The Rogers' Family Annual Camping Trip

The teen shivered again as the cold cloth rubbed down from her forehead to her chin. "How long have you known?"

Michelle handed her the canteen she had used to wet the cloth. "Rinse your mouth out, then drink some. And in answer to your question," she said as she took a zipped lock bag from her back jeans pocket with an E.P.T stick in it, "about as long as you have."

"Please don't be too angry with me, Momma."

Michelle's eyebrows went up at her daughters plea. "Baby, I told you yesterday that we would be here for you."

"But you don't know everything, yet."

"Oh, don't I?"

"The baby's father? I know you won't approve, but I love him and I'm going to marry him. Nothing you say or do will keep me from doing that."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that he loves you as much as you love him, then." Now Sam's eyebrows raised. "Speaking of your fiancée, I had Poppa wake him to have him bring your toothbrush and toothpaste to you. After getting sick like that, you always want to clean out your mouth before doing much of anything else. He should be here any minute, but remember, no kissing until after you clean your mouth out some more."

"You mean, you know?"

"Yes, I know. And I think he will make a wonderful husband to you and be great father. His father sure has. Here he comes now."

It was only a few steps from their tent to where the two women were, Michelle still standing and Sam still kneeling and shivering on the cold, dewy grass. "Sam?" Chris said as he got near them. "Dad said to bring your toothbrush and toothpaste to you because you got sick. Are you okay?"

"Oh, it's just the pesky morning sickness, again," she answered.

"Uh, i-i-i-it's what?" Chris said with a quick glance at Michelle.

"Yeah, she knows. Help me up, will you babe?"

He held his hand out and she took it. With him pulling, she got to her feet. "But no kissing until I get my teeth brushed," she said.

"What?" Chris asked again, still not sure what was going on.

"They know everything, Chris. It seems that they always did."

"Oh," Chris uttered sheeplessly. "Um."

Sam hugged him and held him close. "It's okay. They're alright with it."

"Um. Okay," he said.

"Now that that's all settled, you should probably go brush your teeth, Sam," Michelle butted in.

"Um," began Sam. "I'm going to need that zip lock bag, Mom. And another shower."

"What do you need the bag for?"

Sam lowered her eyes as her face began to redden. "I, uh, wet myself while throwing up. I couldn't hold it back."

Chris let out a guffaw before clamping his hand on his mouth as she looked icicles at him. "Sorry," he said. "Why don't you just rinse them out at the facility building and hang them in our tent to dry?"

"Ooh," Michelle uttered. "I bet that felt good."

"Excuse me?" Sam interjected wondering why her mother thought that it felt good for her to wet herself.

"I don't mean you, Sam. I meant Chris. Didn't it feel good to say 'our tent?'"

He thought about what she was saying and then let a smile cross his face. "I hadn't thought about it when I was saying it, but now that you mention it, yeah. It does."

"Told you so. Sam, he does have a good idea, though. The panties won't be really clean, but after they dry, you can just put them in the dirty laundry with the rest of your stuff and you won't have to worry about them stinking up your tent."

"Alright. I'll get my clothes and head up to the building. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Our tent. Sam thought about those words as she made her way up to the facility building. They had both been thinking of it by that term, but neither had uttered the words until that morning. Our tent. Her heart skipped a bit in joy at the thought of it. Wait a minute, she thought to herself. If Mom recognized it as our tent, did that mean that she and Chris were going to continue sharing it even after Aunt Jan and Uncle Rob got there with Mike and the other tent? She would have to remember to ask when she got back to the campsite. What about when they got back home? That was another story, she thought. She was sure that they wouldn't let her move into his room at night.

Still, for now, it was 'our tent.' The one they had shared for two nights. It was where last night, she had laid down wrapped in Chris' arms as he tried to comfort her over not being able to have the cake she wanted for the wedding. She had said all the right things, how she was okay with not being able to because she would have him and he was much more important. But she realized now, that she had still been in a down mood when she went to sleep because she really did want that cake. But now, as she thought about it, and didn't matter as much. Now she could return to the campsite after she was finished and walk up to Chris and hug him without worrying about trying to hide it. She had him, and it was better than any cake could ever be.

