He said, “Dina, tell me how much you need, and we’ll pay you. We were going to increase your salary with these new additions anyway. I know. We can put you on as an employee of the business, that way you can get medical, too.” Scott was thinking they would just have to pay on those loans a little longer.
Janie interrupted, “Scott?”
He looked at his wife.
“I like that idea, but I have a better one.” He continued to look at her questioningly. She continued, “Dina, why don’t you live here with us? You can have our mom’s old apartment out back. It would take us a couple of weeks to have it ready, but we’d love for you to live here with us. Wouldn’t we, Scott?”
He was no fool. There would be no disagreeing with this. When they did this, his workshop was gone, which was fine. He could always play at the equipment shed at the business if he needed to. Besides, he thought it was a great idea.
“Yes. All of us would like that. Kathleen?”
Kathleen walked over and picked up her other hand. “Please. It would mean a lot to us.”
Dina was overwhelmed. “Are you sure? I don’t want to be a burden.”
Kathleen looked over at Scott and said, “What was it you told me a while back? Something about being part of the side-by-side, partnership? Well, Dina, here we are, all three of us, side-by-side-by-side asking you to stay. We love you and our children love you. You can’t go. Your family is here.”
Dina latched onto Kathleen at saying that. She felt the same way. Her children, the Parkers, and Ramon’s family were her family. There wasn’t anyone else that really mattered.
“If you’re sure, I’d like that.”
Scott said, “I still think we will bring you onto the business. You’ll be our official childcare manager or something we can make stick for the IRS. I know there are some tax issues there, but we’ll find a way around that.”
“Thank you, Scott, all of you. I’m overwhelmed. If you’re serious just give me a date, and we’ll start making plans.”
Janie said, “You just tell us a date. You could move into the guest bedroom today if you wanted.”
That brought a grin to her lips as she remembered the last time she spent the night. She said, “Now I don’t have to worry about having that extra glass of sangria. Worst case scenario, I can just stumble or crawl my way out to the apartment.”
They all laughed at that.
Registering what she heard earlier, Dina scrunched up her forehead with a look of confusion and asked, “Did you say that both of you are pregnant?”
Kathleen smiled, rubbed her belly, and said, “We are. We most definitely are.”
They took a few minutes to explain the situation to Dina without going into details of exactly how Kathleen was impregnated, though they did say that Scott was the father. Dina was no fool. She had noticed all of them acting differently over the last few weeks, more bubbly, much closer. She didn’t know for certain, but she suspected that Scott was as involved in Kathleen’s pregnancy as he was in Janie’s.
While unusual, it didn’t matter to her. She had grown to like and then love Kathleen, too. She was very happy for all of them, and hopefully, in around nine months, she would be looking after four little Parkers. Her life was suddenly looking up.
She moved into the guest room the next day.
At the office, on the day they told Dina about the dual pregnancy, Ramon walked into Scott’s office at lunchtime.
“Congratulations, Scott.”
“Thank you. I think. Why are you congratulating me?”
“On being a dad, again, twice,” replied Ramon.
“Wow. News gets around fast. Did Dina call you?”
“Ha. Man, you’ve got a lot to learn about having Latinas in your life. The only thing faster than the speed of light is the speed with which information gets shared in the Latina family and friends’ social network. I swear we wouldn’t need the CIA or NSA if we just had a few dozen well-placed Latina ladies. They know everything about everything, and they like to share. You have no idea. I’m not even certain how many ladies it went through before it got back to Emilia, then me.
He continued, “You’d be surprised though. If it isn’t a secret, that information will spread like wildfire. If it’s a real secret, though, you couldn’t torture it out of them. It’s the damnedest thing.”
Scott chuckled. He could only imagine what that was like. This wasn’t a secret, but he hadn’t planned on everyone knowing so quickly. Oh well. He would learn from this.
“Thanks, Ramon. It is good news, and I don’t care who knows.” He thought for a minute and then said to Ramon, “I’m sorry to hear that your stepmom is moving back to Miami. I’m sure you’re going to miss her.”
Ramon shrugged his shoulders, and replied, “It’s funny, man. She took really good care of me growing up, but we were never that close. She cared for me, but I’m not sure that she ever loved me, at least not like a mom.”
“But you were her stepson.”
“It’s different from family to family. That was one of the things I always envied about Janie. Mrs. Winter loved her just as much as she did Kathleen. There was no difference between the two in her eyes. She was a special woman. It’s hard to believe she’s been gone a year. Man, I really, really miss her.”
“We all do, Ramon because she was a very special lady.”
“She was. She was very special to me. Both of the Winters were. They were like family. My family. You don’t have to tell Janie or Kathleen I said that.”
“I’m sure they already know.”
Ramon wasn’t so sure about that. He broke the melancholy mood by saying, “Anyway. Congrats, man. Emilia and I are really happy for all of you.”
Ramon shook Scott’s hand in congratulations, and Scott was filled with pride at that moment, happy about the new lives that were coming.
________________
They had the mother-in-law’s apartment ready the following weekend. Since Kathleen wasn’t driving and didn’t really need to, she let Dina have her small SUV to use whenever she needed it. They brought some of Kathleen’s furniture from storage to set up Dina’s place. Scott took his things and all of Amanda’s paintings they had saved, around three dozen, and put those in storage. Very quickly, Dina became even more firmly ensconced with the Parkers.
They did have the business employ her but listed her as an admin. They gave her a raise, and they set up a household account with regular deposits for her so that she didn’t need to ask them for money for groceries or something for the kids. It took a month, but they finally convinced her that if it involved food or something for the kids, she didn’t need permission. Just do it. It made her feel even more like part of the family.
On the weekends that Janie and Kathleen would go shopping, they took Dina with them. Over the course of a couple of months, he noticed Dina’s wardrobe looking newer and less worn. Janie confided in him that she had been helping Dina out by picking up the tab when they went shopping. He was happy about that.
Some weekends, Scott would keep the kids so the women could have a more relaxed outing, and he would prepare a grilled dinner for them to enjoy upon their return. They appreciated that immensely.