A/N: This is the last of New Beginning stories that are already written. Anything uploaded after this will be newly written. I will not be mass uploading after today. Some of these are different character perspective one shots from New Beginning. Some are a few chapters long, while others are just one chapter.
These are all O/Cs and you likely won't like them.
I wrote New Beginning years ago, but then I moved it to a blog. I started this story just for fun while I worked on better projects. However, as much as it was just for fun, I grew to enjoy writing about these characters. So whenever I have writers block on my real stories, or even when I am feeling stressed, I write about these characters lives. Many people might not enjoy this since it's OC and all but this story as bad as it might be actually got me through stressful times. Whenever I was feeling upset, I would think about some happy things happening to them or even bad things. I would sit down, and write about them. I logged back onto this site recently and saw some recent requests for this story. So I've decided to resurrect it here since some people don't want to read it on my blog.
Turning 30-Ashley
Turning 30.
I walked into the kitchen with Hailey in my arms. Hayden and Ben were sitting at Island. The moment we entered, Ben quickly rolled up the piece of parchment that the two of them had been looking at. Hayden had grown inches in height that year. It wasn't surprising however. Rachel was a tall lady, and although I'd never met Hayden's father, I was sure the bloke had been tall. She had been shallow when it came to that kind of thing. She would never date someone the same height or shorter. So it was safe to say that his father had been tall. I was sure that someday, he'd be taller than Ben.
"What are you two up to?" I asked as I walked over and set Hailey on one of the stools.
"It's a secret, mummy," Hailey answered and I smiled at her.
"And you know what it is?" I asked her.
"Uh huh," she answered with a cute grin.
I was sure I knew what they were actually up to, and I wasn't going to ruin the surprise. My thirtieth birthday was coming up in September. The entire family had been quite secretive lately, even the kids. Ben hadn't had a surprise party for my birthday in years, but I was sure they were planning one. If I really wanted to, I could get it from Hailey, or even Cameron but I wouldn't. It wouldn't be right to trick my children into spilling the secret.
"You'll never guess mummy," she continued.
"I'm sure I can't," I said and then I smiled at Hayden and Ben.
I was sure they knew that I knew, or at least Ben did. He had to know that I was expecting he'd do something for the big three-o. It was something we'd talked about since we were teenagers. A time that had seemed so far away at one point, and now it was only a month away.
"Please don't try to get it out of her," Ben pleaded.
"I wouldn't do that," I said. "I am surprised you're entrusting a four-year-old with your secret."
"We didn't mean to," Hayden said.
Every time he talked, I felt some surprise. His voice was slowly changing from boyish to a young mans. It had started shortly around Christmas, and it seemed to be getting deeper all the time. It seemed strange to me since I only seen him on holidays now. It took some time getting used to the changes in him. With the other kids, I saw them everyday, so the changes weren't as noticeable. I only noted them when I looked at old pictures of them.
"William and Cameron wanted to know what was going on, and Hailey overheard," Ben explained. "But I know my little girl will keep the secret, right Hailey?"
"Yes daddy," Hailey answered. "I won't tell. I promise."
"Where are the twins anyway?" I asked.
I knew where Alyssa was. It was the weekend, so she was over at Ellen's. The girls always took it in turns on the weekends for sleep-overs. She likely wouldn't be home until that evening, or the next morning. It depended on if Ellen wanted to keep her all weekend. Usually she loved having Alyssa over all weekend. We all loved taking each others kids.
I wanted Michelle at some point since she would be starting Hogwarts that year. That was hard to believe. I still remembered the day that Ellen found out she was pregnant with her. It was hard to wrap my mind around the fact that she was now going away to school, just as it was hard to believe that Hayden and Minnie were starting the third year.
"Flying," Ben told me. "They know the rules," he added when I raised my eyebrows.
I knew they did, and I knew they likely wouldn't get hurt. The kids rarely fell off the brooms. I still felt protective however, even though I tried not to hover. I knew they wouldn't appreciate it, and they wouldn't be able to grow if their mum watched their every move. They were now seven, and they could handle flying or playing on their own outside. I didn't get stressed as much as I had two years ago, but I did still worry at times because of Hailey. That experience had changed me a lot, and even though I was learning to let them go, I would always be scared something bad could happen.
"I know they do," I said.
"I can go out and watch them if you want," Hayden told me. "You interrupted us after all," he added with a wink.
"You can if you want, but I trust them," I told him.
"I want to go too!" Hailey shouted and she jumped off the stool, causing me to wince but I didn't say anything.
I watched as she rushed over to Hayden who got up off his stool. He easily lifted her into his arms, and carried her out of the kitchen. I watched the two of them go. He was growing into a responsible young man. He would be fourteen-years-old soon. He had his moments where he caused us problems, but for the most part, he was a good kid.
The worst he had done was the beginning of the summer when he'd snuck out to Diagon Alley. We'd told him he couldn't go because he had to be up early the next day to baby-sit. He'd gone anyway, and we wouldn't have known except he'd chosen to floo back home. We had our fireplaces set to alert us when people came through after what had happened almost five years ago. Ben had gotten up from to bed to find a guilty Hayden. It was the first time he'd really mouthed off to either of us. He'd told Ben that he wasn't his father, and he couldn't tell him what to do. He'd apologized for it later on. I knew he still felt guilty about it.
Ben had been hurt even though he wouldn't admit it. The two of them were good now, but I had a feeling it was something that Hayden would regret for a long time. At times when he didn't think anyone noticed, he would look over at Ben with such a sad expression on his face. He didn't really hug us often, but lately he'd been showing us affection. Often he would hug Ben before bed, or before he went to a friends. It was as if he wanted to show him how much he loved him, and he regretted what he said.
"You know I know that the two of you are planning some kind of party," I told Ben with a smile. "I'm not trying to ruin the surprise, but it's not hard to put two and two together. I'm turning thirty in September, and you have everyone acting all secretive around me."
Ben grinned at me and got off his stool to walk over and hug me.
"Yes, but you don't know how it's going to go," he told me. "I knew you'd guess that we're having a party, but you don't know when or what we're doing. It was Hayden's idea by the way. For once it wasn't mine. I knew you'd guess a party, and I even told him that, but he was insistent about it. So please don't mention it around him."
"I'll be happy with whatever you two are planning," I said and I stood on tippy toe to kiss him. "We really should be planning one for you too. I don't know why we've never done a joint birthday party, especially with Hayden in school. I'm sure he'd love to celebrate with you as well."
"I'm sure we'll celebrate that as well," he answered. "You're the oldest out of us though, so it's yours that we're working on right now. Perhaps you should plan your own party if you want it that bad."
"Maybe I should," I agreed.
We began to kiss. I was sure the kids would be busy for a while. Hayden could keep them entertained for a bit. It would be fourteen years in September that we'd been together and we still had it. We'd been married for ten years. We'd been through so much together, and our love was still deep. I believed it was likely deeper than it had been when we'd married.
I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been worried two years ago. We'd fought so much, and I'd worried that Ben had some resentment for me because of Hailey, and for going that Halloween night. I knew he'd been stressed out by my own stress. We'd kept so much from each other to the point of blowing up at each other. Our trip to Florida had been much needed. We'd talked about everything and without fighting. Ever since then, we remained honest with each other. We'd promised each other that we wouldn't hold back anymore because it clearly wasn't working. We just stressed each other out more by doing that.
Of course we still had fights. All normal couples argued, but it was nothing like the blow up we'd had the night of our party. It was usually just minor disagreements that talking and making up could fix. In fact, we'd had one a few days ago about letting Hailey and the twins having more freedom. Alyssa and Hayden had been younger than the twins when I'd started to let them go to friends on their own, but I got worried about the boys. As for Hailey, Ben didn't see anything wrong with her going over to Ellen's or Michael's on her own. Alyssa had been allowed at her age. I drew the line when it came to anyone elses houses though. More of our friends lived out there, and I didn't want the twins or Hailey going over alone until they were a little older.
Ben had told me that I being protective, but we managed to come to a compromise. Ben did have to remind me at times, especially when it came to Hailey. I knew even he had his worries when it came to her though, but deep down I knew we couldn't smother her. She needed to grow up independent too.
"Get a room," someone said which caused Ben and me to pull apart.
Jared stood in the kitchen with a huge grin on his face.
"Well we did have a room, in fact a house, until you walked in," Ben said with a smile. "I think you keep forgetting that we do live here. Even if you do walk in whenever you want."
Jared continued to smile. He walked over to lean on the island.
"Hmm, really? 'Our door is always open Jared. Just walk in or floo in whenever you want. You know you're always welcome,' I guess the welcome mat has wore out," he joked.
"You know you're always welcome here," I told him. "We weren't expecting you though were we?" I glanced at Ben who gave a shrug.
"Nah, but I figured you'd be home. It's Saturday afternoon. I haven't seen my goddaughter for a couple of weeks anyway. I might have to steal her for the night you know," he answered.
"I'm sure she'd love that," I said and Ben nodded.
"She has been asking about you. I think that little girl loves you more than she loves me," he told Jared.
"Doubtful," Jared said with a grin, "but I do love to spoil her. I can't help it, especially when she looks at me with those innocent eyes. It doesn't seem to affect her though."
He was right about that one. Everyone had a special spot when it came to Hailey. With Alyssa or the twins, it had gone to their heads and we had to be careful. At times they would have temper-tantrums when they were told no. With Hailey, it was different. If we told her that she couldn't have something, she didn't ask again. With Alyssa, she had pestered Ben for months about teaching her to fly. Hailey had asked him not too long ago, and when he told her in another year, she'd accepted it and didn't ask again. William had been even worse than Alyssa had been. He'd wanted to do everything his big sister did.
"So far," Ben said. "We do have to be careful about that though. She's a modest and humble little girl, but someday that could change. She's only four-years-old right now after all. Alyssa wasn't much older when she began to get demanding."