After brushing her teeth, rinsing out and wringing out her panties really well, and taking a shower, Sam felt more herself. she dressed for the day and returned to the campsite to see the Rogers family sitting at the table under the dinning fly. All three sitting there had the last name of Rogers. When she was younger, it used to bother her that she still had the name of Monroe. Now, she was glad she wasn't a Rogers, because that would change soon. As she got closer, Chris stood up.

"I went ahead and cooked breakfast in your place, Sam. You look like you are feeling a little better. Can I make something for you to eat?"

"You know? I am feeling better. The shower helped, but I think not having all the stress of trying to hide everything is what really does the trick. And I'd love something to eat."

"What can I get you?"

"Would you make some scrambled eggs for me? A bit of toast would go well, too. I don't want any meat, though. I think my stomach would still want to get rid of it."

"Sure, babe. Coming right up."

Sam went to their tent and put things away, hanging her pair of panties where they could dry enough to put in the laundry bag. She was back out and at the table before Chris had her eggs ready. "Question, Mom. How did you guys get the pastor to do a sermon on unwed pregnancies?"

"We didn't," Michelle answered. "He came up with that on his own. We were as surprised by it as you were."

"Sam?" Jay asked. "Do you think you are well enough to go riding this morning?"

"Sorry, Poppa, but no. I think all that bouncing up and down on the back of the horse would really do a number on my stomach."

"That's what we thought, too," he answered.

"That's to our advantage, really," Michelle said. "We still have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in."

"What do you mean, Mom?"

"Your wedding. We have a lot left to plan out and less than three weeks to get it all done and all the preparations made."

"Three weeks?!" Chris said as he sat a plate with food on it in front of Sam.

"You didn't tell them, hun?" Jay asked.

"We didn't quite get that far this morning when we were talking. We sort of stopped after 'we know' and Chris saying 'our tent.'"

"Speaking of our tent," Sam began, "Does the fact that you said it that way mean that we are going to continue sharing it after Jan and Rob get here with Mike. What about Danielle? She can't sleep in the same tent as Mike, can she?"

"All this has already been worked out, Sam. Mike will be sharing his tent with Kenny, and Danielle will be with Chelsea."

"Kenny and Chelsea?" she responded. "Does that mean that Dad and Barbie are coming up, too?" She said her step-mother's name with as much disgust as she could.

'Yes, they'll all be here tonight. And why do you say her name that way?"

"Because she's a husband stealing hussy with a Barbie doll complex." Jay and Chris turned away to hide the smirks on their faces as Michelle bit her lip to force herself to keep her composure. "She's the reason I stopped playing with those dolls so young. After having my daddy stolen by her, I sure wasn't willing to play with her anymore."

Michelle put on her disappointed face as she looked at Sam. It would not be good for her to not be on good terms with her former babysitter.

"Alright," Sam continued. "So what if it's not rational to blame a doll for the break-up of a marriage. Give me a break. I was only five."

"Well, sweetie. Here's something you don't know. I'm actually grateful that Barbie took your father from me."

"What?!"

"I think I got the better part of the deal. If she hadn't taken him away from me, I wouldn't be married to Jay. For that matter, you may never have met Chris. Would you want that?"

"No," she answered more somberly. "Poppa is great, and I'd hate to be without Chris. I wouldn't want you to be without Poppa, either. He's been at least as much of a father to me as Dad has."

"Then maybe you can at least be kind to Barbie?"

"Alright. I'll even try to be friendly with her, But, she still has a Barbie doll complex. That's why she named her kids Kenneth and Chelsea."

Jay let out a snort before putting his hand over his mouth. Chris wasn't able to stop with that and began chuckling, although his mouth was closed. Soon all four of them were out right laughing.

"Getting back to where all this started," Sam began after they had finally settled down, "Does that mean that Chris and I will still be in the same tent together at night?"

"Yes, dear. That's what it means," Michelle answered.

"Really?" questioned Chris. "I mean, even after knowing that the two of us are, uh, that we have, uh, that we are a couple?"

"Well, she's already pregnant, Chris," Jay interjected. "I don't think you could make her anymore so by staying together."

"I guess not," he blushed.

"And the wedding?" Sam asked.

"We've already scheduled the chapel and hall at the museum," Jay said.

