LOG: They're Merry, All Happy and Bright (Guthrie Family)

[xp_icarus]

Sam comes home for the holidays to be swarmed by siblings and the Guthries meet Jay's girlfriend, Julia, to wide approval.

Sam shouldered his duffel bag more steadily and readjusted his grip on the bag of presents in his hand before knocking. He knew the door wasn't locked, nobody actually locked their doors this deep in the holler, but Cissie and Lewis still liked the surprise of opening the door for a "stranger." Besides, it would be worth it to see the looks on their faces when they saw him. They'd been real put-out about him missing Thanksgiving.

Cissie had beaten Lewis to the door, physically pushing her brother aside to tackle her oldest brother, delight across her face. "Sam!"

"Mama, Sam's home!" Lewis called into the house before squeezing himself against Sam's side like he was too old for a proper hug now. He'd sprouted up since the last time Sam had been home- he and Cissie weren't the same height anymore.

"Sammy, we're finally meetin' Jay's girlfriend," Cissie said like she was some sort of authority on the subject of engagements when she finally let go. "I helped him clean up the ring box and everything. Did he tell you already?"

Sam laughed and leaned a bit into Lewis to return the awkward hug. “He told me he was gettin’ hitched and that I best be there for the shindig but he didn’t tell me that you helped! Which is clearly vital information I shoulda been made known of!”

He grinned, it was good to be home. “Where’s the rest of ya?”

"Lizzie's helpin' Mama, I think," Joelle offered, leaning on the stair railing to watch Sam and Cissie, though she made no move to greet him aside from a slight wave. Looking him over, she made a face, eyes darting up the stairs. "You're gonna clean up before Julia comes, right? We really want her to like us, and Jay's been frettin' enough."

Lucinda entered, frown easing into a wide smile. "Well look who finally made an appearance from the big city!" She wrapped Sam in a big hug, then pulled back just far enough to keep hold of his shoulders, looking him over with a critical eye. "Yer too skinny, Sammy boy," she clucked, already making mental plans to feed him during the visit. "Ya know where everything is, nothin's moved. Get on upstairs for a warsh up and put on a fresh shirt for Jay's girlie. Lord knows the girl's gonna be overwhelmed enough with alla'yah swarmin 'er in one go."

She looked over the other children with that same stern eye. "Git, alla'yah. Finish yer chores an then warsh up fer dinner." With that, she turned back into the kitchen to finish working on dinner.

Out on the porch, Jay was patting his binding to make sure his wings weren't noticeable in a way he hadn't done since, well, the last time he had seen Sam. It'd be one something of a nervous habit. He smiled excitedly at Julia as they came up the steps. "I already tol' all'a them not to swarm ya," he said to her. "So they should all let you be until you're good and ready. The babies are gonna love ya. And Paigey already loves ya. I just... I'm glad you agreed to do this, angel."

He went to open the door but looked to her, ready to give her one last out if she wasn't ready to take on Hurricane Guthrie Family. "You sure you want to do this?"

Julia gave Jay a happy smile, nerves still spiking her heart rate a bit, but she could handle that. “Sure I’m sure. You’ve already told me so much about ‘em…” She did smooth down her shirt even though it wasn’t wrinkled. “But… you’re sure your mama’s gonna like these mincemeat hand pies?” She motioned to the decorative basket she’d filled with the treats.

Jay kissed Julia's cheek. He couldn't help it, he loved her so much. He couldn't keep the smile off his face. "She'll love them, she'll love you. I love you."

He opened the door and stepped inside to the noise. "We're here!" He hollered, eyes still on Julia.

Mel was waiting by the door, ready to pounce. “Julia!” She exclaimed, eyes bright. “Welcome! So glad ya could make it!”

She extended her hand for a shake before noticing the pies. “I can take those and put ‘em in the kitchen if you’d like, you’ll need yer hands free when all the rest get down here,” She winked.

“Julia!” Paige said, walking into the room and hugging her. “So good to see you! Hope you’re ready for everyone. Lord knows we can be a lot.”

“Say that again,” Mel laughed. “Take it as a compliment, we’re all jus’ excited Jay heres found a someone who makes ‘im so happy.”

She leaned in conspiratorially. “And that he finally brought ya round. I’m near certain Cissie thinks he made you up.” She elbowed Jay in the side playfully and whisked the pies to the kitchen, giggling.

Jay put a hand over his heart in a gesture of betrayal at his babiest sister thinking he made Julia up. "She doesn't!" He insisted to Julia.

At that moment Jeb bounded down the stairs with the lack of grace only teenagers could have, leaning against the bannister. "It's good to meet you finally!" He called to Julia, before scowling at Mel, squinting a little.

"Jebediah Zuriel! What have I said about wearing your glasses?" Jay said, falling easily into the role of the man of the house despite keeping his hand on Julia's waist.

Jeb looked to Sam instead. "Sammy! Tell Jay to lay off," he said in lieu of giving his brother a proper greeting.