"She was four when she started to get demanding. The twins were even younger," I said. "Hailey just accepts things as they are."
"Where are the rugrats?" Jared asked.
"Outside," Ben told him. "The twins are out flying, and Hayden just took Hailey out. Chances are he is flying with her on the broom, or they're playing on the playground. Alyssa is over at Ellen's, but that is nothing unusual. That girl practically lives over there sometimes. I've barely seen her lately."
"Just wait until she is a teenager," Jared said. "It's only going to get worse."
"Alyssa is nine going on sixteen," I said. "She's already trying to get into the makeup. She is no longer satisfied with pretending to put it on, she wants the real stuff. She's been angry with me lately because I won't let her wear it. I told her that before she starts Hogwarts I will teach her how to put it on properly. After that, she can choose to wear it. Not that I think she should wear it at eleven either, but I get the feeling that she'll sneak it on once she gets to school. Girls usually do. Jess, Anne and Erica most certainly did. At least she'll be able to wear it properly. The three of them always wore enough makeup for the whole first year class back then."
"You're going to have your hands full with that one," Jared said. "Just as Ellen is going to have her hands full with Michelle."
"I don't think she'll have problems with Michelle," I said. "Things could change, but Michelle has always been a good girl. Clarissa on the other hand might be a problem. It's hard to say with the boys right now."
"It's hard to say right now with any of the kids," Ben said. "We always talk about this, but we really don't know. I mean, you were this shy little girl in the first year, and look how much you grew. We never thought you'd drink alcohol, but you certainly surprised us over the years. Hailey is a sweetheart right now, but she's four. She could be our problem child ten years from now. Personalities change."
"That's true," I said. "I know it's wishing for too much, but I hope we don't have problems with any of them. Hayden has his problems, but given his background, he's actually a very good boy. Sneaking out is normal for a fourteen-year-old. I still worry he'll go down the Michael route."
"I don't think he will. Hayden has more emotional support than Michael did," Jared said. "The kid was poor and he was beaten. He also had the usual insecurities that all teenagers have. Add hormones to that, and you have a disaster."
"I think it could have gone down that road because of Rachel, but once Hayden told her off in his first year, she started to treat him better," Ben said. "I think if she had kept stringing him along, he would have had a hard time."
"How's that going anyways?" Jared asked. "You two don't really talk about that anymore. You two used to make a big deal about all that."
"Well, I still don't like him writing to her," I said. "But I do have to admit that Michael is right. Hayden does need communication with that woman. Now she knows that he has the power in this relationship, and she doesn't. I think it means too much to her that he is letting her know what is going on in his life. She doesn't want that to end, so she goes by his rules now. He wants us as his parents, and not her. He doesn't even want to see her."
"It wouldn't have gone that far anyway," Ben said. "If she had hurt him anymore in his first-year, I would have gone for another meeting with her. Luckily I haven't had to see her again. She hid at the train station again last year, and I expect it will happen again this year. Hayden is fine with that though."
"I still can't imagine someone just giving up their child," Jared said. "If I ever have a child, I wouldn't give them up for anything. I don't care what happens. Hell, I love Hailey, well, actually all five of your children as much as I could love my own."
It was actually sad that Jared hadn't had a child yet. He was so good with all the children in our lives. He was even good to Timmy and June's child, and they had another on the way. He didn't really know them that well. He'd only talked to them when they came over for our parties. However, there were times he'd even volunteer to take care of the kids. He would be thirty-one soon. I hoped he'd find a nice girl and settle down with his own family soon.
"Let's take this party outside shall we," Ben said. "It's too nice out, and I'm sure they'll all be excited to see you. I'll just grab some butterbeers."
"Let's go," I said to Jared. "Maybe I can convince Ellen and Keith to come over with the girls, and we'll actually see Alyssa."
"I'd like to see Michelle too. I have a hard time believing that she is starting her first-year already. I still remember when Ellen and Keith announced to everyone that she was pregnant with her," Jared said.
"I feel the same way. I was there when Ellen took the pregnancy test twelve years ago. My mum suspected she was pregnant, and so she bought her the test," I said. "And then we went on our trip after seventh year, and I was shocked to see her when she was almost one. Now she's eleven and she is about to go to Hogwarts. In two years I'll be saying good-bye to my own little girl."
We walked outside to the deck. The twins were busy racing each other on their brooms. Hayden had grabbed his own broom, and he had Hailey in front of him on it. He had been doing this with her since she was about eighteen months. The first time he had done it, I'd nearly had a panic attack. He'd done it with the other kids too, but I'd been anxious with her. She was a bit slower than the other kids had been at that age. She'd always been a bit behind and I wasn't sure if it was because she was premature or because of what she'd endured when I'd been pregnant with her. Ben told me it was normal for premature kids, but the twins hadn't been that far behind.
"I'm going to be all emotional when she goes to Hogwarts," Jared told me as he watched Hailey as well.
"We all will be, I think Ben will be worse than me. He was sad when we had to buy her a normal bed. He's not too happy that she'll be going to school in September," I said. "I for one am relieved that they'll all finally be in school, but Ben isn't ready for it."
"Stop! Stop!" Hailey shouted at Hayden. She'd just noticed that Jared and me were outside. I knew it was Jared who she wanted to see. Once Hayden stopped, she jumped from the broomstick. "Jared!"
She ran over to us as fast as her little legs would let her. Jared opened his arms for he. Once she reached him, he lifted her up and then tossed her up in the air. I'd been nervous the first time I'd seen him do this when she was about a year, but as I was used to Hayden taking her for rides, I was used to this as well. Hailey let out a squeal of excitement.
"I haven't seen you in a long long time!" Hailey said excitedly. "I missed you."
"Well that's why I am here," he told her. "Would you like to sleep-over tonight?"
"Yeah!" She shouted excitedly and then she looked at me. "Can I mummy? Please?"
"Of course you can," I told her.
"Are we going now?" Hailey asked him.
"In a little bit. I'm just going to visit with your parents for a little bit," Jared told her. "So why don't you play with your brothers until then."
He set her down. William, Cameron and Hayden had joined us by this point. Hailey ran back over to Hayden.
"Let's fly some more Hayden," she said.
"When can we go over to your place?" William asked Jared. "We haven't for a long time."
"Maybe next weekend," Jared said. "Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the two of you. We'll have a boy's night again."
"We can stay up until midnight again!" Cameron said excitedly which caused William to elbow him. They looked at me and then looked away.
I knew that Jared let them stay up until midnight, but I didn't mind when it was the weekend. I just pretended I didn't know around the boys. Whenever Jared took them, I'd tell him to make sure that they were in bed by ten. Jared and the boys would wink at each other.
"Midnight?" I said now with amusement. "Oh I don't think so. Jared and I discussed that. I think it will be eight when you're in bed."
William and Cameron exchanged incredulous glances, but they didn't say anything. I was sure they were wondering if I was joking or not. They didn't even go to bed at eight on school nights.
"You're lying," William finally said.
"Maybe, maybe not," I told him with a smile. "Go on and play. You two can go to Jared's next weekend."
"Can we go swimming?" William asked. "You're outside now. Please?"
"Sure," I said.
Ben came out with three butterbeers and handed them out to us. We headed over to the patio table while the boys ran inside to change. I pulled out my message parchment to write not only to Ellen, but to Michael as well. Tara and Aaron had moved out here recently too. I wondered if they were home, and if they'd want to bring over the kids as well. Emma was good friends with Alyssa and Clarissa even though she was a year younger. When Mackenzie came over, they were all inseparable. I knew Emma was going to miss the girls when they went to Hogwarts. She had her own friends, but she was closer to our girls since they'd grown up together.
"Planning a party?" Ben asked as he glanced at my message parchment.
"The more the merrier," I said with a shrug. "Do you think your your siblings would want to come over? I'm sure the girls would like to see Richard."
"I'll write them," Ben said as he pulled out his own parchment.
"Good to know my presence still starts up parties," Jared said with a smile.
"I remember when you always had Firewhiskey on demand," I said. "Every single party we had in the Common Room, you'd always have a bottle of the stuff."
"I still have quite a bit of it," Jared told me. "Next weekend I am taking shots with the boys."
"They've tried it, they don't like it," Ben said. "I'm hoping that will stop them from drinking it when they're teens."
"You didn't actually give it to them?" Jared asked with surprise.
"Of course not," I answered with amusement as my message parchment vibrated. It was Ellen telling me that they'd be right over. "They snuck some a year ago. Ben and Michael were doing some shots, and they boys took some. They spit it out and then told Ben and Michael were mad for liking the stuff."
"Ah okay, considering it's you, I'd be surprised if you let them drink it," Jared said. "My parents didn't let me drink it, but they let me take a sip because I was curious."
Ben rolled his eyes. "I don't mind letting them take a tiny sip either. My parents did for me. It's not me who flips about that stuff. It's Brenda who is type A. Richard is going to rebel against her. He already is. Besides, I let Alyssa take a sip of Wizards Brew once. She hated it."
"Eventually they'll change their minds about it," I said. "I did. I hated the taste of alcohol."
"You refused to drink until third year," Jared said with a nod. "I remember that. We used to get in arguments with Michael about that."
"And you got drunk in first year," Ben said with amusement. "Hayden's been good about that. I was worried he'd drink, but he really hasn't."
"That you know of," Jared said.
"No, Hayden is always honest with us for the most part," I said. "Besides, we can always tell when he is lying. He is telling the truth. He's tried some, but he hasn't been drunk yet. He promised Ben he wouldn't drink in the first year, and he didn't. He told us he had some drinks last year when Gryffindor won the cup, but that was it. We've been lucky so far with him. He's a good boy."
Ellen and Keith were crossing the yard by that point. Michelle, Clarissa and Elliot went straight to the pool, but Alyssa rushed over to me. I pulled her into a hug when she reached me. She was still affectionate, but I wasn't sure how much longer that would last. She was nine after all.
