Yay. It's finally here! Sorry it took so long, but all I have is the same excuse I always have: I've been busy. I hope to make updates quicker around here though. You have my word!
And part of that whole being busy thing was because I was planning out this book. I finally have the outlines and preliminary plans done all the way to the last chapter. YAY!
Identical Cousins by Identical Twins
"I swear, Jo, if I didn't know any better, I'd say they were identical twins, just like us," Lou muttered, observing her son and niece playing on the living room floor. They both giggled as they pressed buttons on some little toy, causing it to omit various noises. "They look almost exactly alike. So much so I think it's scary."
"It is not," Jo insisted. "Both of them have mamas that look almost exactly alike and then dads look fairly similar themselves. So it's only reasonable they turned out looking similar." Folding her arms across her chest, Jo joined in staring at the two laughing babies. "But yes, I agree the resemblance there is a tad uncanny. The only thing is Johnny's hair is straight and Yvonne's is curly."
"And even that isn't much."
"No, it isn't," Jo agreed.
The two children in observation didn't seem to notice, but went on pressing buttons and squealing with joy. In fact, they kept gurgling when the other was silent, giving the impression of a little conversation going on.
Smiling, Lou continued stirring up one of the two recently warmed baby food jars, which were meant for Johnny and Yvonne's respective breakfasts. "At least they'll always have a playmate," she said. "As long as they live, they'll always have someone their own age to play with and talk to."
As if disagreeing with that point, Johnny snatched a block from Yvonne, who then attempted to take it back none too gently. Being slightly bigger, Johnny was able to keep it out of his cousin's reach and started crawling wildly away in the other direction. Yvonne wasn't going to give chase, and sat crying in the middle of the floor.
Sighing, Jo reached out and took her whining daughter into her arms. "Don't get your hopes up, Lou. They might wind up having next to nothing in common."
"Hey, me and you turned out alright, didn't we?" Setting down the small jar on the table, Lou went to retrieve and reprimand her bullying baby.
"Are you saying we have nothing in common, Lou?" Jo inquired, setting Yvonne in one of two high-chairs sitting at one corner of the table.
"Gotcha, you fast little booger," Lou muttered to Johnny as she finally grabbed a hold of him and swung him up onto her hip. With a little effort, she forced the stolen block from his hand and let it fall to the floor. Turning back towards her sister, she replied to Jo's question. "Well, not that we have nothing in common so much as we're just different."
"The old night and day scenario?"
Sitting Johnny in the other high chair not occupied by Yvonne, Lou shook her head. "No, not quite, Jo. More like morning and dusk. We're not quite night/day different, in my opinion."
"Oh, that really clears it all up, Lou," Jo murmured, taking one of the warm jars of food and a spoon to feed her daughter. "And it makes me feel so much better about our relationship too."
"Hey, don't take it like that!" Lou insisted, taking the other jar and spoon. "I never said we don't have a good relationship. I just said we're different. But opposites attract, you know. Maybe that's what stuck us so close together."
Putting a spoonful of whatever this stuff was exactly into Yvonne's mouth, Jo sighed. "I'd be more willing to bet on circumstance instead since you and opposites don't seem to do well."
The hand moving a spoon to Johnny's mouth froze as Lou's head simultaneously snapped towards Jo. The look that she shot in her sister's direction might've killed her, had stares been capable of that. "What is that supposed to mean?" she snapped.
Jo's reply was cut off by Luke hurrying into the kitchen from their bedroom. Four heads turned towards him immediately. He was obviously in a big rush, hopping into a boot while he hastily tucked in his shirt.
"Hey, where's Uncle Jesse?" he asked, momentarily halting to tug his shoe all the way on.
"Out of here already," Lou answered, glancing at her brother-in-law and saving Jo from the murderous stare—at least for the moment. "I was up at seven and he was already on his way out," she further explained, absently dishing a spoonful of food into Johnny's mouth. "I guess he went out to the construction sight already."
Luke nodded. "Thanks. I was supposed to be out of here thirty minutes ago. Running late, gotta go, bye." After kissing his wife, Luke was out the door running.
And Jo's stare followed him out all the way.
"Awwwwwwwww," Lou drawled, rolling her eyes. "You even watched big strong husband all the way out the door!" She couldn't stop the light scoff that escaped her lips followed by a very sarcastic tone. "That was one-hundred percent, completely and entirely fantastic, you know. Just great! How entirely… sappy. Especially given the fact that he ran out to work on building your house just on the other side of the farm!"
"Hey!" Jo protested strongly. "It's not 'sappy' for a husband to kiss his wife before running off to work. I say it's romantic."
"I still say it's sappy," Lou disagreed. "And you're not gonna convince me otherwise."
Now it was Jo's turn to give her sister a stare of daggers. "And you're just saying all of this because you wish you had it. But you can't because you're just too dang stubborn to let anything happen the right way."
A very angry, very nasty reply was cut off by Bo hurrying out in a very similar way to his cousin moments before, hopping into a shoe and trying to button up his shirt. With hair flying every way possible, he stared at Lou with a scowl.
"How could you let me sleep this late?" he shouted. "It's almost nine o'clock and I was supposed to be out of here half an hour ago! I'm running late, thanks to you!"
Eyes narrowing, Lou's hand unconsciously tightened on the jar in her grasp. "Hey, don't blame me, Bo. It wasn't me laying in bed until nine o'clock. I was up at seven, thank you very much."
"I was up with the baby last night, because you decided it wasn't your turn!"
"Get over it! It wasn't my turn and it wasn't my fault you got up last night!"
Mouth hanging open, Bo's eyes narrowed too. "Hello, you were the one who threw a shoe at me while I was sleeping very nicely!"
"Alright, so I woke you up last night," Lou admitted. "It still wasn't my fault that you woke up late this morning. That's what alarm clocks are for, genius!" She threw a glance at a wall clock. "Speaking of which, every second you spend standing there, blaming me for things I didn't do, you get later and later."
"You're right for once," Bo huffed. "I don't have time for this." And with that, he turned and ran right out the door.
Lou was left simmering and gripping the baby food jar tighter and tighter until it was probably near a breaking point, with her son just staring at her in incomprehension.
Giving a deep, heartfelt sigh, Jo's light voice broke into Lou's anger. "That's exactly what I meant. You and opposites—even just differences in opinion—do not make a good mix."
Well, now we know how things are going around the Duke house... Not well on one side, very well on the other. Hmm...
Okay, I have a question for you reviewers to answer: Who do you like better: Jo or Lou?