--- *** ---

--- A Week Later or So ---

--- 29th of March, 1967 ---

After the recently wed couple's honeymoon in Paris, they got back at their home as Timothy's family such as his younger sister Anna, his older brothers Edward and Abraham, besides his mother, Margaret are going to pay a visit to the Howards' apartment by having a family dinner altogether.

First and foremost, during the first months of the former sister of the church's pregnancy, she slightly struggled with cleaning the rooms on her own such as dusting the furniture, which sunk in filth and vacuuming the floors. Nevertheless, the younger man participated emphatically in their housework as it didn't take them more than a handful of hours.

As soon as the evening hours elapsed, whereas the daylight ones already died in the limbo, Jude and Timothy went directly to the airport, in order to welcome the former aspiring Monsignor's family. The former devotional members of the church spent a quarter an hour, anticipating agitatedly the big family.

On one hand, the blonde was agitated how her husband's family is going to treat her, besides are they going to approve and like her as well. Whilst on other hand, in Timothy's case, his unconditional agitation was reckoned in how his mother and siblings will behave in front of his rare bird and will they like her.

Galore of questions whirled in their whirlpool of thoughts especially when they were mostly agitated and mildly nervous in the same time.

What the both sides have a yen more than anything was actually Jude to be approved and well-liked from each family member especially Margaret.

"Come on! This flight takes forever for them to establish here." The British compatriot bleated in a huff as his chocolate brown orbs, lowered impatiently to his watch as he chewed his lip. Meantime, his heart vigorously throbbed into his muscular, contracted chest in anticipation.

"Just be a bit more patient, sweetie! There's something delaying them which might makes sense." The middle-aged lady rested one of her hands on her bump, whilst her solely free, frail arm was dangled around her husband's broad, muscular shoulder. An ivory, emphatically optimistic smile curled upon her naturally mauve, soft as velvet lips. "But there are things, which are worth for worrying rather than these petty issues, bickering with yar patience." She resumed her utterance in alleviating voice as her petite, smooth as satin hand rubbed   loi ůpů his upper back, emboldening him to calm his nerves.

"For example, will my mother and siblings approve you and accept you as a part of our lovely family, right?" In the interim, the blonde bobbed her head in agreement as she wedged reluctantly her lips in a pensive purse. "Aww, Jude! Never keep it in your mind that you will be rejected by either of them! I'm completely certain they will like you, which means they are going to instantly accept you." 

"I hope so." Pessimism tugged her tongue once she spilled it like venom from the serpentine, laced in lethal, agonizing poison tongue. "At least, I bet yar mothar is open-minded enough to embrace the fact I'm yar wife."

"It's alright, rare bird! You shouldn't be concerned what the others think of our relationship and also my mother is open-minded. She will be totally fine with our age gap which is just 10 years only."

All of a sudden, the both once hallowed priest and nun heard chattering with firm British accents, they immediately recognized by being caught off guard by the horde of adults. 

Eventually Anna, Timothy's younger sister was actually in the beginning of her 30s with neck length chestnut bob hair, followed by hazelish-brown pigments, pigmenting her piercing as arrows eyes. The younger woman possessed pale as ghost skin tone with naturally rosy-coloured lips. The brunette was usually dressed up in floral, convenient garments, guarding her slender body built. She wasn't tall at all, factly, her height was measured in 5'4 only. At last but not least, Anna was professionally a psychologist.

Whereas the former ambitious holy man's older brother, John was actually in his late 30s with dark chestnut hair as its darker hues pigmented his hair. His pools were naturally tinted chocolate brown. Especially in the warmest chocolate brown tinge. He was mildly taller than his brother with an inch only. Furthermore his skin color was palish. Meanwhile, John was a widower with a daughter unlike Anna and Daniel, who were still happily married to their spouses with a few children. 

Daniel was approximately John's age though they had a year and a half difference solely. First and foremost, his short hair was tined light brown as his natural eye color was eventually caramel brown. The most vibrant caramel. His pale-pinkish lips were as thin as flute's stings. The older man was an accountant and he has always yearned to meet in person his younger brother's wife since he's heard abundance of nice things about her especialyl via the phone calls, which he had with Timothy. The compliments behind the former licentious jazz nightclub singer's back such as she's a formidably, unspeakably marvelous cook as her mouth-watering dishes never disappointed the former saint man of the cloth, besides she was unspeakably stunning for her age and scarcely showing any signs of the relentlessly aging process that was doubtlessly inescapable. Even the other compliments behind Jude's back were that she's been always loyal, caring and loving friend for years and suddenly turning out they've been haphazardly more than just friends by having a baby shortly after they situated in Rome to pursue and accomplish lastly their divine dreams, wearing revered titles of a Mother Superior and a Pope. 

