by Rachel Ellis
They were starting to know me too well. I smiled. “No fun at all.” I slid the keys in and turned the knob.
The place had a dusty, just-renovated smell. Pretty soon, I’d fill it up with the scent of flour, butter, and icing. The interior had a quaint, cottage feeling, with wicker chairs and round, glass tables. Portraits of candy and flowers lined the walls. The display counter was still empty. I could think of a million things to fill it up with. It’d be a heck load of work: planning the menu, coming up with marketing schemes, budgeting, hiring staff, etcetera… How in the world was I supposed to do this while taking care of twin babies?
Good things never come easy. I’d work hard, take care of my kids, and run a successful business, using my ambition as fuel. “I love it,” I said, bursting with excitement and happiness. The shock had subsided, leaving joy in its place. “Thank you so fucking much!” I hugged my arms around my twins and kissed both of them. “What would I do without the two of you. Oh, hell, I’ve always wanted something like this. Dreamed about it my whole life.”
Ryan grinned. “We knew you’d like it. Wait till you see the kitchen. It’s all the latest technology.”
They gave me a short tour around the place—it barely took ten minutes. They mentioned buying the largest place in the plaza, but it still wasn’t as big as they wanted it to be. They didn’t know how the equipment worked, saying they left it all to the specialist. I wasn’t surprised. Just a few months back, I learned Ryan and Riley didn’t know how to turn on a stove, perfectly fitting the spoiled-rich-kid image. When I questioned how they cooked for themselves when their helpers weren’t around, they told me they had a special service that sent high-quality, expensive foods to their doorsteps.
We ordered it once, because I wanted to try—the food did taste delicious.
I looked down at my wedding band. The wedding went off perfectly, without a single hitch—unless I counted Kristie getting drunk and puking next to my dress, that is. But I didn’t find it that big of a deal. Married life had been smooth-sailing since. We had our little quibbles, and I found out the twins could be quite disgusting sometimes, which was only human. But other than that, everything turned out great.
I was in the midst of my thoughts when a contraction started at my lower belly. I thought it was another Braxton Hicks contraction—it happened every so often, but then it started to hurt, a lot. I cringed and held onto the counter, panic bells ringing in my head. The babies were coming. I looked up at the confused expressions of the twins, panting and gasping for air.
“Are you alright?” Ryan asked. “You don’t look well.”
“Take me to the hospital.”
***
The most excruciating moment of my life had ended.
Most mothers can be relieved after the first baby comes out, but not me. After one, another one came, and I had to go through all those horrible contractions again. I nearly thought labor was going to kill me. It was like a bulldozer pummeling my back. Once my labor ended, I was ready to pass out—until I heard the cries of my children.
“Your boys, ma’am,” a nurse said, holding two bundles to her chest. At first, when I found out they were boys, I was filled with disappointment, and a little bit of dread. But when the nurse passed my darlings over, and I looked at their adorable, small faces and tiny feet and hands, I only experienced fulfillment and pure happiness.
My two boys—the loveliest things in the world.
I’d do everything in my power to care for them, protect them, and make sure they’d forever stay this unmarred and beautiful.
“Look at the both of you,” I whispered. I brought each of them to my face and kissed their cheeks. Both of them stopped crying and looked up at me with their round, sparkling eyes. One of them reached out a miniature hand to touch my jaw. I smiled, tears of joy escaping to my cheeks. Ethan and Nathan—the names of our baby boys. We were hoping for girls, and decided to name them Elizabeth and Isabella, but kept back-up male names just in case.
Riley and Ryan stood by my side. They were fathers now.
“Can we hold them?” Riley asked, looking nervous.
I nodded and passed a boy to each of them. Ryan took Ethan, while Riley carried Nathan. They rocked their little boys in their arms, amazement lighting up their faces. I could tell my husbands had fallen in love with our children in no time at all. Riley fumbled with his baby more than Ryan did, surprisingly.
Ryan rocked Ethan back and forth. “Who am I holding?”
“Ethan,” I answered.