"Mum, I want to stay at Ellen's tonight too," she said. "You said I could stay for the weekend."
"And you can," I said. "Just because you're here now it doesn't mean you can't go back later. I just want to visit with Ellen and Keith for a bit."
"Okay," Alyssa said and she turned to go to the pool, but Jared reached out to grab her arm.
"Aren't you even going to greet me?" He asked her. "I haven't seen you in a while. Don't you like me anymore?"
"Of course I do," Alyssa said and turned to give him a hug too. "I just wanted to go swimming. We were going to swim next door, but then Aunt Ellen said we were coming here."
"Well you can a spare moment for us can't you?" Ben asked. "You haven't even said hi to me, and I haven't seen you since Thursday."
"I'm sorry daddy," Alyssa said and she hugged him too.
The twins ran by at that moment. William paused for a moment to sneer at Alyssa.
"Daddy's girl!" He shouted and then he ran to jump into the pool.
"He can't go a minute without bothering me," Alyssa muttered as she pulled away from Ben. "It's why I stay at Ellen's all the time."
She walked over to the pool where she pulled off her sundress and then jumped in. There was some truth in that. The twins, especially William loved to bother Alyssa. Cameron didn't do it as much, but there were times when he'd join his brother in annoying her. So she would either lock herself up in her room, or she'd go to Ellen's or someone elses house.
"Can I swim too mummy?" Hailey asked as she and Hayden joined us.
"Do you need help with your bathing suit?" I asked her.
"Nope, I can do it," she said and she ran into the house. Hayden walked over to join us.
"Can I invite Minnie and the guys over?" He asked.
"They're coming over," Ben told him. "I wrote to Barry and Tasha. You can invite the blokes over too if you'd like. Just keep an eye on the little ones too."
Hayden jumped up from the table and rushed inside. I liked his friends. Andrew and Craig were both good boys, and I knew they looked out for him. He still had a little gang of friends who he usually invited over here. They usually preferred to come here instead of staying at their own places. The year before, Craig had spent a few weeks at our place when his parents had gone on vacation. He'd had the choice in staying with his grandparents or coming here, and he'd chosen our place.
"Looks like you're right about that," Ben said to Jared referring to his earlier comment. "We didn't have any plans today, and now the house is going to be full."
"Well this place is the party house," Ellen said as she and Keith finally reached us. "It's going to happen more once you have teenagers."
I noticed that she didn't have baby Mickey with her, so I was assuming her youngest son was either at one of her parents, or at Timmy and Junes.
"It already happens with Hayden," Ben informed her as he got up. "Sit down, I'll get more butterbeers. The others will here soon so I'm just going to bring out a cooler," he added to me as I went to get up. "Stay where you are."
The house was soon full of our friends and family. The kids were in the pool splashing happily while we all sat together and talked. It would seem after all these years we'd be tired of talking about old times, but that wasn't the case at all. We would always reminisce once we got together. Ellen was lamenting about the fact that her baby girl would be leaving her soon.
"It gets easier," Tasha told her. "I was a mess with Minnie, but now I'm used to it. At times it's hard because she prefers to be with her friends more, but I know it's normal for a thirteen-year-old."
"Just keep an eye on Hayden," Barry said as he eyed him and Minnie laughing in the pool.
"You don't need to worry about Hayden," I said. "He has it bad for Cynthia."
"Still?" Ellen asked with amusement. "I remember you mentioning that two years ago."
"Yes, he is still very much in love with her," I said. "He asked me if I thought he should ask her to Hogsmeade this year. I told him to go ahead. He is nervous about it, but he's asked out other girls out so I am surprised."
"It's different when it's a girl that you actually like," Ben reminded me. "The other girls he doesn't care about. If they reject him, so what? He'll just move onto the next one. Besides, they're going to Hogsmeade this year. It's different for a bloke to ask a girl to Hogsmeade then to just hang out around the castle."
"It's the right kind of attitude to have," Jared said. "It was me who gave you that advice in school."
"You gave that advice to all of us," Michael said. "You still seem to be following your own advice."
"Well I haven't met a girl I am truly interested in yet. Not since Leanne, and we all know how that ended," Jared said.
"Well I just hope Hayden does still keep his eye on Cynthia," Barry said. "I wouldn't want to hurt him since I like the kid and all."
"That doesn't mean there aren't other kids you have to worry about," I said as I focused on Craig who was staring at her. I decided not to mention this to Barry.
"I won't feel bad about hurting a kid that I don't know too well," Barry said. "Hayden is basically my nephew."
"You're not going to be scaring her boyfriends away," Tasha told him. "It will just make things worse. She'll go behind our backs. You were thirteen once you know."
"And I remember what I was like as a teenager," Barry said. "I know what's going on through their minds. I'm scared to think about what Trevor is going to be like."
"Or the twins," Tasha said.
"Where are they?" I asked noticing that they weren't around.
"Mum and dad's," Barry said. "Ben said it was going to be a full house, so I figured it'd be best to leave them there. They're too young still."
"I still can't believe there are two sets of twins in your family," Michael said. "I expected we would end up with twins, but we haven't."
"And two is enough right now," Shelly said. "Maybe when the kids are older we'll have more, but we have enough going on with the girls."
"We were surprised too," Tasha said. "I was surprised to get pregnant again in the first place. I most certainly didn't expect twins."
"Do they run in the Hoofer family?" Jared asked.
Ben shrugged. "Not that I know of. I think it's just one of those odd coincidences. It's the same as how everyone seems to get pregnant at the same time. You wouldn't think it would keep happening, but it does."
Richard walked out on the patio by that point. I looked up to see if Milton and Brenda were with them with the boys, but they weren't. Brenda didn't like to leave their place to often. Her pregnancy with Dakota hadn't been an easy one. Right after she'd had Anthony, she'd gotten pregnant with Dakota. She'd nearly had him too early, but the Healers had stopped her contractions in time. Afterwards, she had to stay in bed for the rest of the pregnancy. So she was very protective of him. I believed she was even worse than we had been when it came to Hailey. We didn't often get to see Dakota or Anthony very much.
"Mum sends her love, but she's going to stay at home," Richard said as he approached our table. "She said I could come over and play. She said if I want, I can stay overnight."
"You're more than welcome to," Ben told him. "You know that. Go on and play with the kids. We'll set up a room for you later."
I liked Richard. I'd almost expected that he would grow up to be a male version of Brenda, but he was the opposite. He had no problem telling her off when she was too overbearing. He hated going by her rules which could strict, and he would tell her that they were stupid and didn't make sense. He often stayed at his grandparents because he couldn't handle her. We'd told her many times that she had to stand back a bit otherwise he would rebel. Slowly she was relenting when it came to him. A year ago she wouldn't have let him floo over by himself, so it showed how much she was changing. I think it was because all her focus was mainly on the babies.
"Thank you. I'd like it if I could stay longer," Richard said. "I won't be a problem, I promise."
"You can stay as long as you want, as long as it's okay with your mum," I told him. "And we know you'll be good. You're always a good boy."
"Tell that to mum," Richard muttered as he walked over to the pool.
"That kid is definitely going to rebel against her," Brianne said. "We're going to have to have a talk with her again. He stayed at our place for two weeks. I think she's been ignoring him a lot as well ever since Dakota came. He hates being home lately."
"He was with for a few weeks too," Tasha said. "Expect for him to stay here for at least a week. Usually if she sends him over on his own, he ends up staying for a while."
"That's fine," I said. "He can stay for as long as he needs to. Besides, we're used to that too."
"I don't like the sound of that," Michael said. "It puts me in mind of Hayden."
"It's not the same thing at all," Ben assured him. "Brenda is more than stressed Ashley was. She's not pulling a Rachel. She just hovers over both Dakota and Anthony so much that Richard feels ignored. If she pays attention to him, she just piles these strict rules over him. I'm not excusing her behaviour because she hasn't been treating him right but it's the reason why. She's been letting him do more on his own fortunately. At first, she wouldn't even let him go anywhere besides school, not even to mum and dads. He rebelled against it, and we had to talk to her. She's just worried all the time, and she doesn't know how to handle two babies and a son his age at the same time. So she ends up sending him over to one of our places."
"But Richard just said that she thinks he's a bad boy," Keith said. "What does that mean? Anytime we've been around that kid, he's nothing but a polite and well behaved kid."
"Brenda piles all those rules on him, and he feels overwhelmed so he rebels against it," Barry said. "With the stress as well, she's always snapping at him. Apparently all he did was accidentally break a plate and she grounded him for a week. It's why we need to sit down and talk with her. The boy is going to resent her soon. She's almost pulling a Ben. Us Hoofer's can bottle things up to the brinking point unfortunately."
"So she's basically taking her stress out on him?" Ellen asked. "That's terrible. No child should go through that."
"We know," Brianne said.
"And we're not excusing it," Ben added quickly. "We're just telling you what's going on. We're going to sit down with her soon enough and talk to her about what she is going to him."
"But how doesn't Milton notice this?" Michael asked.
"Either he is never home, or he does whatever he can to please her," I said. "It's not the best environment right now for any of them. They're worse than we were," I added as I glanced at Ben who nodded.
"I don't understand that," Shelly said. "You and me went through that," she said nodding in my direction, "but we never took it out on anyone like that."
"Well what I did wasn't any better though," I said. "I stressed out myself, Ben and the kids. I never took it out on anyone, but I was too stressed out and overprotective. I got anxious over things I didn't need to. Ben bottled things up until we had a huge fight."
"And I took my stress out on Alyssa and Hayden when I was at St. Mungos," Ben reminded him.
"You were not nearly as bad as Brenda is right now," Barry said. "You weren't the best bloke to be around, but she's just being a bitch and it's affecting Richard more than it bothered Alyssa or even Hayden. It has to stop soon. I don't mind having him over at all, but he shouldn't have to feel that he isn't welcome at home."