"I hope you don't mind," Michelle said. "But we knew you wouldn't have had the chance to get anything done, and we figured you would want to get married before you started showing."

"We had thought of just a quick trip to the courthouse after we got home from this trip," Sam replied. "How much can we get done in that amount of time? Do we have the money to do much?"

"You know Sally Horton?" Michelle asked. The two teens nodded, having met her at Rob and Jan's house quite a few times. "She is your wedding coordinator. She already knows all the things that we have talked about yesterday. I called Jan and she was going to talk to her about all of that. She will be looking for decorations and all that stuff. Rob and Jan are going to stop off at the printers and order invitations before they come up here so that you will know what they will look like. But we'll have to wait until we get home to pick them up and get them sent out. Don't worry about all the stuff that has to get done. It will."

"What about the cost?"

"I told you yesterday that we would help. Rob and Jan will be putting in some, too. We all are going to do our best to give you the best wedding we can."

"Wow. Well, um, I guess, thanks, Mom," Sam said. "In the last two days, I've gone from expecting to get married at court, to being promised by Chris that I would have a wedding of some sort, although it couldn't be the one I want, to you guys joining in to help. I know I won't get all I want, but it really means a lot to me that you did it."

"You're welcome, sweetie."

"I told Sam that I was going to give her as much of her dream wedding as I could, Mom." Chris added. "I was willing to pay all that I have to get her as much as I can. I still want to put my funds in as well, but I appreciate any help you can give."

"We're not super rich, but we have some. But we're using a lot this week to get some other things done, too. That is a surprise that you will get tomorrow. For now, we have this morning to plan out what we are going to do with everything. This afternoon, you will be taking care of some other stuff, so let's get to work."

They settled into the seats at the table and began talking about music for the wedding. Michelle announced that they would be able to use the sound system in the chapel to play selected songs off a CD. "They have an organ and a piano available, but getting someone to play will cost quite a bit," she said. "We'll probably have to use a CD to play for the wedding, too."

"What about Kendra?" Sam asked thoughtfully.

"Kendra?" Chris pondered while trying to place a face to the name. "Kendra. You mean Kendra Smiley?"

"Yeah. I bet I could get her to play for us."

"I barely remember her," Chris said. "She's always been so...quiet, I guess the word is."

"Yeah, she doesn't like to stand out too much. But she does play the organ."

"Really. I didn't know that. I didn't know much of anything about her."

"Well, that came out earlier this year. Since you're at the community college, now, when you're not working, you wouldn't have heard about it."

"How did you hear about it?"

"You remember Jason Moore?"

"Yeah."

"Well, there were some other girls picking on Kendra, and she's always so quiet that she didn't even know how to defend herself. Jason, it seems, jumped in for her though. From what I heard, he actually goes to the church that she's at, and she often plays for them as an accompanist. Anyway, he defended her saying that the reason that she doesn't go out like the rest of that crowd is because she is busy with doing more serious things like studying her music. It sorted of shut those girls down, from what I heard, and I think that the two of them are actually seeing each other now. This is all second hand knowledge, though. I didn't see it for myself."

"I could have figured that out myself," Chris said.

"How so," Jay piped back into the conversation.

"Sam is rather sensitive to people getting bullied," Chris answered. "If she had been there, she would have been getting involved in defending Kendra herself."

"Really?" Michelle asked. "My daughter stands up to bullies?"

"Well, I do some," she admitted, blushing. "I guess I have Billy Mitchell to thank for that."

"Who's Billy Mitchell and why would you thank him for it?"

"When we first moved to Poppa's house and I started going to the same school as Chris, Billy was the school bully. Being the new kid, he had to have a go at me. Chris put a stop to him rather quickly though." She thought for a minute before continuing. "You know, I think I was in love with you even back then. You were certainly my hero that day. It even inspired me to start taking classes in martial arts with you, since the fact that Billy knew that you knew martial arts was the reason he backed down so quickly."

"Why didn't I hear about any of this?" Michelle said angrily. "You should have told me about it."

"There wasn't really anything to tell," Chris jumped in. "I told him to back off, that she was my step-sister and he needed to stay away from her and he left."

"Chris," Jay interjected. "You know that you aren't supposed to use the fact that you study martial arts to threaten people. I'm surprised at you!"

