who is about to be thoroughly ragged on.”
She laughed. “And I thought I was nervous.”
Bracken smiled back at her. “I’m being dramatic,” he admitted. “My sisters are going to be unbearable, though.”
Kendra laughed again, which made him smile more.
“I’m quite fond of you,” he stated.
“I like you, too,” she replied before standing on her tiptoes and planting a kiss on his cheek.
He could feel his face warming up, and released her hand to pull her into an embrace, but before he could quite do so, Enemy Number One opened the door and squealed. “Ahhhh! Look, everyone! Bracken is here, and he’s brought a lovely young woman with him!”
Kendra’s eyes widened a bit in surprise, Bracken surmised, before Enemies Number One, Two and Three grabbed hold of her arms and ushered her inside.
Bracken shook his head and followed behind the swarm of ladies, and made sure to close the front door behind him.
“I’m Elowen,” Enemy Number One announced. “The youngest of Bracken’s sisters.” She pointed to Enemies Two and Three, introduced them to Kendra as “Lizelle and Iolanthe, the lawyer and the seamstress,” then proceeded to gush over how gorgeous Bracken’s girlfriend was.
Girlfriend. He’d gone so long without one, he’d forgotten how nice it was to be able to say that. His chest felt light and cheerful, despite being surrounded by far too many crooning sisters at the same time.
Lizelle caught Bracken’s gaze and sent him a pointed look. “You look happy,” she observed.
“I am,” he replied as he snapped out of his reverie. Elowen was speaking rapid-fire at Kendra, who didn’t seem to be absorbing any of the statements which were being thrown at her. “Please stop harassing Kendra.” He walked toward his girlfriend and held out his hand to her, but Elowen slapped it away.
“We’re not harassing her,” his sister stated.
Iolanthe clicked her tongue in disapproval - whether at him or at Elowen, Bracken wasn’t entirely sure.
“You’re the first person Bracken has ever brought home,” Lizelle explained to Kendra. “I’m not sure if he’s told you that or not. He’s probably been dreading this moment, because he knew how much of a fuss there would be.” She grinned, and Bracken closed his eyes and ran one of his hands down his face.
“Don’t make me regret bringing her here,” he warned all three of his present sisters.
“Or what? You’ll never let us see her again? Might as well get used to it, Bracken. We see how smitten you are,” Elowen teased. “Yep. I get the feeling you’ll be around for a long time,” she said to Kendra, who blushed.
So it begins, he mused to himself. “Where’s Jasmine?” he asked.
Elowen smiled brightly and sighed in a truly overdramatic fashion. “My lovely, beautiful Jasmine is with Laurel and the girls at the moment,” she said. “They were picking out flower girl dresses, but should be back any time now.”
“Without you?” Lizelle asked.
“Divide and conquer. I get to choose other things for our wedding.”
“Wait - Laurel’s in town?” Bracken asked.
“Yes,” Lizelle said. “She heard you were bringing Kendra over, and decided she needed to come meet her.”
Bracken smiled despite himself. If anyone could help him manage his other three sisters - well, Iolanthe wasn’t so bad, he supposed - it would be Laurel. As the eldest child, and as a mother herself, she had a knack for conflict management.
(Also, she came with two energetic nieces who Bracken positively adored, especially when their presence offered him a means of escape from his sisters’ teasing. Bonus points.)
Lizelle led Kendra over to the living room and sat her down on a sofa. Bracken and his other two sisters followed along, and Bracken sat himself down next to Kendra before one of his sisters could take his spot. Elowen frowned at him, but he just smiled and waved at her in response, then took hold of Kendra’s hand and gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. She opened her hand and they wove their fingers together.
Iolanthe smiled brilliantly at the sight, and turned to Lizelle, who also grinned. Bracken felt his face heating up again. He cleared his throat. “So, Kendra, these are three of my sisters. Elowen ran introductions very quickly, but I’ll do so again. Laurel, who’s not here yet, is the oldest of all of us. She has two children, and lives about two hours away from here with her husband. Then there’s Iolanthe.” The sister in question smiled and raised her hand. “She is a very talented, self-employed seamstress, and she loves other forms of art as well. You should see some of the dresses and other clothes or blankets she has made; perhaps she can show you some of her portfolio later?”
Iolanthe blushed. “I’d love to,” she replied. “If that’s alright with you,” she hurriedly added, her comment directed toward Kendra.
“Of course,” Kendra said. “I’d really like that.”
Bracken smiled and continued. “Next is Lizelle,” he began. “She recently obtained her law degree, and works for a law firm in the city.”
“What type of law do you practice?” Kendra asked.
“Family, for now,” Lizelle replied. “I think I want to head into more of a corporate counsel or contract counsel role eventually, but I need more experience under my belt first. Right now I help people with their wills and testaments, prenuptial agreements, powers of attorneys, I help people set up trust funds for their kids. Things like that.”
“It can be,” Lizelle admitted. “Like I said, I’m more interested in other areas of law, but I’ll get there.”
Bracken gestured toward his final sister. “Elowen is the baby of the family, and she’s the one who bombarded you earlier.”
“Excuse me — you’re the baby,” Elowen corrected. “I am the favorite.”
His eyes rolled out of instinct. “Favorite. Sure. We’ll go with that, Miss I-Got-Caught-Skipping-School-At-Least-Once-Every-Month.”
Elowen grinned. “You forgot, I’m also Miss Planted-Frogs-In-Bracken’s-Bed-When-He-Was-Tiny.”
