The most recently posted chapters are chpts 16, 19, 66 (which makes reference to chpt 42), & 67

Early August 2011

"Kay!" Jordan lets the front door close shut behind him as he moves into the entryway with his weekender duffle. "I'm home—" he boasts, "where're my girls?"

"Hey, babe," Katherine smiles, coming toward him from the kitchen.

"Hey, you," he smiles back.

Katherine nuzzles her face in his neck as he wraps her tightly in his arms. "Hey," she says again.

Jordan releases her, kissing her on the temple as he does. "You look good," he winks at her.

"Com'ere," she kisses him, pulling his bearded face to hers. "How was Nashville?"

"Good," he nods, kissing her again. Jordan tugs off his boots and follows her down the hall and into the house. "How y'doin'?" His hand slips affectionately across the growing swell in her belly.

"Fine."

Jordan accepts the bowl of spinach lasagna she'd just reheated. "Kids in bed?"

"Mm,hm. Maybe 'bout an hour; might still be awake if you want to go see."

Jordan nods, setting aside his dinner until after he's seen his girls. He's been gone three days, two nights and he misses those little turkeys. "I'll be back." She nods and returns to the sofa and the book she'd been reading. Jordan shrugs off his jacket, hangs it over the lowest banister railing and climbs the stairs. The door to the girls' room is shut closed and he stands behind it, hand poised on the knob, listening for the telltale sounds of giggles and lilting voices of his two little ones still being awake. Hearing nothing he cracks open the door and then pauses to listen again. There's no stirring of any kind, they're both asleep. He steps in further, approaching their beds silently. Jordan smiles; there, in Edith's bed, lie both his babies, wrapped tightly in each other's arms. Flushed and sweaty in their slumbering embrace, the two girls lie as tightly entangled as wrestling kittens. He loves them so, with an intensity he used to doubt he could muster. Brushing the flaxen hair away from Edith's rosy baby face, he leans over to kiss each girl on her warm downy head. His heart full of them, Jordan exits the room, closes the door softly behind him, then makes for his own bedroom where he strips and runs himself a hot shower.

Thirty minutes or so after his arrival home, Jordan returns downstairs, freshly showered, dressed in a heathered tee and cotton pajama bottoms. "Both asleep."

Kathy nods. Not yet lifting her eyes from her page, she asks as he returns to her from the kitchen with his now room temperature plate and a glass of water, "You tired? How was th' drive?" Jordan shrugs as he drops down beside her on the sofa, displacing her outstretched feet until her legs reposition themselves over his lap. "You wanna warm that up?" she asks, indicating his dish. Jordan shakes his head and continues eating. "Did Shane drive any?"

Answering, though he'd just shoveled a forkful of noodles into his mouth, Jordan shakes his head, "Barely. He was hungover most of th' morning then later it jus' seemed easier t' jus' keep going."

"You had a good time though?"

"Yeh," he nods, sounding tired. "Nashville's always a good time." Jordan chews and swallows and takes another bite. "Nate says 'hi'."

"He's so nice," she yawns. "Hope he's well." Jordan offers her a bite but she shakes her head and he eats it himself. "How's Tino?"

"Good, like always. He's excited for this one," Jordan nods to where their third child is growing within her. "Five months out."

Kathy smiles and pats and rubs his leg. "And you met the fabled Allen?"

At this Jordan nods decisively. "Yup." He rubs at his eye. "She's great."

Finished with her chapter, Katherine finally sets aside her book. "So," she queries, "'as promised'?"

Jordan nods again. Pushing aside his already cleared dish, he grips her bare feet in his hands, rubbing and kneading them as he recounts his weekend getaway with Tino, Nate, Shane, and Tino's new girlfriend, the one he'd written the girls about and who's been popping up more and more in his text threads and conversations with Jordan. "Architect. Thirty-one. Parents're Korean. Plays violin and fiddle. Grew up outside of Boston."

Kathy smiles. "And Tino likes her?"

Jordan nods with fraternal affirmation. "He does."

