Nothing ruined a Saturday morning more than the shrill ringing of a phone at eight thirty. Who would conceivably wake up this early today? The day of the Jewish Sabbath…okay, so neither of them were Jewish, but still…it was a fitting excuse.

"Mmm…five more minutes." Tommy pulled the pillow over his head trying to block out the noise.

Groans of protest came from the woman next to him, "It's not the alarm…" Rolling over, she groped for the phone on the bed side. Well, less groping and more incessant beating on the wood until she found what she was looking for. Picking it up off the cradle, her voice was thick with sleep as she answered "Ello?"

"Oh, I must have the wrong number, I was looking for my grandson, Thomas."

Shit.

"Umm…hold on please." Jude pressed the phone to the mattress before yanking the pillow off of Tommy's head.

"There's a woman looking for her grandson. And I answered the phone. Oh God." Tommy managed to pry one eye open and look at her as if she were crazy.

"Wrong number." He mummbled before trying to pull the covers over his head.

"I think not." She pulled them back down and he whined in protest as she thrust the phone at him.

Though his pouting he answered, his voice also obviously tired. "Hello?"

"Thomas! Is that you?"

That voice. Oh God. His eyes shot open wide and fully alert now. "Grand-mère. You're calling me. At home. So early. And on a Saturday."

"Of course Thomas. It's the Home's Saturday Brunch. I just had some free time before I went down there and I wanted to call and see how my favorite grandson was doing."

"Yeah, now I'm your favorite." He grumbled to himself and Jude giggled, laying back down and hugging the sheets closer to her body.

"What was that, Thomas?"

"I said I'm glad I'm your favorite, Grand-mère."

"Ah, that's what I thought, but you can never be so sure, especially with everything falling apart. Let me tell you, take advantage of your youth Thomas! It's all downhill after 50. Your hearing goes, you have arthritis, vision is shot…"

"Grand-mère, I hate to rush this conversation, but did you call for a reason?"

There was a long pause and the line was silent. "Grand-mère?"

"Your thinking and mind go too, along with everything else…oh! I remember what I called for now, Thomas. I was reading the newspaper yesterday and found another silly rumor about you."

Tommy let out a sigh. This was why she called? Rumors about Tommy and his personal and professional life were a dime a dozen. This was nothing new and he thought that his family had learned to ignore things that didn't come straight out of his mouth. But then again, his contact with them was so limited, they were hardly kept in the loop.

"What was it this time, Grand-mère?"

"It was really silly actually, which is why I just had to call and share. They were claiming that you were engaged to some girl..what was her name again…April…no, June? It might have been June."

"You mean Jude." With the mention of her name, she perked up and listened to his conversation more closely.

"There you go! Did you read that article too?"

"Umm…no, not exactly."

"So then someone told you about it."

"No Grand-mère, not quite."

"How did you know about it then?"

"Well, I'm engaged Grand-mère. Her name is Jude."

Silence again. And then he heard a clattering followed by more silence.

"Grand-mère?" Nothing. "Grand-mère?" He repeated with a little more force and concern this time. He finally heard commotion in the background.

"Henry, please, I need to sit down. Pick up the phone for me, no, I'll be fine. He's engaged. I hope she's not a whore. But that was her who answered the phone. She's sleeping with him already! She might be a whore, oh son of Mary…and we and his parents raised him so well." Tommy frowned at this but once there was someone on the other line again, he pretended to not have heard anything.

"Hello?" A gruff voice can over the phone and Tommy was relieved to hear it opposed to the incessant chatter of his grandmother.

"Grand-père." Unlike his grandmother, his grandfather was a laidback man of few words. Nothing made him happier than taking his boat out on the weekends and spending the day fishing with a six pack.

"How are you doing, son? I hear you're engaged?"

"I'm good, doing well. And yeah, I'm engaged. Best decision I've ever made." He smiled and reached out to hold Jude's hand while he continued to talk on the phone. He heard the voice of his grandmother in the background again. "Give me the phone, Henry, I need to talk to Thomas."

His grandfather audibly sighed before speaking into the receiver again, "Your grandmother talks to talk to you again, It's good to hear from you though, we'll have to take the boat out again."

"Of course, bye Grand-père." He heard the exchange of the receiver before his grandmother's voice came over the ear piece again.

"Thomas. We must fix this."

"Fix what, Grand-mère?" He was having a hard time keeping his frustration in check as this woman continually tried to dictate his life.

"June, we have to meet her."

"Jude." Tommy corrected.

"Yes, of course. June. She simply has to meet the family."

Tommy felt his heart rate increase at the idea of Jude meeting his family. Hell, he didn't want to have to meet his family again. "Oh, I don't think that's such a good-"

"Oh nonsense. I'll plan it all out and then call you back. I can't wait to meet June!"

"Jude." But the line had clicked dead before he had a chance to get the entire word out. Handing the receiver back to Jude, she put it back on the cradle before rolling back into his arms and smirking.

"So…. Grand-mère sounds like quite the character."

"Ugh…yeah, she's something else. She wants to meet you, and she wants you to meet the family."

She turned around so she was now facing Tommy, "Really?" her eyes shone with excitement. That was not the reaction he was expecting or hoping for. This was his family, his crazy, nutcase family.

"Jude, you don't want to meet these people…"

"Lies. Of course I do. I want to meet your family, see where you came from."

"Trust me when I say-"

"Shh. Silence. We'll talk about it later. Once I've gotten a few more hours of sleep." With that, she grinned at him and pulled the covers up over both of them, successfully blocking out the intrusive sunlight as they desperately tried to cling onto their fleeting slumber.