Sam was coming down from upstairs when Jeb called for him. He dropped the bag of presents he had for Jay and Julia and wrapped his arms around Joelle and Jeb tightly, pulling them both in for a hug. "He's right you know, your migraines you oughta be wearing those glasses we got you. It's for your own good Jeb."

Jeb huffed and pulled away from him. "Paige wouldn't fuss at me over my glasses."

Sam looked to Jay with an expression that read, 'right and pigs can fly,' but shook his head and removed himself from around Joelle, picking up the presents and finishing his trek down the stairs. Sam looked at Jay and Julia and felt himself growing soft. God, he couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Jay so happy.

"Hi Julia," He said, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice, Jay had said she was shy, he needed not to overwhelm her. "I uh, got you a Christmas present? Also got Jay's birthday present here too, but I think Mama's gonna make me save that one for later."

With Jay's hand on her waist, she hadn't been able to hide behind him even a little when the rest of his family toward her so quickly. Julia found herself without the basket of hand pies, having already been hugged once already, and this wasn't nearly all of Jay's siblings. A faint blush rose to her cheeks and she ducked her head a little when confronted with Jay's older brother. "Oh, y'didn't have to do all that," she managed, glancing up at Sam even as she leaned a little bit more firmly into Jay's hand. He steadied her in a way no one else ever had, made her lose some of the anxiety that always left her feeling paralyzed about unfamiliar people or in new places. "But thank you so much," she rushed to say, not wanting to seem ungrateful.

Noticing Julia’s reaction, Paige backed up a bit. “Why don’t we sit down? You shouldn’t be standing in the doorway the whole time.” She looked at Julia and said, much quieter, “You’re less likely to be tackled by the twins that way, too.”

"We would not tackle her!" Lewis yelled, turning to Paige indignantly.

"Yeah!" Cissie agreed. "Jay done coached us not to."

Sam fought back a laugh and pushed the two youngest towards the dining room. "Go help Mama and set the table."

Once he was sure that the younger two had run off to do as they were told he looked back at Julia. "Course I was gettin' you a Christmas present. What kinda brother doesn't get his new sister a present? We're supposed to be welcomin' you to the family not overwhelmin ya. Come in and sit, make yourself comfortable. Promise we don't bite."

Looking at Julia though, Sam could see she was a Cabot, the same jaw her brothers, eyes like her mother...and that meant that Julia knew that he would bite if provoked. But he was determined to make her welcome. She was his sister now too since Jay was marrying her.

Jay shot Sam a look as he led Julia to a couch to sit down. Springing a gift on her right away was not not overwhelming her, he had thought he made that clear. But at the same time he could see the recognition on Sam's face and had relief that Sam didn't make a fuss. Julia had mentioned to him once that Sam had tried to start a fight with her once (apparently over her teasing Jay, which Jay didn't even remember) and well. Sam could be hot-headed, but here his big brother was acting like a new man.

Maybe being away had done him some good after all. Or maybe Sam really didn't care- about her being a Cabot or anything else. Mama and Paige hadn't either. "Told ya they'd love ya," He said in a low voice to Julia, a small thankful smile on his face.


Jay and Julia get officially engaged to the great excitement of all.

Julia wasn’t entirely sure what she’d actually expected of Jay’s family when she agreed to attend his birthday celebration, but they’d far surpassed anything she could have anticipated.

Halfway through the meal and not a single one of them had said a word about her family. Julia wasn’t sure how she’d gotten so lucky, but as she leaned a little closer to Melody as the younger woman spoke, she realized she could actually see herself being happy with them. Visiting on holidays from Louisville — she and Jay had discussed taking the twins with them, so that would add a completely new side to everything.

“-An’ then his clothes fell in and got swept downstream! Poor Davey had to search for ‘em pert-near naked!” Mel exclaimed, recalling a story from her exploits one summer. “In the end we only found his shirt and his socks. Becky an’ I had to distract his mama at the door so he could sneak on in the back.” She laughed, smiling at Julia. She had decided to skip her embarrassing Jay stories for now. Those could wait until next time Julia was over.

Jay kept holding Julia's hand under the table, not minding the vice-grip she had on him, just rubbing his thumb against her skin. He was grateful that his siblings were mostly taking turns trying to talk to Julia, though they were switching topics so fast and dragging each conversation back in between Julia, Sam, and Paige at the same time. He was pretty sure he heard Cissie mention a test for Julia she'd written she was telling Sam about, and hoped he heard wrong. He'd begged her not to actually do it.

"Jay said you play music too," Lewis said over the end of Melody's story. "Mel should'a told you about her singin' instead of a story like that."

"Be nice," Jay said without any heat, unable to help his smile as he stared at Julia. "I hope you don't mind I bragged about you a little?"

"We can all play together next time you come over," Lewis continued excitedly, hitting Joelle in the shoulder with a wide hand gesture.

Sam sighed affectionately and fixed Lewis with a look. “Behave.” He then leaned across the table conspiratorially and stage whispered. “We want her to like us, remember?”

“You’re just sayin’ that cause you don’t want us to tell your secret big city girlfriend that you play banjo when you bring her home!” Cissie said, only barely remembering not to stick her tongue at her brother over the table.