Tasha ended up being right that Richard would end up being at our place for longer than a night. When we wrote to Brenda later that night, she told us to keep him until at least the next weekend. We still had some of Hayden's old clothes from when he was about that age for when the twins could fit in them, so we had some extras for him. We didn't like to throw clothes away when they could fit the other children, so we put them into storage, but every summer before school, we'd have the boys or Hailey try Hayden and Alyssa's old clothing.
Ben, Barry and Brianne were planning somewhat of an intervention for her with their parents. I'd wanted to be part of it too since I understood what she was going through, but Ben told me that it was just for the Hoofer siblings and their parents that time.
"You know what Brenda is like," he told me. "She won't like it if it involves everybody. I have a feeling she's going to be a bitch about it. I'd rather she didn't take it out on you. Barry feels the same way with Tasha, and Nick doesn't really want to be involved when it comes to Brenda."
"Really? After all these years?" I asked.
"It's like that with anyone with an ex," Ben said. "It is worse when it's family."
"Denver and me have always been good," I said.
"I think your situation with Denver is a lot different then theirs. Nick and Brenda put up with each other because they have to, but they don't like each other," Ben said. "Don't be too offended by this. I know you want to be involved, but we feel it should just be us. Besides, as I said, I don't want you at the end of her backlash. She throws things in peoples faces, and I will lose it on her if she tries to do that to you. I don't care if she does it to me, but if she tries to make you feel bad about Hailey, I won't be able to talk to her again for a very long time."
"Okay Ben," I said.
When I thought about it, I realized he was right and I was relieved. Brenda was a lot better than she used to be, but she had a temper and she could lash out on people. She liked to bring up the past when she felt cornered. She likely would try and throw it in our faces about Hailey, especially me. I did also understand why they wanted it to just be them.
Richard was a delight to have around the place. He got along well with all of the kids and he could intervene better than Hayden could when they fought. All he had to do was give the twins a look, and they would stop. I think they really looked up to him. William and Cameron tended to look up any older male, but they definitely admired both Richard and Hayden. It was hard to believe at times that he was the son of Brenda because of how laid back he could be. I couldn't imagine how she could treat him the way she did, especially when she said he was a bad boy. He was the opposite of that. Even though he didn't need to, he enjoyed helping out around the house.
In the mornings he would wake up when Ben and I did. He informed us that he was an early riser at home. I almost expected it was something that Brenda made him do, and he was used to it. Usually he would sit and talk with us until we left to go to work. He seemed quite secretive as well, so I wondered if Hayden had let him in on their little secret about my party.
I just wondered when it would be. The school year was fast approaching, and I knew they wanted to have it before we left. We still had to have Hayden's birthday party and the kids going away party at Ben's parents place. This time it would be for Michelle and Charles as well. That still seemed odd to me. Eleven years ago, I had to apparate Brianne to St. Mungos because she was in labour. She didn't seem to be as emotional about it as everyone else was, but maybe it was because it hadn't hit her yet.
In the meantime, I had to prepare the kids for school. Hayden liked to go to Diagon Alley with his friends to get his supplies, which I actually didn't mind. It made things easier for us. I was able to focus on the other children. All four of them were in the primary school now. Hailey was starting Primary one that year. Usually they just needed parchment and quills, but I also bought them all new school clothes too. We no longer had to with Alyssa, but with the twins and Hailey, we also had to label all of their belongings. So I was glad that Hayden wanted his independence.
The Saturday morning two weeks after we'd had everyone over, and a week before Hayden's birthday party and the children's going away party, Hailey woke me up.
"Mummy, I have a tummy ache," she told me.
"You don't look sick," I told her.
"Can you come to my room please," she said. "Come lay down with me."
So I got out of bed and picked her up. I felt her forehead but she felt normal. Usually when she was sick she was very pale and warm, but she had her usual healthy glow. Perhaps she just had gas or something. So I took her into her room to lay down with her.
"Do you feel like you're going to throw up?" I asked her.
"No," she told me. "Maybe I am okay now."
"Are you just playing around with mummy?" I asked her now with amusement. It was something the other kids had done, but I'd never expected it from her. Alyssa used to do it if she wanted to avoid something, and the twins did it just to distract me.
"I think I need a bath," she told me. "Mummy, can you give me bath please?"
"You are definitely distracting me from something aren't you?" I asked her. "You hate baths, but okay. Let's give you a bath."
I had a feeling I knew what was going on, but I wasn't going to ask anymore questions. If they'd really wanted to distract me, they should have sent the twins up instead. The two of them could distract me more then she could. Even Alyssa could. Hailey was the easiest child to get ready in the mornings. I decided to play along and take my time with her. They were likely setting up a surprise party downstairs at that very moment for me.
"Mummy, you should wear a nice dress today too," Hailey said after I finished dressing her and styling her hair.
"And what colour should I wear?" I asked her.
"Pink like me. Alyssa is wearing pink too you know," she said.
"That doesn't really surprise me when it comes to your sister," I said. "She'd wear pink everyday if she could, but okay. Let's go pick out a dress for me, and then I'll get ready."
"Okay," she said.
Once we had a dress picked out, I went into the bathroom to have a quick shower and to get ready for the day. In my room, it was to find her sitting on my bed and paging through one of her children's books. Alyssa had been teaching her to read, and she knew some words. When she didn't know a word, she would just read letters out loud.
"Let's go downstairs now mummy," she said. "You have to close your eyes when we get to the stairs. I'll hold your hand."
This definitely told me that there was a party waiting for me. I was surprised that they were having it so early on a Saturday. I wondered how many people were going to be there. I imagined it would be the old crowd, and the family. Chances are all the kids would be there too. When we reached the steps, I obliged and closed my eyes. Hailey took my hand and with the other hand I held onto the railing. We made our slow way down the steps. Once I was sure we were at the bottom, Hailey let go of my hand.
"Open your eyes now mummy," Hailey told me.
I opened my eyes to see that several people stood at the bottom of the steps waiting for me. All of my friends, some of my little sisters, the family including my mother, step father and my sister with Graysen and Chris. I was surprised to see Jaime and Chris since they rarely joined in on parties. All of the kids were there, including Hayden's friends.
"SURPRISE! HAPPY THIRTIETH!" They all shouted and they started to sing.
I couldn't help but grin. Once I stepped off the stairs, Ben, Hayden, Alyssa and the twins rushed over to join us. They each gave me a hug, and then others started to.
"I can't believe you're going to be thirty," mum said as she hugged me.
"I remember the day I met you when you were just fifteen," Terry added to me.
"You're the first one of us to get old," Ellen told me.
"Hey now," I said with amusement.
"It's the truth," Michael said. "You're going to be in your thirties, and you're the first of the four of us to turn it. It's a day we've been talking about for years."
"It's not so bad," Denver told me. "I don't feel any differently."
"Thirty-one is better," Jared said. "No one ever makes a big deal about thirty-one but I truly believe that's when you're really in your thirties."
"Yes, keep feeling proud of being the oldest," Ben told him with amusement. "Talk to us in ten years and tell us how you feel."
"We'll worry about that when the time comes," Jared said with amusement.
"Exactly," I said. "I don't want to think about being forty quite yet. Let me get through thirty first."
"Were you surprised mummy?" Hailey asked as she tugged on my arm and I knelt down to get to eye level with her. "Yes I was very surprised sweetheart."
Even though I knew it was coming, it was still a nice surprise for me. I hadn't known exactly when they were going to do it, and I hadn't expected the amount of people to be there. Even Brenda was there, and she hadn't come out for a while. The 'intervention' with the Hoofer family had actually gone better then they had expected. Her reaction had been the opposite of what everyone was expecting. She'd even apologized to Richard when we finally took him home. She actually looked more relaxed even though it had been less than a week ago, and she didn't have shadows under her eyes. The last time I'd seen her, she'd looked ready to drop.
I stood up and smiled up at Hayden.
"And I hear that you were the one behind all of this," I whispered in his ear.
"I knew you knew something was coming," he said. "But you just didn't know when. We have a bigger surprise, but that's for later. It's why we're doing this so early."
"Well I appreciate it," I said as I gave him another hug. "You're an amazing young man."
Hayden grinned at me. "You've done so much for me."
"Happy birthday Auntie Ashley," Minnie said as she joined us. "We left all of our presents for you in the kitchen."
"Thank you honey," I said.
They led me out to the patio where they had breakfast set up. Someone had set it up so that it was buffet style. I was assuming Mrs. Hoofer had done all of this. They'd added our extra patio tables. There was a fight amongst the kids about who was going to sit with me, so we ended up having to join tables so that everyone who wanted to sit with me could. I wasn't too surprised that Hayden had chosen to with his friends. He hadn't only invited Craig and Andrew, but a bunch of other kids he hung out with at school. I was pleased to see that he was still friends with most of the people he'd been friends with before Hogwarts, but there were also other kids he really hadn't. It was odd for me to see some of these kids as teenagers. I'd taught some of them when they were four-years-old. Now they were a group of thirteen and fourteen-year-olds. I did find it amusing that he'd used this opportunity to invite as many of his friends over as he could, including Cynthia who had grown even prettier over the last couple of years. No wonder Hayden liked her so much.
"Mum, in ten years when you'll be forty, I'll be almost twenty," Alyssa told me.
"Yes I know," I said. "You'll be nineteen and all grown up."
"Do we have to talk about that?" Ben asked. "Let's just enjoy the fact that you're nine."
"Almost ten," Alyssa told him. "Soon I'll go to Hogwarts too."
"How old will I be mummy?" Hailey asked.
I wondered why the conversation had to turn to when I'd be forty. Was it because of our earler conversation? I didn't exactly feel old to be turning thirty in a little more than two weeks, and forty seemed to be a far off age to me, just as thirty had once been, but it still seemed odd and off-putting to talk about. I still felt I could be in my early 20s. I thought back to Ellen's bachlorette party when her mother had lamented about being 18 again. At the time I'd found the comment to be amusing, but now I understood. Even as I looked over at Hayden's crowd, I understood how the adults had felt about wanting to be young again.
