The Kids Grow Up by Trish Hanan (novel24 .TXT) 📖

confessed and they all gushed.
“And now you’re twenty-one and married with two children, that’s so romantic,” April said. Harry grinned.
“Now we’re all married with children. That’s all romantic,” he declared. They all shrugged.
“It’s different with us, Harry,” Kathleen told him. He looked surprised. She laughed. “I’m not saying that we don’t love our husbands, cuz we do, but we all have open marriages and we have sex with each other and with the single people and its all fun. But with you and Jake it’s different. We would never even think about inviting either of you to join us in the bedroom and not because you’re gay but because we know you wouldn’t come. You two are really truly in love and only with one another, you wouldn’t dream of inviting anyone to join you in bed would you?” she asked. Harry shook his head.
“It would break Jake’s heart if I made love with another man and I’m just not made that way, I could only be with one man at a time and I love Jake, he’s the only one I want,” he said. All the girls smiled.
“Now that’s true love,” April told him. He grinned and giggled.
“I smell a stinky poo and it’s not me,” he teased. They all smelled and it turned out to be both Jackson and Stevie so they all went home laughing.
July twenty-seventh Harry threw another big birthday bash for himself and invited the whole town. He invented a new drink, tropical frozen margaritas served with salt around the glasses and the ladies loved them. They had mangos and papaya in them and were cold and delicious. He served lobsters and beer and all the ladies brought salads of every kind and cakes. Dr. Jackson amazed everyone who loved the new man by taking all the kids swimming and playing with them. He carried both of his grandchildren proudly, beaming like the granddad he was. Sissy loved her new husband.
“He gives the children their baths at night and even does the laundry,” she told Harry who held her twins in his lap. He laughed.
“I told Jake all it would take was grandchildren to turn his dad into a big teddy bear but he didn’t believe me,” he said and she laughed and took another sip of her margarita. Dr. Jackson came back with the twins and collapsed on a blanket. Harry put the twins in the play pen and took his children from the tired but happy man. He lifted him a cold beer and Dr. Jackson laughed.
“That’s a handy talent to have around with these two crawling around,” he remarked and they all laughed. Then Jake came back with his brothers and sisters from the rinse off and they all sat on the blanket to eat.
“Listen everyone,” Max stood up and lifted his cold mug of beer. Everyone grinned. “A cold beer, a hot lobster with drawn butter and a hot summer day with family and good friends, what more could a man ask for. Here’s to you, Harry, Happy Birthday, my friend,” he toasted and everyone lifted their glass.
“Happy birthday, Harry,” they all shouted. Harry stood up and waved. Everyone laughed and he sat down to eat. His mothers beamed from their blanket, they loved it when their eldest son was adored.
They were sitting around talking when the three boys Eric, Joey and Yancy came running from up the beach screaming for Dr. George and Harry. Harry handed over Jackson to Jake and rushed over.
“We found a mermaid on the beach and she’s bleeding, you’d better come quick!” Joey shouted and Harry ran back for the milk jug and everyone rushed away with the boys. Harry and the two firemen reached her first; she was still floating in the surf in the battered remains of a rubber raft. They quickly pulled her out and brought her to shore. Dr. George took his stethoscope out of his bag and quickly examined her. She had long reddish blonde hair, lots of it and was wearing a gray uniform of some sorts.
“She’s not breathing,” Dr. George said with panic in his voice.
“Let me try something,” Harry said and he rubbed his hands together and placed them over her chest and closed his eyes. Almost instantly water rushed out of her lungs and she sat up and began to cough it up. They patted her on her back and she looked around her and then pointed to her leg.
“My leg, a big black fish attacked me,” she said in a very charming accent. Dr. George handed Harry his laser scalpel and Harry cut the pants to expose a terrible gash in her leg. It was still bleeding and looked horrible. Everyone gasped. Harry rubbed his hands together and placed them over the wound and closed his eyes.
“Your hands are very warm,” she said. Everyone watched with amazement as the wound closed and the flesh healed completely. She gasped with surprise and looked at Harry with wonder.
“You are a healer,” she said and Harry grinned and held out his hand.
“I’m Harry Talbert,” he said. She took his hand.
“I am Jewel from Nextarus, and I’m very pleased to meet you. I am very hungry do you have any food?” she asked and everyone laughed. They helped her to her feet and then back to the party where shorts and a top were found for her and she showered and sat on Harry’s blanket to eat quickly but in a dainty manner. While she ate she told her story.
