Begin!

~Beatrice's POV

We were sent pictures of Quinten and Karrie's triplets; which I kept in my office. I was so happy for my friends that I wanted to keep this precious memento close. (I put them near my pictures of Violet.) I even called Lemony to tell him the news, and keep him up to date on Violet. (He liked knowing how much his goddaughter was growing up.) Ike and Josie kept in contact with us regularly. Hector wasn't able to keep in contact as easily with his lack of a phone now, but we talked via letters whenever we were able. He was busy more often now, being the only handyman for an entire village, and because of some big personal project he was working on, so after a while we slowed our communication to a stop. Karrie and I talked whenever we could, and on a few occasions she'd bring her kids over to play with Violet.

Jacqueline was doing a great job at keeping Mr. Poe in line for us. We were much better off with her in that office managing the place like a real volunteer. But that's not to say that Arthur wasn't still the same as before, he just had a better teacher now.

I heard the sugar bowl was being moved around a lot. I also got some disturbing news from the Duchess that said we'd lost contact with the island growing the apples. She'd sent scouts to find out what happened, but they never came back… I never found out what happened to that place, but I fear the apples may have been grown in vain if they couldn't be shipped out to the masses. That meant we had to rely on the sugar. I'm told the bowl was being kept by the current Madame Lulu at Caligari Carnival, and would be moved to a special hiding place before being taken to the headquarters. (At least according to my last given report.)

But there were some positives to be had. Violet was now a year old and was walking on her own at last. Which made Bertrand worried about her being in his work studio. He couldn't stop her though; she had developed a little attachment to watching her father work with tools and machines. I convinced Bertie to promise to teach her about them once she's old enough to understand. She might even make a living out of it someday. And on days when Bertie and I both had to work, we hired a very nice gentleman from Dark Avenue named Jerome Squalor to babysit her.

Violet also enjoyed playing with my new pet bats that Bertie had bought for me as an early, first year, wedding anniversary present. I ensured my girls wouldn't bite her too. I loved being a mother, but I had sorely missed having bats around the house, so I was particularly happy about this gift. Violet loved them too, but I couldn't help thinking that it might be because she longed for more "permanent" companionship. Sure, she loved playing with the triplets on their rare visits, and while their visits were even less frequent she loved playing with Fiona too whenever Sammie dropped by.

Simply put: Duncan, Quigley, and Isadora had each other. Fiona had her big brother Fernald. And Violet, I could tell, felt a little left out being an only child. I shared this concern with Bertrand to get his thoughts.

"I think she gets lonely. She'd love to have a younger sibling and maybe we should give her one."

"Well, I'm not against the idea, but you do remember our deal, right? If we have another kid, we said we'd retire."

"So we'll retire then," I said bluntly.

"But Bea… we'll have to cease contact…"

My eyes widened. "What?"

Bertrand showed me the most recent telegram from the headquarters and I frowned at the new development…

Attention all volunteers,

Due to the recent uprise in crime rates, the Duchess of Winnipeg informs volunteers with families that if you are considering retirement for the sake of personal reasons you are strongly advised to cease non-vital contact with other volunteers. Our enemies get bolder every day and we've had cases of calls getting tapped, and telegrams and letters being intercepted. You will not be forced to do this, but it is strongly encouraged.

Save those telegrams for an emergency.

The world is quiet here.

"It does say we have a choice in the matter…" Bertie said.

I looked across the hall at our little girl, who was chasing one of my bats around the living room. Her safety and well-being was my biggest concern. I'm her mother damn it, I'd never let anything hurt her. But if Q and Karrie ever wanted out of this life then they'd have the same conundrum. Karrie and I liked letting our children play together. And much to the detest of our husbands, we had discussed the possibility that Violet might grow attached to one of the Quagmire boys someday. (Personally, she plays with Duncan more so I may have unintentionally guessed it would be him, but there's no way to tell until they're older.) She loved having them around, but she was lonely otherwise. She deserved a sibling.

"Can we alter our deal," I asked.

"Meaning?"