“I couldn’t sleep in that bed for days,” he muttered as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
Kendra laughed, probably at their antics. “You remind me of Seth and I,” she explained when he looked at her.
“My brother,” Kendra continued. “He’s younger than me, and likes to pull pranks and generally cause a lot of mischief. Although he’s mellowing out a little now that he’s getting older.”
Bracken decided not to bring up the fact that Seth had regularly been pestering him to propose to Kendra at random hours of the day for the past two weeks. It was far too soon for that, Bracken had insisted. Seth hadn’t seemed to care; the proof was in his text messages. His meddling was part of the reason why Bracken had brought Kendra to his family’s home for Sunday dinner today. That, and well… it was the right time.
Elowen clapped her hands. “Another troublemaker? I must meet this brother of yours.”
“I don’t think that’s a great idea right now,” Bracken interrupted. “One of you is enough to handle in one sitting. We don’t need two.”
Kendra laughed again, while Elowen pouted. “Well, you’d better make sure that our first meeting isn’t at your wedding. Something might explode in that case.”
“Oh, knock it off, Elowen,” Lizelle chastised. “You’ll meet him at some point, and I’m sure the earth will fall off its axis because of your combined chaotic power. Look at them. They’re marriage material. It’ll happen.”
Bracken planted his face into one of his hands again as he blushed, but turned to look at Kendra when she squeezed his other one.
“We’re young,” she said. “We have time.”
He smiled at her. “We do have time,” he replied. He raised their joined hands and kissed the back of hers.
Pink filled her cheeks and she looked to her left, where Bracken saw all three of his present sisters grinning at them. “Oh, shut up,” he muttered.
Elowen placed a hand on her heart and looked at her other two sisters while feigning injury. “Why, Bracken, I don’t believe we’ve said anything. Why must you wound us so?” she asked.
“Your faces said everything,” he replied.
“We’re home!” a voice called out from the front door. There were a lot of bustling noises, and then the unmistakable sounds of children chattering excitedly. Bracken kissed Kendra’s cheek and said, “My nieces are here,” before he stood up from the couch and walked over to the front entrance of the house. Kendra stayed where she was.
Upon seeing him, the two little girls shouted, “Uncle Bracken!” and proceeded to glue themselves to his legs while he laughed and tickled them. Laurel and Jasmine stood inside the hallway, the former looking decidedly more worn out than the latter, and Bracken embraced his eldest sister, trailing his nieces behind him as they giggled and refused to let go of his ankles.
“Hi, Bracken,” Laurel said as she smiled. “I see my daughters have staked their claims.”
“They can’t remain tethered to my legs if they want to play outside on the swings later,” he announced. As expected, this caught the girls’ attention.
“Swings?!” Piper, the older one, cried out. She leapt up from her position on top of Bracken’s foot and ran for the door to the backyard.
“In a minute,” Savannah, the younger one, complained while she better secured herself around Bracken’s knee. “I want Uncle Bracken to walk around some more first.” She looked up at him with her best puppy dog eyes, and he pretended to be wounded by her cuteness.
“I can’t bear it,” he played along. “Her adorable face is too much to refuse.”
Laurel laughed a little, then turned her gaze toward Kendra and asked him, “Is that her?”
Bracken looked at Kendra and found her still sitting down on the couch in the living room, looking back at him while his other sisters and Jasmine crowded around her, no doubt asking her a million different questions again. She smiled and waved at him, and he repeated her actions back to her. “Yes, that’s her,” he replied to Laurel. “Her name is Kendra.”
“She’s beautiful,” Laurel said, then returned her attention to her brother. “You look good, Bracken. Happiness looks good on you.”
Despite himself, he felt a little bashful at her comment. “Thank you,” he replied. “How have you been?”
“I’m well,” she said. “Jordan wished he could come this time around, but he has a few important business meetings tomorrow and Tuesday. He’ll come with us next time.”
“Uncle Bracken! Waaaaaaaalk!” Savannah shouted. He looked down at the little girl who clung to his knee. Piper had given up at some point and had instead run outside to play in the backyard.
“You wish to go for a walk, hmm?” he asked.
“Yes!” she cried, a glorious grin on her lips.
“Well then, a walk we shall have.” He moved toward the backyard as quickly as he could, and Savannah giggled so hard that he thought she would lose her grip and fall off his foot. When he reached the back door, he leaned over and picked her up, then flipped her upside-down and over his shoulder, and announced as she laughed even harder, “We’ll be outside!”
“Bracken, dear, don’t drop my granddaughter,” Mother called as she exited the kitchen.
“I would never!” he replied, then pretended to drop Savannah, who screamed at first, but immediately resumed laughter when he caught her in his arms. He couldn’t hold back his grin. “You didn’t think I’d actually drop you, did you?”
“Dinner will be ready in five minutes,” Mother warned. “Your father is finishing the salad and rolls.”
“Don’t get them all dirty,” she insisted. “Now. I’ve got a certain girlfriend to greet before we all sit down.” She wiped her hands on the towel she held, and made her way over to where Kendra was.
He turned to find that Piper had opened the back door and was calling to him. “Uncle Bracken, push me on the swing!”
“The swing?” he asked. “Are you sure about that?”
“Yes!” she shouted. “Way up high!”
Bracken put Savannah down onto her feet, told the girls, “Last one to the swingset’s a rotten egg,” and then ran outside and listened to their happy cries as they chased after him.
He caught a glimpse of his mother embracing a smiling Kendra before the door to the backyard closed.