Sam colored a deep shade of red. “I don’t have a girlfriend. And even if I did, I ain’t good enough at banjo for you to brag on me like that.”

Paige tried to share a look with Jay. Sam would let the guy he was seeing give him pearls but he wouldn’t play the banjo for him? Maybe going north had changed Sam more than they thought.

“Well, you’re going to have to play for us before you leave,” Paige said. “For old times sake. And Julia’s.”

“Paige, nobody wants to hear me play the banjo, I ain’t even good at it. You just want me to make a fool of myself.” Sam rolled his eyes before turning to Julia with a small apologetic smile. “Sorry bout them. We’ve all been pretty excited to meet the girl makin’ Jay so happy.”

Julia wasn't sure she was meant to notice the emphasis on 'girlfriend,' the way Sam'd said it, but she gave him a sympathetic smile before nodding toward Paige. "I'd enjoy hearin' all of y'all play. I love music but I can't carry a tune in a bucket and my Uncle Jim - he lives down in Versailles now - he gave up on tryin' to teach me to fiddle when I was eight. Nobody else much cared to try and teach me, so." She shrugged, her hold on Jay's hand suddenly tightening as she realized bringing her family up here was probably a bad idea. "If all of y'all're so musically inclined, I'm surprised y'all haven't done up one of those family bands for the County Fair. I'll bet y'all're a whole lot better than the McCreedys from down the mountain."

"Jay told me you play like Jimmy Matingly." Sam said encouragingly, hoping he was coming off as friendly. "I'm....more of 'you handed an eight year old a banjo and he's mostly guessed his way through Foggy Mountain Breakdown'. Half the time I need Jay to tune it for me cause I can't remember which string is which."

He shrugged and tapped his foot under the table, choosing his next words carefully. "Julia- I-" Sam sighed. "If you'd like- I- ain't no love lost 'twixt me and your kin. And I'm sorry for havin' included you in that once. But if you'd.... if you'd like I can," Sam swallowed hard, these next words were not easy for him to say. "If you'd like, I can try to extend an olive branch to 'em before the wedding. And I'd be happy to do it if it makes things easier on you'n'Jay."

Jay turned red as his hair at Sam mentioning the wedding. He and Julia had talked plenty about getting married but he hadn't actually proposed to her yet. "If'n you want to marry me, o'course," he assured Julia quickly, just in case she wanted to back out at the last minute. "Ah hell," he mumbled as he stood out of his chair and moved it away. "I was gonna do this after dinner but..." He fumbled a little in the pocket of the jacket hanging off the back of his chair for the ring box before getting down on one knee and opening. Inside was a diamond ring with three small diamonds set into a gold band- a band that had been passed on through the Guthrie family for generations.

"Julia Eudocia, I love you more'n I know how to say and I'd be honored if you chose to spend the rest of your life with me. Will you marry me?"

He chewed his lip, scared for a moment that despite all their plans she might say no.

Startled and flustered, Julia turned bright pink. "Wha -- of course I'll marry you, c'mon, get up off the floor." She was beaming as she stood to pull Jay up, holding her left hand out for him to slip the ring onto it. "You -- I don't even know what to say. I love you, too," she finished, gripping his hand hard as she moved in for a hug.

“CONGRATULATIONS!” Paige cried as the rest of the family cheered. “Told you she’d say yes,” she directed at Jay. He had been worrying over the proposal for a month despite everyone knowing that it was a given. Now they could all just look forward to the wedding.

"But ya never know." Joelle nudged Paige with her shoulder, unable to keep the smile from her face as their brother looked like Julia had hung the moon herself. "She coulda wanted to wait."

“Or met us all at once and said ‘no thank you’,” Elizabeth added.

This earned a gentle swat.

Sam smiled a big dopey grin across the table towards the lovebirds, clearly overjoyed for them. "Y'all just let me know what I can do to help. Say the word and I'll do it.....an' I did mean it Julia- if you want me to extend an olive branch I'll be sure to try before I head back north."

Lucinda gave the two a soft smile, lines easing from her face as she rounded the table to hug them both. “Welcome to the family, Julia. Jay sure picked a good’un.”

Jay only had eyes for Julia, despite the words of congratulations around them and his Mama’s hug. He pulled away from her, both hands in hers tightly as he smiled at her, the world having narrowed down to just her. "Can I kiss ya?" he asked gently, just for her.

"In front've everybody?" Julia whispered, knowing she should thank Jay's brother for his offer but too elated in the moment to manage taking her eyes off her fiancee.

"We can slip out if you want," Jay said just as quietly- though how to slip out he hadn't figured out yet. "I just wanna kiss my future wife. Angel, we're gonna get married." He said with the sort of overwhelming happiness that made everything else inconsequential. He took her in his arms again, pressing their foreheads together. "We're engaged. We're really engaged." Their lips were close enough to steal a kiss, but he waited for her lead.

She leaned in just the little bit necessary to press a soft, barely-there kiss to Jay's lips, then pulled back and smiled so widely her cheeks hurt. "We really are."