Beauty where there's pain

Chapter 12

Christmas break couldn't have come fast enough. When the twins returned home from a long day of school, they were met with their mother stressfully cleaning the downstairs to prepare for the company they would have the next day. Marcus was tasked with vacuuming and taking out trash while Max picked up clutter.

The next day, the Baker house was full of relatives, and they were all loud and quite annoying. Marcus decided to escape the chaos and noise and took a long walk through the neighborhood. Halfway through his walk, two of his older cousins caught up with him and offered him a hit of a blunt they were sharing. Marcus took a quick hit of it and continued to walk with them. "So, I heard you and your ex are expecting a baby." His cousin Thalia said. "Yup. She'll be born in March." He told her. "Well, I just want you to know that everything's going to be fine. Don't listen to anything yia-yia, grandpa, or uncle Joe say. They're just old school." His other cousin Michail told him. Great, people were already judging him.

Of course, as soon as Marcus walked through the door with his cousins, he was met with the judgmental glare of his yia-yia. Ever since Marcus was a child, he's been scared of her. She's a strict, short, heavy set, Greek woman who didn't hesitate to discipline him when she found it necessary. He remembered being around 6 years old and going to one of his younger cousin's Christenings. He and Max talked during the service and directly after the service was finished, his yia-yia took them outside of the town's Greek Orthodox cathedral and yelled at them for 10 minutes straight. His grandpa was also pretty strict, but not nearly as close to the degree that his yia-yia was. It still baffled him how his dad made it through his childhood. Don't get Marcus wrong, he loved his yia-yia and grandpa dearly but they both scared him so much.

"Well, if it isn't Marcus, the little sinner boy who likes to have sex before marriage." His yia-yia lectured immediately, her thick greek accent piercing through his ears like knives. "When I was a young girl, if I even thought about having sex before I got married I would've been shamed and humiliated. You children now have no morals!" She continued to rant. "Hey! I will not allow you to come into my house and speak to my child like that!" Ellen intervened, quickly moving to stand between Marcus and her mother in law. "It happened, he had sex and now he's having a child. Lecturing him now won't change that. The quicker you learn to understand that the better." Ellen told her. Yia-yia mumbled something in Greek before walking away. Ellen turned to Marcus, "Don't listen to her. She has no idea what happened. Don't let her make you feel bad." She told him. It made him feel warm inside to see his mom stand up to his yia-yia for him.

Unfortunately, Marcus still had to deal with judgment, not from his yia-yia but instead from his uncle. "You know how stupid you are for not wrapping it up? Now you gotta pay child support for 18 years! And on top of getting someone knocked up, you broke your yia-yia's heart!" Uncle Joe yelled. "You act as if you know what my plan is. Do you think I'm going to let my daughter live in a world where she isn't properly cared for? How about you have a conversation with me about the situation before jumping to conclusions." Marcus told his uncle. Uncle Joe scoffed before rolling his eyes and walking away from Marcus.

Having Clint's family over meant that everyone was going to be dragged to church by yia-yia. Marcus and Max hadn't been to any church in over three years, so it was a bit overwhelming to be back and to be forced to sit with their loud family members. Marcus let his head slump forward in the middle of the service and his yia-yia reached over and popped the back of his head softly, forcing him to look her way. "You especially need to be listening to Father Dmitri." Yia-yia whispered fiercely. He immediately looked forward and pretended to listen.

Church was finally over and everyone was gathered in front of the church talking, yia-yia sighed and turned to Marcus. "Is the baby at least going to be christened in the Greek church?" She asked. "I don't know yet yia-yia." Marcus told her. "What do you mean you don't know?!" She exclaimed. "I haven't talked about any of that with her mother yet." Marcus told her. She shook her head and demanded that he get Jade on the phone and ask her right in front of yia-yia.

Jade answered her phone, "Hello?" She said. "Hey Jade, um, my yia-yia wants us to Christen the baby in the Greek church when she's born and I never asked you before so I am asking you now." Marcus told Jade awkwardly as his grandmother glared deep into his soul. "Ok, we can definitely do that!" Jade told him. "Really?" Marcus asked, "Of course, just let me know how the ceremony works and we can start preparing." Jade told him. "Great!" Marcus told her.

For the rest of the day, yia-yia was much happier about the news of the baby. "I'm going to have my friend Agelaeia make her christening dress! Oh! You need to choose a color scheme for her candles and box!" Yia-yia told him. He was shocked by how the promise of christening his daughter completely shifted his grandma's outlook on the situation, but he decided to be fine with it because as long as yia-yia was happy, so was his grandpa and his uncle Joe, and that meant that for the most part, they were going to leave him alone.

Two days before Christmas, yia-yia pressured Marcus into calling Jade and inviting her over so that the family could meet her and see her pregnancy bump. "You don't have to come over, everyone is really loud. There's like 40 people here." Marcus warned. "It's fine! I'd end up meeting them at some point anyways, might as well be now." Jade told him. "Alright, but brace yourself." Marcus told her. "Hey, you're going to have to meet my other family members at some point." Jade told him. "And they're probably just as loud and crazy as yours." Jade laughed.

The second Jade stepped foot in the front door, people were crowding her, desperate to see the baby bump and ask her questions. "I can tell you're having a girl! The shape of your bump is a huge give away!" One of Marcus's aunts told Jade. "When are you due?" Another one of his aunts asked. "March the 20th." Jade told her.

Yia-yia practically talked Jade's ear off about what colors should be used for the christening candles, and in the end, they agreed on light pink and gold.

The next day, Marcus went to Jade's and met her extended family. Jade wasn't talking to her aunt or her grandmother on her mother's side, but she was very close with her father's mom and his siblings. Her granny is very sweet and she is excited about the baby. She had a long conversation with Marcus and Jade about how they shouldn't be ashamed of themselves for having a child so young. She encouraged them to make sure they were always doing the right thing when it came to their child.

The next day was Christmas, which meant that everyone had to be forced to give up any personal space for family time. Marcus and Max enjoyed being able to open gifts before their loud family came over. The two of them were both old enough to not want anything materialistic for Christmas anymore and were happy with getting socks and cash. Later in the day when the family came over, Marcus received many gifts for the baby. His aunts gave him handed down dresses from their daughters and his yia-yia gave him a pink dress set for her. He still struggled to understand why people bought so many expensive baby clothes. The baby dresses would likely only get worn once if they were worn at all. Even though he was confused, he was very appreciative of the clothes.

Jade's family gave her every baby thing imaginable. Her cousin gave her a basket filled with items just for the baby's hair. She also was given so many baby clothes and packages of diapers. Jade felt so happy knowing that she had some family members that were supportive and loving.