Jeremy walked into the playroom and stopped short when he saw Annie twirling around the room. He watched her for a moment.
Annie squeaked when she saw him and stopped.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Practicing..." she replied, blushing.
"Oh..." He fidgeted. "Sorry I bothered you..."
"You...you can stay if you want...Ginny and Marty get to see me practice all the time...so they left..."
He paused, looking uncertain.
"I understand if you don't want to stay," she said.
"I just.. I mean..." He blushed.
She smiled slightly and began dancing again.
He watched for a moment, still uncertain. But his feet made up his mind as he walked over to a nearby chair and plopped down for a moment. When she finished dancing he clapped.
She beamed, blushing and curtsied hastily.
"I've never seen anything like that..."
"My teacher says that I'm well ahead of my class..."
He smiled. "I guess that means you're really good then."
"Yep!"
Andy dashed into the room. "We're gonna go swimming...wanna come?"
"Which one?" Ann and Jeremy chimed.
"Both of you...Gramma's packing a picnic!"
Ann gave a delighted squeal. "I wanna go!"
"Momma said to put on one of your old dresses..."
"How come?"
He rolled his eyes. "Cause she doesn't want you ruining one of your new ones..."
"I don't know if I can fit in my old ones...." But she trotted off anyway.
"Girls," Andy muttered, walking from the room with Jeremy.
Jeremy blinked, snapping out of a brief daze. "Huh?"
Andy gave his friend a look. "You need to start paying more attention. Momma says we have to keep an eye on Sammy and Joey."
"Sorry..."
Andy nodded. "Come on, let's go find those rascals."
"Right behind you." Jeremy jumped to his feet and left the room with Andy.
"Why isn't your Momma going?" Jeremy asked.
"She's been sick for a while. She has to rest a lot..." Andy said. "Other than that, I don't really know."
"How can she rest if she has to watch the babies? James and Robert only stop moving when they're sleeping."
"My dad helps a lot, when he's not working at the library."
"Do...do you think he'd let me work some at the library? I'd like to try to save up some money for Joey..."
"Probably. He's always looking for helpers. Right now it's basically just him and Chris."
He nodded and scooped up James who had scooted out the door of the living room into the hall. "Are the babies coming?" he asked Andy.
"I don't think so...it's gonna be hard enough keeping an eye on Sammy and Joey."
Jeremy nodded. "So... where do I put him?" He nodded to the wriggling baby in his arms, wincing as James grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled hard.
"Let's go ask Gramma."
They headed out to the living room, where Noelle was talking with Spot.
"What do we do with this escapee?"
Noelle smiled. "I'll take him and put him with his brother and sister."
"Maybe we need to get Chris to build use some kind of pen to keep them in, so they have plenty of room to crawl and roll without us having to watch them constantly..." Spot suggested.
"Shall I ask him while we're out?" Noelle said.
"If you don't mind. Tell him I'll pay him for it."
"All right. I will do that.
Ann bounded into the room with one of her older dresses on as Noelle took James from Jeremy. Her face was pinched and she looked rather uncomfortable.
"What's the matter Annie?" Spot asked, trying not to smile.
"It's kinda tight..."
"Hmm...Andy, why don't you let her borrow some of your clothes to go swimming in."
He made a face but nodded. "Yessir. C'mon Ann."
"She's gonna wear pants?" Jeremy asked one the twins had left the room.
"She's just going to swim in them."
"Still..."
"Rae used to wear pants all the time.
"Really?"
Spot nodded.
Marty ran into the room. "What's taking so long?"
"Ann's changing into some of Andy's old clothes."
Marty put her hands on her hips. "If Annie gets to wear pants, then so do I," she said, running up the stairs.
Spot chuckled as he heard Ginny shout from upstairs. "And so do I!"
"Are girls always like this?" Jeremy asked.
Spot laughed. "Yes."
Jeremy rolled his eyes.
"You may as well get used to it now."
"I'm going to find Joey."
Spot smiled. "All right."
Jeremy walked onto the porch where the rest of the boys were waiting.
"What's wrong?"
"The girls decided to change...again."
The boys snorted.
"Typical girls."
A few minutes later the girls came back outside.
"Let's go, finally!" Andy said.
With that they all took off running for the lake.
"Wait for us!" Sammy and Joey exclaimed.