"Though," Katherine says as she leans back comfortably and cozies into the down cushions behind her, "Tino likes everyone."

"True," he grants, loving that she knows his friend so well. Jordan pulls the hem of her pant leg down for her from where it'd risen to her mid-calf. "Not sure you've ever seen T that attentive."

Contentedly, Kathy's eyes flutter shut. "I love that."

Still rubbing, Jordan squeezes her foot, holding it still for impact, "Found somethin' out."

"What's that?"

"Her name's not 'Allen'."

Kathy's eyes open, "What?"

"Not her name," he repeats. "I mean, it is. But it's her last name."

"I guess," Katherine says, sitting up to snuggle beside him, "we might've guessed that. So," she laughs, "what's her actual name?"

"Melody." Jordan looks beside him to where she leans against his shoulder. "Apparently T thought the name too sappy for her."

"'Sappy'?"

"I dunno, "girly'? 'Frilly'? Seems like he's renamed her to the world." Kathy laughs at the absurdity of this.

"Only Tino. Shouldn't it then have just been 'Mel'?"

Jordan shakes his head. "Don't look f'r logic. Anyways," he concludes, "looks like 'Allen' — last name descending from her Canadian-born paternal grandfather —" he flashes a smile, "may be around a while."

March 2012

Tino sets down his double espresso and from behind his dark lenses looks across the black wobbly cafe table to his friend. "Catalano, I need you t' do something for me."

Looking up over his coffee mug, Jordan pauses just before taking his next drink, "Yeah?" Jordan hadn't questioned it when Tino'd flown into town unexpectedly the night before, and grabbing a coffee and some sun together without Kath and the kids is nothing out of the ordinary, but now he's looking at his oldest friend, waiting to hear what sort of request would be preceded by this sort of preamble and a thousand-mile flight from Louisiana.

Tino pushes away his unused spoon. "Okay, so, Allen an' me, we're —" The sidewalk outside the indie coffee shop where they sit is filled with the usual noises of midday traffic: dogs and babies, cars and bikes, construction and one-sided phone conversations. Pedestrians, some on their way back to work, others out enjoying the early warmth of the day, move past them in a regular stream. Tino eyes Jordan, who's just listening, not working to fill in any blanks before their time. Tino, who feels he's already spent far too long asking this than he'd intended, finishes it quickly, without emotion, "We're applying t' foster a kid." Tino drinks, and waits for Jordan's reaction.

Jordan doesn't really miss a beat. "That's great." He smiles and swigs his black coffee.

"It's not great," Tino contradicts, "it's just something we're doing." Jordan smirks fraternally. That kind of self-negation is usually his role to play, never Tino's. But Jordan doesn't pause to consider the context of Tino's going off book.

"Yeah, well, anyway," Tino presses on, "I need you to write a letter of reference."

Jordan pivots his mug on the tabletop, watching his friend, the golden kid from their youth. "You don't have t'be married t' do that? Foster?" Having spent a good ten years of his life firmly avoiding anything to do with the foster care system, Jordan's not confident in what he thinks he knows.

"No." Tino looks across the table, smirking wryly at his friend, "Do I need to be married to do this?" His meaning being hanging with the very married Jordan Catalano.

Jordan flicks a sugar packet at his friend. Pretty much since their births, Jordan's observed Tino's intense sense of connectedness to his kids, but he's never before gotten the sense that Tino ever wanted the role of father for himself. Tino seems just barely able to settle on a country to live in; a kid seems like something of an overreach. "Where'd this come from?" Disinclined to justify his decisions Tino shrugs. Jordan sips his coffee. "You know, there wouldn't be any letter writing if you'd just man up and get her pregnant."

"Sorted," Tino affirms in irony with an understated nod, "thanks." Lazily he stretches his lank, well-built body back in his chair. Tino stretches and looks up to the clear blue sky above them. "Look," he says, slouching back into his seat, squinting into the May sunlight from behind his dark glasses, "didn't know my dad." Taking the final sip he nods to Jordan with unceremonious pragmatism, "I did know yours." Tino shrugs. "I'm able to, so what's stopping me?"

