“You’re welcome. Although I really couldn’t have done it without you.”
“True.” He sat down carefully on the side of the bed and brushed the back of his finger across the baby’s cheek. “One down, three to go,” he said, lips twitching.
I gave him a look. “In your dreams, maybe.”
“Hmmm. We’ll see.” He leaned back in and kissed me with the slightest hint of tongue at my lips. “I think we should get started on number two right away.”
“Oh, please, Jack. Not tonight. I’ve got a headache.”
We were both smiling when four new grandparents bustled into the room, eager to get their hands on our daughter.
Epilogue – Seven years later
Kate and Mike entered Jack and Angie’s house through the front door and walked into the kitchen.
“It’s awfully quiet in here,” Kate said as she set a platter of cupcakes down on the counter, amidst the other piles of food waiting there. “I wonder where everyone is.”
“Hello!” Mike called out, squeezing the second platter of cupcakes in next to the first.
“We’re in the basement,” Al called back.
Mike led Kate downstairs, carefully stepping over a miniature car track that was partially looping out on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. Kate skirted around the track and bumped her hip against a hard plastic kitchen set, reaching her hand out to stop it from tipping over.
They rounded the corner and saw Al behind the bar and Peggy perched on a stool with a beer in front of her.
“Hey,” Mike said as he bent over to pick a pacifier up from the floor. He tossed it to Al, who caught it easily.
“Hey.” Al turned to run the pacifier under hot water, asking over his shoulder. “Can I get you two a beer?”
“Sounds good,” Kate said. She removed a doll from the stool next to Peggy’s and set it on top of the bar before sitting down. “Where is everyone?”
“They’re all out back,” Peggy told her. “We’re taking a quiet moment before we go out there.”
“Good idea,” Mike said, taking his seat next to Kate.
Al pulled two beers out of the refrigerator, opened them and set them in front of Kate and Mike. “Drink fast before one of them finds out we’re here.”
They all laughed and then chatted for a while, savoring their beers and the relative peace.
“Well,” said Peggy. “I guess we’ve enjoyed the quiet for about as long as we can.”
“One for the road?” Al suggested.
They all agreed and Al passed out the beers before they stood and walked together to the patio doors.
“Wait.” Kate, who was feeling sentimental, stretched an arm out to the side to prevent Peggy from opening the door. “Just look. Look at what we did.”
When the four of them were alone together, they took full and total credit for all that they saw before them now. When other people, specifically Jack or Angie, were around, they kept their mouths shut.
Jumping on a trampoline that was set low to the ground for safety reasons, seven-year old Ava, her dark blonde curls contained in a long braid down her back, was holding hands and giggling with the identically coiffed Megan, Nate and Kayla’s daughter, who was a mere two months older than Ava.
Five-year old Adam, a miniature version of Mike from head to toe, was playing catch with Nate and his two sons, fourteen-year old Michael and twelve-year old Matthew. Adam was thrilled to be in the company of boys and his smile was wide as Matthew patiently showed him how to hold his glove and Michael got ready to send the ball his way.
Angie stood to the side of the grill, talking animatedly with Kayla, who was holding one-year old Olivia, Jack and Angie’s youngest (and according to Angie, final) child.
Next to Angie, Jack was squatting down, engaged in conversation with three-year old Emma. Her dark brown hair was in a messy, curly ponytail at the top of her head and her mouth was running at its usual rate of a mile a minute. Suddenly, Emma stomped her foot and punched Jack’s arm. Jack responded with a stern face and a wagging finger as he tried (again) to correct that kind of behavior. Emma pouted and stared at the ground, but nodded several times as she listened to his reprimand, then moved forward to offer her father a conciliatory hug.
The grandparents watched as Jack stood up with Emma in his arms, her cheek against his shoulder and her thumb in her mouth. He turned to Angie and they didn’t have to be able to read his lips to know what he said. He said it all the time. “Just like her mother.”
They heard Angie’s laugh and Jack grinned as he pulled her into a sideways hug and kissed the top of her head.
“We did good,” Kate said, squeezing Peggy’s hand.
“Yes, we did. It got a little hairy there for a while, but it all turned out exactly the way we planned it,” Peggy replied.
“To happily ever after,” Kate declared, raising her bottle.
The four of them repeated the toast, and were clinking bottles all around, when they heard a loud squeal. “Grandpa!” Adam had spotted them and was running in their direction.
“Grandma! Grandma! Look what I got!” Ava’s voice was in the screaming range as she hopped off the trampoline and, waving something about, joined her brother in the run.
Never one to be left out, Emma squirmed out of her father’s arms and leapt into the fray, alternating her screams between “Grandma” and “Grandpa” as her little legs churned in a vain attempt to reach them first.
Even the baby, who couldn’t possibly know what was going on, was caught up in the excitement around her, squealing and flailing her arms about as she wiggled in Kayla’s arms.
“Good God! Steel yourselves,” laughed Mike as they all stepped out on the patio and were engulfed in the beautiful chaos that was their family.
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