“I guess so,” Brooke couldn’t keep from chuckling now at the antics of her niece as she watched the pouting face work hard to show its dismay. “Is that all, Munchkin?”

The small child sat quietly for a moment then turned to look up at Sam. “Can I play with your baby next Danksgiving?”

Brooke’s eyes grew huge for the second time in a matter of minutes as she looked at her niece and shook her head.

Sam blinked and then cleared her throat before answering, “I… I don’t think I’ll have a baby quite that soon. How about if we just wait to play with Aunt Terri’s baby, alright?”

“Why can’t you have a baby by den?” Brown eyes looked up for an answer.

“Well, ah… certain things need to happen and there’s just not enough time, okay?”

“What kind of dings?”

Sam could feel the perspiration accumulating on her brow as the questions were becoming more involved. “Ah… Randi, I think you need to have this conversation with your daughter.” Sam looked over to the lawyer and her husband.

After exchanging a look with Brian, Randi sat back in her chair and rested her arm on the table in a very relaxed manner. “Actually kid, I think you’re doing great.” The woman smiled at Sam, then glanced over to Brooke.

“Gee, thanks.” Sam took in a deep breath as she reviewed the tot’s question, “Ah… Okay.” The young woman took on a more positive approach to the situation and started to explain to the child. “First, you have to be married.”

“Marriage always comes first,” Brooke added with a quick look to C.C.

“Otay,” Julie turned to Sam. “So, get mawwied.”

Sam smiled, “And who would you have me marry, Julie?”

“I dunno…” the tot held her hands up in the air and moved her shoulders up and down several times before finally patting Sam’s chest with them. “You keep smiling at Aunt Brooke.”

The blonde wet her lips. “Well… your Aunt Brooke and I are.. .ah…” Sam looked to her lover, letting her eyes plead for her.

“Julie…” Brooke took over, “Sam and I can’t get married… yet.”

“Why?”

“Uh… because we… ah… haven’t decided to yet.”

“When den?”

“Ah… when…” Brooke stuttered, “Ah… when I ask her to, I guess.” Blue eyes glanced quickly to Sam.

Julie knelt in Sam’s lap and got right up into Brooke’s face, her hands resting on her hips. “Do you wike her?”

Brooke spoke without hesitation, “Yes, a lot.”

The tot turned her face toward Sam, and leaned in to touch their foreheads together. “Do you wike her?” Julie pointed to her Aunt Brooke.

The dark-haired woman looked down at her plate, not wanting to put Sam in an uncomfortable position when she realized that everyone else’s eyes were riveted on the blonde.

“Well, yes… but…” Sam looked away from Julie and let her gaze fall on the woman beside her. “I more than like her. I love her.”

Hearing the words, Brooke slowly raised her head and looked over to Sam with a smile on her face. “And I love Sam, Julie.”

Sam reached her hand over to Brooke’s and held onto it tightly. “There’s a big difference between liking and loving, Julie. In loving, you do it with your whole body and soul… not just words.” Sam looked at the perplexed little face on the child and tried to think what would make her understand it better. “Julie, what’s your favorite food in the whole world?”

The child thought for a moment, then smiled as she answered, “ICE CWEAM.” The glee-filled laughter spilled out of the child as she clapped her hands.

The laughter around the table was almost infectious, but Sam struggled to keep a straight face. “Okay… well, let’s say that you only have ice cream to eat from now on. Every morning for breakfast, every noon for lunch, and again for dinner every evening, that’s all you would have to eat. Ice Cream would even be your T.V. time snack for right before you go to bed every night, for the rest of your life.” Sam paused, letting the concept sink into the child, then she looked the tot in the eye and delivered her next question with as much sincerity as she could. “Do you really love ice cream that much to eat it all the time and never… ever want to eat anything else?”

“Gee, Julie,” her older brother David spoke up, “I guess that means I get all your pieces of cake and cookies.”

The child sat there, thinking, as she turned to look at all the food on the table, making a miserable face, and then looking to her Aunt Brooke for guidance.

“She’s right, Julie. It’s more than just being around someone for a short time, it’s a lifetime commitment. One that you’d willingly make and never look back on with regret.” Brooke’s gaze that had started out on her niece now ended staring into the inviting green eyes of her lover. “And I love Sam with my whole body, heart, and soul. There’s never another that I’d want, or would need to make my world complete.”

