Right or wrong, this is what really happened.

 

The Plan

After John proposed, we sat in my car and devised our plan. He would pick up his children from school and come over to my house for an evening of pizza and fun together. I would pick up the Papa Murphy’s take-and-bake pizzas, greet my sons after school, and preheat the oven.

“What should I do about the ring, John!?! The boys will notice and ask me about it.”

“No, they won’t.” He calmly said. “They’re teenage boys.” Still, he could tell that I was nervous and made a suggestion. “Okay, if they do ask, just say, ‘It’s my ring. I haven’t been wearing it.’” Vague, but true … I could do that.

We kissed and briefly parted putting our plan into action.

Preparations

Everything went off without a hitch!

John supposed correctly. My boys never noticed or asked about my new ring … though, perhaps that was because I wore an oven mitt most of the evening and Joshua watched movies in my room.

As soon as they arrived, the oldest three started chatting and joking with one another. John and I rejoiced in their cheerful moods.

Joshua was another story. As an intuitive child, he had been waiting for something to happen for a few weeks. When I asked him to turn off his movie and come join everyone, he refused, which seemed an uncommon response for him. Knowing that “big news” would be hitting him soon, I gave him a pass and let him be for the moment.

Ding! The timer alerted me that the first pizza, the kids’ pizza, needed to come out of the oven. John and I took deep breaths … Game on!

John looked on from his kitchen barstool as the three oldest quickly began to devour their pizza. I tried to retrieve Joshua, again. Though upset, he eventually skulked downstairs with his Nerf rifle in hand. He laid snipper-style between the foyer and living room, aimed carefully, and hit John squarely in the ear. “Ow!”

With all four kids now “in the room” and me sitting beside John, we began.

The Telling …

Taking a deep breath, John said, “Hey guys! Can we have your attention for a minute? Josh, why don’t you come in here so that you can hear better.”

“I can hear you just fine from here.” Succinct … a verbal direct hit. Ouch!

“Suit yourself, but I think you are going to want to hear this.”

Before John could finish setting the ground rules for our discussion, Josh blurted out, “They’re getting married!” John and I exchanges a stunned look, but recovered quickly.

The older three looked at Josh and then slowly turned toward us. John took my hand, which tipped Jonah off to the truth, but Molly and Matthew still seemed in disbelief. They needed to hear it from their Dad’s mouth before the could grasp the reality.

“Well, yes. I asked Aimee to marry me today, and we are getting married.”

With that, Josh yelled, “I’M SO NOT DOING THIS!” and bounded up the stairs.

In unison, the older three stood up from their places at the table. They looked at one another in shock for a second or two and then reacted in unison.

Molly broke down, “Oh my god!” and fled the house despite the freezing temperatures.

“F— that!” Matthew yelled as he followed his sister out the door.

Jonah quietly walked off to his room.

“Well, that wasn’t exactly what we had expected,” I said. “I guess we better make some calls.”

John kissed me tenderly before checking on Molly and Matthew.

From her position at the end of the driveway, Molly said, “This is the one thing I told you I couldn’t do!”

He remained calm. “Molly, you don’t get to make that decision. I do.”

He invited them inside, but they refused. So that they wouldn’t freeze, he turned on his car, and let them sit inside. He told them that we had some calls to make, so we would appreciate that they stay off of their phones.

Tough Calls …

While John tended to Molly and Matthew, I called my ex-husband. We didn’t want him to hear the news from someone else, also I make it a practice of notify him promptly when major life changes occur that might affect him and the boys. Also, I try to  treat him the way in which I want to be treated, because that is the right thing to do.

“Hello.”

After asking whether he had a minute, I said, “I wanted to let you know that John and I are engaged.”

A slight pause, then “Ok.”

“We just told the kids, and I wanted to be sure that you heard it from me first.”

“Ok.”

“Uh, well, I guess I’ll talk to you later. Bye.”

“Ok … bye.”

Interesting …

I updated John after ensuring that his kids were okay and no longer in danger of becoming human popsicles.

Now came John’s turn. He dialed his first father-in-law. Sadly, the relationship with John’s first in-laws had become strained, at best, since we began dating a year and a half ago. I was the first person John dated after Melissa died and, even though they had encouraged him for years to begin dating, the reality seemed more difficult than they had anticipated. In fact, I had yet to meet them.

“Hello?”

John’s conversation mirrored the conversation with my ex. Apparently, the appropriate response to such news is “Ok.”

With the tough phone calls behind us, we began phoning our closest family and friends. All of whom responded joyfully and enthusiastically. WHEW!

Bonding and Blending …

John peeked outside to check on the kids. He laughed and said, “Well, that’s interesting. Now all four of them are sitting in the car.

“Well, at least they’re working together!” I said and gave my fiancé a kiss. Actually, they were probably commiserating and plotting our demise.

Yes, the kids began bonding and blending almost immediately.

A few minutes after our discovery, Matthew and Jonah came into the kitchen with the first question. “So, where are we going to live?”

AHHH! A question we could answer! We explained our hope to sell both homes and buy a new one. “New family, new house,” we said. This, we hoped, would eliminate any territorial issues and turf wars.

They reported back to the rest of the group.

Shortly thereafter, the two emissaries were back … for another “drink of water” and another question.

A pattern developed. The group conferred, sent a representative or two with a question or declaration about what would or would not be acceptable in this new family situation, and the information was relayed to the others waiting in the car.

At one point, Jonah bravely faced us alone. “I just want you to know that I’ll be fine with all of this.”

Relief.

“But you should know,” he continued, “I don’t want any more little brothers.”

The opening was too good … I mean REALLY too good!

John and I shared a look and devilish smiles. Knowing that Jonah can take a joke, I gave a little nod … Jonah noticed.

“Well, Jonah,” John said, “we won’t know whether it’s a boy or a girl for a little while yet.”

Jonah’s knees buckled. He steadied himself using the back of a kitchen chair and then slowly slid into the seat. “Uhhhhh … really?”

After a long pause, John let him off the hook, “Nah, we’re just messing with you.”

“Oh thank goodness!” Jonah said. “WOW! You got me … you got me good!” That is a high compliment coming from him.

Jonah wisely kept this exchange a secret. In fact, months later, when we told the others, Molly said, “Oh my goodness! I would not have found that funny.”

“And that’s why we didn’t tell you.” Right. Good call. Fortunately, she can laugh about it now and LOVES hearing about how we pulled one over on Jonah.

In the end, Joshua’s Dad picked him up and took him to basketball practice. Josh spent the night at his Dad’s house and shared his heart. “Buddy, you can’t see it now, but this is a good thing,” his Dad told him.

The older three went to a basketball game at Jonah’s rival high school where he has a number of close friends. They needed the time away …

Whew! We survived … Well, we survived THAT …