Nora was trying her best not to laugh. It would look terrible if the step-mom of the groom started laughing at the fact that the bride was currently screaming off her head as she tried dress after dress, all of which looked terrible on her. Her mother was making a futile attempt to shush her as the whole bridal store stopped to look over at where they were sitting. Beside Nora, Abby sat with a ladylike hand over her mouth as her future daughter in law cussed at the dresses that were being paraded out. On the other side of the room, Lizzie and Casey were lamely shooting out compliments to the dress she was wearing.

Nora leaned in to whisper to Abby.

"This is a disaster if there ever was one."

"I can only imagine what she will be like on Thanksgiving," said Abby.

"She's a nightmare every day of the year," Nora muttered so only Abby could hear. To her surprise, Abby laughed.

"Nora, I want you to be honest with me," she turned from the sight of her daughter Marti running towards the flustered bride-to-be with two delicate looking veils, "Should my son be marrying this girl?"

Nora raised an eyebrow, "You want the truth?"

"That implies I won't like it," Abby preempted.

Nora sighed, put herself in Abby's position and tried to be as gentle as possible, "I don't think he should marry her, but that is only because of my personal bias…towards my own daughter."

"Casey?" Abby looked around to where the mentioned young woman was expressing how she really felt silently behind the bride's back and smiled.

"You know them together better than I do. I've heard of the fights and stuff of course, and Marti and Edwin berate me with stories all the time about the sexual tension you can cut with a knife."

For some reason, Nora was expecting every reaction but that.

"You don't have a problem?"

Abby shook her head, "No way. Face it, he'll never see her as a sister, and visa versa. With Derek's reputation, I just kept thinking one day they would just get it over with."

Knowing she had something to do with them not doing that made Nora feel queasy.

She didn't tell Abby, just turned back to the beautiful fiasco that was the dress fitting.

…..

What blind-sided Nora was Em and Sam getting together. She had never thought of them as anything but Casey and Derek's sidekicks. But, little Emma Elisha adored her adopted father and the feeling was definitely mutual. Nora was sure she was the one that brought them together.

As the little girl toddled in the living room between Simon and her mother, Derek made a comment about Emily and Sam getting married. They exchanged knowing looks.

"What? What did I say?" Derek asked with a laugh in his voice. Nora was momentarily distracted by little Emma plopping down on her pampered butt. Her parents looked to see if she was fine, and then looked back at Derek.

"It's just that, you're getting married first out of all of us…"

"Except Kendra," Derek pointed out about their friend who had gotten married two years into college and was having a baby shower in a week.

"….Yeah, except Kendra, then you're trying to get the rest of us married off!" Emily said with shock, "It's like the aliens took the real Derek and left…you!"

Derek smirked, "I just grew up that's all."

Why do I find that hard to believe?" Emily looked at her boyfriend.

"Because you've known Derek all your life?" he supplied.

"Yeah, that's right."

Casey returned from the kitchen where she had been arranging snacks, "Yeah, you've grown up all right. That's why your den is stocked with every video game known to man."

"That's research!" he retorted.

"Research for what? Carpal Tunnel?"

Emily and Sam laughed, and Simon and Emma on the floor stopped playing to watch Derek pull Casey to the recliner beside him. They had a scuffle that was so reminiscent of the old days that Nora felt her heart leap.

Kennedy decided that moment to come in.

The look she gave them in the recliner was so intense, Nora thought the thing would catch fire with her two firstborns in it.

"Derek, may I have a word, please?"

"Sure, babe," Derek got up and followed his intended up the stairs.

When they were all the way up, Emma made a face.

"Did I go invisible or something?" she asked.

"We all did," Simon commented.

Nora sighed, "You get used to it."

…..

If anybody asked, Nora did not think they all would make it this far.

Through the fight Derek and his fiancé had right in front of their parents about whether both his mothers should be at the head table and through the complete disaster that was the pre-wedding picnic, when one of Kennedy's brothers expressed loudly what he thought of her marrying a movie producer.

In all this, Nora watched Casey wear the fakest smile she had ever seen. It was permanently plastered on her face, even when Kennedy told her she couldn't be in the wedding party two days before the wedding. According to Lizzie, "something" happened at the rehearsal that made Kennedy change her mind, even after Sam told Casey the job was hers.

Nora was in her bathroom brushing her teeth when Simon descended the stairs to announce, "Mom, the Dragon is here!"

Nora spat out toothpaste, "Sy, I told you not to call her that!"

"Doesn't change the fact that she is one," her son shrugged, looking so much like Lizzie and Edwin at the same time.

