AN: I needed a distraction from my writers block, and here it is!
The sound of cackling seagulls washed over rolling blue-green waves, their shadows making the afternoon sun's light dance across sprawling seawater. Soft, mossy-green grass zigzagged and climbed across the precarious edges of cliffs that hung over a small beach that had become the temporary home of a family of five.
Lyndsay had never seen the Cliffs of Moher illuminated under such a clear sky before. She'd seen photos of days like this one, but she'd never actually believed that there could be a clear enough day to capture the majestic beauty of the tide-hewn cliffs above them. Normally the cliffs were shrouded in mist, hidden away from the coastline and the seaside view that tourists hoped for when they bought cottages across the way. Not today though. Today reminded her why she lived in the most beautiful country in the world.
The family outing had been a last-minute decision. There wasn't any occasion really, just the need to get away from the house and leave the stress of day-to-day life behind. She'd suggested it when she'd noticed the strain in Owen's face as he poured over a pile of account information that had been badly recorded. He always seemed to bring work home with him, and she always seemed on a quest to get him away from it. Today she'd won. They'd all needed the trip, she realized, even the children. The twins had managed to find themselves in a strangely foul mood that morning. Amy had been mopey and sad after she'd stepped in the way of the them and taken a spill, even though both had apologized time and again, holding her smaller hands and begging forgiveness. Neil had been in a mood after that, upset that he'd made his 'little dolly sister' cry, and Lyle had been silent most of the morning, even more silent than usual. Their foul mood had come when Neil had accidentally knocked over some of Owen's paperwork and Lyle had received the blame. Even after profusely apologizing once he realized his mistake, Lyle had decided to give his father the cold shoulder the rest of the morning.
That was when Lyndsay had marched them all to the car with beachwear and a jacket in case the cliffs were as formidable as usual, and driven them away from the house.
It had been a good decision. As she watched the four of them now, she couldn't believe that she was looking at the same family. Owen's expression had lost its strain and he reminded her of the young twenty year-old that she'd fallen head-over-heels for in university. Laughing eyes and a gentle smile. God how she loved him. She'd come to love him even more once the twins had arrived. She'd always known that he'd be an excellent father, and as she watched him now she could see that he'd passed her expectations. She stifled a laugh as she watched him try to catch Neil, who suddenly decided that he didn't like being chased, and lunged at his shocked father. For being nine years old the twins had already started to grow like weeds, and the resulting splash of Owen falling backwards warned that in a few more years he'd be severely outmatched. Neil's excited and gleeful laugh carried over the water as he sprung away from his water-logged father and dashed through the surf, clearly aware that he wouldn't escape retribution so easily. He ran a little too close to Lyle and Amy, and was warned back with a sharp word from his lookalike as he almost bowled his sister over for the second time that day.
Lyndsay smiled as she watched Lyle steady his sister worriedly. Amy desperately needed the help as she tried to steady herself in her rubber-booted feet. She'd insisted that she was big enough to wear the twin's old pair of boots, and even though they were much too large she'd looked so proud that Lyndsay couldn't say no. What had really melted her heart was Amy's careful selection of the boots from the car. She had to have one from Neil and one from Lyle, and of course she remembered which boots belonged to whom. It was one of the things that made her such a good sister. Even though she was younger than them, she was wise. She knew that she couldn't pick one, and that to ignore one twin's set of boots was to choose the other. She was also the purveyor of justice in the family. If one twin was chastised when the other should have been, or if one was more at fault in her eyes, she wouldn't rest until her parents knew her opinion, which could be impressively intricate; given how gifted she was with speech. It was one of the things that had made Lyle so attentive to her. He took his sister's hand and pointed at this thing or that, picking up a piece of sea glass and explaining where it came from. He loved Amy so much that Lyndsay occasionally found herself worrying about her daughter's future boyfriends. It wasn't her father that they'd have to watch out for, it was her moody older brother.