In the moment of silence that loomed over the room, Henry rose to the occasion as he cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention to himself. “I propose a toast.” He raised his glass, then looked to Terri and Rick. “To new life…” he turned to Brooke and Sam, holding his glass up to them, “…to new love. May our family grow bigger and thankful for the love that a child…” Henry let out a chuckle, then corrected himself, “Well, actually two children have shown us here tonight.” He touched his glass to Mable’s then raised it to his mouth to drink.

“Ganpa…Ganpa?” The excited little voice cried out, trying to get his attention.

“Yes, lil’ one,” Henry directed his attention to Julie. “What is it?”

“What about Aunt Brooke and Sam’s baby?”

The sound of laughter erupted in the room, while two young lovers looked silently into one another’s eyes.

Randi stood at the entrance to the small gameroom in her parent’s house, watching her two young sons and Brooke on the couch. Like the big kid that she was at times, Brooke was the one that they always enjoyed playing with the most. The lawyer tuned out the loud cartoonish noises that emerged from T.V. as a direct result of Playstation action, letting her eyes drift to the other side of the room. Sprawled out across Sam’s lap as she sat in the recliner, was Randi’s daughter, who looked more like a little angel then the three year old energizer bunny that she was. It was a scene right out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

The oldest Gordon sibling shook her head in amazement, “How could I have been so wrong?” Randi wondered out loud, barely above a whisper. The lawyer leaned into the room, trying to get Brooke’s attention. “Hey Sis, you got a minute for an old lady?”

Brooke looked up from what she was doing, casting her eyes on her older sibling. “I guess so,” she shrugged, but kept playing the game.

“Can we talk somewhere a little more private?” Randi motioned with her eyes to the first floor of the house. “Maybe Dad’s den?”

“Uh… sure, I guess.” Brooke looked over to Sam and watched as she nodded and waved, trying not to disturb the sleeping cherub in her lap. The tall woman turned back to her young nephews speaking softly, “Okay, guys. How about if you battle it out and when I come back down in a few minutes, I’ll play the winner?”

“All right!” Two young boys yelled out in unison then quickly grabbed for the controls.

“Shhhh, don’t yell guys. You’ll wake your sister,” Brooke cautioned them as she slipped out from the middle of the action. “Remember to play nice or I’ll have to use that direct pipeline that I have to Santa.” Brooke ran her hands through each of the ruffled heads of hair. “I’ll see if Grammy has any more pie laying around in the kitchen,” she called out over her shoulder, then left the room to catch up with her older sister.

Making her way quickly up the basement stairs two at a time, Brooke soon found herself headed for the room that seemed to be beckoning her all day. And to think we used to shake in our boots to be called into that room when we were kids. Brooke chuckled as she thought of how many talks she’d had in that den today alone. Well, the first two turned out all right. I guess we’ll just have to see if the third time is the charm.Okay, Brooke, let’s keep that attitude positive and just see what she wants. Reaching the doorway to the den, Brooke took a deep breath in before following her sister inside, closing the door.

Brooke watched as Randi paced around her father’s desk like some T.V. lawyer trying to sway the jury with his courtroom presence. Finally, she spoke out. “Randi, I’m your sister, not a client or defendant. Please, if you have something to say to me… just say it.”

The lawyer slowed her steps down to a halt, then with the desk strategically placed in between them, she turned to face Brooke. “You’re right, Brooke, and I should have afforded you that consideration before I had Sam investigated.”

“Randi…” Brooke grimaced, “I really don’t want to talk about that. You pissed me off doing that more than I could ever tell you.”

“I’m sorry Sis, I was wrong… dead wrong.”

“Yes, you were wrong.” Brooke stared directly at her sister. “What caused you to see that?”

“I realize how wrong I was after today… seeing you and Sam interact with everyone, the kids… well, Julie especially. You really have found someone that loves you as much as you love them. You know…” Randi looked away from Brooke for a moment, then admitted to her sister, “I’m not even sure of what my husband would have said if she asked him the same questions.”

“Who, Julie?” Brooke half-laughed then turned serious again.

“Yeah, my precocious little girl. You know… you two seem to have such a better handle on love than I ever did.”

“Well… We uhm…” Brooke eyed her sister suspiciously. “Is that what changed your mind… our talk with Julie?”