They climbed the steps, in time to hear Kennedy bellow for Derek. He descended the stairs, Marti behind him.

"Morning, honey," he met her brightly. She gave him a look that almost froze the stairs.

"I'm serious Derek! It's either she goes or I go!"

Nora looked from one to the other, "What is going on here?"

"Stay out of this!" Kennedy put up a hand between her and Nora. Nora raised an eyebrow, ready to remind this little girl that she was the queen of this particular castle, and she could kick her out, future in-law or not.

She didn't need to. Derek stepped up, "Ken, you don't talk to Nora like that!"

"Yeah, you don't talk to our mom like that!" Simon yelled. Marti looked like a vicious guard dog behind Derek, ready to attack.

"Ken has this stupid notion that Casey's and my relationship is too friendly," Derek filled her in. Nora nodded, pretending that she didn't feel the very same.

"It's not a stupid notion, Derek! She was all over you! And I saw that look you gave her at the wedding rehearsal! She's on your mind all the time… if I didn't know better, I would think you're a little in love with her!"

The expressions that crossed Derek's face were fleeting, but there was one Nora recognized; it was guilt.

"She's my sister," he argued.

"She is your step-sister, Derek, which you point out all the time except when it's convenient! And I know it's not illegal to fuck your step-sister!"

Nora clamped her hands over Simon's ears a second too late.

"I can't marry you while you have a relationship with her! So is it gonna be me or her?"

"Are you seriously asking him to choose between you and Casey?" Marti asked as if this stance made Kennedy stupid, which in Nora's opinion, sort of did.

"Yes I am!" Kennedy stomped her foot the way Marti used to.

"I can't do that, babe. We have a wedding tomorrow. Why don't we just talk this over…"

"No! Me or her! NOW!"

Nora felt like slapping Kennedy, for about the fiftieth time since she met her.

"I have no choice?"

"NO DEREK!"

"Okay…her."

"…What?" Kennedy looked stunned.

"Casey. I choose Casey. Because she would never let me choose. What kind of guy do you take me for? She's my best friend, Ken. And if you can't trust me around her, you can't trust me at all."

Kennedy was seething. Nora covered Simon's ears in case any swear words were imminent.

"YOU'RE SUCH AN ASSHOLE! YOU'LL SEE, I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE NOBODY WATCHES YOUR DUMB MOVIES! YOU'RE GONNA PAY, DEREK VENTURI!"

"Actually, I think your parents are paying for everything," Derek said bitterly.

"Stupid," Marti muttered. She and Simon exchanged self- satisfied smirks.

Kennedy paled at the mention of her parents.

"I'm leaving!" she announced needlessly, as she was already heading towards the door.

It slammed so hard the whole house shook.

"Well, that was that," Derek sighed, "Nora, please tell me we have pancakes."

"We can, in ten minutes," she told him. Then her mother mode switched on, "Are you okay?"

He nodded, wrapping an arm around Marti, "Yeah. Her family hated me anyway. Where's Casey?"

Nora sighed. It was as if he had forgotten all about Kennedy.

"Getting bridesmaid dresses with Lizzie."

He nodded, "They won't need 'em now. I'm going upstairs; got people to call."

"I'll get breakfast on," Nora told him, feeling so proud of him suddenly.

While she mixed batter, her two youngest flitted around helping her.

"She's really not coming back?" Simon asked.

"I don't think so," Nora said happier than she probably should have. They were all walking around like they had dropped a boulder they had been carrying around for months. Marti did a twirl as she passed the eggs.

"Good! She was making Casey really crazy."

Nora and Marti stopped. "What?" said Simon's big sister.

"She made Casey smile like this," he made a face of strain, and Nora had to fight not to laugh, "She only smiles like that when she is really really really trying not to scream."

"I think he's right, Nora," Marti caught up her hair and grabbed the spoon to stir the batter, "I accidentally went into the bathroom while she was in there once and caught her banging her head on the tiles."

"But you know when she comes homes she's gonna do the usual," said Nora.

"Panic!" they all chorused.

Casey did panic. She walked around frantically, worried and upset that she had broken up Derek and Kennedy. Then she went upstairs and demanded Derek go and apologise to his ex-fiancé. He completely ignored any notion of doing that.

"Good riddance," said Edwin and Lizzie when Nora told them, then said no more.

George got the last word when he came home and got the news.

"Hmm… do we get to keep the waffle iron?"

…

As much as she loved Lizzie and Edwin, sometimes she wanted to slap them with a frying pan, Three Stooges style. Who was this Adam that had his own Hemp product store and took Lizzie on trips to California to surf while she was supposed to be in school? And who was Ashlinn, who apparently was independently wealthy and had asked Edwin to accompany her to her chateau in Nice in the summer following his final year?

