JJ put Michael down in his crib for his nap and returned to the kitchen to see about making some dinner for herself and Henry. As she gathered ingredients from the pantry, she heard her cellphone beep a text alert. Setting the macaroni down on the counter, she rushed to the hall table where she'd left her purse. The phone sat on top of her purse and scooped it up, flicking it on to see she'd missed several texts earlier.
Everything set here for tomorrow morning. Should be back by evening.
Quickly, she tapped out a short reply. Awesome! I'll let her know!
A hasty perusal of her others texts informed her that Will was working late; Will wanted her to give Henry and Michael good night kisses from him; Garcia had sent her kitten pictures and MaryBeth had texted her another thank you for picking them up at the airport.
"Wendy?" she called, wondering where the family's Black Labrador puppy was. Growing concerned, she hurried through the lower level of the house looking for the dog. "This is nuts, she was right with me when I put Michael down," JJ muttered as she searched.
"Wendy?" she called again as she made her way upstairs to check the bedrooms for the dog.
She paused at Michael's door and as quietly as she could, turned the knob to open it. Relief flooded through her and she had to bite back a laugh.
Wendy was curled up underneath Michael's crib sound asleep and snoring.
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Melissa, MaryBeth and the girls sat around the kitchen table catching up with each other's lives as they waited for the oven timer to go off. Between conversation about their spouses, their school, their work and their activities, the foursome had made cupcakes and cookies and was now waiting as dinner baked in the oven. Melissa and the girls were each nursing a glass of milk and MaryBeth had taken advantage of the espresso maker in the Reid kitchen and indulged in a cup of the strong coffee.
"I miss that so much," Melissa lamented as she made an exaggerated show of sniffing her sister's drink.
"Only a couple more weeks," MaryBeth reminded her, "and you'll be able to drink coffee again."
Melissa shook her head, "Nope. I'm planning to nurse the babies. So. No coffee. And no chocolate. I'll be deprived for some time yet, but that's not the worst thing to be deprived of."
"No? Well then, what is?" MaryBeth asked and then gasped as she realised what the answer would be and immediately regretted asking.
Melissa shook her head, "Not in front of them," indicating the girls, who were seemingly both engrossed in some of the school work their teachers had provided for them to work on while away.
MaryBeth let out the breath she'd been holding and said in a low voice, meant for only Melissa's ears, "That was a stupid question anyway."
Melissa laughed and agreed, "Yep. It sure was!" Maddie rose from the table and went upstairs to get something from her suitcase and Maya took the opportunity to speak up.
"I know what you two are talking about, Mom, I wasn't born yesterday," she told them with just a hint of teasing in her voice. She carried on with her schoolwork as though nothing had happened but her lips curled up in a smile and she had to fight to keep from laughing.
"My baby," MaryBeth indicated, motioning towards Maya. "They grow up way too fast."
The oven timer went off and both Melissa and MaryBeth started to get up to attend to it. MaryBeth put her hand on her sister's shoulder to prevent her from rising and said in a commanding voice,
"No. Stay. I got this." She slipped the oven mitts on and removed the roast from the oven, sitting it on the stovetop. "You're supposed to be in bed, remember?"
"Still bossy," Melissa groused causing both Maya and MaryBeth to laugh. MaryBeth added peeled potatoes to the pot roast and returned it to the oven.
Maddie returned to the table with her arithmetic book and set to work. MaryBeth refilled Melissa's milk glass—without asking her—and waited for the retort she was sure would be forthcoming.
"Drink it," she directed.
"Wow, you really are a bossy thing, aren't you?!"
MaryBeth sat down and touched Melissa's hand.
"I promised JJ and Spencer that I would look after you," she said solemnly.
"JJ?"
"Yes! She picked us up at the airport this morning, while you were at the doctor's."
"Wow, you guys are sneaky."
"I pride myself in my sneak ability," she replied, still very solemn voiced and they both laughed.
Muttli, who had been sleeping in front of the living room window now raced past them towards the back room where the garage entry door was. He was barking happily and Melissa shook her head, laughing.
"You can set your watch by him! Honestly!"
"What's he barking about Aunt Melissa?" Maddie asked, just as they heard the sound of the garage door opening.
"Your Uncle Spence is home with Anna," Melissa told her, "Muttli knows what time they usually get home."
"Okay, okay! Down boy! Settle down!" could be heard from the back room as Spencer tried to calm the dog enough to enter the house.
"Muttli! NO! Chill!" Anna's voice rang out and immediately the dog complied, sitting down beside the door and waiting for them to make the next move.
"How the heck did you do that?" Spencer asked her and she giggled.
"You're supposed to tell him 'Stop' or 'No' when you don't want him to do something, Daddy," she told him, taking his hand and leading their way into the kitchen. Muttli padded along behind them and nosed his way between Maya and Maddie, lying on the floor at their feet.
"I am indeed, you are right," he told her and then putting his hands on her shoulders, continued, "Look Anna, look who is here."