"You'll be fourteen and the twins will be seventeen," I said. I figured I'd add that bit so they wouldn't ask how old they'd be.
"We'll be of age!" William said excitedly.
"That's just odd," Ellen said. "I'll be thirty-nine. I'm still getting used to be twenty-nine. Let's visit this conversation ten years from now. I don't want to think about being that old or the fact that all my babies will be grown up. I'm having a hard enough time with the fact that Michelle is going away soon."
"Mum, you're not going to cry at the train station are you?" Michelle asked.
"We'll see when the times comes," Ellen told her. "I can't make promises. I'm sorry, but you're still my little girl, and I am not ready to let you go yet."
"I'm ready to go," Charles said. "I have my wand now."
"Me too!" Michelle said excitedly. "Mum and dad took me a few days ago. I have everything ready to go. I want to pack my trunk now, but I have to wait until we get back from-"
"Michelle, why don't you come sit with us," Hayden said quickly. "You too Charles."
I found that a bit strange. He never let her sit with them. I didn't think he exactly disliked her, but she was three years younger. He still saw her as a child. I doubted he even knew how she felt about him. However, this made her day. She forgot about me and the conversation and rushed over to sit with the teens instead. Charles seemed just as excited, but for a different reason. He was just happy that the teenagers were including him.
"I want to," William said.
"No, this is just for Hogwarts students," Hayden told him. "You sit with your mum. It's her birthday party after all."
William folded his arms and started to pout. I saw Alyssa roll her eyes. She leaned over to whisper something to Clarissa who giggled. I glanced over to see that Michelle had taken a seat beside Hayden who was whispering something to her. She appeared to look worried, and I wondered what that was about.
After breakfast, it seemed to turn into a pool party. I wondered what it was that they had planned for me. I didn't think this was the only party of the party, but I decided not to dwell on it as I found myself among the Hufflepuff's. Stan's hair was slowly thinning out which was hard to believe considering how thick it had been when we were teens. Some people looked younger then their age while others looked older. Jess was one of the people who actually looked as if she were in her late thirties while Anne could still be twenty-three.
Ben and Ellen were actually having a hard time with age and I didn't understand why. I thought they both still looked young, but they were both finding lines and grey hairs. Just the other day, Ben had complained to me that he was getting grey hairs in his eyebrows and in random spots in his hair.
"So am I," I'd said as I pointed to my own hair. "I keep finding them. What's the big deal?"
He hadn't been able to answer that.
Ellen had come over a few weeks ago in tears because she had crows feet. I couldn't find them, but she insisted that they were there, and she'd started to cry even harder about how her youth was over. I found some of the same things but my looks was the last thing I cared about anymore. There were more important things in life to worry about.
It was interesting to see how we aged however. Sometimes I thought we should have kept the scrapbook going. It'd be interesting to see pictures taken over almost a twenty year period of the four of us. As I looked around at everyone from Barry and Tasha to June and Timmy, it did dawn on me that Ellen was right. Our youths really were over. We'd all been through so much and we'd all grown from it. Some of us now had kids in Hogwarts or would be soon.
I headed over and sat down at the edge of the pool to watch some of the kids. Ever since Hayden had told Michelle to sit with him, she seemed to be his shadow. She was swimming with his group. The two of them were now talking animatedly. I glanced around to see Hailey, Elaina, Elliot and Mikayla playing around the smaller pool Ben had recently decided to add on the previous summer. We had the kids in swimming lessons, but sometimes the pool either got too crowded or some of the kids weren't comfortable in the big pool. It was knee deep for the smaller children and smaller in size. Brenda was trying to convince Anthony to go into it, but he wouldn't have it.
"Shouldn't you be socializing at your party," Jared asked as he sat down beside me.
"I was," I told him. "But I felt like sitting down and watching the kids for a bit."
"I can't think of you as thirty," Jared said. "You should still be twelve and whiny."
"You hate me when I was twelve," I said.
"Well I was an idiot," he said. "Still, it's hard to think of you starting your thirties. I feel like I'm going to wake up one day and we'll be back in our seventh year, and all of this was a dream."
"I hope not," I said. "I wouldn't want to give up any of this. I'm getting older, but I'm quite content in life. Sometimes I think it would be great to go back a carefree life, but I couldn't give this up... even if I don't have my eighteen-year-old body anymore," I added as I thought back to Mrs. Perenge's comment.
"Your twenty-nine-year-old body doesn't look bad, and neither will your thirty-year-old body," he said and grinned at me. "Of all the girls from Hogwarts who have had kids, or even the ones who haven't, you are about the same size as you were back then."
"Not really," I said. "I'm not fat, but I am slightly bigger than I was when I was seventeen, especially after having twins. My hips are wider. Four kids will do that to a person."
"You're still bony," Jared said he reached over to gently pinch my arm. "You don't have fat on your arms or legs. Ellen still looks amazing, but she is most certainly not the same size she had been at seventeen. She used to be such a tiny little girl. It's odd, I think Michelle will be taller than her."
"Michelle is going to be tall, and Clarissa is going to be short like Ellen. It's hard to say when it comes to Elliot or Mickey. They might shoot up the same way Timmy did. He was so small when he was eleven, but he certainly isn't now."
"Elliot is taller than Hailey and Elaina," Jared said as he looked over at the smaller kids. More little kids, including Anthony and Mickey had joined them. June and Timmy were putting their little girl Violet in the pool. Alana's little girl Belinda, and my god daughter was just putting a foot in and then shrieking before taking it back out again.
"So can you tell me more about this party?" I asked Jared. "I know that a pool party isn't the only part of it. I'm sure they have bigger plans."
"You are right young lady, but I'm not going to tell you the rest of it. This part is just for everyone to socialize with you, but later on is just for some of us lucky ones," Jared told me. "Which is why you should be socializing more instead of watching the kids. They're fine."
"I was just reflecting," I told him. "Kind of what you and me are doing right now. Anyway, it's some kind of trip isn't it? Now that I think about it, Michelle was going to reveal it, but Hayden distracted her. I thought it was odd that he invited her to his table."
I stood up however. I believed I was right. I wasn't sure who all was going to go with us, but I was sure that I was right about it. Were we going to go back to Florida? We'd already gone for a couple of weeks that summer. At the moment we were supposed to be renting the house out to a few friends of my sisters, so I was surprised that we were going back. Maybe it had all been a set up for me to think that we were renting the place out.
"Nothing gets past you does it?" Jared asked as he also stood up. He smiled at me.
"You and Michelle kind of gave it away," I said. "You know I over-analyze everything. I'll act surprised though."
"Good, now enjoy the first part of your party," Jared told me.
So I did just that. Eventually the party moved into the kitchen so that I could open my gifts. I was at a point in my life where I actually didn't care about gifts, but people still did buy them anyway. I appreciated it of course because all these people had gone out of their way to get something for me, but I usually just enjoyed having them with me. I didn't expect people to buy me things, but I did appreciate it.
There was a big pile of gifts that ranged from jewellery to some really expensive things. I felt like it was seventeen all over again. Ben of course had gone all out for me with expensive jewellery. I think he got a thrill out of buying these things for me, but I usually did when it came to him and the kids. Buying gifts for people were more fun than getting them.
"This gift is from most of us," Hayden told me as he handed me a thin but very big envelope after I'd opened everything. "It's for most of us too."
I opened the envelope and pulled out a long piece of parchment. I was confused about this. On it was scrawled: NIAGARA FALLS, ONTARIO in Hayden's hand writing.
"Niagara Falls?" I asked him.
"It's also a port key," he told me. "That's why it's so big. We have to all be able to hold onto it. It's set to leave at one. It will be eight in the morning in Ontario."
"You wanted to go there when we travelled, but we didn't get the chance to," Ben said to me. "You've been wanting to go ever since. I mentioned it once to Hayden, and he decided that we could go now. Then we're going to go to Tobemory. Your cousins mentioned that we should visit there, but we didn't get the chance to."
"How long?" I asked. "What about our jobs?"
"All cleared," Ben said with a smile. "We'll spend the rest of the weekend in Niagara Falls and then a few days down in Tobemory."
"And who is all coming?" I asked.
It ended up being Jared, Ellen, Keith, Tara, Aaron, Barry, Tasha, Nick, Brianne, Michael and Shelly and all of the kids. Brenda wasn't coming but she was letting Richard join us. Some of Hayden's friends had been given permission to go as well, and our parents were coming too.
"And where exactly are we going to end up?" I asked. "From what I've read, Niagara Falls is quite busy in the summers."
"There are some abandoned buildings though," Ben said. "I've always said that we're lucky that muggles leave old and abandoned buildings around. We're going to end up in a store that went out of business a couple of years ago. From there, we'll have to walk a little bit to a bus stop and we'll take a bus that will take us straight to the Falls. Our hotel is close to the Falls."
I was definitely not expecting this. I knew that we were going to have a party, but this was definitely not expected at all. I'd only seen pictures of the Falls, but my mother had been telling me stories about it since I was kid. It was a place that I had always wanted to go, but since we'd had so many places we wanted to go to, we hadn't been able to stop there on our trip. I thought this was better though. We were going to be able to share it with the kids. It would be stories for them to tell their classmates when they went back.
"We would like to have gone," Timmy told me. "But we couldn't get off work again. Not everyone is as lucky."
"How did you manage to get off work again?" I asked Ben. "We get the two weeks every summer, but how did you get us both off again."
"We've been planning the Niagara Falls trip for a while," Hayden told me. "It was just going to be Niagara Falls, but then I decided you should have a big party before we left."
"So we all managed to already get next week off," Barry said. "We planned it ahead."
"Not all of use were so lucky though," Alana said with a small smile. "But I'm sure you'll enjoy your vacation."
"And you managed to convince my Head of Department?" I asked Ben with disbelief.
"You know she loves you, and she will always grant you time off," Ben said.
