To the moon and back

Somebody call 911

If I had been surprised by her mother, I was flabbergasted by her father..unless those two were the same thing; in which case, I was *insert word more surprising than surprised* by her father.

Where Trish was a spitting image of her mother, Elliott and Talia were their father.

Mr. Mcguinness had a messy crown of wavy blonde hair that looked a lot like Elliott's but his was just a level up on the 'tame' scale. He had the same open brightness in his eyes that Elliott and Talia seemed to have inherited and was at least an entire foot taller than his ex wife. If Trish hadn't have already told me that her father was almost 6 years older than her mother, I would've called her a cradle robber. There was a youthfulness in his features that his ex wife lacked and I swallowed as her delicate features turned to me.

"And who is this?"

I opened my mouth and closed it many times before offering my hand to shake, "Hello, I'm Harper Dale"

Mrs. Mcguinness looked at my hand and offered me a tight smile, "Rachel"

She expertly brushed right by me and I allowed my jaw to drop only slightly before clamping it shut as Andrew placed a hand at the small of my back.

"Looks like you've allowed Seth to take the reigns on keeping your home in order?"

There it was! There was the condescending tone that Trish had prided her mother for having.

" I think the place looks fine" Mr. Mcguinness murmured turning to his ex wife and giving her a hard look.

"Of course you would, you never knew a dust pan"

I looked around at everyone and their expressions were a mix of slight fright and composure. Of course they were all used to this: Chandler, Ethan, Andrew and Seth having been almost like siblings and Trish, Elliott, and Talia ACTUALLY being siblings. This was none of their first times at the rodeo and I tried my best to keep a smile on my face,

"She can smell fear" Andrew whispered from behind me. I heard Ethan choke on his laughter before sobering up as Mrs. Mcguinness stared at something behind Andrew.

We all quickly turned and there, in all their glory, were the bottles of beer Seth had forgotten to dispose of.

"Now I see" Mrs. Mcguinness murmured, "you got my daughter drunk enough to agree to marry you"

Seth shook his head profusely, "no ma'am that isn't what happened"

"She couldn't even drink if she wanted to" Talia rolled her eyes and sucked in her breath realizing her mistake, "because she doesn't drink..."

Mr. Mcguinness stared at his daughter with furrowed brows, "Your eyebrows are doing that thing...the thing they do when you're lying"

Elliott slapped a hand over Talias eyebrows and sneered, "she's been getting her eyebrows waxed at this wierd Scandinavian place..."

"If I were Scandinavian, I'de be offended by that" Andrew muttered. "why couldn't it be a weird Irish place? Stop knocking the Scandinavians"

"Not now, ANDREW" Seth hissed balling his hands into fists and turning to Elliot, "besides, Talia has always had odd eyebrows"

Mr. Mcguinness furrowed his own eyebrows and shook his head as if he only half believed this. Mrs. Mcguinness, on the other hand, was walking around the apartment inspections in order.

She made a face at the couch, "Mismatched throw pillows? Surely you know this shade of green shouldn't be with this shade of yellow"

"It's a pillow from the guest bedroom" Trish snapped, "I don't even live here, you seem to always skim over that minor detail"