"I didn't, dad. I never told anybody about it except Steve Coleman. And that was to invite him to come to one of my competitions. He let the cat out of the bag when he told some of the people at school how cool he thought it was to watch and that I was involved in it. I didn't even win in that competition."

"We've gotten off subject," Michelle complained. "But, this has brought to mind a question that I would really like an answer to. When did you guys become a couple?"

The two teens looked at each other and smiled. "That day we told you about when the guy at the mall was trying to hit on me and we ended up beating him and his friends up," Sam answered. "I already knew before then that I loved Chris and I didn't want anyone else, but I wasn't telling him about it because it would have been bad if he didn't feel the same and rejected me."

"I felt the same way," Chris said. "I started feeling that way a few months earlier when you went up against Ryan 'the bull' Jefferson during that finals competition."

"I loved you long before that."

"What about Tommy Weller?" Michelle asked.

"We weren't really going with each other, Mom. He was with Amy Radcliff, but her parents wouldn't let her see him. So he started dating me and I would help them be able to see each other along with Brad Grande, who her parents did like."

"Why didn't they like Tommy?"

"His family isn't rich enough. As soon as she turned eighteen, she moved out and she sees Tommy on a regular basis, now. Funny thing is, Tommy's dad helped him get a loan to make an investment on some company, and it really took off. He's now richer than Amy's parents."

"But how did the two of you finally get together.?"

"After mall security took those guys away, we were congratulating each other and actually fell into a hug that suddenly turned into an embrace and before you could say stop or go, we just started kissing," Chris replied. "Greatest moment of my life, when I found out that she liked me as much as I did her."

Michelle guided the conversation back on track. "Getting back to the main subject, you think that Kendra would be willing to play for your wedding?"

"I'll have to ask, but I think she might."

"Can you call her?"

"I don't have her number. I could call Sarah and see if she can look it up."

"I think I heard her mother say something about her going somewhere today," Michelle said hoping to keep her from contacting any of her close friends.

"Well then, maybe Robin or Gabrielle."

" I guess you could give them a try."

A few minutes later, Sam hug up her cell phone, a confused look on her face. "Their all together and not anywhere close to anything that can help get the number," she said. "It seems that they decided to take a trip or something, and there like more than two hours away from Cape Canaveral already."

"Why don't you try the community building," Chris said. "They have some computers and internet access. Maybe you can get the number that way."

"Maybe later," she answered. "Let's go on the assumption that she's going to do this, right now, so that we can get on with anything else that we might have to take care of. I'll try again after we get done."

The continued making plans for another two hours, working on the details of the wedding. When finished, they had selected all the members of the wedding party. Sam had Sarah Johnson as her maid of honor, with Robin Taylor and Gabrielle Smythe as brides maids. Chris had Steve Coleman as his best man, with Charles Davidson and Myles Paterson as groomsmen. They decided to have both Danielle and Chelsea as flower girls, and Mike would be a ring bearer, holding a pillow as he walked up the aisle to bow towards Steve as if handing him the ring, followed by Kenneth doing the same, but making his delivery to Sarah before taking his place next to the rest of the men. Afterwards, Sam began preparing burgers for lunch.

Sam was enjoying the moment as she laid back against Chris on a lounge chair, Jay, also laying on a lounge chair with a book in his hand while Michelle did the clean up. She felt the warm sun on her face and his arms wrapped around her stomach and seemed very content. But the peacefulness of the moment was disturbed by the beeping of Michelle's cell phone.

"What' s that for, Mom?" she asked as Michelle moved to silence the alarm.

"That is a reminder that another surprise is not too far away. Jay, it's time for your gift."

"Right, my dear," he replied. "Chris, I don't know if you two have looked over rings or maybe even have gotten Sam a ring that she hasn't been wearing because of trying to hide everything..."

"There hasn't been any money for that, Dad."

"Right. Well that makes this a little more likely, then, that you will accept my gift." He pulled a small ring box from his pocket. "This is the ring I gave your mother when we were engaged. I hope that you will place it on your ladies finger. I think your mother would very much approve of that and find it an honor, as do I. It's yours if you want, or perhaps you might use it as a loner if you want to get your own later."