Friends Forever by Danielle Steel

too.
    “I think that’s really stupid,” he said. “You’ve got enough kids. And what if you decide you don’t like each other in two years, what happens to them? You each take one?” Billy was still smarting from the divorce and his mother’s remarriage, and it showed.
    “Hopefully that won’t ever happen,” Jack said calmly. “I think your mother and I knew what we were doing when we got married. We wouldn’t have more children if we weren’t sure.”
    “You may be sure now, but you don’t know what will happen later. Look at Izzie’s parents, and you and Dad,” he said directly to Marilyn. “Now Dad’s a mess, and you’re married to someone else and having more babies.” She didn’t tell him that his father had been a mess before she divorced him. She could see that Billy needed to express his feelings, and she felt bad for him, and for a moment as though she had betrayed him by getting pregnant. He was a senior in high school and nearly eighteen years old, but he was still a little boy.
    “I’m sorry you’re upset, Billy,” she said softly, and tried to reach for his hand but he wouldn’t let her. He said nothing until they stood up to leave, then he strode out of the restaurant and waited for them at the car. And as soon as they got home, he went to Gabby’s, without a word of congratulation to Jack or his mother. He looked like a storm cloud, and Jack found Marilyn crying in the kitchen a few minutes later, rubbing her stomach. The end of the meal had given her terrible indigestion.
    “Are you okay?” Jack asked as he walked in and put his arms around her. “I’m sorry Billy took it badly. He’ll be okay. I guess in a lot of ways he’s still a kid.” She nodded and clung to her husband. The last thing she had wanted to do was upset Billy. He’d been through enough with the divorce, and all the pressure put on him by Larry. “He’ll be fine when he sees them. It’s an adjustment, and he’ll be in L.A. anyway.” Jack was hugging her and rubbing her back when Brian walked in with a curious expression.
    “So do you know what they are yet? Boys, girls, one of each?” He looked as though he was ready, and his mother and stepfather laughed and turned to smile at him.
    “We’ll let you know as soon as we do,” Marilyn promised, relieved to see him so matter-of-fact about it. “Any preference?”
    “Of course,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Two boys. Jack and I can teach them to play baseball.” Brian was already liking his role as older brother, and he exchanged a knowing look with Jack.
    “You can teach girls to play baseball too, you know,” Marilyn reminded him, as Brian rolled his eyes again, helped himself to a cookie, and sat down at the kitchen table.
    “Girls are such dorks.”
    “You won’t always think that,” Jack said confidently, and after that they turned off the kitchen lights and went upstairs. Unlike his older brother, Brian had taken their announcement extremely well. Billy had felt it as a personal affront, and that night he said as much to Gabby, who thought it was going to be cute to have babies to play with, twins, whenever they came home from L.A. Billy looked unhappy when she said it, and the next morning Marilyn found two empty beer cans under his bed. She didn’t say anything, and decided to give him some slack, but it wasn’t reassuring, if he was responding to stressful situations by drinking beer. She didn’t want him to turn out like his father, but two beers were not enough to panic about yet. She told Jack about it, and he suggested they keep an eye on Billy and try not to overreact, and she agreed.
    Thanksgiving at the new Norton-Ellison household was a lot happier than it had been the year before. Both of Jack’s boys joined them, as did Gabby. She helped Marilyn set the table, and Jack had had the entire meal catered by his restaurant, with two waiters to serve them and clean up afterward. All Marilyn had to do was sit down and eat,