“You can tell them apart?”
I winked. “I have this uncanny ability.”
“They’re amazing,” Riley said, adoration filling his eyes.
“Of course, they’re mine.”
Just then, Nathan burst out into tears. His brother followed soon after, starting with a soft whining sound before becoming as loud as a fire alarm.
Their fathers went into a flurry of panic, rocking the babies and pacing around. Riley was the most frantic of the two. “What are we supposed to do? They won’t keep quiet, Scarlet.”
My motherly instinct kicked in. I spread my arms out.
“Pass them to me,” I said, grinning.
The were going to be good fathers. They acted slightly clueless, but it wasn’t difficult to tell how much they loved their sons.
We were a strange family, but we’d work things out, step by step, taking things one at a time.
“Wendy, what is the stock on our cupcakes?”
Wendy had been my most important shop assistant for the last couple of years. She was absolutely indispensable for the running of my bakery and I’d never have been able to make it this far without her. She had had over ten years of experience in the field, in addition to four years of culinary school. The twins paid her top salary to work for me in the beginning, but recently, things had taken off so well that my business could support her without hurting our balance books.
She tucked some pans into the ovens and set the timer. “More than three hundred, dearies; it’ll last us for most of this morning.”
My cupcakes had been selling like crazy. I’d like to think it was mainly because of how they tasted—the many returning customers were proof of that. But advertising played a huge role as well. I hyped them up often using social media.
I shook my head. “We need more for today.”
“I’m on it,” Wendy said. She already had the next batter done and started pouring it into the cupcake cups.
“And the birthday cakes?” Those were selling well, too. Business was booming, almost too well, and I had another store opening up soon.
“I’ve asked John to start working on them.”
Oh no, John. He was a talented boy, but a bit dull and clumsy. He was working part-time, and wasn’t particularly skilled in the craft. “I’ll have to watch over him.”
“You do that, dear. You know how he gets. I’ll be over in a minute to take over. I’m almost done with the cupcakes.”
I braced myself as I walked up to my employee, certain he’d messed something up. As I retied my hair—it had gotten messy over the day—I paced toward John’s counter. He was working on decorations, using marshmallow fondant. I saw miniature soccer balls on his counter. I remembered that order. The customer wanted something to commemorate her son’s eighteenth birthday, so it was a relatively complicated order. It seemed like a feat for John to handle.
I examined his handiwork. It was shoddy, but acceptable.
Pointing to the fondant he was rolling, I said, “You need more water, your fondant is cracking.”
I didn’t realize I had been stealthy until John whipped his head around, looking as if he just saw a ghost. “Oh, Scarlet, ma’am. Um, hi. I’ll get right on it.”
The boy reached for the jug of water, but his clumsy hands slipped and it tipped over, splashing over the tabletop and all over the fondant.
He looked at his work in horror. “Oh, my God. I’ll get this cleaned up immediately. The bat
ch is ruined, ma’am. Oh shit.” He turned away and wiped his hands. “What do I do?”
I sighed, knowing something like this was bound to happen. I hadn’t fired him yet because he showed potential. Some of the desserts he created actually tasted pretty good. His family was also struggling and they needed the cash. John just needed to get over his clumsiness. Then, he’d be on the road to becoming a great pastry chef. “Calm down. We’ll just make another batch. This isn’t a rush order. It’s not due till tomorrow.”
He took a big gulp. “Yes, ma’am.”
“C’mon, move over. I might be able to salvage this. It’s a waste to throw failed batches away. We might be able to fix this.”
I scooted next to his side and reached for some icing. Narrowing my eyes, I assessed the damage. It wasn’t too bad, I had to cut out some parts of it, and it was a little sticky, but nothing disastrous.
In the midst of working with the fondant, Agatha, my nanny, came out of the nursing room, gasping for air. “Mrs. Crawford. Good lord, the twins. They won’t stop fighting. Nathan made Ethan cry and now he won’t stop. And Nathan is messing up the toys and playroom, laughing at his brother. It’s a war zone in there.” I flinched when she called me by that name. It reminded me of the Ryan’s and Riley’s mother. I asked her so many times to call me Scarlet, or ma’am, but she never listened.