"Spence," Melissa rose and enveloped Anna in a hug, "Anna was a baby, she won't remember them. These are your cousins, Sweet Pea. Maya, and Maddie. And their mom, my sister, your Aunt MaryBeth."
She smiled a shy hello, and the two girls rose to greet their cousin. They exchanged hugs and within minutes, the three were best friends as they headed towards Anna's playroom amidst talk of Barbie and Pink and Justin Bieber.
"That went well, didn't it?" Melissa chuckled as MaryBeth and Spencer nodded agreement. She turned to her husband and said, "I understand JJ was a co-conspirator in this?"
"She was, yes. Couldn't have done it without her help."
MaryBeth took a glass of milk in to the playroom to Anna and spoke to the girls for a few minutes, then they all came back into the kitchen and asked if everyone could go to the living room.
"We missed the baby shower, and the reveal, but once we knew we were coming up, we decided to hold our own shower for you," MaryBeth told them.
"Aww, you didn't have to do—"Melissa began.
"Shush!" MaryBeth interjected.
"I told you," Melissa laughed and complained to Spencer, "She's bossy!"
Anna sat between her parents on the couch as the girls brought their packages.
"No games, or silly hats made of diapers. Just presents and love," Maya said. "You go first," she told her sister.
Maddie handed Melissa her present for her new cousins.
Melissa unwrapped it as Maddie told them, "We had the advantage of knowing that there were two babies, and that one is a girl and one is a boy."
"Awwww, look!" She folded back the tissue and found a pair of onesies, one in pink and one in blue, but both with Mickey Mouse on them. "Thank you so much, Maddie, they're adorable!"
"We're lucky enough to live near Disneyland and since you couldn't come to it, we thought we'd bring a little bit of it here to you—" MaryBeth started and interrupted herself, "Oh that reminds me! I'll be right back!"
She hurried up the stairs to her room and was back downstairs in an instant with a gift bag that she gave to Anna.
"What's this?" Anna asked in a puzzled voice.
"Open it!" Maya and Maddie squealed in unison.
Anna found a card in the bag which she handed to her mother and then joined their squeals a moment later when she unwrapped a purple Mickey Mouse dress in her own size.
"Oh look! Oh look! Look!" She hugged it against herself and twirled around then threw herself at her aunt in a huge hug.
"Thank you Aunt M-B!"
"Awww, Anna. Listen," Melissa said, and then read the card out to her, "Congratulations to the Big Sister."
Anna finally released her aunt from the hug and sat back down as Maya approached Melissa with her present.
Melissa was delighted to find stuffed versions of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger when she opened Maya's gift. "These are so cute, Maya, thank you."
MaryBeth handed a long flat package over to Melissa and told her, "I'm afraid the Disney theme ends with them. This is from Mom, she wanted me to deliver it to you."
"Uh oh," Spencer said and rose, heading to the kitchen.
"What?" MaryBeth wondered. He returned with a well-timed tissue box in his hand as Melissa had opened the box from her mother and found a pair of crocheted blankets inside, one in pink and one in blue and was now crying.
"Oh my goodness, good call," MaryBeth noted as Melissa wiped at her eyes.
"Mom made these, didn't she?"
MaryBeth nodded.
"Mommy?" Anna asked, "This looks just like the one on my bed."
"It is the same, Sweet Pea. Your Gramma made that for you when you were a baby."
"I love my Gramma blankie," Anna enthused.
"And I'm sure the babies will love theirs too," Spencer patted her head as he replied.
"I'll have to call Mom and thank her. They are lovely," Melissa sniffled. She cuddled the blankets against herself for a moment as though she was absorbing her own mother's love through them.
MaryBeth set the last box in front of Melissa.
"Mark made this for your babies," she told her, referring to her husband. Melissa peeled the paper off the box and withdrew its contents.
As she set it down on the table, she was momentarily speechless and fresh tears sprang to her eyes. Spencer wrapped an arm around her and kissed her temple.
"Ssshhh, stop, Mel," he gave her a squeeze and addressed the others, "This is breathtaking. He's truly an artist, MaryBeth. Look at the detailing," he enthused, "This must have taken him ages!"
Mark had created a one-of-a-kind lamp for the babies' room. The base was made of blond coloured wood, and he had intricately carved the images of building blocks, a teddy bear, a toy car, a doll, and crayons into it. The shade was frosted glass, in a soft white and MaryBeth explained that he'd designed it to use the safer LED light bulb. It could be dimmed or brightened with a simple tap on its base. Melissa smiled through her tears, touched at the love shown to her by her family and expressed her appreciation at their thoughtfulness and generosity.
"And thank you all again," Melissa said, exchanging a glance with Spencer who gave her a slight nod. She took a breath and continued, "You may have missed the babies' gender reveal party, but Spence and I have decided on their names, and we are going to share with you to make up for missing the other party."
Melissa disclosed the children's names and after everyone had a chance to react to the news, MaryBeth announced that dinner was ready.
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