Looking at his friend, taking him in as once more he turns the unexpected on its head till it seems the only possible course he'd ever take, a rueful smile forms slowly at the corner of Jordan's mouth. "Kate's gonna want t' take you to bed."

"There you go," Tino nods with perfunctory and decided amusement, "that's what this is about."

Jordan leans back into his chair. All kidding aside, he looks to his friend, the person he's maybe admired most in his life. "That's pretty cool."

Tino's brow rises, arched and questioning, "So, you'll do it."

"Yeah, man. Done. But, uh, how 'bout we tap the college graduate for this?" If he worked on it for a year he'd never write a letter to rival what she'd come up with in an hour. And taking in a kid in need? He'd only been half kidding with that remark about Katherine's reaction to that.

July 2012

Jordan swallows his beer before he chokes on it in laughter. Beside him at the bar Shane is grinning at the effect he's had and chuckling into his own pint as he takes a self-satisfied drink. "I'm not shitting you," he says.

Jordan, still overcome some, wipes at his eye, reclaiming his composure after the outburst of laughter. "I believe you."

"I know'ya do," Shane swaggers as he pops a toothpick into the back corner of his mouth. "Go ahead," Shane challenges puckishly, lifting his impish brows, "ask 'im. Next time you talk to 'im, ask. T'll tell it all different."

Jordan nods in knowing amusement, "No doubt."

With a decided gulp of his IPA, Shane sets his glass down definitively and reaches across the bar for his phone, "Got a picture here…" Thumbing through the interface Shane pulls up the supposed corroborating photo album.

Just then, Jordan's own cell buzzes. Setting down his beer he reaches to turn it over from where it lies face down on the sticky bar top. Noting the flashing "T" on the screen before swiping to accept the call, Jordan smiles into the phone as he raises it to his ear, "Hey, big boy."

"How's it going?" Tino responds with equaled goodwill.

"Good; sittin' here with Shane." Shane wags his eyebrows in a sort of de facto greeting but makes no audible contribution to the phone call. Ask him, he mouths. Jordan laughs as he nods, trying to keep track of two conversations at once.

"Got some news," Tino pivots. "Al'n I are gettin' a kid. A girl."

"What?" Jordan heard correctly, but still he grips the cell a little tighter, pressing it just that much nearer to his ear. This isn't exactly everyday bar talk.

"We're fostering a kid."

Jordan turns away from Shane and takes a swallow from his beer. "When's this happening?"

"Taja," Tino answers with her name instead of a timeline. Jordan can't tell if it's excitement or lack of details accounting for it. "She's thirteen." Tino's voice is alive in that way it gets when he's invested in something — electric and animated.

"Wow," Jordan smiles. "That's great." Absently he reaches behind his head and rubs as he takes in this immense news. The left corner of his mouth rises some in speculation, "Can you handle a teenager?" Going from zero to thirteen with a total stranger seems nothing but daunting to Jordan. His first newborn was.

"Man," Tino boasts with signature swagger, what I do is handle teenagers."

"Right," Jordan nods with a snorted smile. Of course. "Well, congrats, man. To both of you. 'Three', I mean."

"'Three,'" Tino echoes. "Hell, yeah."

*Posted 6/3/2019

AN: To anyone out there who, against all odds, is still reading this story, or any MSCL fics at all, I swear there are more Angela centered chapters to come! And I swear, too, she ends up happy. While there are still high school chapters in the works, I'm mostly, at this point, focussing more on their adult lives. There will be more of what happened in California, a bit more of what happened on the farm, more of Angela and her relationships, a few more with Jordan's sister, and mostly more with Jordan and Kathy's relationships with their kids. (The final chapter of these vignettes will end with Jordan visiting their youngest child in their sophomore year of college.) Anyone who's here, I hope you're well! It's been so, so long, I would LOVE to hear from you! xx