Tired, I swiped a hand across my forehead, no doubt leaving a trail of ingredients over it. “I’m coming over shortly. Wendy, are you almost done with your batter? Can you take over with the cake decorations?”
“Give me a minute,” she called back.
I wiped my hands with a rag and threw it back onto the counter. Agatha took care of my children when I was busy working. Ryan and Riley hired her so I could be more focused when running my business. The interior of the bakery had an extra room for their nursery, but it made the rest of the rooms smaller.
My kids weren’t as sweet and tame as I hoped they’d be. Seemingly, they’d gotten the playful gene from their fathers. I still loved them just as much. Some naughtiness in children is good. It makes parenthood livelier, albeit more frustrating.
Bracing myself for what was to come, I entered the nursery. Always imagine the chaos to be worse than it is. That way, I would stay more level-headed when handling the situation and not freak out. I envisioned baby food on the walls, and some furniture getting torn. Luckily, my toddlers hadn’t trashed the room to that extent yet.
Nathan had a building block in his mouth, laughing, while Ethan cried as if doomsday was arriving. Their toys were a mess and thrown all across the floor.
Not as bad as I thought.
“Boys,” I said sternly.
Their heads whipped up and they stared at me with their adorable doe eyes. Initially, they looked surprised to see their mother walking in on their mischief, then Nathan sprang into action.
He stood up, waddled to me, and pointed to his brother. He usually had a lot to say, half of which I couldn’t understand. What I got from his muttering and exaggerated hand gestures, however, was a ‘he started it’.
I raised a finger. “Tell me what exactly happened. And don’t lie about it, Nathan. Lying is bad.”
He nodded his head vigorously. “Ethan take my car. I asked him put it down, but he no listen and then he threw it and I tried to stop him, but the car went there. He threw it all the way to there.”
Hearing what his brother accused, Ethan whipped his head back and sobbed harder. I used to have a short temper, but having these twins required me to have the patience of a saint. I’d been trained to master zen patience by these two.
Leaning back, I asked Agatha, “What really happened?”
She frowned. “Ethan found a cool car lying somewhere in this room.” Ryan and Riley, Ryan in particular, bought toys for their kids frequently. They had so many that most were left just lying around, never to be opened. I guessed Ethan found one of those that he really liked. “Nathan wanted it,” Agatha continued, “so he snatched it. And Ethan got mad, took it, and threw it across the room. After that, Nathan hit him on the head with a wooden block and his brother starting wailing.”
I narrowed my eyes at Nathan. “Nathan, I think you should say sorry to your brother.”
He shook his head. “No!”
“The both of you should apologize to each other. Being violent is wrong, dearies.”
“No!”
“Dearies, Mommy is going to get angry.”
“No!”
“Nathan…”
He continued to scream “no.”
I let out an exasperated sigh. “Nathan, please calm down, hun.”
He shook his head, and small tears escaped from his eyes. God, why were kids so difficult to handle? Especially the stubborn ones?
His lips quivered. “But he start first,” he said with a pout.
I bent down and gave my son a hug. “It doesn’t matter who did it first, dearies, but you can’t go around hitting people like that.”
He sniffled.
I lowered my lips to his cheek and gave him a kiss. “You’ve got to learn how to forgive and forget, hun. Go to your brother and apologize and don’t harp over what happened.”
“But he first.”
“I know. But do you want to hurt your brother and make him cry just because of a small fight?”
“No.”
“Then you have to let it go, Nathan.” I smiled and stroked his hair.
“Okay.”
“Now, go say sorry.”
He ran to Ethan and gave him a hug. “Sorry.” It felt half-reluctant, but at least it calmed his brother down.
“Say sorry too, Ethan,” I reminded.
Ethan looked down. “Sorry.”
I clasped my hands together, relieved the worst was over. “Good boys. Who wants some cupcake?”