Nora dispatched their respective older sibling to knock some sense into them.

When they came back, she started wishing for a frying pan big enough for all four of them.

"You two have to be joking," she looked at them over the island in the kitchen. They both had wistful smiles on their faces.

"Not at all," said Casey, "I believe that Adam and Lizzie are very compatible. He's just as concerned about the environment, and he has a patent pending for..."

"I don't care! Casey, she's skipping school!" Nora pleaded to her daughter's inner keener, which was deeply embedded in all McDonalds.

"She's already made up her classes, Mom, and well on track to passing the exam. I even helped her with cue cards."

Nora shook her head and turned to the other Stooge.

"What's your story?"

"Ash is hot," Derek grinned, "And her house is ginormous! She's got a giant garage with all these vintage cars, and a helicopter! Plus, they're just friends, Nora. They don't have… they're just hanging. She's kinda lonely, with her parents dying and leaving her all that money and she thinks Ed is great company."

Nora sighed, "This does nothing to assure me."

"They're just doing typical college stuff, Mom," Casey attempted.

Nora snorted, "I don't remember either of you jet setting all over the world with companions I've never met!"

"No, but we did do some wild stuff," said Derek, "Case, remember the time we…"

Casey clapped a hand over Derek's mouth.

"Sh!"

Nora looked from one to the other, watching the look that passed between them. Whatever it was, it was juicy.

Derek mumbled under Casey's hand.

"You promised, Derek!"

Derek muttered something that sounded like "I won't tell".

Casey took away her hand.

"Sorry, Nora," he told her, "Sworn to secrecy."

Nora wondered if she could bribe one of the others to see if they knew.

….

"I like him."

"What?" George looked stunned, turning towards her on their bed in the dark.

She sighed in annoyance, "I don't want to, but I do. He's very respectable, and kind, and considerate of Casey's feelings. Kennedy was nothing like that."

"So I remember," George reached out to stroke her bangs, "So, what will Casey and Sebastian's relationship do to your plan to hitch Casey and Derek?"

"Obliterate it," Nora sighed. She guessed she had to give up this silly dream she had about Casey and Derek settling down together. They were too volatile, too different. They were like oil and water, magnetic poles, parallel lines, cliché, cliché, cliché. She had to face facts.

But then she only had to remember the day they fought over rooms and the spark of hope would fire again. She knew Derek loved her daughter, and visa versa. And the only thing that held them back was some stupid promise they had made to her.

"It's too bad," said George, "We were all rooting for you."

"I know," Nora whined, "It's futile. But I'm not giving up yet. Who knows? Sebastian has plenty of time to do something to make me hate him, then Derek will be number one again. For right now though, I guess she can date outside the family."

"Insert incest joke here," George muttered.

...

Sebastian did do something to piss Nora off. He was a big yes-man. Even bigger than Sam.

He did too much to get in her good graces.

"Hi, Mrs Venturi! I baked you a cake," Sebastian greeted her in Easter. It had fluffy icing with marshmallow eater eggs and pink bunnies.

"Isn't it adorable, mom?" said Casey, but her smile looked forced, "And it's really yummy too."

"Oh, really?" Nora couldn't hide the sarcasm if she tried, "Great!"

When Derek came home, he cut a huge hunk of it and gobbled it in seconds.

"Der-ek!" Casey yelled, "Bastian made that for Mom!"

Derek snorted with a full mouth, chocolate cake flying everywhere.

"Watch out, Case," he told her after he swallowed, "Because that's the gayest cake I've ever seen."

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" she launched at him, letting loose a barrage of slaps on his chest. He grabbed her by the middle, lifted her and flung her on the couch. The fight continued so that all Nora could see and hear from her position was a stray arm or leg and a few grunts and screams.

George came in, letting out a sigh, "Don't they know they're too old to do that?"

"Never stopped them before," Nora told him.

…..

Casey was livid, George was uncomfortable, Sebastian was even more uncomfortable, Sam was embarrassed, Emily was biting her lip with mirth and Nora was silently praying for peace. It was safe to say that nobody at the table was having any fun.

Well, except Derek.

He made fun of every single thing about Casey and Sebastian. He called Sebastian a nerd several times. He told embarrassing stories about Casey. He was obnoxious.

Nora had never seen her daughter so angry.

Emily excused herself and left the restaurant with Sam, saying she couldn't leave Emma with Dimi for too long, or they would implode her house. The look on George's face said 'take me with you!' Nora almost let him off the hook, but something told her the only reason Casey hadn't committed murder yet was because her mother was present.

