Chapter Nine

Shawn::

The next morning the phone rang at 4:30. I had called the front desk and asked for a wake up call at that time. Ofcourse it is easy to ask them to call you; it’s the waking up part that isn’t easy. I sleepily lugged my form out of bed and shook Stine and Lorri until they were awake. Surprisingly enough, Annie was already awake, dressed, and watching TV while writing something.

“Morning Sunshine,” she teased as I stood before her in my pj pants and sports bra and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I mumbled a reply and made my way to the suitcase designated mine. The one with clothes flowing freely about since I had been too lazy to clean them up the night before.

There wasn’t much chatter as I grabbed the first matching outfit I came across and stumbled to the bathroom. The bright light on the oddly white bathroom made me squint even more. The white bathroom made me think of Psycho which made me think of Jake since the director of that had directed a music video of their’s once upon a time. By the time my clothes were on and my hair was in place I was more wth it.

I quickly grabbed my purse and headed out of the door after muttering, “I’m going to get Jade,” to Annie. The walk to the airport was quick and before I knew it, I was at the gate. I waited a couple minutes and focused my attention on the people bussling around, even around 5:00 in the morning.

“Momma?” I turned around and hugged my oldest daughter as she flew into my arms.

“Hey Jade. Ready for Rosie?” I asked as we grabbed the small carry-on bag she had.

“Oh yeah! Grandpa made me already get dressed and everything,” she beamed.

“I see that. You look very nice.” We walked back to the hotel, talking about her trip with her Grandpa and I immediately went to the bathroom where I frowned at what I was wearing, remembering that I had to wear the family outfits I had put so much time into making.

I walked back across the hotel room designated as the living area and pulled the nicely hung and ironed dress out of the closet. Both mine, Jade’s, Autumn’s, Megan’s, Sophie’s, Olivia’s, Isabella’s, Bridget’s, McKenna’s, and Madeleine’s were pale yellow, ankle-length dresses. They were waist cut with a little blue flower at the left hip. Tiny blue pansies were sprinkled all over and the girls’ had collars while mine was just a t. shirt collar. Autumn and Megan had hats while the toddlers had bows and Madeleine had a little head wrap thingy. The boys all had pale yellow Church shirts, the same shade as the dresses, and khaki shorts. It had been hard to find something that Zachary would wear and that I thought was cute enough for the toddler boys and Andy. I was always grateful that, for the moment, Andy still let Mommy dress him up.

I slipped on my dress on the spot since I noticed that Lorri had taken my bathroom spot. I decided that my french braid was fancy enough and just let myself be. The hard part was about to begin.

“Wait, Annie. Do you think we should just let the kids eat downstairs in their pj’s instead of worrying about them messing up their clothes?” I asked my oldest sister as she lounged on the couch.

“Duh Shawny Baby. Have you learned nothing in your eleven years of motherhood?” she never took her gaze from the TV. I stuck my tongue out at her and headed towards a room. I didn’t bother waking Madeleine up, since I knew once the commotion started she would arise.

“Autumn, Zachary, Andy. Wake up guys. Jade’s here. We’re gonna go eat breakfast,” I shook them each in turn until I was satisfied with their movement. The mention of food awoke Zachary and he hopped out of bed. I had always been jealous of both his and Autumn’s ability to just wake up. She, too, arose after remembering Rosie.

“Andy, wake up,” I continued to shake his shoulders. He swatted at the air and went back down. I smiled evily, “Okay Buddy. You asked for this. Oh what a beautiful morning....Oh what a beautiful day.” My broadway singing got him to his feet.

“Mom, do we go ahead and get dressed?” Zachary stuck his head back in the door.

“No, just throw some jeans and a shirt on. We’re gonna eat breakfast before we get ready,” I replied and with a quick nod he disappeared back into his clothes corner. The toddlers were already mostly awake since they woke up around 9:00 on regular days. Being 9:15 the only toddlers still asleep were Olivia and Sophie. I softly stroked Sophie’s cheek until her eyes fluttered open and she immediately began to cry.

“Shhhh. It’s okay Little Doll,” I shushed her and rocked her in my arms until she was a little more awake and aware of her surroundings. Olivia was much easier since Sophie’s crying had awoken her. We ushered the toddlers into the stroller and I grabbed Madeleine. Megan was wandering around aimlessly, having been awoken by her big brother, Andy, who was most likely hoping she would fuss and therefor get revenge on me. But she didn’t and we left the room peacefully.

Jade received enough hugs to last a lifetime from her siblings who had missed her terribly. I had understood her need for a break from her siblings, though, and had allowed her to take an extra day off.