"Well it depends," I said. "Usually a certain amount of time has to pass first. I just had two weeks off not that long ago."
"Yes but we had it planned a long time ago," Ben said and then he hugged me. "Don't worry about the why's. We took care of everything."
"We're going on a boat!" Hailey said excitedly.
"We'll be doing a lot of fun things," Ben said and he stooped down to lift her up. "I hope you won't be scared."
"Nope, I won't be scared daddy," she told him and then she smiled and reached to touch Jared. "I have Jared. He won't let me be scared."
"No of course not," Jared said and he reached over to take her from Ben. "There's nothing to be scared of, but I'll protect you."
"What boat?" I asked with confusion.
"There are cruises that take you to the Falls," Ben explained. "You'll see. That being said, everyone should get their stuff ready. It leaves in a couple of hours. We're going to get lunch ready, and then kids, I want everyone to change. It will only be eight in the morning in Canada."
"So we get breakfast twice!" Alyssa said excitedly. "Why is it only morning there?"
"They are five hours behind us," Ben told her. "You've learned about time zones in school. It's a different continent Alyssa. It's almost six thousand km from us."
"That's far away," she said. "Can we have breakfast again?"
"Well I'm sure we'll end up being hungry enough later on to eat more," Ben told her with amusement.
Alyssa turned to Clarissa excitedly. "We're eating breakfast twice!"
Out of all the things she could be excited about, it was the fact that we were going to eat breakfast twice. I felt it amusing some of the things that children got excited over. I was excited to finally see a place that my mother had been telling me about since I was a child, and she was happy about the most insignificant about the day. I reached over to pull her closer to me. I hoped she would always stay this innocent and sweet.
I wasn't allowed to make lunch for everyone. Mrs. Hoofer, my mother and Mrs. Perenge were the ones who prepared lunch for everyone. As soon as we ate, the people who weren't going on the trip began to leave. My sister wanted to go with us, but she refused to have anything to do with magic, so she couldn't. She didn't want Graysen who would be six soon to remember any of it. She'd wanted to take a plane there. Ben had told her that she was more than welcome to, but she wanted him to pay for her trip but he wouldn't do it. So she wasn't too happy. She gave us a bit of a cold good-bye. The kids all went inside to quickly change.
"If she would just be open about magic with him, she could have gone," Ben said with a shrug after they left. Chris had driven them there. "I would have even paid for their plane trip gladly but she was too demanding about it. All she had to do was ask nicely. I'm not going to do something because someone told me to do it."
"Unless it's Ashley," Michael joked.
"I don't tell him what to do," I said quickly.
"I think it's the other way around," I thought I heard Jared mutter.
"We don't tell each other what to do," Ben said. "Let's not get into this conversation."
"I'm just joking around," Michael said with a shrug.
"I wouldn't worry about Jaime," mum said. "She'll get over it. I'm sure she even knows that she was being too demanding, and she'll regret it. She always does. I just think she really wanted to go. We would have paid for them too if we'd known."
"Well no offence Darla, but I do get tired of it," Ben said. "There are so many times we've welcomed her here, and she acts like a spoiled child. The children aren't even as demanding as she can be, and it's almost expected from them. I've done her a lot of favours over the years. We even helped with the down payment for her house, and she still doesn't treat us with respect. This was a day meant for Ashley, and she ended it by bitching because she couldn't come with us."
"We know," Terry said. "She does the same to us. We helped put money towards her house too, but she can be that way. She always regrets it afterwards. I don't think she realizes she is doing it half the time. Unfortunately it's the way she is. We do apologize."
"It's not your fault," Ben said and then he turned to me. "I already have bags packed for you, but if you want to go through them you can."
"No I trust you," I said. Ben usually knew what clothes I would wear on vacation. When I didn't have time to do it, he would pack for Florida for me and he never forgot anything. Ellen thought I was lucky when it came to that. Keith had packed for her a number of times and he usually forgot something important, and she would have to pick it up.
"I'm lucky if he can even dress the girls in clothes that match," Ellen had once told me.
Alyssa and Hailey appeared wearing matching red sweater dresses and black leggings. I loved it when they dressed the same. I knew Michelle hated it when Clarissa tried to copy her, but Alyssa was different. I wondered if it was the age difference or because it was Hailey. The twins would usually wear the same clothes too, but that wasn't much of a surprise. I was sure someday they would outgrow it.
"That is adorable," Ellen said. "Oh I wish my girls would do that, but they won't."
"Michelle doesn't like it," Clarissa said as she too wore a sweater dress and leggings but in blue with white leggings. "She thought I was copying her now so she changed. I wasn't."
Michelle stalked onto the patio next. She shot Clarissa a glare and walked over to join Hayden and Minnie. She was wearing a summer dress that I had bought her not too long ago. I hoped the girls wouldn't be too hot in their outfits. It would be early morning, but it could get warmer later on.
"I'm just going to go check on Elliot," Ellen said. "He can take forever to get dressed."
Ben checked his watch. "Well we have a half hour. So I want everyone out here in twenty minutes."
"Well I think it's just the little ones anyway," I said as I gazed around the deck. Hayden and his friends really hadn't taken long to long to get dressed, not even the girls. I was surprised so many of them were allowed to come with us, but their parents did trust us. I could see Michelle eyeing Cynthia who had an arm around Hayden with jealousy. I felt bad for her and I truly hoped she would move on once they got to Hogwarts. At the moment, Hayden only had eyes for Cynthia and I had a feeling they would be together soon enough. I didn't want to see my god daughter get hurt.
"Where are the twins?" He asked just as William and Cameron walked out wearing shorts and t-shirts. I was glad to see that they had worn something practical and that for once all of our kids were ready on time.
Ellen walked out of the house carrying Mickey and holding onto Elliot's hand.
"Okay, I need everyone to gather around me please," Ben said as the time got closer. "Most of you have travelled by portkey before, but for those who haven't, all you need to do is put a finger on it. Make sure you have everything."
"I don't need you to hold me this time," Hailey told Jared with a smile as she put a finger on the parchment. "I can do it."
"Will Mickey be okay in my arms, or does he have to touch it? I haven't travelled with them when they're this young before," Ellen said.
"He's fine if you're holding him," Ben told her. "Someone could hold my hand and I'd take them with me. Come on, crowd in everyone."
I grinned with amusement when I noticed that Hayden was sandwiched in between both Michelle and Cynthia. Everyone else was trying to get a spot. It was a good thing Ben had made sure that the parchment was long a piece. All the kids were fighting for a spot beside a certain person.
"Where ever you are, just stay there," Ellen finally said. "We don't want to leave anyone behind. Just put a finger on the parchment. It's about to go. You can sit near each other later, it doesn't matter where you stand right now."
"It's almost time," Ben said.
Moments later, there was a jerk on my naval and then I felt my feet lift. It felt as if I was flying and all I could see was a whirlwind of colour. Moments later, my feet hit the floor. After travelling so much, I was able to land on my feet with no problem, but not everyone was so lucky. Half the people, particularly the children ended up falling over. I glanced worriedly over at Hailey, but she had a huge grin on her face.
"Again!" She shouted.
"No, not again," I said. "Not until later."
"I like doing that mummy, that was fun," she told me and I helped her up.
"I still don't like it," Clarissa stated. "I hurt my elbow. How come we fell over but you didn't mum?"
"We're used to it, and you've done it before," Ellen said. "Eventually you'll learn to land on your feet."
"I always hurt myself," Clarissa complained.
"Stop whining," Michelle said as she stood up. "You're just being a baby."
"Uh uh!" Clarissa said and she stuck out her tongue.
"Girls," Ellen said. "Can't you two go a day without fighting."
"Not when she always whines or copies me," Michelle said. "I'll be glad to get to Hogwarts and away from her. I'll miss Elliot and Mickey but not you."
"Mickey won't even remember you," Clarissa said. "You'll come home and he won't like you because you'll be a stranger."
"I really don't want to spend the first day here in a hotel room, but I guess we're going to have to," Ellen said.
"No!" Clarissa shouted with tears in her eyes. "Michelle started it. She's always so mean to me and she won't even miss me when she leaves. I don't want to talk to her ever again!"
"Michelle, come with us," Cynthia intervened quickly as Michelle opened her mouth.
"Clarissa over here," Richard said as he nodded towards Alyssa, Mackenzie and Emma.
I glanced around the store that we were in. It was quite dusty so that told me it had been closed for a while. There was nothing on the shelves and I thought there might have been a leak somewhere. There was a lot of mold. I didn't think it was a good idea for us to stay in here for very long. Ben walked over to glance out the glass door.
"Coast is clear," he said. "Let's go, and quickly. People can come down the streets at any time. Remember, this is a tourist city."
He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the door. It opened up and everyone rushed out.
"Everyone, please stick together," Ben said as we began walking down the street. He was saying it more to the kids then the adults. "No wandering off."
"Won't we be able to explore on our own once we get to the Falls?" Hayden asked meaning him and his friends. "Once we know which hotel we're staying in, we'll be able to find our way back to you."
"I think the Hogwarts kids will fine if that's okay with everyone else," I said. "I'm okay with Hayden and the others going off on their own. We used to."
"It's fine with me," Barry said with a shrug. "Just make sure all of you stick together. We've been entrusted with your care."
"Can't I go too?" Charles asked Brianne.
"As long as you stay with Hayden and Minnie," Brianne said. "I don't want you wandering off on your own Charles."
"You can go with them too Michelle," Ellen said quickly and I knew she wanted Clarissa and Michelle to be separated. "Just make sure you stick with them."
"We just have to buy the passes first," Ben said.
"What about us?" Alyssa asked. "We want to go with Hayden."
"No," Hayden said quickly. "We're not baby-sitting."
"You, Mackenzie, Clarissa, Richard and Emma are coming with us," mum said quickly. "That was already decided before we left."
"And Hailey, Elaina, Elliot and Mikayla are coming with us," Michael said.