"And I had her on the floor right, and I was pulling her hair, and she screamed…"

"Der-ek!"

The entire restaurant stopped. Casey stood, flung down her napkin and scowled at her stepbrother. He gave her a grin of challenge.

"May I talk to you a minute please?" she was restraining herself with such effort, she seemed to vibrate.

"Sure, Case," he gave her an easy smile and left the table behind her.

There was an awkward silence at the table as the two of them walked out of the restaurant. Every pair of eyes in the restaurant followed them.

"How is work?" Nora asked George to break the silence while trying to ignore the fact that they could all see Casey and Derek yelling at each other outside the window. George launched into a story about a case he was working on. Sebastian kept staring out the window.

Eventually, Casey came back in, alone.

"Derek had to go," she lied, "Anybody ready for desert?"

...

It was many years after, when Casey was already married and settled, that Nora remembered to ask what happened to Sebastian.

...

Nora had a feeling this Christmas was going to be great.

Edwin was on vacation from his executive job in Toronto, Lizzie was back home from the Galapagos, Derek had just wrapped a movie shoot in Milan, Casey was home from her book signing in Tokyo, Marti had a few days off from her job a Province away and Simon wasn't too busy with his high school friends to spend time with his family.

All her kids under one roof again made for cramped conditions, but Edwin didn't mind bunking with Sy and somewhere along the way, the six of them learned how to share a bathroom.

Nora had just run the washing machine and headed up the stairs with the laundry, turning down the offers to do the chore from the kids on the couch. She looked down at them. Lizzie, Edwin and Marti were sharing a blanket and a bowl of popcorn as they watched a Christmas movie. Simon was in Derek's old chair, talking to his girlfriend on the phone. The more things changed the more they stayed the same, she thought, and completed the flight of stairs.

She pushed the door to Derek's room... and saw her two eldest spring apart like there was an electric current between them.

Nora's mouth flew open. Were her eyes deceiving her or were they just kissing?

"Mom!" Casey yelled, such scandal in her voice, that Nora was reminded of her daughter at fifteen.

"I can explain!" Derek sounded the same.

Oh, this she had to hear, "Go ahead."

"I was just…" he started to lie, but then he stopped. Suddenly he pulled Casey behind him, looked Nora in the eye and took a fortifying breath.

"Nora I have something to say that you may not like. I'm in love with your daughter."

"What!" Casey yelled from behind him. She tried to sidestep him to face him head on, but he held her in place.

"I think I always have, but I'm not so sure. And I want to ask for your blessing, because I am going to ask her to marry me."

"Der-ek! Are you insane?" Casey yelled again, "Well, I always suspected you were, but you never proved it as much as you have just now!"

Derek shushed her, "Don't you wanna know what she has to say about this?"

"Derek I know what she is gonna say because it's the same thing I would say. We can't get married! That's insane!"

They both turned to look at Nora when they heard her sniffle. She couldn't help it. They were so adorably right for each other.

And they thought she was standing in their way.

"Mom, are you okay?" Casey asked. Nora cried more.

"I was just kidding Nora," Derek tried to make a save in stoppage time, "You know, an April Fools prank."

"It's Christmas, moron!" Casey chastised.

"Christmas prank then."

Nora sniffled happily, "Oh you two! You've made me so happy!"

They stared, "What?"

Nora dropped the basket and gave them both a hug. They were both too shocked to return it.

"You have my blessing," she told the shocked pair, "Go ahead and get married!"

She was wrong. This was not just a great Christmas. This was the best Christmas of her life.

...

"So lemme get this straight," Derek twirled his fork to encompass everyone at the table, "You all thought it was a good idea for me and Casey to get together."

"Yeah," said George. Lizzie and Edwin gave him twin nods. Marti was grinning her head off.

Simon sighed, "We all thought it would never happen."

"And Nora was the one who rooted for you the most," said Marti.

Casey gave Marti a disbelieving look over her Christmas dinner, "No way."

"Nora and Dad were the ones who gave us the whole No Grandbabies speech," Derek said, "When they were done, I didn't even wanna touch Casey with a ten-foot pole."

"Gee thanks," Casey sneered. He smiled at her, which made her smile at him and Nora's heart soared.

"Why do you think we gave you that talk?" Nora confessed, "We could see the sparks flying off you two from that first day when you were fighting over the rooms. If we didn't give you that talk, I'm positive something would have happened."

Casey's eyes narrowed in thought, "So why didn't you say something eventually?"