The hotel was already alive with people bustling about, many wearing suits or dresses. In the elevator, Andy and Zachary had another small scuffle over who got to push the buttons and the fight was solved when Jade reached over them and punched the “lobby” button. I giggled a little and then turned my attention to Isabella who was playing with McKenna’ hair.

We took two elevators with everyone except Autumn, Jade, Megan, Jackson, Lorri and Annie in one. On the ground-floor it was even more alive with people grabbing tables. Since it was a little later on in the morning we easily grabbed a couple tables towards the front and pushed them together to form one large one. Not much conversation had taken place since I guess meeting Daddy had worn everyone out the night before.

I looked at Zachary and Autumn whispering to Jade and I knew they were telling her about the events to the previous night. It was quite obvious as her fist clenched and her knuckles turned white. The DeArmonds were nowhere in sight and I was grateful since I wanted to start the day off with good vibes. A different waitress from the night before kindly brought us the appropriate number of booster seats and breakfast went uneventful.

“Mom, do we have to see Dad again today?” Autumn asked. She laughed a little as Harrison blew bubbles in his milk.

I gave him a warning glare before answering her, “Sorry Auty. But there really isn’t a way to avoid him. We might go see him and his brothers, Isaac and Noah, perform tonight.” She didn’t say anything to that, just went back to her breakfast of eggs and buscuits.

After we had finished breakfast we went back up to the rooms where the usual amount of commotion took place.

“Mom!!! Zachary won’t give me my hat back!”

“Mommy! Megan won’t let me put her socks on!”

“Mommy! Jackson took my shoes!!”

“Momma! Isabella won’t stop pulling my hair out!” I french braided Autumn’s hair like mine since she had specifically asked me to.

“There, how’s that?” She touched the braid and examined it in the mirror.

“Great! Thanks Mom,” she smiled. With a quick kiss on the cheek she ran off to get someone dressed.

The toddler girls were rather hard to get together. Bridget kept trying to pull the bow out of her hair until I eventually got her satisfied with a little stuffed kitty. Isabella, who is extremely tender headed I might add, kept screaming when I accidently pulled her hair but she wouldn’t hold still and kept jerking away. Olivia was actually cooperative, other than being extremely wiggly. Sophie kept trying to stick her fingers in her hair as I was trying to put it up which kept leaving bumps. McKenna was the best behaved and just sat there quietly as I put her hair up.

The boy toddlers weren’t that hard since all I had to do was run a brush through their hair and pray that they kept up with the little khaki hats I had made them. We somehow got it all together and left the room at 10:45.

“Mommy, is Daddy going to be there?” Andy asked, hopeful, as I wheeled the stroller out of the hotel room.

“Probably not Sweetie. Sorry,” I replied, not really sorry at all.

“Daddy!” Megan gave an excited yelp and jumped into Jake’s arms as he came down the hall.

“Hello there Princess. You look very nice this morning,” Jake continued to hold her. Lorri looked at me and I became suddenly interested in Madeleine pulling on the flower at my waist. I glanced at Jade, who glanced at me, and both of us shared a “blah” face.

“I’m gonna be on TV Daddy!” Megan smiled proudly. Andy also gave his Dad a hug and I could see the toddlers trying to get out of the stroller.

“Daddy, are you gonna watch us?” Andy asked. Obviously my answer hadn’t been good enough. I looked up and saw Jake looking at me, and then at Jade. Immediately his gaze shifted to Andy.

“Sorry Big Boy. I’ve got some things to do with my parents today,” he apologized. I felt Andy’s heart drop and felt bad for the little boy. How could I have let my own selfishness come in the way when finally Jake was doing what I had always wanted him to do?

“We had better get going if we’re going to be on time,” Annie stated, noticing the akwardness enveloping us.

“Yeah Jade. Let’s get going,” Autumn grabbed Jade’s hand. I guess it clicked to Jake who that was and he looked solidly shocked. Stine quickly agreed and we started off. Megan reluctantly let go of her Dad and both her and Andy followed us.

In the lobby we saw Trisha walking around. “Oh there you are girls! Listen, I was wondering. Would you mind if we went to the show today? I’d like to see my grandkids on TV,” she asked me.

I looked at Andy and saw his face start to brighten. I knew that I had to let Jake come, even if it meant at my own expense.

“Sure. Why not.” She smiled and waved good-bye as we left the hotel, her never noticing Jade.

The Rosie O’Donnel studios wasn’t far from where we were and it was such a beautiful March day that we just needed to walk. So we embarked on our journey, with me worried the whole time about the fact that my children looked just like their Daddy and that it was Rosie’s job to point out these kind of things.

****************************************************

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Back