“Cjersti, do you think I’m stupid or something? Of course I remember it’s Sam’s birthday. She told me so herself at your party.”

“Mah-um,” C.C. whined, “do you have to say that?”

“Say what? That she told me…”

“No, the other thing…you know…”

“Oh…oh. I don’t understand you. It’s such a pretty name.”

“It’s different.” C.C. pouted.

“Honey, we’re all different.” Mable shook her head and gave up. “Now, back to the surprise. Don’t worry, I’ll let myself in.”

“Have you gone shopping yet?” C.C. thought for a moment, then added, “Hey, could you call and let Randi and Terri know? I think I hear someone coming to my door.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it all.” Mable suddenly became more alert. “Did you say she’s coming in?”

“Yeah.” The woman holding the telephone cupped her hand over the mouthpiece. “Oh, hi Sam.” C.C. gave her head a nod and held up the phone, then brought it back to her ear. “What’s that Mom? You want to talk to Sam?”

“Why, yes Dear, of course I do.”

C.C. held out the phone to the young blonde who had just turned around from closing the door. Then the brunette shrugged.

Sam hesitantly took the phone and brought it to her ear. “Hello, Mrs. Gordon. Were you looking for me?”

“Why hello, Sam.” The cheerful voice came across the phone. “How are you, Dear? I hope that daughter of mine is treating you right.”

“I’m fine and yes, she is treating me very fine indeed.”

“Well, that’s good.” Mable’s voice trailed of. “I’ve been thinking that maybe you could join us for dinner sometime soon. Are you free anytime?”

“Hmm…” Sam thought before continuing. “I’d say tomorrow but I’m already meeting my cousin and Brooke for dinner.”

“Well, sometime soon then. Is that all you have planned for your big day?”

“Big day?” Sam questioned, then remembered the date. “Oh, you mean my birthday? Well, yeah, I don’t celebrate it that much.”

“You know, you don’t turn twenty-one every year. You make sure that daughter of mine makes it extra special for you. Ask her to cook. You’ll learn soon enough Sam, that birthdays are a big thing in this family.

“Her, cook? I thought she only did that for you.” Sam remembered Brooke telling her that was what she had done in the past.

“Samantha, I think she’d be more than willing to share that gift of hers with you as well, Dear.”

Sam looked down at the floor as she mumbled, “She’s ah…sharing quite enough for right now, Mom.” Sam could feel her face warm with the rising blush.

“Oh,” Mable was sensing the young woman’s embarrassment on the other end, “really? That’s wonderful! I mean…it must be…well…” she hesitated. The matriarch ran Sam’s shy comment through her head once more. “Hey, you just called me Mom,” she declared.

“God, I’m sorry, Mom…” Sam’s eyes shot wide open when she realized that she just used the term again. “I mean…ah…Mrs. Gordon.” Sam bowed her head and covered her face with her free hand. “I’m digging a deeper hole here, aren’t I?”

“No, Sam…”Mable didn’t wish to hurt the young woman in any way. “Don’t you dare apologize. You are more than welcome to call me Mom. As a matter of fact, I really like hearing it from you.”

“If the truth is to be known,” Sam voiced her opinion in demure tones, “I really like it too.”

“Well then, you forget all about that Mrs. Gordon mumbo-jumbo. I mean…Randi’s husband calls me Mom, so does Terri’s. Why shouldn’t you?”

“But we’re not…ah…” Sam stumbled, unable to get the words out.

“You’re not what, Dear?”

“Forget it. It was nothing, Mom.” Sam tried to feel more comfortable using the new term.

“Good girl, Sam.” Mable complimented her.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Mable paused for a moment then continued. “Oh…and Sam…welcome to the family. I forgot to tell you that at C.C.’s party.”

Sam choked back a tear, knowing what Brooke’s mother was referring to. “Thanks, Mom. I think I love this family already.” Green eyes filled with moisture as she looked over to her roommate and wiped away an escaping tear as it rolled down her cheek.

“Mom,” C.C. grabbed the phone from Sam. “You’re making the poor girl cry. What’s the matter with you, she’s going to spend her last evening as a twenty year old soaked with tears.”

“Oh, I am so sorry. C.C., put her back on the phone.”

The brunette held the phone out to Sam, following the direct order of her mother. “She wants to talk to you, again.”

Puzzled, Sam hesitantly took the phone and brought it to her ear. “Yes, Mom?”

“Sam I’m sorry that I made you cry. I didn’t mean to do that.” Mable apologized.

“It’s a good cry. Don’t worry about it.” The tears rolled down Sam’s cheeks. “I’m just not used to having people be that concerned about how their words react on me.”

“Well, you better get used to it. You love my daughter, so how could I not love you?”

“Okay, now that really brought a smile to my face.” Sam looked over to C.C. as the brunette kept motioning for the phone back. “Well, C.C. wants to talk to you again. I’d better getting going anyway.”

“Okay, Dear.” Mable hesitated for a second, then added, “Happy Birthday, Sam.”

“Thanks,” Sam spoke the word softly, then handed the phone to C.C. before going toward her side of the room.

“C.C., she doesn’t suspect anything, does she?”

The brunette studied the crying woman for a minute then decidedly answered her mother. “Nope, not a thing. Okay, Mom, I’ll study harder. See I do listen to you. Bye.” C.C. hung up the phone and began to shake her head. “Okay, so let me guess.” The tall woman put her hands on her hips and struck a pose. “She’s adopted you, right?”

Sniffing back a tear as she tried to wipe the moisture from her cheeks, Sam whispered. “God, I hope so.” Then looking up at her roommate, she asked, “You don’t mind, do you?”