Jeremy slowed down and knelt on the ground. "Hop on Joey." And Andy did the same for Sam. Once they were down at the lake Sam and Joey got down.
"Don't go in above your belly," Andy told Sam.
"I won't!" he shouted, chasing Joey.
"Same goes for you Joey!" Jeremy called.
"You too, Kendra," Chris yelled from the front porch of the little house.
The girls raced screaming and giggling into the water as the older boys chased them with salamanders and other slimy things.
Chris laughed and settled into a chair on the porch with a book in his hand.
Noelle smiled, approaching him. "How are things going in your new home?"
"We're settling in..."
"Spot wanted to offer you a brief job to build a pen for the triplets."
Chris nodded. "Tell him I'll see what I can do."
She nodded and smiled.
"Nick and I need to go away for a couple of weeks...would you and Molly help Spot and Rae keep an eye on all these kids while we're gone?"
He nodded. "Of course we will."
"I knew you would," she said as she headed back up the hill to the big house.
"Jeremy!!!!" Ann shrieked. "Don't put that on my head! Don't you put that on my - ahhhhhh!!" She ducked under the water.
The boys sniggered.
When she came up, she glared at Jeremy and stormed out of the pond.
"Aww come on Annie, he was just playing!" Andy called.
Andy didn't get to see if she responded because Marty tackled him from behind, sending them both under the water.
"Hey you guys, be careful!" Chris called.
"We will," Ginny said,
Ann sulked on the bank.
"Come on, Annie, don't you want to get back in?" Jeremy asked.
"I don't know!" she said, turning away.
"You aren't really mad at me," he stated simply.
"Oh yes I am!" she retorted.
"No you're not!"
"Am too!!"
He walked out of the lake and stood in front of her. "You aren't mad at me."
She stuck out her tongue and then said "Yes I am.
"Don't make me throw you in, Miss Annie."
"You do and... and.. I'll bite you!"
"Oh really?"
"...Yes!"
He shrugged and walked back into the pond. She stuck her tongue at his retreating form.
A few minutes later Ginny joined Ann on the banks. "You alright?"
"Yes... I just don't know about that Jeremy boy...."
"He was just playing Annie."
"I know but.... There's something about him- I don't know."
"Boys are confusing. Don't worry about it...we sure don't get to have fun like this in Brooklyn."
She smiled. "That's true."
Ginny stood and pulled her friend to her feet. "Come on..."
"Kendra!" Chris yelled from the porch.
She smiled and followed Ginny.
"What?" Kendra called back.
"Come here, Kendra."
She scampered over to him. "Yessir?"
"Go inside and put on dry clothes."
"How come I can't play anymore?"
"You went into the water further than I told you that you could go."
"But... it wasn't that much further..."
"You still disobeyed. Go inside and change."
She whimpered a bit and headed inside. Sighing, he watched as the other children played happily in the water.
A moment later, Molly came out. "What happened?"
"She disobeyed me, Molly."
"But did you have to make her cry?"
"All I did was to tell her to go change her clothes."
"She wanted to play with the others."
"I know she did. But she was told not to go in past her waist. I let it slide twice before I told her to get out, Molly."
"Did you even tell her that she wasn't obeying?"
"Yes I did. She asked me why she had to get out and I told her."
She sighed. "That's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean, Molly?" he snapped.
She glared at him. "Oh forget it!"
He stood. "Oh no, you don't...don't start an argument with me and then say forget it!"
Andy and Jeremy exchanged a glance and began to quietly herd the other kids out of the lake and back toward the big house.
"I'm not starting anything!"
"Then just tell me what you meant already!"
"I just meant you could have given her a warning before you sent her off!"
Growling, he stormed into the house. She gave an annoyed huff and stalked down towards the lake to sit. Chris walked up the stairs and knocked on the door to Kendra's room.
"Come in..."
He walked in and closed the door. "Hey there."
She looked up, holding a doll tightly. "Hi..."
He sat on the edge of the bed. "Come here."
She bit her lip and crept over.
He pulled her into his lap. "Momma says that you're mad at me..."
She shook her head. "I thought you were mad at me...."
"Not mad...just disappointed."
"Why?"
"Because you did something that I told you not to do."
"But.. I didn't do it on purpose. I didn't know, Daddy..."
"I told you how far you could go in, didn't I?"'
She sniffled. "But I didn't go that far on purpose..."
"But I think you did, Kendra. I watched you go past where I told you that you could go, two times. And both times you looked to see if I was watching."
