Chapter 18

Megan's POV

I'm sitting in the Parish Hall which is all decked out in white streamers with wedding themed decorations everywhere. It's a little tacky, but the girls had fun decorating it. With a little guidance the girls have thrown a nice luncheon. Now it comes time for the part I was dreading. The presents.

Lindsay sits down next to me and offers to record who gives me what and all that stuff. However, Hannah and Anna sit on the other side. They announce they will be making a "bouquet" of the ribbons for use in the rehearsal. And they remind everyone that for every ribbon I break unwrapping presents, Don and I will have one child. Lindsay leans over and says "Sorry, someone else approved this."

I'm handed a very well wrapped package. Of course I have to start out by breaking the bow. Both my Aunt and Maura Flack smile widely and laugh. I manage to get by with breaking only three bows total. Hannah and Anna turned all the bows and a paper plate into a very interesting looking "bouquet."

I guess this shower hasn't been too bad. The girls had fun and Lindsay had prevented anymore games. No toilet paper wedding dresses or anything like that!

Don's POV

"Good game, Dan. Next time, however, I'm going to kick your ass."

"Whatever, Don. Let's go get a slice," said Danny.

So, Danny and I walked over to Ray's from the Y where we had been shooting hoops. We place our orders and our sodas and find a table.

"You think the girls are having fun?" asks Danny.

"Which ones? Lindsay and Megan? No. My mother and Megan's Aunt? Yeah, probably. Anna and her friends? Of course," I answer.

"At least, they left us alone," says Danny.

"Hey, Danny," I say. "I wanted to talk to you about Anna and the mall thing."

"We really appreciate that. Lindsay felt really horrible that we weren't around."

"No problem, Danny. Megan and I consider her to be like one of our nieces. I just think you and Linds should be careful about letting her hang out with those girls."

"What do you mean? Leaving her at the mall was pretty crummy, but kids don't always think," asked Danny.

"Well, the girls ended up at the station later that evening. One of the boyfriends was driving drunk and the girls had been drinking too," I said.

Danny grimaced.

"Plus, when I talked to Anna, she was still kind of shaken up, so I think I got stuff out of her that she might not have said later. Her friends were picking out Victoria's secret stuff to give their boyfriends for Christmas. They suggested Anna get something to get Chris's attention. She said it made her uncomfortable. When she told me, she looked real uncomfortable and maybe kind of scared. So, I just don't think those girls are good for her. She's so young. You know."

"Oh believe me, I know," said Danny. "I'll definitely let Lindsay know. I just can't believe some of this. I feel like some of the girls are so much more aggressive than they were when we growing up. It's not like I want Anna to be stuck in some kind of 50s double standard. It just seems like too much."

"Yeah, I know. When, I was in high school my ma was always on me to behave like a gentleman and she insisted my sisters behave like ladies. Some of it was sexist bullshit, but some of it, might have been ok . . . . oh, crap?"

"What?" asked Danny.

"Danny, since you were a teenager, which girl made you show you were serious before she went to bed with you?"

"Lindsay. But I still don't get where you are going."

"Danny, Megan was that girl for me."

"Yeah, so? That's why you are marrying her isn't it? Crap, I see where you are going with this. But Don, they had boyfriends before us, I mean I know Lindsay did, and while there weren't lots of guys there were guys."

"Yeah, there were guys for Megan too, but they were always relationships with potential. So basically we want any daughters we have and Anna to avoid guys like us, and we need to make sure that any sons we have don't become guys like us," said Don.

"So how do we do that? I mean I already pretty much told Anna that any guy who treats her like I treated most women before Lindsay doesn't love her," said Danny.

"That's probably a start. Megan and Lindsay are smart, they can probably tell us. Plus, there's probably stuff in those books that Megan reads about adolescent development."

"Yeah, Lindsay made me read some parts of books about teenage girls when Anna first came to live with us. They had some useful stuff in them. Stuff about how she needs to see how healthy relationships work. I certainly didn't get that at home."

"My folks had a good relationship, but it seemed to me that it was all about raising a houseful kids. I never wanted that. I mean I want a couple of rugrats, but not a baby every 18 months or two years. I don't think my parents ever went out alone together after Tony was born until Kathleen was in grade school. They had been married like 15 years at the point and Tony came the second year of their marriage. I want some time with Megan," said Don.

"Maybe that's what we have to show them. At least we've probably got awhile before we've got to raise sons that aren't like we were," said Danny.

Anna's POV

The shower today was so much fun! Megan got some really nice stuff. It kind of made me wonder what it would be like to be the bride. I know it's not very likely to happen, but I kind of had this picture in my head of being Chris's bride. I know it's silly, but it was kind of nice too. I don't think I'll tell him about it though.

Seeing the whole team together, made me miss Jenna. I know she went to live with her aunt and uncle somewhere in Connecticut, but that's all. Maybe I could write her a letter. I mean I don't understand everything that happened to her, but I do understand losing your parents and having to go live your aunt and uncle. Maybe Aunt Lindsay can get me her address.

Danny's POV

"Hey Lindsay, where's Anna?" asked Danny.

"She's over at the Millers for dinner and to spend the evening. I talked to Jen Miller and Chris's older brother will bring her home by midnight. His girlfriend lives near here and he's got to take her home."

"I can't imagine Louie driving one of my girlfriends home. Are you sure that's the deal?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Jason doesn't have to pay for the gas or insurance on the car if he does errands for his parents and drives his brother around. Megan says he's a nice boy."

"Well good, because I need to talk to you about Anna."

"What's up?" asked Lindsay.

"Well Flack and I were hanging out today and he filled me in on the adventure at the mall. He doesn't think we should let Anna hang out with those girls. They ended up at the police station. One of the boys was driving drunken and the other had all been drinking too."

"Well what should we do?" "Forbid her to see them?" "Won't that just make her more inclined to want to do?"

"Normally, I'd agree with you," said Danny "but according to Flack the girls made her uncomfortable earlier by suggesting she buy lingerie to wear for Chris."

"What? She's too young. Way too young. And she told Don Flack about this?"

"Linds, Flack thinks she was shook up enough that she didn't think too much about it. She told him it made her uncomfortable, that her relationship with Chris wasn't like that. So anyway, I think if we find a reason to say know when she asks to go out with these girls she'll be okay with it. Not that she can't see them, but find some reason to say no. I don't think she feels comfortable, but she doesn't want to feel like a baby."

"Did you and Don figure that out yourselves? I'm impressed. You are a great father and Don will be one too."

"Thanks Lindsay! Don and I came to an alarming conclusion earlier. We realized until we met you and Megan that we were guys that we'd never want out daughters to date and that we don't want our sons to be. You and Megan are going to have help us with them because we're clueless."

"You guys shouldn't be that hard on yourselves. I think we'll be fine. I think we will show our kids a model of relationships that will help out with that."

Megan's POV

"Hey babe, it smells great," says Don as he walks in the kitchen door. He comes up behind me while I'm standing at the stove stirring spaghetti sauce and kisses the top of my head. "How was the shower?"

"I survived. The girls had a wonderful time. So did my aunt and your mom."

"That's good. Danny and I had a good game and realized that without you and Lindsay we'd be screwed as parents."

"Well, of course! No, seriously, Don, you will be a great father and Danny is a great father."

"Thanks, Megan. I agree Danny is doing a great job with Anna, but we both realized that we don't want our kids to approach relationships the way we did before you and Lindsay."

"It'll be fine Don. I think knowing you want something different for your kids is half the battle."