“Of course I don’t mind. We’re roomies…we’re like sisters already.” C.C. flashed a big grin then turned around to walk over to her bed. “And believe me, when everyone else finds out about you and Brooke, they’ll love you even more.”

“That’s two down, and two to go,” Sam muttered with just the hint of a laugh, then spoke up. “Ah…C.C., I’m not so sure. Randi might have some issues with my age or me. She seems a little protective of Brooke.”

“You don’t know that.” C.C. protested. “Randi will be fine. She’s…well…Randi has sort of designated herself as protector of all of us.”

“See, even I could sense that.”

C.C. mocked an angelic pose with her chin on her hands and stood there. “All Brooke has to do is bat those baby blues of hers,” she did that herself, only with brown eyes, “and Randi will be toast.”

“I still think if anyone has anything to say about our relationship it’s going to be her.” Sam moved over to her bed and sat down on it.

“Well, I guess we’ll see.” C.C. flopped down on her own bed and stretched out. “And if she does…she’ll come around. Give her some time and she’ll be fine with the whole thing.

“I hope so. I don’t want to be a source of family dispute here.”

The brunette rolled up on her side and leaned on an elbow. “Don’t worry about it, Sam. Worry about the fact that you’re going to be legal in about six hours.”

“Legal, yes…and grown up.” Sam shook her short hair and smiled as thoughts of Brooke entered her mind. Grown up, huh? The blonde remembered their shared lovemaking over the weekend and sighed as she fell back on her bed. That’s already done.

“Well, Peter, there you have it, a complete tour of the Gordon Estate.” Brooke led the way up from the studio to the main floor of the house as she joked about her home. “Now, if you really paid any attention you’ll have no problem if the lights go out tomorrow when we plug in all that sound equipment we used to use.” She turned to face him at the top of the stairs with her hand poised on the light switch. “So you ready for a test?” She threw the switch off, teasing the man.

Clutching the tapes that he had in his hand, Peter grabbed for the railing with the other one. “Now Brooke, cut it out. You know I don’t like the dark.”

“Okay, take it easy.” She flipped the switch back up and the lights came on. “I’m not stealing those tapes back, so don’t get all worried.” Brooke winked at him and moved out into the hall.

Peter looked down at the tapes in his hand, then held them up for Brooke to see. “Hey, thanks. You don’t know what this means to me.”

“No problem, Peter. You have no idea what tomorrow means to me. Everything will be all set up by the time Sam gets here tomorrow evening.”

“Oh, I bet I do,” the man taunted her. “She really has your heart all sewn up, doesn’t she?”

Brooke smiled and nodded her head. “Yes, she does. She owns every little piece of my heart.”

“James always said you were heartless. Guess this one time he’s right.”

“Well, what do you know, the bastard was right.”

Seeing the distant look in Brooke’s eye, Peter thought that a subject change was in order. “I’ll have my stuff and drop it off early tomorrow, along with James’ stuff when he gets in. You’ll see. It will be like old times.”

“No problem.” Brooke led the way into the kitchen. “So what time is his royal assness getting in?” She went to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer, offering it to Peter.

Peter shook his head and pointed to a soft drink in the door. He reached out and accepted it as Brooke handed it to him. She grinned and grabbed a bottle of beer for herself.

“Last time I talked to him, he was coming in sometime in the afternoon. I’m supposed to wait for his call.”

“Is he calling your cell phone?” Brooke twisted off the cap on the bottle and downed a swallow.

“Yeah, if he remembers it.” Peter looked at his soft drink for a few seconds, then asked, “He seems kind of…different here lately. Have you noticed it?”

“No more different than he normally was. I don’t know. You’re around him more than I am.”

“Forget that I said anything. It’s probably just me.”

Brooke shrugged. She was not really interested in talking about her former band mate. “Peter, this house is massive for one person. You could stay here. In fact, why don’t you stay here? I wouldn’t mind if you did.”

A little shocked by the offer, Peter didn’t quite know what to say.

“I wouldn’t have offered if I thought it was a bad idea.” Brooke took another long draw on her beer. “You’re not the same person you were three years ago and neither am I.”

“You…you’ve got something up your sleeve. What is it, Brooke?” Peter demanded to know.

“Nothing.” She held her hands up, feigning surprise. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I would think that you’d want to be alone with Sam. I mean…it being her birthday and all.”

“Hey, who said I was going to put you up in the next room? It’s a big house. You can stay in the guest room down here on the first floor.”

“Okay, I just don’t want to cramp your style.” Peter took a drink of his soda, then muttered just barely loud enough to be heard, “It’s taken you long enough to find someone.”

Blue eyes pinned him with a stare, then softened as she admitted, “Well, she’s well worth the wait.”

Peter watched the ends of her mouth turn up into a smile, then he winked and clinked her bottle with his. They both drank at the same time and let the silence settle around them before he nonchalantly asked, “So…is Sam’s cousin staying, too?”

“Uhm…Yeah. She is.” Brooke studied her friend for a moment. “Why…you interested?” Brooke smirked.

The man’s eyes darted around the room like a caged tiger paces his kingdom. “I’m…I’m curious.” He stuttered out. “Argh! Hell, yes I’m interested.”

Brooke smiled and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, then clapped it several times for emphasis. “Don’t worry, Peter. You’ll meet her as soon as she gets here with Sam. She seems pretty nice. I talked to her yesterday morning.”

“I hope so. I think I’m tired of the road show.” Peter confided in the woman. “You’ve got the right idea Brooke.” He watched her standing there, smiling from ear to ear. “Never thought I’d hear those words come out of my mouth.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Maybe it’s time to think about settling down.”

“You and me both, Petey. Like I said before, neither one of us are the same person we used to be. Believe me, settling down sounds absolutely perfect.” Brooke smirked, “Never thought I’d hear those words come out of my mouth.”