The future was something that Lyndsay thought about a lot when she looked at the three of them. What would it hold for each one of them? They were so smart, so able, and she knew that each one of them was well on their way to something great. Neil would always be the most energetic of the three. He was boisterous and curious, always following what she liked to call his 'mischief nose'. He could find trouble at any time of day and explore his way around it before she had a chance to catch up to him. He was never intentionally mischievous though, and once he was caught his apology came quickly and honestly, and was followed with a happy grin that guaranteed his freedom from any real anger. She pitied the girls of the future, they wouldn't stand a chance if he kept that up, especially if he kept looking more and more like his father. She was sure that he would never work in an office or a store. It didn't suit him at all and she couldn't picture him keeping his energy under control. His father had once suggested that he'd be a good cop, and she agreed. A cop or a fireman, or even a mountain guide. Neil would dismiss all of that though and insist that he was going to be a cowboy, even though he was old enough to know better. Of course, that just added to the fun for him. Regardless, she knew that he had the heart of a lion, and that no matter what he became he'd do so with a smile and a nod and an inordinate amount of mischief.
Where Neil was energetic, Lyle was calm. He could be energetic if he wanted to be, she'd seen those days and she secretly prayed for them to be over…one overenthusiastic boy was fun, two was exhausting. Most of the time though, he stood in contrast to his brother. A large part of her knew that he was calm simply because his brother was not. Anything that separated the two of them was golden in Lyle's mind, and she knew that day-to-day he strived to be seen as an individual. Years ago he'd made her painfully aware of it. One night, when Amy was barely three, he'd had a bad dream and come to his parents for comfort. Owen had been solidly asleep after a deathly long work shift during tax season, so she'd gone downstairs with Lyle to watch a short cartoon and distract him. After a long, shockingly mature conversation he'd told her that being a twin was a curse. It wasn't that he didn't love his brother, he'd said, it was just that they were different and he wanted people to know it. She'd never dressed the two of them the same since. After that she'd decided that some of Lyle's more confusing personality traits were there simply to make the gap between himself and his brother wider. What would he be when he was older? She wasn't sure. He loved school dearly, that was clear enough through his classwork and report cards. He worked very hard and was always the first to bring home a well done project to have it hung on the fridge or pinned to the board in his father's office. She could see him one day being top of his class in university, maybe in English or Business. He loved writing, but he was so competitive that she doubted he would be content to write for a living. Maybe he'd be a journalist or stock broker, something exciting but that needed exacting detail. Whatever it was that he chose to be, she knew that he would be it to the best of his ability.
It was hard to tell what Amy would be. She was still too young to really know that she couldn't be a queen or a fairy, but at the same time her personality was already set in stone. She was fair and just, and she was the mediator between her two brothers. She could make Neil calm down and awkwardly apologize to his brother for this or that, and she could get Lyle to laugh and play and forget that he'd resigned himself to being a nine-year-old cynic. She had them both wrapped around her fingers, too. She could get either one to help her do this-or-that, or play with her, or even take the blame for something, though she used that bit sparingly. At family functions and school events Lyndsay had been asked more than once how she'd gotten the set of older boys to sit and play dolls or tea with their five-year-old sister. Her response was always the same: "I didn't, she did". On the less positive side, since Amy had started at school Lyndsay had been called twice about the boys picking fights. The first time the McCreedy's boy had commented that Neil and Lyle were 'sissies' for playing with their 'stupid sister'. After the fight had ensued and been stopped, and punishment applied, Lyle had calmly pointed out that they hadn't started the fight for being called 'sissies', as the adults thought, but because the boy had called Amy stupid. Amy had warned both of them not to 'be so silly' again. The second time a set of older boys had threatened to hit their little sister if they didn't hand over this or that. That time had been notably more violent than the first one as the brothers made an example out of the ten-year-olds. There hadn't been another call after that.
Her attention snapped back to the scene before her as Neil cried out a woeful 'No!' as his father tossed him into the deeper water. He came up a few seconds later with his usual delighted laugh, this time with a length of old kelp in his hand that he promptly whipped at his father. She couldn't contain her laugh as the slimy sea-plant caught Owen square in the face with a resounding thwack! The sound made Lyle look over curiously and she watched in anticipation…Owen would be right out of luck if the other brother decided to join in, which he seemed to have a mind to do.
She didn't know what the future would hold for any of them, but she loved to imagine the possibilities. She hoped that one day, once the twins had grown and she'd reluctantly let Amy leave home, that she and Owen would come back here and remember what today had been like. She wanted to hold onto these memories forever, of Neil's happy yelps and Amy's inquisitive glances, and even Lyle's not-so-cold shoulder. That was why she snapped a picture when none of them were looking, catching Neil mid-kelp-throw, Amy tugging on Lyle's shorts-pocket, and Owen laughing like he had when both of them were much younger and much less worried about rent and work and bills.
No, she didn't know what the future held, but she was sure that somehow, someday, it would all work out fine.