Secrets//Jake Jagielski

~22~

Nathan and Brighid were seated around the dining room table having breakfast with their mother.

"It's good thanks mom" Brighid said placing a piece of pancake into her mouth.

Deb was about to ask a question when the doorbell rang.

The three exchanged a look of disgust and annoyance, expecting it to be Dan pleading to come back home and pretend to be one big happy family.

"I got it" Nathan said getting up from the table. Brighid could hear the front door swing open.

"Surprise" a voice said. Brighid and Deb looked at each other with wide eyes. The two jumped up from the table to head to the front door.

"You answer the door in your underwear?" Royal commented.

"Grandma, grandpa what are you guys doing here?" Nathan asked.

"Hi Grandma and Grandpa" Brighid quietly greeted behind Nathan.

"Royal, May, uh, what a surprise?" Deb said.

"Well thanks for the warm welcome" Royal said the three before turning towards his wife. "Told you this ambush was a bad idea"

"He's dragging me to another one of those-"

"Nobody's dragging anybody anywhere"

"I told him that the only way I'd go is if we came by here for Danny's birthday" May continued ignoring Royal's outburst.

"Oh, Dan's birthday of course" Deb said looking at Nathan and Brighid.

"Are you going to leave us out here all morning freezing our asses off?" Royal asked all snotty.

"Come in" Deb said. Nathan and Brighid stepped to the side making room for their grandparents to walk in.

"Kisses for gran" May sweetly said hugging and kissing her grandchildren.

"Looks like you lost all that weight Brighid. Looks good" Royal commented. Brighid awkwardly smiled. The last time she saw her grandparents she was almost seven months pregnant.

"So where's Danny?" May asked.

The three looked at each other.

"He's at work. We just finished his birthday breakfast" Brighid lied pointing to the dining room where the leftover stacks of pancakes stood.

"We should be getting ready for school" Nathan said. Brighid shook her head running after Nathan up the stairs.

"Well be back here for six, I'm cooking a big birthday dinner" May shouted. Brighid looked at Nathan crazed.

"What the hell are we going to do?" Brighid asked Nate in the doorway of his bedroom.

"Go to school, and not worry about it until later"

Brighid changed and grabbed her bag off the floor when her mother snuck in.

"Uh, how could we forget" Deb said sitting on Brighid's bed.

"Do I tell them?" Brighid asked sitting next to her. Deb stroked her long brownish black hair.

"That's up to you" Deb said. Nathan popped his head in.

"You ready?"

"Yeah" Brighid said getting up the bed. The two said their goodbyes and rushed out the door to school.

Brighid was walking through the hall when a finger tapped her shoulder.

"Hey, uh, my parents are going to be home tonight to watch Jenny and I was wondering if you wanted to grab dinner and then come over and watch a movie?" Jake asked acting all nervous.

"I'd love that but my grandparents are in town for my dad's birthday dinner. You can come if you want. I, however, won't guarantee it will be better than what you proposed" Brighid joked.

"Yeah I'd like that" Jake said.

"Great. 6 pm"

"It's a date" Jake said before walking away.

"Jake" Brighid called out.

"Yeah?"

"They don't know about Jenny and everything these days. I think my dad wants to keep it that way" Brighid explained.

Jake shook his head and smiled before walking to class.