Whilst the elder lady was in the beginning of her 70s as she used to be a veteran nurse in the British hospitals, saving valuable human lives for decades until she retired in her late 60s. Margaret possesses actually halo ringlet of sleek chestnut with grizzly nuances, pigmenting her tresses that cascaded her upper back. The former nurse was a widow for a handful of decades after losing her husband, Jonathan due to a skin cancer which was the least predictable incident that have befallen the Howards. At last but not least, the veteran nurse was always dressed in exquisitely elegant attires in pale colours to rejuvenate her physical apperrance as they finely hugged her leanly floppy petite figure. 

"Hey! Look who are coming!" The middle-aged lady evoked out as if she was in seventh heaven as she squeezed her husband's mammoth, creamy as satin hand, ushering him to get from the bench and approach the hive of adults. A beaming, kindhearted smile honed up in the corner of her lips, sensing her heart racing, due to the humongous elation as it built its bricks inside her petite frame. 

"I can guess it's them." The younger man replied euphorically, whilst Anna, Margaret and John eagerly spread their arms in the air, in order to scoop their hosts in a tight, welcoming hug. In the meanwhile, Daniel's piercing, fiendish caramel brown pools were transfixed on the blonde in awe, admiring each feature of hers. His berry-coloured lips seized in a begrudging, diabolic purse. 

"Aww, look at my amazing son and his astonishing wife!" The veteran nurse squealed ecstatically, when she scooped in a warm, heartmelting hug her. "Look at you, honey! It has been ages since we've seen each other, if I'm correct."

"I missed you so much, mom! And it's true it has been ages since we've seen each other, unfortunately." 

"Hi! I'm Timothy's younger sister, Anna! It's nice to meet you." In the interval, the brunette offered her hand for a handshake, offering a sympathetic, radiant smile, flashed upon her youthful, parchment complexion. 

"It's a pleasure to meet ya, Anna! I'm Judy." Shortly after the brief handshake between the both women, then the psychologist introduced her own older siblings to the former pious holy woman. "And Judy, those are my and Timothy's older brothers, Daniel and John!"

"It's nice to meet you, Judy! We've heard a lot of nice things about you from Tim!" John peeled a word as his lips curled, bowing his head moments before their handshake since he has ginormous respect for the ladies even when he doesn't wear any type of a hat.

"Yeah! According to my brother's words, you're a blow minding lady with amazing cooking skills and being a loyal friend of Tim for years." Suddenly these overwhelming words caused to the Bostonian's chubby, well-defined cheeks to being tinted sanguinely as unbearably stifling heat crept underneath her facial skin in embarrassment. "Anyway it's my huge pleasure to meet you!"

"That's so kind of ya, Daniel! Thank ya and it's a pleasure to meet ya!" 

When the Howards' younger heirs and Jude introduced to one another, consequently it was high time Margaret and Jude to shake each other's hands.

"And mom, that's my spectacular wife Jude!"

"Oh! I've finally the chance to meet you, Judy, you know! My son always talks about you, during our phone conversations whether when you used to be in Briarcliff or the last days." The elder lady snaked her floppy, doting arms around her daughter-in-law's back, pulling her in a warm and firm hug as beaming, beatific smiles were sketched upon their faces. Their hearts vigorously hammering in their chests as they were pressed along. Meanwhile, the blonde's arms were thrown around her shoulders as they were clung to each other. "And I believed once I meet you in person, you will shine into my eyes even more, sweetie!"

"I-I'm glad to hear all that, ma'am." Raspy, blissful chuckle tickled the corners of her mouth as Margaret joined her. 

"You don't need to be formal at all, dear! Just call me Margaret since you know. The circumstances." Once they broke off the hug, the both oldest ladies took their time to admire one another's faces without averting their stares away. 

"Yeah, yar a mother-in-law to me." The middle-aged lady reminded herself under her breath, her naturally mauve, plumpish lips produced the reminder. 

--- *** ---

--- An Hour Later ---

When the Howards left the airport as they were strongly looking forward for the family dinner by being gathered on the dining table, they arrived in the apartment a quarter an hour later and spending the majority of their time on the kitchen table in logical, deeply rational conversations, besides personal and casual ones as well. 

At the moment, the former woman of the cloth was sitting against her mother-in-law as John was sitting alongside her unlike Daniel, who was seating next to his mother. Eventually the former Cardinal was actually seating in the end of the table.