"I want to go with Jared," Hailey said.
"And I am going with you," Jared told her.
"What about us?" William asked.
"You're coming with us," Tara told him. "You, Trevor, Cameron and of course Hunter."
"And we're taking the babies," Mrs. Hoofer said.
"Are you okay with that?" Tasha asked. "You'll be looking after three babies."
"We're giving you a break, it's why we made these groups," Mr. Hoofer told her. "It will be your turn later to look after the kids, but for now we're taking the kids around."
"Well, except Ben and Ashley that is," mum said. "This trip is for Ashley after all."
"I don't mind taking a group at some point," I said.
"Maybe later," Ben told me. "For now we're going to relax a bit."
"We were the ones who were supposed to take the teens," Tasha told me happily. "I am looking forward to a break. I know they'll be fine on their own."
"I remember being that age," I said. "I know they don't want to be led around by their parents," and then I turned to Ben. "Did you make sure to convert money for us? We need Canadian dollars."
"I know and I did," Ben said grinning. "This has all been taken care of for a while, we should get going. We need to catch the red line bus to get to the Falls. We need to find a bus stop."
"Mum, my bag is heavy," Alyssa complained.
"You're going to have to deal with it for a little while longer," Ben told her. "We're not carrying everyone's stuff for them."
We didn't have to walk long before we found a stop. There were already a few people there. I was going to try and lighten Alyssa's bag for her, but we couldn't with muggles around. Ben checked his watch.
"The bus should be here any time," he told Alyssa who started to make whiny noises. "It's supposed to get here at 8:09. We'll go to the hotel afterwards to drop off the bags."
"How many rooms do we have?" I asked as I took everyone in. "Is there going to be a bed for everyone?"
"Every room we rented has two beds in them," Ben told me. "But we're also letting the teens take a room. One for the boys and one for the girls."
"I want to be with the teens then," Michelle said quickly.
"That's fine with me," Ellen said quickly.
"We'll figure out room assignments when we get there," Barry said. "I can see the bus."
The people who were already there were staring at us. I wasn't sure if it was because of the conversation or because of our accents. It could have been a combination of the two, but I didn't like it. I was relieved when the bus arrived and we herded everyone on. Thankfully not too many people were on it. Hayden and his friends rushed to the back of the bus instantly while we found seats in the middle.
"I know it sounds bad, but I'm just happy to get away from the kids for a little bit," Ellen said. "All except Elliot that is. Mickey won't stop crying. I know he is a baby, but I feel like he cries more than the others did. Clarissa and Michelle won't stop fighting. I can't take their fighting for much longer."
"Michelle is going to be at school soon," I told her. "Speaking of which, even if this is my vacation, I want her for a night at some point. I'm the birthday girl after all. I don't know if we'll have time before she goes."
"Good luck getting her away from Hayden," Ellen said. "But you're more than welcome to take her. Talk to her later about it. I'm sure she will be happy to hang out with you. She was so close to revealing the secret you know."
"Yes I figured that out," I said with amusement. "Jared kind of gave the game away as well. Everything was still a surprise though. I definitely wasn't expecting any of this."
It had been over ten years since I'd last been in Canada, so it was strange to hear some of the accents. I'd forgotten how different they were. People obviously thought the same about us. As we went through the process of registering for our rooms and greeting people, every single one of them commented on our accents.
"When can we get some more breakfast?" Alyssa asked.
"Soon," mum told her. "Right now we need to get settled and then we need to get our passes. We'll got to one of the restaurants that we saw. You, Clarissa and Mackenzie are staying with us. So let's get to our room."
They'd all rented rooms that had two bedrooms suites in the Fallsview hotel so that everyone would have a bed to sleep in. We would have the twins and Richard in our suite. The only rooms that didn't have two rooms in them were the ones for the teens. They each had two king beds in them, and people would have to share. Hayden wasn't too happy about this.
"I can't share a bed with a bloke," he informed us.
"Well it's either that or you sleep in our suite," Ben told him. "You're lucky that we're letting you have your own rooms in the first place. There's no reason why you need two bedrooms. We only have them because of the younger kids."
"But there are more blokes than girls," Hayden said. "There are only four girls, but with Charles now there are eight of us."
"You know what, he has a point," I said. "Maybe we should rent another room for the boys. We can't expect eight of them to sleep in one room."
"Well hopefully we can get another on the same floors," Ben said with a nod. "It's what you get for inviting so many people."
"You told me to invite as many as I wanted," Hayden reminded him. "You did say there would be room for everyone."
"I can't argue that one, but you do know you'll still have to share a bed with one of your mates," Ben told him.
He ended up having to rent another room with two bedrooms. He wasn't too happy about this, but it cost less to rent one room for all the boys instead of two. He ended up just giving up the other room. I thought it was better this way. They could all still hang out. There was a fight between the boys about who would get the room with one bed in it.
"Well since it's my godparents renting it, I'm one of the people who will sleep in there," Hayden said firmly.
"Well, I am not in love with you, but you're my best friend, so I'll sleep in there," Andrew said.
"Then I am sleeping in there too," Craig said.
"We're wasting time with all of this," Alyssa said. "Decide that later. We want to go get breakfast."
"We can go now," Darla said. "We'll all meet up later," and she turned to the two of us. "You two just enjoy yourselves. The kids will be fine."
"Yes go on," Mrs. Hoofer told us. "We'll deal with the room situation. We'll meet up around six if you want. I know you want to spend time alone. So do Ellen and Keith, and Barry and Tasha, and Nick and Brianne. So go enjoy your alone time for now. We'll take care of everything else. It's supposed to be your birthday trip Ashley."
We all didn't need to be told twice. We quickly hurried down the corridors away from the arguing from the kids.
"I guess they are willing to deal with the passes too," Ben said with a shrug as we hurried off.
"The kids are going to want to be in bed by six," Tasha said with amusement. "What time will that be in our time?"
"Eleven," I answered. "We'll need to keep them up until at least eight or nine. They need to adjust to the time zone here. I'm surprised no one is jet lagged."
"It will probably hit later," Nick said. "Considering how whiny some if the kids are, they are probably feeling it."
"So are the two of you going to wander off on your own, or do you want to stick with us for a bit?" Ellen asked Ben and me.
Ben gave a shrug and looked at me.
"We can hang out for a bit," I said. "We don't have to be alone right now. We have all day for that."
"I'm just happy to have some free time. I don't think Mrs. Hoofer knows what she is getting herself into. She's planning on looking after the babies. It's a good thing Brenda didn't come too."
"Mum is used to babies," Brianne told her. "She raised us and then the other babies. A lot of the time she'd have Hayden, Minnie, Michelle and Charles all at the same time. She can handle the twins and Mickey."
"Mickey cries more than the others did. I don't know if it's colic or what," she said. "The Healer has said he is fine, but none of them ever cried this much and he's a year old. I feel like I am doing something wrong with him."
"Trevor cried a lot," Tasha told her. "Every baby is different. He'll outgrow it eventually. It wasn't until he was eighteen months before he stopped. I had many nights where I had no sleep at all."
"That's happening to me," Ellen said. "I'm so far behind on my articles and my party planning because of it. It's not just Mickey but the girls too. Their fighting is getting a lot worse. That's why I jumped at the opportunity for this trip. When your parents agreed to take the kids as much as they could, I was relieved. I'm fine with Michelle going off with the teens, and mum is coming tomorrow to help out too, so that will be one more person to look out for them."
"Well I'm off until the end of October now," Keith told her. "So I can help out more with Elliot until then."
"Why are you off?" I asked him with surprise. He hated taking time off work, even for vacations. He wanted to earn as much money as possible.
"To help out Ellen, she's getting too stressed," he told me. "So I took a leave for a couple of months. The kids will be in school soon, but we can take it in turns at night when it comes to Mickey."
"Ellen, you could have told us," I said to her. "You were there for me, I would have helped you out."
"Why didn't you say anything?" Ben asked her.
We left the hotel and walked down a road that would take us to the Falls. We were so close that I could already hear it. We could actually see the waterfalls from our rooms, and they were beautiful. I just couldn't wait to see it up close. It didn't take long to walk over. There were already a lot of people there. Most were leaning against the railings to look down at the waterfalls closely.
"I just didn't want to burden anyone," Ellen said. "Our problems aren't as bad as yours was. Besides, I felt I needed to help because I still feel guilty about what happened."
"You're my best friend, we would have been happy to take the kids," I told her. "Our daughters are best friends and your oldest is our god daughter."
"We would have taken Clarissa or even Michelle too," Brianne said. "Well any of the kids really."
"Us too," Tasha told her. "You've taken our kids."
"You do look exhausted," I said as I took in her appearance. I hadn't noticed earlier. "Just use this time to relax and then we'll do what we can to help out. If it's too much to have Alyssa over all the time, the girls can play at our place."
"Alyssa keeps Clarissa distracted, and she comes over because Cameron and William will annoy them," Ellen told me. "I like it when she comes over. They can usually distract Elliot as well. As much as I am going to miss Michelle, I think it will make things easier once she goes to school. It's their fighting that is getting to me more than anything. It's been worse this summer."
"Honestly, it's probably because they are going to miss each other," Brianne told Ellen. "I know it doesn't seem like it, but I'm willing to bet that's the reason. They just don't know how to express it better."
"Are you going through the same thing?" Ellen asked.
"No, Charles and Mackenzie have always gotten along for the most part but I just remember how we were like growing up. Brenda turned into a nightmare the summer before Barry went away, and it was because she was going to miss him. She just didn't want to admit it. Michelle and Clarissa have always been close even if they have fought."
"Well, they were close when they were little, but once Michelle turned nine, she started to see Clarissa as a little girl and that's when it started," Ellen said. "But you're probably right about that."
"I imagine we'll go through the same thing in a couple of years with Alyssa and the twins. They fight a lot as it is, but I think it will be worse when she's about to go," I said.
