We entered through the back door of our house and went into the dining room. The table was set for eight. Candles were burning and the lights had been dimmed. A bottle of red wine stood next to Watson's place. The dining room had been transformed into an Italian restaurant.

"This looks great, Mom," I said, "butit's June. We should be eating outside. We're wasting the nice weather."

"Oh, honey," my mother replied. "Eat spaghetti on our laps? That sounds like the start of a Tide commercial. We'll be much better off in here."

I laughed. Ever since Mom got engaged to Watson, she's been in a great mood.

My brothers crowded around the table. (They're never too far off when food is about to be served.)

Karen and Andrew approached them shyly. (Yes, even Karen gets shy sometimes.) I think she's shy around Charlie, Sam, and David Michael because she knows they're going to become her stepbrothers and she wants to make a good impression on them. She knows me a lot better than she knows them because of all the baby-sitting I've done for her and for Andrew.

"Hi, Charlie.Hi, Sam.Hi, David Michael," Karen addressed each one solemnly.

"Hi, kid," replied Charlie. (Charlie is my seventeen-year-old brother. He just got his driver's license.)

Sam, who's fifteen, couldn't answer Karen because he was busy scarring up olives from a little dish my mother had set on the table next to the pepper grinder.

"Hey, Mom!"I called into the kitchen. "We need an olive refill."

Sam gave me a dirty look.

While we kids stood around waiting for Mom and Watson, who were doing last-minute spaghetti things in the kitchen, Karen and David Michael eyed each other. Mom is afraid there's going to be some trouble between the two of them after the wedding. David Michael is used to being the baby of the family. He's not just theyoungest, he's the much-youngest. There's a ten-year difference between Charlie and him. There's even a five-and-a-half-year difference between him and me. (I'll be thirteen in August.) But suddenly he's going to acquire a part-time six-year-old sister and four-year-old brother.