The next day amongst getting things ready for the planting party . A red corvette comes up the drive. Steve looks and rolls his eyes, he can guess who has arrived. No other than Cody Smith the military psychiatrist. He figured that Astila was going to get someone who he knew but he had hoped it wouldn"t be miss snooty pants. With a heavy sigh he goes to greet her. The car comes to a halt and this tall leggy bombsh.e.l.l of a blonde gets out. High heels do not do well on frozen ground. He grabs her just as she is about to hit the ground. She looks up and to her surprise it"s not Astila she is looking at. Straightening herself up quickly. She greets him. "Why commander what are you doing here? I thought I was coming to Astila"s home ." He smirks and thinks to himself I bet you did.
" This is my family home, my niece owns it now though. Welcome , let me grab your bag."
He lets out an ear piercing whistle to let those in the house know a guest has arrived. Cody jumps in fright and grimaces at the loud sound. Hearing the whistle everyone comes out to meet the guest. Steve gives the introductions.
"these are the people staying in the house you will meet a few more of the family tonight. From right to left is Moll and Inola , Maureen and Onacona, Aisling,Salali, Yona, Crystal,Remi,and my wife He Jin. Astila is at the hospital so he will be here in a bit. Lets get you up to your room. " they all shake her hand and say welcome. She wonders to herself why are so many people in one house? They get inside and she is pleasantly surprised at how well kept it is. The rooms are huge but beautifully decorated. Following the commander she wonders exactly how many bedrooms this house has and how close her room is to Astila"s. When they get to Debra"s room he shows her inside. Pointing to the bathroom down the hall. She turns to ask with disgust in her tone.
"Do all these people really stay here?" Knowing what she is getting at he turns and glares at her.
"yes we do we all came for the holiday and decided to stay a spell. Just remember even though we are not on Base. I still out rank you and am a commanding officer. You are still active duty so don"t think that I will tolerate disrespect of any kind. I may be home but I am never off duty. I let it slide that you did not show respect just now only because you were surprised. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" She stiffened and stood at attention salutes him and answers YES SIR.
he smirks at her and slams out of the room to drive home his point. Shaking his head he wonders what was the boy thinking in bringing her here.
Cody looks around the room thinking it"s not too bad. She opens the door going to the nursery thinking it"s a closet door. Seeing the cot with two cribs. She sucks in a deep breath and quickly closes the door. Letting the breath out thinking wow hopefully there actually are no babies. She gets unpacked and hears a car pull up. Thinking it"s Astila she quickly goes down stairs. To her disappointment it"s Debra ,Sam and the twins. Hearing the commotion in the kitchen she heads that way. Watching in disbelief that there are even more people arriving . John and his wife brought Charlie and her son. Marshal and Alex brought a few of the cousins. By the time Jasmine and Will with Jonathan arrived there were over fifty people roaming around. She turned to sneak back upstairs when she heard someone yell that Astila was here and they could start the party. Everyone grabs their coats and head outside. Not knowing why she does the same. She notices that Aisling is smiling up at Astila and holding his hand. When he leans down to kiss her a wave of anger comes over her. Why is he kissing her, I have been by his side for most of the last five years . Who is this s.l.u.t that thinks she can do this. Her anger is apparent to anyone looking at her. Salali notices it right away and tugs Randy"s arm.
"I think the psychiatrist is jealous and doesn"t know they are married." Randy looks at her and chuckled
"I do not envy your brother Aisling does not like to share certain things and he is one of them. " they both start to laugh at the thought of a cat fight.
Steve lets out a whistle to get everyone quiet. John begins to speak.
" As you know we have a tradition in our family to plant a tree to commemorate a child"s first Christmas. This tradition actually started with Aisling. Since she was born dead and we were blessed to have her be revived. We planted a tree in grat.i.tude for her first Christmas. Since then we have planted one every time we have been blessed with a child. This year we were blessed with twins and a Christmas wedding . So we will be planting three trees in honor of those events. So Debra bring the babies so they can plant their trees."
Sam has one babie and Debra the other. In the wheelbarrow beside each tree is some potting soul mixed with dirt from the hole they dug. Helping the six month olds put a hand full of dirt on the tree to symbolize them planting and giving thanks . Everyone cheers and coos at how cute they are. Once they have finished playing in the dirt. Sam and Astila finish planting them. Inola and Moll have their shovels ready. Inola raises his hand to get everyone"s attention.
"Moll and I want to thank everyone for letting us have a part of your tradition. We wanted to plant a tree as part of our wedding celebration because we love this place. Aisling has opened her home and accepted everyone . Since we do not know what our future holds, we wanted to plant our tree this year with the twins. Though this tree isn"t a gift for the birth of a child it is a gift of love . The love that Moll and I found transcends time and place. It is more than words can describe its like life itself. So what better way to celebrate it than to have something living to represent it. Just like the grove by the tree house is the trees planted for generations for when someone pa.s.sed. And the trees that line the path here are all representing the children born over the years. Thank you again for granting our wish. " the pa.s.sion in Inola"s voice surprised his nephews and niece they are not used to their shy quiet uncle to talk so much or speak so pa.s.sionately. As he and Moll begin shoveling dirt onto the trees roots everyone begins to sing. Cody is in standing there in disbelief that they are out in the cold planting trees and singing songs by the Beatles. What kind of crazy family is this.
Astila finally notices that Cody has arrived . He is surprised that she is the one here. When he called base hospital he asked for a different Dr not her. Walking over to her he welcomes her. Aisling is still right beside him.
"Cody what a surprise I thought the base was sending Winona ?" She smiles sweetly at him slipping her arm in his.
"I volunteered, I told her that I would come so she wouldn"t need to bring the children."
Astilla removed her hand from his arm and pulled Aisling a little closer.
"Well I was hoping she was going to bring them for Crystal . I guess it"s ok since you are here . Have you met my wife Aisling?" Cody stared at him when did this happen.
"Yes I met her though I didn"t realize you were married." Her heart sank just by hearing those words.
"yes we made it official in November and then we had a tribal wedding in December." Smiling , she congratulates the two of them and excused herself to mingle. Looking around for something to drink. With no luck she hears someone behind her turning she sees Salali.
"If your looking for liquor you won"t find any . They don"t drink around here Aisling doesn"t allow it. Only on very rare occasions. Let give you some advice don"t try to get between my brother and Aisling. You will be hurt if you do. My brother is very protective of her ,so is the commander. You might say she is the apple of his eye. Those two would rip anyone apart who tried to hurt her,but they are not the ones you need to worry about . You see those three women over there." Pointing at Moll Maureen and HeJin. Cody snears
"What about them ?"
"well the commanders wife just took out a man twice her size and in his twenties for harming one of her babes. The other two can make the rest of your life a nightmare with just a word. That"s not counting what I will do to you . Remember I"m a very protective sister. I will bury you if you even think about trying anything. I remember you from before I know you have been trying to get your claws into him for years now. It"s past time for you to give up . You should have let Winona come. Also you better do the job you were sent her to do properly or you see my other brother Yona there will show no mercy." With that she turn and leaves Cody shaking in her boots but not with fear but with anger. How dare she threaten her. Astila is hers marriage or not he is still hers.