"I interfered once, and look what it got me," said Nora, "Do you know how hard it is to watch you two dance around each other like you did? I hoped you would come to your senses and just say to hell with what I think so we could all have peace."

Casey and Derek exchanged a significant look.

"This cheesy pasta stuff is awesome, Mom," said Simon, going for his third helping.

"You're like a human vacuum," Marti pushed him gently and he pushed back.

While the conversation turned to other topics, Nora watched Casey and Derek. They were the happiest she had seen them in a long time.

...

Nora fixed George's tie, and he brushed her hair away from her face.

"Finally," he said.

"Finally," she repeated.

"Finally!" Simon yelled as he entered the room. He looked handsome in his suit and tie, "Mom, Dad, Lizzie is finally here and in her dress and Marti is doing her hair, so that is everybody."

"Great! We can get this show on the road. Thank you for the help, honey," Nora went to steal a kiss from her baby boy, and because he was no longer a baby, he turned his face away so she only caught his cheek.

"Bouquet, bouquet, bouquet, bouquet, bouquet," Emily flew in, chanting over and over. She held Emma awkwardly in the crook of her arm while she searched, ignoring the little girls yells to put her down. It turned to George and Simon to rescue her.

When Nora went into the church to check on the guests, she saw Dennis and Abby sitting together. Dennis looked confused. Abby looked ecstatic.

Around the back, Nora found Edwin and Lizzie, who had her hair up and her bridesmaid dress on. The two of them were shaking hands.

"Hi, I'm Edwin, your new brother in law," said Edwin.

Lizzie tapped her chin in thought, "Hmm, I have a stepbrother named Edwin."

"Different guy."

"Oh."

Nora rolled her eyes at them and went on to the room where Casey was getting her makeup done.

The professional makeup artist was doing her best to finish the job, but Casey was leaking tears all over the woman's hard work.

"Honey," Nora cooed, "What's wrong?"

"I just love him so much, mom!" Casey blubbered.

"Good thing you used waterproof mascara," said Marti to the makeup artist.

"But he's such a huge dick!" Casey yelled, "Look what he texted me just now."

Nora took the phone and read.

cnt believe I'm marrying the biggest keener n London

She scrunched up her face, "Not exactly a love note."

"He's making fun of me on our wedding day!" Casey cried, "I swear if I didn't love him so much, I would kill him!"

"You guys are weird," said the makeup artist, "I like it."

The wedding planner poked her head in, "We have ten minutes people!"

Nora watched the makeup artist finish the job, then helped Marti and Emily with the train of Casey's dress as they took their position. Dennis came to take Casey down the aisle. Emily paired up with Sam, Lizzie took Edwin's elbow and Marti and Sy joined hands.

Nora went to take a seat beside George for the ceremony. Derek caught her eye and gave her a wink. But she wasn't fooled. She could see he was nervous.

Nora was sure she saw Derek's breathing stop when he watched Casey walking up the aisle.

The ceremony was amazing, everything Nora had dreamed of. Almost everybody cried, including Abby and Emily's younger brother Dimi.

Later at the reception, Derek pulled Nora aside.

"I wanna thank you."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "What for?"

He took a glance at his new wife, who was dancing to old school pop on the dance floor with Ralphie and Sam, "Firstly, for having such an incredible daughter. Secondly, for giving us that talk."

Now Nora was surprise, "Really?"

He nodded, smiled just like his father, "Yeah. The more I think about it, if you hadn't put that barrier between us, then we would have done something. I mean, me being a horny teenage boy would have basically guaranteed something happening. Then our relationship would have fizzled and faded and we would have resented each other in the end. But now we know each other inside and out, and there's no doubt she's the woman for me."

Nora was so happy she flung her arms around him and kissed his neck. His mother came to take him away to meet her new boyfriend, and Nora had time to discreetly wipe away a tear.

Casey threw the bouquet and surprisingly it fell in Lizzie's lap. Nora did not miss the look she gave Edwin. But Nora was throwing a wrench in that one. Triple intermarriage in one family seemed a bit much.

That evening, Nora was too elated to sleep. She kept smiling at the ceiling.

"Can you believe he said that?" she said. George grunted sleepily.

"He thanked me for keeping them apart. It turns out I have been doing the right thing all this time."

"Good," George mumbled, "Now, Nora?"

"Yes, honey?"

"Are you gonna finally stop worrying about the kids long enough to get some sleep?"

Nora smiled, pulled up the comforter and snuggled in, "I guess I can. Maybe I'll worry about Lizzie dating Edwin in the morning."

They were asleep for a minute before George sprang up in bed.

"WHAT?"