"I'm not looking forward to that," Ben said. "I'm actually looking forward to them going back to school as well. If they aren't fighting with Alyssa, they are fighting with each other. I don't think we were that bad were we?" He added to Brianne and Barry.
"Not really," Brianne said. "It was mainly Brenda and me."
"We had our moments," Barry said. "But yes, it was usually Brenda who started the fights with everyone. Ben here could be too much, but I don't think we fought that much. We've been lucky so far with Minnie and Trevor, but I think it's because of the age difference. The twins are still too young obviously."
"My sister and I fought a lot," I said. "I know we drove mum nuts at times."
"Timmy and me drove our parents mad," Ellen said with a nod. "We weren't this bad though. It's almost non-stop with them. At least with this trip they're in different groups. Michelle will be thrilled to be with the teens, and Hayden."
Most of the day was spent talking about the kids, and just enjoying some freedom. We bought some passes so we could check out some of the sites. There was a Journey Behind the Falls which I didn't find as thrilling as it sounded, but it neat how muggles had managed to make a tunnel behind the Falls. A water walk down the Niagara river, and we watched a 4D movie. I'd never heard of a 4D movie before that day. Inside, we watched how the Falls were formed and we ended up getting wet from the special effects.
"Amazing what muggles come up with," Barry said once we were out of earshot. "I've been to muggle movie theaters, but that was brilliant. They even had foam for snow."
"What next?" Tasha asked.
"We still haven't done the cruise yet," I said.
We walked over to the guardrails to look down into the gorge. There were boats from the American and Canadian side that took people right into the gorge. I thought it would be amazing to see the Falls up close.
"We could do that," Ben said and he looked to the others. "Anyone else want to?"
"Sure," Ellen said. "It looks like fun. I wonder if the kids have been on it yet. I imagine it would have been the first thing the teens would do."
So we headed to the boats. As we approached the spot, I noticed that there was another attraction there. It was something called zip-lining and I wanted to try it. I pointed it out the Ben excitedly.
"That seems scary," Ellen said.
"I'm doing it," I said. "We have to do it," I added to Ben.
"You love flying and yet you don't want to try zip-lining?" Keith asked Ellen with amusement. "It's a lot safer. I used to go when I was kid. We'll be fine. You used to fly over the lake all the time."
"But we can't do you-know-what if something happens," Ellen muttered.
"Look at all the people doing it," Barry told her. "You'll be fine."
We stood back to watch the people zip-line down to the bottom of the gorge. I didn't care about anyone else, I wanted to do it. Just as we were contemplating this, the teens ran over to us.
"Mum, we want to do the zip-lining but we need parental permission," Michelle said as she ran over.
"It's now or never," Brianne said to Michelle before she turned to Charles. "We'll go with you. We were just thinking of doing it ourselves."
"Can we go on it," Hayden asked as he reached us. "Please!"
"Yes of course," I said. "Let's go. Ben and I are were just about to do it too. What else have you done?"
"Everything," Hayden said. "We're going up to Clifton Hill next. We want to try out the Sky Wheel and everything else up there. From what we've heard, there is a lot of fun stuff to do on that street."
"Do you need more money?" Ben asked him.
"We're still good," Hayden answered.
"Well just write to us if you need more," I told him.
We let the kids try the zip-lining first so that they could go on to do other things. Everyone but Ellen decided to do it. I couldn't understand the logic behind that one. As Keith had said, she used to fly over the lake on a broom, but she refused to go zip-lining. I thought it was a lot of fun and thrilling and I wanted to do it again. I had some nerves before they sent me down, but I didn't regret going.
Afterwards, we went to the Hornblower Cruise. When we reached there, it was to find Shelly, Michael and Jared with the kids. Hailey ran over to me.
"Mummy, we're going to go on the boat!" She said excitedly.
"I see that," I said. "Are you having fun?"
"I'm getting tired," she said.
"We're probably going to take them back for a quick nap," Shelly told me. "We're tired ourselves. It feels like it's been a long day."
I glanced at my watch to see that it was now one in the afternoon. We'd been so busy doing so much that we hadn't noticed how much time had passed. It would be six at home at the moment. So it was no wonder that it felt like a long day. I also realized just how hungry I was. We hadn't had anything to eat since we'd left home.
"After this we should get something to eat," I told Ben as I lifted up Hailey. "I'm hungry."
"We'll go up to one of the restaurants on Clifton Hills," he replied.
"Mummy, we went into a big wheel and everything looked small," Hailey told me. "Maybe we'll go mini-golfing later."
"That would be a lot of fun," I told her. "I think Hayden is going up there right now."
"We saw Hayden in the movie. Mummy, we watched a movie and we got all wet," Hailey told me excitedly.
"Yes we saw that too," I said. "It was snowing and it was windy."
"We might do that again too," Hailey informed me.
"This is a nice place. I'm glad we came here," Jared said. "Is everything living up to your expectations?"
"Well I never expected this, so it has exceeded them," I said. "I thought it was just going to be a house party."
"You know we're going to have another one on the actual day right?" Jared muttered as he stepped closer. "We actually need to get drunk."
"Well it's on a Monday, so we'll have to do it on the weekend," I told him.
I still thought we should do something for Ben with the kids since his birthday was just as important. He was telling me that he wanted a nap soon too, so I figured this would be the best time to try and gather as many people as I could. I didn't plan to sleep until later that night. My sleep could easily be disrupted and I knew when we returned I would have a hard time with sleep. It was hard to believe there was a time when I couldn't stay awake because I couldn't try that now if I tried. While he slept would be the only time we could make plans for a quick celebration with him while we were here. This actually should have been a joint party for us, but Ben always had to go all out for me.
Even after I set Hailey down, she decided to stick by my side when we boarded the boat. I was surprised by this because she had been insistent about being with Jared. We all stuck together regardless. We decided to go to the top of the boat. There was a spot in the middle where people could stand, and I figured this would be our best bet, so I led everyone up there. I didn't want the kids too close to the railings.
On the way to the Falls, Elliot started to cry. He didn't like the way the boat felt and when we started to get wet, he hated it even more. The three girls were excited about it though. Hailey refused to put the hood of the poncho up because she wanted to get her face and hair wet, even when we were closer to the Falls to the point that we were getting drenched. Mikayla really didn't like that part, but Elaina loved it as well.
A couple was actually getting married on the boat not too far from where we were standing. I didn't know that people actually did that.
"That's dumb," Jared muttered just for us to hear. I couldn't help but giggle.
"I think I am ready for a quick nap as well," Ben said as soon as we left the boat. "I've been up since six. Are you going to come back with me?"
I shook my head. "Not right now. I don't want to sleep until it's night. You know what my sleep can be like. I'm going to stay awake for as long as I can. I'll just hang out with everyone. We'll let you know where we are when we wake up."
"I'm going to stick around here," Jared told Michael and Shelly. "Can you get the rugrats back without me?"
"I'm sure we'll manage," Shelly said with a smile. "I'm ready for some sleep myself," and she stooped to pick up Mikayla who was crying. "They're definitely ready for sleep."
"I don't want to walk back," Hailey whined. "My legs are tired. Jared, I want you to carry me."
"I'll take you," Ben said as he lifted her up. "Don't you want to spend some time with your daddy?"
"Yes, I'll go with you daddy," she told him.
I was surprised Ellen wasn't going back with them. I figured she would have wanted some sleep as well, but she stayed with the rest of us instead of going to the bus stop across the road. I said this to her and she shrugged.
"I'm just doing what you're doing. I want my sleep kept on track. That being said, I do want a drink," she said. "Let's go somewhere that serves drinks."
"I'm assuming most places will," Barry said and we headed to Clifton Hill. He smiled at me. "I'm surprised you didn't want to go back with hubby to thank him for all this," and then he winked.
"Later, actually I wanted to talk to everyone without him here," I said. "His birthday isn't that much longer after mine. I know the kids will want a party for him too. So I think at some point we should do a quick celebration for him too. He's done so much for me."
"We could arrange a dinner at some point with everyone," Barry said. "We'll look around at some restaurants but you know he doesn't actually care right?"
"Well I do," I said. "He's always done so much for me, and I want to do the favour back. All of this is for me, not the kids, and not for any of you. It was strictly for me, and so it's only fair I do something back. We'll do an adult party later, but I want something with our kids involved. I know they'll want to help with it."
We found a place called Ruby Tuesday's and decided to eat there. I made the mistake of ordering some strawberry daiquiris with my meal. The alcohol just made me very sleepy.
"I shouldn't have ordered this," Ellen said as she drank her own. "This is just making me more tired."
"I don't know why you're surprised by that," Keith told her with amusement. "You get tired from drinking when you're not tired."
"I know, I just wanted a drink," she said.
"Well I think we should go back to the hotel as well after this," he told her. "You need some sleep. I won't let you sleep for too long."
"You look like you should have gone back with Ben as well," Jared said to me as I sleepily ate my burger.
"Well this was the only chance I could get to talk to everyone without Ben," I said. "I still have to tell the others."
"We'll take care of that," Jared told me. "I really think you should go back as well."
"You too," Nick told Brianne who also looked sleepy "I don't think it will hurt any of us to have a quick nap."
I knew that they were right. None of us would be able to enjoy ourselves when we were so tired. Eventually we were going to meet up with the kids at any rate, and we would need to be awake for them. So after we ate, we all decided to go back to the hotel for a quick sleep. When I reached my room, it was to find some of the kids sleeping in the beds. We were supposed to have the twins and Richard in our rooms, but it was Alyssa, Hailey, Clarissa and Mackenzie at the moment. The others must have decided to just put them in any bed for the moment. I walked through the hotel as quietly as I could and into mine and Ben's suite. It was to find him sprawled out and fast asleep. I crawled into the bed next to him and curled up closer. Even though he was fast asleep, he seemed to sense my presence. He pulled me closer even though he was still snoring. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep either.