She started to cry.
"That's why I told you to get out, Half Pint."
She sniffled into her doll.
"Look at me," he said softly.
She shook her head. "You'll yell at me again..."
"Kendra...do as I say."
Sniffling, she looked up at him.
"You've got to learn to do what Momma and I tell you, Short Stuff...or we may have to do something more than what we did today..."
She sniffled.
"Now, let's wash your face and take your wet clothes down to Momma."
She nodded a bit. "Yessir."
After they washed her face and walked downstairs, Chris started dinner while Kendra slipped outside to talk to Molly.
Molly looked up as Kendra plopped down next to her.
"Momma..."
"Yes sweetheart?"
"I did something Daddy told me not to do..."
"He told me..."
"I'm sorry Momma..."
"It's all right." She put her arm around Kendra. Kendra rested her head against Molly's shoulder. Gently, she kissed Kendra's head.
"Momma?"
"Yes sweetie?"
"Can I get a little sister?"
Molly choked a bit. "A little sister?"
Kendra nodded.
"Well... that would all depend. You might get a little brother instead... if I were to have another baby."
"No brothers...just sisters..."
"I can't control that, sweetheart."
She made a face. "Can you try?"
She laughed a bit. "We'll see."
"How soon can I get a little sister?"
"Well... er... it might take a while..."
"How long?"
"I don't know sweetheart."
Kendra pouted. "But Sammy has two little brothers AND a little sister!"
"That's Sammy. And you're not Sammy. Now no more of this right now, okay?"
Kendra sighed. "Yes ma'am."
She ruffled the girl's hair. "Don't worry about it. We won't leave you an only child."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Can I go tell Sammy that I'm gonna get a baby sister?"
"Not right now." Molly laughed a bit. "It may... er, take a while."
Kendra sighed. "May I go play with my babies?"
"Yes you may."
Kendra jumped up and ran into the house.
Molly laughed a bit and shook her head. New sister hmm?
She stood and walked back into the house. Chris was in the living room, reading a book. "Hey," she said softly.
He looked up. "Hey.."
"I'm sorry."
"Me too..."
He set the book down and motioned for her to come closer. She did. He took her hand and pulled her down into his lap.
After a moment, she said, "You'll never guess what Kendra just asked me for."
"Tell me," he said, burying his nose in her hair.
"She wants a little sister. No brother, just a sister."
He laughed softly. "That's our girl."
"What do you think about it?"
"Maybe someday...a whole houseful...but not just sisters...maybe some brothers too..."
Molly smiled.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"I would like some more children..."
"I sense a but there..."
She smiled. "There's no but."
"We'll have to start on that houseful of kids soon," he whispered in her ear.
She blushed but laughed a bit. "Yes."
He kissed her gently. She snuggled up to him.
"Daddy!" Kendra called from the other room.
He leaned his head back. "What is it, sweetheart?"
"I think the chicken is burning..."
He yelped and jumped to his feet. "I forgot all about it!
Giggling, Molly quickly followed him. Hastily, Chris hauled the chicken out of the oven.
Molly peeked over his shoulder. "It's not too bad..." she said.
He wrinkled his nose a bit. "If you ignore the smell..."
She made a face. "It is pretty bad isn't it...I wonder if Noelle would mind if we dropped in at the big house for dinner..."
He chuckled. "We might have to, unless you want to wait another two hours for another chicken..."
Molly looked down at Kendra, who had a towel wrapped around her face. "Run up to the house and tell Noelle that we're coming for dinner. And then wait for us there."
"Yes ma'am," Kendra said in a muffled tone.
"Leave that towel here," she said with a smile.
"But it keeps out the smell..."
"Then drop it on the porch on your way out."
"Yes ma'am."
Kendra scurried out the door. Molly smiled.
"What should we do with this?" Chris asked, looking at the burnt chicken.
"Feed it to the cat?"
"I don't think she'd touch it, she's so picky."
Molly laughed. "That's true."
She made a face. "Just set it on the back porch and I'll ask Noelle what I should do about it..."
Chris nodded. "I'll do that."
She opened two of the windows while he set the blackened chicken on the back porch.
"Unless some animal gets it first," she added.
"Eh... that is, if the stench doesn't scare them off."
"Come on, let's go up to the big house."
Chris held out his arm and Molly looped hers into it and together they left.