and Serena as possible . It made me realize how much wiser she' d gotten in her old, sorry, advanced age. We used to tease Ted mercilessly and she wouldn’t let us anymore. I think Ted misse d it. Normally , he went bri ght red every time he saw Lily , and today was no exception.
" Garrett and Daniel are due any minute," said Mom, her eyes flitting over the table as she added brightly , "We have a full house tonight."
My father is a retired cop , as w ere his father and their brothers and sons. My oldest brother is Garrett . MPD, as a whole, thinks it’s hilarious to have a homicide cop called Detective Graves , but I heard it makes victims ’ families cry. Then there's Daniel , who's a lso a detective with a different team and also working his way up. Serena skipped the becoming a cop urge, a s well as the urge to marry one. Finally, the youngest of the boys, Jord, is a beat cop and happy to be one . A recent incident involv ed his elbow being used a little to o enthusiastically during an arrest last month . It resulted in bumping him down to traffic duty , as well as gave him a leg up to bi-weekly anger management classes . I hoped Garrett and Daniel were bringing their wives and kids. Jord rarely ever brought anyone, which was fine with Lily , because to her, our family dinners meant he was virtually her date. Even if he didn't realize it.
Garrett arrived first, letting himself in, before returning to usher in his wife, Traci, and their three children. I blinked when I saw their t-shirts. Traci' s read “ COP WIFE. ” Their children, Patrick , ( t he T eenager ) , Sam and Chloe, wore t-shirts that read “ COP KID. ” Two of them were visibly embarrassed and the third couldn’t read yet .
Traci gave me a friendly hug and smoothed her blonde hair behind her ears. M arried young , Traci had been in my life since my mid-teens . She was a friend, a sister and sometimes employer, offering me cash for babysitting favors .
"Nice shirts," I sai d, running my eyes over them.
"I know. Right? Garrett thinks they're great."
I raised my eyebrows. "Okay."
Traci punched me lightly on the arm. "Enjoy them while you can. They may never be seen again."
Garrett gave me a quick hug before helping Chloe in . I wondered if he knew about my dead boss and had to bite my lip to stop myself from asking him.
Traci went into the kitchen to help my mom , and Daniel arrived with his wife moments later . Non e of us had ever fathomed how Daniel persuaded Alice to marry him, much less how he bagged her in the first place. She was smart, magazine cover pretty, a dedicated runner with a body to match , only a few years older than I , and the mother of his two little chi ldren, Ben and Rachel. There i s nothing wrong with Daniel . He’ s a n all round nice guy, a dedicated cop and a good husband, which must have gained him entry into her league , after all, great guys like Daniel are hard to find.
When everyone was crowded into the already stuffed to bursting living room, Serena perched on the big leather couch next to Ted . She gathered his hand into hers and beamed . Realizing she was being ignored, her sharp whistle pierced the air and called us all to attention . I made a quick check to see if she had any notecards because she had a habit of giving presentations, rather than news ; but whatever she had to tell us, it was apparently going to be short. Hallelujah! Garrett caught my eye and winked, clearly thinking the same thing.
"I'm pregnant!" Serena exclaimed and everything else was lost to the sound of my mother shrieking and the chorus of congratulations. Lily dutifully squealed and clapped her hands while Dad and I exchanged concerned glances. He was definitely thinking what I was thinking. There was only one thing worse than Serena and Ted —Serena and Ted breeding.
"Yay," I said feebly , as the thought of their progeny entering the world dawned on me. " Marvelous ."
"And we want you to throw the baby shower, Alexandra. And be