Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Her lips parted in surprise as she stared at him.
“You’re in excellent health, you’re strong, and now seems smart. You will have time to spend with the baby before you have to work, we’re all here to help you, and though you’ll be tired, and I think the events you host, plus graduate school, plus pregnancy, will be harder than you think… I do agree with your premise that yes, now is the optimum time.”
It was always so weird how he did that. Made incredible ideas seem not so out there.
“I think this goes to your aunt’s point, though,” he continued. “Eammon had a specific idea in his head for his youngest son’s beloved. Your father, I’m fairly certain, thought that you would be out of school for a few years and working, the same for Jake, and the two of you would be married before you took the step to bring a new person into the world. But really, life doesn’t follow a blueprint, and we all have to learn to accept and revel in change.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “Thank you.”
“I only have one question for you, love,” he began gently. “Have you informed Jake of any of this by chance?”
Her scrunched-up face, and the way she bit her bottom lip, told me that just maybe, she had not.
I see lots of discussions in our immediate future.
That’s all for this time. Again, good wishes for Pride month, good wishes for all the fathers, and let’s all be careful out there in the world. I will tell you everything in my next installment about Father’s Day and, of course, catch you up on Hannah and Jake. Have a great rest of June, all. Lots of hugs.
JULY 2025
Hello, all, and welcome to He Said, he said for July 2025.
I know you probably have a lot of questions after last month, but I need to catch you up. First off, I have to tell you about Father’s Day in my house. It was…strange.
Finn and Kola went to see Eammon in the morning, because apparently while Hannah was with us in one corner of the apartment, explaining about her decision to become a mother while she was going to grad school, Finn was in his and Kola’s bedroom having it out with his father. According to Kola, it wasn’t a huge deal, because Eammon apologized and explained that of course he loved Kola, he just had a vision in his mind, ever since Finn was a child, of what his life would look like, with a wife and children, and wrapping his brain around the new reality was hard. He was happy for his son to be in love and to be happy; he just needed to make a paradigm shift in his head.
Now, you all know I didn’t think the word “paradigm” in my head; that was all Kola. But regardless, Finn was still stinging from their discussion on Friday night when he saw his father on that Sunday. It was a bit tense, and only Kola’s presence, chatting, keeping things light, asking Eammon if he liked his gift—it was a new grill that he could use all summer, so of course he loved it—that saved the day. Once they arrived at our house, we all got into Sam’s monster car and drove over to join his sisters and brother at Thomas and Regina’s house. There we had a lovely Father’s Day brunch that Hannah had catered from her grandfather’s favorite breakfast place, Batter & Berries. Everyone was surprised and thrilled, and only I noticed how Hannah had her happy face on, but as soon as no one was looking at her, it crumbled, and she had to leave the room.
Thomas loved his gifts, which included tickets to see the White Sox play—he and Sam shared that passion—tickets to an exhibit at the Field Museum that Kola was going to take him to, and a day of doing tourist things with Hannah. He enjoyed presents where he got to spend time the most. As he and I already took our dogs to the dog park together, which he loved, there was really nothing else I could give him but to make my lasagna on demand when he wanted. As he was hosting a poker game in a couple of weeks, I was thinking I was going to get called on shortly.
Finn, as always, was hugged and kissed by Sam’s mother, and Thomas took his grandson’s fiancé into his game room, where they played darts. He asked me later in the kitchen how a man in his late eighties could be so open about Kola planning to have a husband instead of a wife.
“Well,” I said, smiling at him, “his oldest son, his firstborn child, has a husband instead of a wife, and he likes how that worked out.”