Just then, the door swung open. Ryan and Riley walked in, their suits wrinkled after a long day of work. Riley was trying to grow a beard. I thought it fit him well, but he was so handsome that anything could fit him.
Nathan and Ethan gasped and their eyes lit with joy. They loved their fathers. Their fathers usually spoiled them, while I played the bad guy. “Daddy!” Ethan ran to Ryan and hugged his leg.
Ryan picked up Ethan. “How’s my boy doing? Not being naughty are you?” He snuggled up to Ethan’s cheek.
Ethan beamed at his father. “No, daddy.”
“They just recovered from a fight,” I said. “Fighting over a toy car.”
Riley frowned. “Oh.” Then, ignoring what I had mentioned, he grinned and continued, “I’ve got my assistant to find me an awesome new toy today. Both of you are going to love it.”
I palmed my face. My two husbands never failed to spoil their children.
Nathan’s ears perked up at the mention of a new toy.
Riley laughed, “It’s at home, boys.”
“Home,” Nathan said.
I rolled my eyes, before grinning. “I have to wrap some things up in the kitchen. I’ll meet you guys in the car in five minutes.”
***
“It’s time to go to sleep, honey,” I cooed, stroking Ethan’s hair and then giving him a kiss on his forehead.
He rubbed his eyes. “No. Play.” Yawning, he sunk deeper into his blankets. The little boy was obviously too tired to play any more, but he got too excited over the toy his fathers got for him. His brother, Nathan, had already hit the point of exhaustion and dozed off. His cute self snored lightly.
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning, sweetie. Waffles for breakfast?”
He mumbled a “yeah,” before chewing an imaginary meal and falling to sleep. His cheeks were rosy and chubby. They made him look so adorable that I wanted to pinch them, but I feared to wake him up.
Quietly, I shut the door behind me. Walking down the stairs, I knew my husbands were waiting, watching some late night television.
“Are they asleep?” Ryan asked, raising a brow.
I nodded. “Sound asleep. The
y really got a kick out of those pedal cars you got them.”
“Hey, I’ve gotta keep my boys healthy. Man, they really went crazy with that. I think I pulled a back muscle.”
I doubted he did. Ryan and Riley worked out regularly, and I saw the intensity of their workouts. Chasing the boys while they pedaled in mini cars was, well, literally child’s play to them. “Sure, you did.”
Riley came out of the kitchen, a glass of liquor clasped between his fingers. “I’m glad they liked it. I was thinking to get those motor ones. I thought they’d be disappointed. The motor ones looked way cooler, but it seemed kind of dangerous. I guess kids don’t really care as long as it’s something new.”
“They don’t. And don’t you dare think about bringing that home.” I’d have to spend a whole afternoon cleaning up the knocked over plants and broken furniture. My kids sometimes turned into little demon spawns.
“Oh?” Riley smirked. I knew that smirk. “Are you ordering me around, miss?” We hadn’t done anything sexual this whole week. I’d been too busy at my shop, and the twins’ company, Treston, was having a restructuring. Nathan and Ethan, added to our busy schedule, barely gave us enough time to hang around with each other. Whatever free time we had was usually at night. And it normally lasted only a couple of hours. Sex was fun, but our schedules had tired us out too much for us to do it on a regular basis.
I curled the corner of my lip. “So what if I am?”
We’d actually planned to get off from work early today, so we could finally do something to spark our relationship again. I’d been counting the seconds the whole day, waiting for this moment to arrive.
Riley put down the glass he was holding. “Then you need to be put back in your place.”
He raced toward me. I gasped as he lifted me off the floor and scooped me into his arms.
“Where do naughty girls go?” he asked teasingly.
I swallowed. “The naughty room.”
After that incident with the ropes, I was hesitant about going back there. They hardly pushed me to, either, though they brought it up in passing. I frequently walked past its door. Secretly, I wanted to go back and try some new things out. And one day, I decided I was ready. So I put history behind me and gave it another shot.