Nick's kids insisted on doing the trip in one day. They arrived at two in the morning and were sound asleep. Grant and Hal and Nick carried them up and put them in the blue bedroom beside Nick's room. The guys thought that would be less scary to the kids when they woke up than if they were sharing a bed with Nick.
Ranger and I got up when they got in. Nick was so nervous he was shaking, and Grant sat him down and told him exactly what to expect. Nick cried a few times, but Grant told him that the three times the kids had talked to him on the phone on the way up to the chalet were good, and it made the kids a little less nervous. "You helped ease their minds", said Grant. "You did a good job, and I have no doubts that it won't take long before your kids are heavily relying on you. They are ripe for having someone honestly love them and treat them well, to not yell at them or hurt them, and I have promised that you will do neither. You are going to be good for them, Nick."
"I am so nervous."
Grant patted his shoulder. "I don't know you well. But from what I've seen, you are a gentle and loving man. You adore kids, and you adore family. You'll be fine. You just have to give your kids some time to accept that for themselves." He stood up and stretched. "I desperately need some sleep. It's been a long couple of days, and I need to power down."
"Thanks, Grant."
Grant smiled. "You're one of us", he said. "You'd do it for me." He ran up the stairs to his bedroom and shut the door softly.
Nick looked at me. "It's silly to be so nervous to see your own kids."
"I don't think it is silly at all. It just means that making a good impression is important to you. But you have to remember, you are the person who had my kids eating out of your hand within minutes. You are the person who used to play soccer with the neighborhood kids when you were overseas. You love kids, and there are no kids that you love more than your own. You'll be fine. It might be a little rough at first, but that's okay. It will take your kids a bit of time to trust that you aren't going to hurt them. You'll get through it though, and you have the entire team behind you, every step of the way."
He looked down at the ground. "I can do this", he said as he took a bracing breath.
I smiled and gave him a hug. "Yes, you can. And I suspect that it might be a good idea to go to bed, because I suspect that you are going to get a chance to become a parent really early in the morning tomorrow."
Nick smiled. "The sooner, the better."
I laughed. "Tell me that again at five tomorrow morning."
Nick laughed.
"Come on, babe", said Ranger. "It's time for sleep. Our own munchkins might be up at five too. They were awfully excited about having friends to play with."
I sighed and looked at Nick. I smiled. "See you in three hours."
Nick laughed again and followed us up to the second floor. He walked to his kids' room and stealthily opened the door. He stood there and watched them for a moment with tears running down his face. I walked up to him and rubbed his back. "They are so beautiful", he said.
I smiled. "Yes, they are."
He shut the door quietly. "I think I have to go and say a prayer of thanks right now."
I gave him a hug again. "Have a good sleep."
I walked into our room as Ranger was getting into bed, and I left the door ajar so that the kids could come in the next day if they wanted. I joined Ranger in the bed and rolled over to the middle, and laughed. "This bed is so big that it takes a lot more rolling to get to the center in this bed than it does to get to the center of the bed at home."
Ranger laughed. "I actually don't like it much. I like our normal king bed better. This bed is too big and when I roll away from you, I can't find you in the bed again. I think you've been having the same problem. When I woke up this morning you were lying sideways in the bed and I was lying up and down, and together we formed the letter 'T'. You were getting angry in your sleep because I kept pulling the blankets up and covering your face, and you kept pulling the blankets down and barely covering my knees. When Alix came in, she informed me that we were lying all over the place like a litter of puppies, and Tia corrected her and said it was like a litter of squirrels, or whatever they call a group of squirrels."
I laughed. "That would tick Alix off."
"Yes. To stop the brewing argument, I asked them to help me move you so that you were lying on the bed the right way again, and then I got up and went for a run."
I smiled. "Hopefully it will go better tomorrow morning."
Ranger pulled me close. "I love you, babe."
"I love you too."
He wiggled his hand up and under my pajama shirt and rested his hand on my breast. We both sighed in relief, closed our eyes, and fell asleep.
Four hours later, Tia came running into our room. Ranger and I blearily opened our eyes. "Mama! Dada! Nick brought friends for us." She grinned and hopped up and down on the spot for a moment. "Can we play now?"
"Peanut, they got in very late last night, and they might want to sleep a bit longer."
"No, Mama. They're awake."
"Are you sure?"
"Uh-hunh. Come see." She tugged my hand and I groaned.
"I'd get up for you, Babe, but for some reason you look less scary than me and somehow I think it would be reassuring to the kids to see you first."
I snorted. "Must be the curly hair."
Ranger laughed.
"And the lack of muscles."
He laughed again as he hauled himself to his feet. "I'll make the coffee", he said.
"Did I ever tell you that you're my hero?" I winged into the washroom and quickly used the toilet and brushed my teeth. Then I captured Tia's hand and let her drag me to Ethan's and Evan's and Edie's room. I quietly opened the door, and there were three children staring at the door in fear, all sucking their thumbs.
Tia bounced up and down. "Me get Gracie and Lixi", she said. She ran as fast as she could back to Julie's room, and minutes later the twins had joined their older sister.
I looked at the newcomers. "Hi", I said. "I'm Stephanie, but everyone calls me Steph. Only my mom calls me Stephanie and that's only when I am bad, so I'd prefer for you to call me Steph." The kids all looked at me. "These three monsters are my kids and your dad is a friend of ours. The oldest is Tia, and then are the twins, Grace and Alix. They have been very excited that you were coming to play with them." Nick's children looked at my children with interest. "Are you hungry?"