The kitchen table was effortly adorned with a couple of plates with their dinner meal which was coq-au-vin, the married couple's favorite meal. A couple of glasses were embellishing the dining table as the guests and Timothy's glasses were filled with scrumptious, sinful white wine with exception of the middle-aged future mother. Fresh, lukewarm water pooled the future middle-aged mother since she was pregnant in her second trimester and the alcohol might detrimentally affect not only her health condition since she was an alcoholic recover, but also the fresh life that was living inside her. 

"So Judy, for how long have you been carrying this little precious ray of sunshine inside you?" The veteran nurse posed the question politely, meekly after sipping of her glass of white wine as it liquor seared the corners of her mouth and lacing her tongue. 

"Urm, for 4 months! It's going to be 5 months in the mid-April." The middle-aged woman retaliated as she chewed her bottom plump lip loathely. A benevolent, docile smile glowed its most vibrant nuances through her exclaimation. 

"That's wonderful! Have you ever wondered what's going to be your ray of sunshine?"

"I'm not sure, however, my guesses are telling me it's a girl." In the meantime, Daniel's caramel brown irises were darted to the former holy woman, attentively eavesdropping the both women's conversation as his host was the center of his attention and interest rather than his youngest brother's absence. Absence, which must have caused him distress, due to the fact they haven't seen each other for years. A mischievously wicked, devilish smile was swinging across the middle-aged man's lips as his orbs abruptly darkened at the wonderment ogle at his brother's wife, being bewitched by her ethereal grace and charisma.

"It could be a boy. A mini Timmy!" Meantime, the both ladies couldn't repress guffaws, setting free from their throats as they earnt promptly the rest of the horde's inquiring gawks in great bewilderment. 

"Or a mini Jude!" Anna and Timothy cried out loud as one, seconds before sipping their alcoholic beverages. 

"Whether if it's a mini Jude or Timmy, I'm definitely sure they're going to be as beautiful as their creators." John commented through an inward, jubilant giggle by pronging of his meal, moments before munching it.

"I can't agree more, John!" The former nurse said in scoffing manner. 

"J-Judy?" Daniel emitted a lisp with his firm, British accent, catching his hostess's attention in no time by shifting her honey brown orbs to the slightly younger man. 

"Oh yes, Daniel?" 

--- *** --- 

When Daniel and Jude walked away from the kitchen as the mildly younger man maneuvered his hostness to have a private conversation in the bedroom, John and the former aspiring, devotional man of the cloth noted something leery behind their sibling's demeanor and by the way he asked Jude to flee the room. At first, they preferred to abide neutral unless something gravely serious and horrendous befalls Jude.

"So what do ya want exactly to talk to me in private, Daniel?" Once the Bostonian stepped inside the bedroom, whereas the younger man shut the door behind him.  What the Bostonian could feel as prejudices, resurfacing in her blizzard of thoughts and keeping her wits about her husband's older brother. 

"For heaven sake, Judy," Suddenly the embarrassing puff, surging from the top of the guest's lungs sent shivers the blonde's body of murderous embarrassment and biases, plaguing its migraine. "Don't you ever dare to call me the next time Daniel! I'm just Danny, okay?" Meanwhile, the former promiscuous jazz nightclub singer docilely, humbly bobbed her head in agreement, wedging her lips in a thoughtful, awkward purse. "Good! So I'd like to know everything how you and my brother are together for years not just as friends, but also as lovers."

"Urm, we haven't been lovers for years, first of all! W-Why is all this, Danny?" The older lady was sitting on the edge of the king-sized bed as her both hands rested on the pregnant belly, caressing it gently with her slim, long fingers. 

"I'm just curious, Judy! You seem tremendously sweet couple, but there's only one issue that unnerves me."

"What exactly? I doubt there's something wrong in my marriage with Timothy." The future mother struggled sluggishly to spell the syllables, factly, the conversation between her and her brother-in-law drastically, obnoxiously intesified within a half a minute.

--- *** ---

"Timmy, honey," The elder woman addressed optimistically, carelessly her youngest son as she noticed that he fled the kitchen table promptly, when premonitions inundated his train of thoughts once he acknowledged his rara avis was absent for over a few minutes. Little did he know what might has happened to her. Whether for better or worse. "Where are you going?"

"Something tells me my brother has something to do with that dubious absence of Jude!" All of a sudden, even when Timothy attempted to keep it cool on outside without showing any alludes of vexation in his demeanor and utterance, he snapped at his mother. 