“My family and I were vacationing on our seventh moon and I was racing my speeder with my friends,” she explained. “When I got too close to this Galatica ship and the Commander saw me and needed a red-headed Nextarian for his zoo so he caught me in his net and brought me to his planet.” Everyone looked appalled.
“He wanted a person for his zoo?” Max asked her in disbelief. Sarek nodded.
“The Galatican are famous for their zoos, if they ever found out about you humans, they would all rush to this planet to be the first to gather you for their zoos,” he told them. They all looked appalled. Jewel continued her tail.
“I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in a zoo, so I hit a guard over the head, stole his uniform and stole a ship,” she said. “I was making my way home, hoping that my family was looking for me, I know my father would search forever for me. I took a short cut through this system because I knew no one would come through here because of the asteroid storms. Unfortunately I ran into one and the ship crashed in the ocean. I escaped in a rubber craft but these big black fish attacked me and I barely made it to shore.”
“Well, let’s get you over to the hospital and get you checked out,” Dr. George suggested and Harry agreed. Jewel looked at him.
“Will you come with me?” she pleaded and he nodded. She had the most beautiful green eyes. Luckily they had both Jeeps and he drove them to the hospital while Jake took his car home. She checked out fine and Harry took her home with him.
“What a beautiful home you have, you must have a very good wife to keep it so clean,” she gushed. Harry laughed. Then Jake came out and they kissed. Her eyes got wide.
“Two men living together, how wonderful,” she said and clapped her hands. Harry grinned.
“We should take you shopping and get you some more clothes, you can’t wear just those,” he said and her eyes got wide again and she squealed with delight.
“Oh, I love shopping,” she exclaimed. The boys laughed.
“Well, Harry can take you, he loves shopping too,” Jake said and they kissed again.
“Can we go right now?” she asked. Harry lifted an eyebrow.
“You’re not too tired from being shipwrecked?” he asked. She shook her head.
“I feel wonderful, whatever you did when you healed me, made me feel very refreshed,” Jewel said. So they drove and Harry decided Macy’s was the best store for her, she definitely had some class.
“This is a very nice store, who owns it?” she asked as they walked to the ladies section. Harry grinned.
“Jake and I own Macy’s and it’s the best store in town,” he informed her. She smiled, she liked that. And she had the best time trying on clothes and dresses and he let her get anything and everything she wanted, including shoes, purses, makeup, perfume and jewelry. She had a ball! Jake laughed at all the bags and boxes they carried into the house.
“Did you leave anything in the store?” he teased. Jewel laughed and rang up and threw herself into his arms.
“You two are the kindest men, I love you,” she gushed and ran off to the bedroom to change her clothes. Harry laughed and sat on the couch, he was exhausted.
“I don’t know where she gets her energy,” he said. “She’s like a little bird, flying from one rack to the other, picking out this and grabbing that, I was amazed at her choices, she had a fantastic sense of style.” Jake laughed and came down to sit beside him.
“She’s very sweet, I like her,” he said and they kissed again. Jewel came out of the bedroom wearing purple slacks with a cream blouse and high-heels with a coral scarf tied around her tiny waist. With her waist length red-gold curls, she looked stunning.
“How do I look?” she asked and twirled around. The two men clapped.
“You look stunning,” Harry told her. Her eyes gleamed with triumphant.
After two days of living with her and her constant flying around their house the three humans couldn’t wait to get rid of her. Harry suggested that she build her own house right next door to them. She loved the idea and picked a beautiful log cabin like theirs. With all the men working on it, it only took a week to put up and two weeks to decorate because she had to shop at Pier-1 and all of Harry’s stores to find just the right touches before she would move in. But when the house was done, it was a stunning display of artistic flair and fit her to a tee. And all the men and boys flocked to it like bees to a pretty flower and Jewel was as generous with her favors as she was with everything else, everyone loved her except for a few jealous women who envied her. And she loved Harry who liked her well enough but if Kathleen worried that she would replace her as his best women friend, she didn’t have anything to worry about. Jewel was too flighty to be a best friend. She was everyone’s friend.
The morning of September twenty-seventh Harry woke up and sneaked out of bed early and crept into the kitchen and baked a batch of banana nut bread with the bananas he had been hiding for this purpose. He wanted to surprise Jake and make a baby this morning and had made arrangements with DJ to milk the cows and Grace and Abby to come