"Yes, please", said Ethan tentatively.
"Good. Then get up, use the washroom, come on downstairs, and I will get you a snack to help put you on until breakfast."
Edie looked at us with her mouth open. "Food first?" she said.
Ethan looked at us. "Grandma said we had to earn our breakfast, and we had to practice our letters. If we made a mistake, we didn't get breakfast."
I felt like my heart was breaking. "Well, guys, that's not the way here. In this house, in your father's house, you don't have to earn food. You eat because it is important to grow up healthy and strong. Eating well and sleeping enough are two of the most important things that you can do for yourself. What kinds of things do you like to eat?"
"I don't like eggs", said Ethan tentatively.
"Okay. What do you like instead?"
"Peanut butter?" He looked hopeful.
"Grandma didn't like peanut butter", said Edie. "She said too sticky."
"Do you like peanut butter?" I said.
She grinned. "I love peanut butter."
I turned to Evan. "Do you like peanut butter?" He didn't say anything, but instead turned bright red.
Edie patted her brother's arm. "Evan no say anything. Grandma hit him lots."
"Well, we aren't going to hit him. You could nod or shake your head if you want. Do you like peanut butter?"
He thought about it for a moment, then nervously nodded his head.
I grinned. "Then I know exactly what we are going to have for a snack."
"Happy faces?" said Grace hopefully.
"Absolutely." I turned to Tia. "Can you please knock on Nick's door and tell him that we are all having happy faces, because I know he'll want to have part of the fun, and tell him that Daddy has put the coffee on?"
Tia ran to the door next door. She banged on his door a few times and called, "Nick! Nick! We're having happy faces! Come on."
Nick walked out of his room and over to me.
"I wasn't sure if you heard Tia", I said with a grin.
Nick laughed. "I think the whole neighborhood heard Tia. As I was getting up, I think I heard two ducks and a groundhog say that they were coming to have a snack too."
Tia's eyes glowed. "Did you hear any squirrels say that?"
I laughed. "Come on, everybody. Let's be monsters as we go into the kitchen and scare Ranger. When we get to the base of the stairs, think up a monster walk and we'll all go into the kitchen and scare the pants off him. What do you think?"
Tia and Grace and Alix grinned with joy. Ethan and Evan and Edie didn't know what to make of it. However, they got up gamely and followed us down the stairs. When we got to the bottom, my kids made silly monster faces and added silly monster walks, and they formed a line as they walked into the kitchen. Ranger pretended to scream and the kids giggled.
I looked at Ethan and Evan and Edie and grinned. "Let's see your monster walks." Edie's face glowed, and she made a scary face and galloped into the kitchen. Ranger screamed again and she giggled. The two boys, however, still didn't look too sure. "Ethan, why don't you and your dad do one at the same time, and Evan and I will do one at the same time? And then we'll have happy faces." Ethan and Nick talked quietly for a moment, then together did a run/shuffle into the kitchen with their tongues hanging out.
Evan, however, was frozen. I crouched down. "Get on my back", I said, "and put your head on my shoulder, and we can be a two-headed monster."
Evan smiled and climbed on my back. He arranged himself and, as I slid one leg towards the kitchen and stomped my other leg, I whispered, "why don't you roar and make us a scary monster?"
Evan roared and I slid and stomped, and when we got to the kitchen I said, "We're a scary two-headed monster. Does that mean we can have two happy faces?"
Ranger laughed. "Only if one head can each have a happy face."
I pretended to think about that for a moment. "I think that works. Don't you, Evan?" I said as I crouched down and let him climb off my back. I stood up and took his hand, and led him to Ranger. "This is Ranger. He is Tia's and Grace's and Alix's dad, and he is a good friend of your father's." Nick poured me a coffee, and I thanked him. "How about your dad washes everyone's hands and takes you to the table? Tia and Grace and Alix can explain what happy faces are, Ranger can make the toast, and I'll get out the toppings."
Fifteen minutes later, everyone - including Ranger and Nick and I - were making happy faces. The kids were giggling and, as I looked at Nick, he looked relieved. Edie had crawled onto her Dad's lap and was helping him do his own face. She was already done hers.
I finished my face and I looked at the kids. "Now we have a problem", I said. Nick's kids looked worried, and my kids knew that I was teasing and were grinning.
"What's the problem, babe?" said Ranger.
"I don't know how to eat this. It's like a chocolate Easter Bunny. Do you start with the ears, or do you start with the tail? So with my happy face, I don't know. Should I start with the mouth? But then my face can't sing to me. So should I start with the ears? But then it can't hear me. So should I start with the eyes? It's a very difficult question."
"Babe, you're going to eat it all anyway, aren't you?"
"Yes?"
"Then what does it matter?"
"Maybe it tastes different if I don't eat it in the right order. Evan, my other monster head, what order do you think I should eat it in?"
He looked at his for a moment, then looked at mine. He took a bite out of his - at the mouth - and chewed and swallowed. "Me tested it. Mouth tastes good."
"The mouth is the best place to start?"
He nodded, but his face turned bright red.
I picked up my face and took a big bite of the mouth, chewed and swallowed. "You are definitely right, Evan. With this happy face, you need to start at the mouth."
He smiled and took another bite of his happy face.