"We could try to have another baby, and if we do then we'll cease contact after having it. That way our friends can at least know about it first and know why we're doing this…"

Bertie ran a hand through his hair. "You think Violet wants this that badly? I'm not saying I don't want to have another kid, I do, I just… don't know if keeping it up that long is a good idea either."

"Bertrand, we can handle it, we've handled everything else so far. What's a few more months gonna do to us before we walk out? Isn't our daughter's immediate happiness more important? Besides, have you seen the other kids who live on this street? Ugh, they're all so spoiled. She'd never make proper friends with any of them otherwise."

He paused. "I hear that, and their parents aren't much better. Alright, we'll go with your deal instead. When we have another kid, we'll stay in the business until it's born, and then we'll retire."

I gave him a kiss. "Deal."

~Epilogue: Four months later…

"Everything go alright at the check-up," Bertie asked as I went to set my purse down.

"Yes everything is fine, a perfectly healthy baby." I replied, patting my growing stomach. "And this time I asked to know what it is! Due date is sometime in late March. The 28th, I think they said."

Bertrand kissed me. "That's wonderful Bea, that means that it's time to explain the news to Violet."

I laughed, "Yes it is, where is she?"

"In the living room, playing with those toy tools Karrie sent."

Turns out, we had obtained results fast when we tried for our second child. We hadn't told Violet yet, as we wanted to know what we were having first before she got the big news. I'm just over four months along and Violet hadn't yet questioned my differing appearance. (She was talking in almost full sentences at this point. Soon she'll be old enough to start reading.) We found Violet in the living room as expected with her new toys. I'll have to send Karrie a thank you note later. Even though I already knew the gender of our new baby, we had planned a name for a name for if it had been a girl, just in case. (I hope Violet doesn't mind that it isn't a girl... Maybe if we decide to have a third kid in the future I'll get to use the name Sunny.)

"Violet, sweetie, can we talk for a minute," I said, getting her attention.

She looked up and diverted her attention to us. "Yes mommy?"

"Let's sit down over here shall we? Your father and I have some big news for you."

I sat down on the couch with Bertie beside me as Violet sat in front of us waiting for whatever news we had.

"So you've probably noticed that we've been buying some new furniture and filling the room next to yours. And it's time for us to come clean about why," I started with a sly smile. Violet looked confused so we continued.

"Violet, you're gonna get a little sibling!"

Bertie and I watched as her eyes went wide and a big grin overtook her face. She squealed excitedly and gave us both hugs.

"I'm getting a sibling! I'm getting a sibling!"

She then proceeded to ask several questions about when they'd be here; we could answer that. What we couldn't answer is how she was getting one. I had to hold back giggles at Bertrand's face going considerably red from that question. She also started running about the room, and pointing out toys that she'd share with her new family member, which was absolutely precious.

Bertrand leaned over to me and whispered, "Someone's excited."

"Yeah she's taking it better than lots of kids would. But I have a feeling the baby might not like some of her toys…"

"Why's that?"

"Cause it's a boy," I said, smirking at him, letting slip this little bit of information.

I watched as Bertrand's face lit up. "It's- We're- Are they sure?!"

I nodded. "Looks like we'll be able to use the name Klaus after all." Seems Violet was so excited she hadn't heard this soft conversation.

"Do you want to tell her or should I," Bertie asked.

"She'll find out, eventually…"

We were having a boy. Our second child! I couldn't be happier, and I knew Bertrand was too. He was eager to have a son. Hopefully, this one will look more like him, I thought. And once we eventually told Quinten and Karrie about our new baby boy on the way, we got a humorous discussion about Quinten being protective over Isadora now.

Come what may in the future for us, no matter what happens, we had a family to raise and that was what mattered now.

~The End!

Yay! My book is complete at last! I was skeptical of writing this story at first, I didn't think I'd be able to finish it. But now I've seen it through to the end, and it is a wonderful feeling! I told you guys I'd finish this damn book and I pulled through! Thank you for reading, and I hope I did these characters justice! :)

And yes I purposely uploaded this final chapter on my birthday! I'm 25 today!