Jerome scooped up the little brunette blonde child, who giggled at her father.
"Jay! Kitty's just eaten!" A brunette woman came in, carrying a washing basket and frowning at the tall dark blond man and the pale brunette blonde child.
"Oops. Sorry, O High Lady Mara." Jerome said, lowering the small child and bowing to his wife.
"Jay! No! You know that annoys me." Mara said, irritable for the third time that day.
"OK, OK, chill, Beansy Bop. Anyway, Kit Kat, are you up for a game of tickle torture?" Jerome asked the four year old.
"GAME!" The small girl cheered, a perfect combination of Jerome's excitement and Mara's fun.
The child never ceased to amaze Jerome every time he looked at her.
She had his fair skin, his blue eyes and his love of insane pranks. She had her mother's features and intellectual love of knowledge, her sense and her quick temper. Her hair was like Jerome's, big and dirty blonde, but it was long and wavy and darker than Jerome's by three shades.
That particular day, the small girl wore a light fuchsia shirt and black leggings, her hair swinging back over her shoulders. Her mum braided it every night so it tumbled in a cascade of loose waves every day.
Her name was Kitty, because her cries as a newborn had sounded like a kitten's mewling.
Mara had made sure she stayed in touch with everyone from her high school years.
Eddie and Patricia had a son, Devin Miller.
Amber and her fiance Aaron had two sons, Reese and Mattie.
Willow and Alfie had twin daughters, Lily Patricia and Ashlee Piper. They'd named them after their godmother and her twin.
Fabian and Nina had a little boy that they'd named Maverick Fergus. It made Mara feel odd. And their daughter was Breezy Peace. That made Jerome laugh in private.
Mick and Joy had a son that they had quite literally named Prince Ziggy and a daughter they had named Purity Rain.
But the weirdest thing was she'd found out that her former housemother had her own, one she'd adopted as a baby. She'd named it Peaches. She'd smiled at the baby and felt the name Peaches fit her.
Mara smiled to herself. She'd always known that one day, when none of them were run off their feet, they'd have children.
She remembered seeing all the kids of her friends, except Peaches, who was under serious hiding by her mother and that baby was spoiled.
Mara decided to arrange a special reunion between everyone at her home. Her living room alone would fit Anubis house in it. It was a huge Tudor house that Mara's family'd had restored for her for when she and Jerome had got married.
Mara waited until Kitty and Jerome were sleeping, then got out her fancy calligraphy set and started making invites.
They all had the Anubis Sisterhood mark at the top in purple, one she, Joy, Patricia and KT had made up in their senior year at high school.
On the day of the reunion, it was Fabian and Nina who arrived with Maverick and Breezy first.
"Hi!" Mara squealed, greeting her friends happily. "Come on, get in! And feel free to explore, just don't get lost."
Nina wandered about, totally amazed. Fabian admired the pictures that Mara had done and Jerome had hung up, proud of her talents.
Patricia arrived with Eddie and Devin.
"Whoa, auntie Mara! Your house awesome!" Devin yelled, running to find the living room and his friends.
"Who else is here?" Patricia asked.
"Nina, Fabian, Maverick, Breezy, Jay and Kitty." Mara replied. Then she repeated what she'd said to Fabian and Nina.
Amber and Aaron arrived third with Reese and Mattie.
Mara repeated everything over with them and the two boys went to join their bouncy happy friends.
Then it was Willow and Alfie with Lily and Ashlee. Mara repeated her spiel over to them and they really explored while their girls joined the ever-growing bunch of toddlers.
Mick and Joy arrived with their two, Prince and Purity. Prince was known better as Ziggy. Mara repeated everything to them.
Trudy arrived last, having had to feed Peaches first, then change her.
Mara was amazed at Peaches. She wasn't really related to Trudy but they looked a heck of a lot alike.
"Hey, love. I know I took forever-" Trudy started, being cut off by a kiss on the cheek from Mara.
"It's fine. I missed you!" Mara squealed. Little Peaches was utterly tiny, snuggled up to Trudy.
Now that everyone was there, Mara led Trudy in. Peaches was bouncing with excitement, even though she was literally only seven weeks old.
Jerome came over. "Hey there, stranger." He said, grinning at Trudy.
"I could say the same for you. Look at you, all strong. What's Mara been feeding you?" Trudy said, not really trying to keep the fond joke out of her tone.
"Rabbit food." Jerome replied, making everyone in the room laugh. Kitty ran up, a horde of toddlers behind her.
"Mama, who is this lady?" Kitty asked Mara.
"This is our friend, Trudy and her little girl, Peaches." Mara explained, before Kitty grabbed Trudy's ankles.
"Yay." She stated, smiling.
Now the reunion could really begin.