"Tim is probably right, mom! Danny's ogles at Judy didn't seem sheerly innocent at all." In the interim, John opted to alleviate his mother, assuring her insistingly by patting affably her shoulder after sipping of his glass of wine. 

"Yeah by judging by the way he stared at her and," The psychologist stuttered at the thought of Daniel by the way he goggled eerily his caramel brown pools at her and Judy. It haunted her for the rest of the night. "When I and Judy had a conversation, it was a total embarrassment, to be honest!"

"I'm scared Danny's wife, Claudia, is going to find out about his suspicious demeanor especially on his journey to Rome to see his brother and Jude." Margaret added by masticating the last bite of the mouth-watering dish. 

"She will absolutely find out or we can tell her, despite there are greater chances of breaking her heart directly rather than pretending with that we're cool."

"It's better for her to hear the truth at the moment rather than pretending as if nothing has happened and then she finds out somehow, Anna!"

--- *** ---

"This age gap with 10 years difference between both of you." All of a sudden, the middle-aged lady was beyond baffled, when she opted to defend herself with great efforts, howsoever, the slightly younger man trapped her by straddling her legs by gripping her violently by the wrists, grasping them without letting her to move a single muscle. "That's what unnerves me, Judy! He deserves a younger woman, who's around his age and deserves his virginity, not a pathetic whore like you." In the meantime, criminal ire and disgust brewed and cooked inside the former holy woman, cusping with its zestful boiling blood in her veins as an erupting volcano. Grotesque clutch of teeth's combination in ire as a vicious hound exposed her true nature, whereas Daniel's scowl horrified the older woman. "Or rather you should be with somebody around your age. Not with a man, who could be your much younger brother. It's an abomination!"

"So as ya tell me what to do, but that's yar own problem!" When Daniel approached his face as barely an inch was dividing them as proximity, in order to lick the Bostonian's complexion as she was wriggling into his grip, she spat on his face without regretting at all. 

"Fuck ya, arsehole! Ya aren't supposed to tell me whom I should be married and how many years should be our age gap. It's not yar business at all." Once the wail boated in the bedroom, she had the opportunity to kick in the groins Daniel and meanwhile, Timothy entered in the room by storming off, dragging his older sibling, whose weakened body, agonized in soreful pain after being kicked into his groins, his whirlpool of thoughts were absolutely right. Something may has happened between Daniel and Jude especially something leery which he can't put a finger on it. "T-Timothy! I thought ya were having a dinner with yar mothar and siblings." 

"Oh, my Jude! I'm so sorry for being a bit late, but I've promised you to protect you at any cost." In the meanwhile, the former holy man seated alongside his pregnant wife, taking her into his tight, warm embrace as she clasped momentarily her timid arms as faint sniffles were muffled between their embrace. "I didn't mean to be that ignorant. At least, I'm relieved, he didn't do anything harmful to you."

"H-He questioned us about our age gap and he called me an old whore. It's damn vulgar." At the moment, Daniel's hands opted to subdue its agonizing pain between his legs, curling in a ball on the floor, shrieking in endless pain.

"No, no, no, don't cry, my rare bird! He's a nasty liar for calling you what you aren't actually." He captured her lips in a reassuring, steamy kiss, in order to calm her nerves. The British aristocrat rubbed his wife's back to reassure her without an ado. "You should rest and reflect on our ray of sunshine, instead on that asshole. Okay?"

"A-Alright!" The blonde whispered in honeyed voice as their embrace was released, while Timothy got from the bed after stroking delicately his wife's crispy, long wavy gilt hair, emboldening her sniffles to subdue urgently. 

"Good! I'll take care of everything." Timothy turned to her for last time, offering her a soothingly doting, calm smile just seconds before it was moped off his still young-looking, milky as vanilla face to confront his brother. "Daniel, enough with your games tonight!"

"But your age gap worries me and how your relationship may end sooner or later."

"I don't give a damn about our age gap. I still love this woman and you haven't got the right to touch and humiliate her in each way. Am I clear?" All of a sudden, even when Timothy was seldom insanely exasperated, permitting his voice decibels to be raised than the average, it caught his older brother off guard, imperiling him with his goose being cooked. "And Jude is going to tell me every little detail what you did to her, when you had this private conversation." He resumed his caution, baring his ivory, yet firm teeth for his mid-thirties. 

"Do whatever you want but I don't give a damn rat ass about your threat!"

"Say whatever you want, Danny! But do you know what? Your wife is going to find out and she will gladly divorce you for your abominable behaviour and deeds."