CHARLES'S CHRISTMAS CAROL-36
Hello everyone. After a week of break, I'm coming back to writing our wonderful Chelsie family. As you probably recall, in the last chapter, we have welcomed the newest additions to the family- Logan and Carter Carson-twin boys. Today, we are going to go through the part when they will be welcome by their siblings, plus Elsie will have a problem that she hasn't expected...
It was almost dawning, when Elsie woke up because of a quiet mewling of one of the boys...Charles was still sleeping soundly, but she had to wake him, because she didn't feel strong enough to get up on her own.
"Charles...Honey...You need to wake up...Carter is mewling..."
"What?...How...? What's going on Elsie...?"
"Carter is mewling...You need to hand him to me..."
"Oh yes, of course Elsie...I will give him to you..."
Charles got up rather hesitantly and he went towards the babies cribs, which were taken back from the attic..They were not used since the girls were little, but now the turned out to be pretty handful again...
Charles took little Carter from his crib gently and carefully handed him to Elsie...The boy was not crying openly, but he was a little restless...Logan was sleeping soundly in his crib.. Charles handed Carter to Elsie and she rocked him gently in her arms...Charles sat beside them and he watched Elsie's face intently...There was something amazingly beautiful in the look of her eyes, whenever she was holding any of their children..The purest love of all- mother's love, was written all over her face..
"Is he all right?"
"I think so...He just needed some mommy coddling"
"He is so tiny...Logan is much bigger than Carter..."
"Don't worry Charles...I'm sure that pretty soon he will be as big as Logan..."
"Two boys Elsie...How did you handle that?"
"I have quite an experience in that area Charles...We are welcoming twins for the second time..."
"We are...Five children...I still can't believe it...Doesn't that scare you a bit Els?"
"Maybe a bit...But not that much...You can take him back to the crib now...He has fallen asleep again.."
Charles repeated the routine from a moment ago and he came back to bed...
"How are you feeling love? Is there anything I can do for you?"
"I'm fine..Just sore...Hopefully, I will be able to get up tomorrow..."
"You need to rest Elsie...To bounce back..."
"Rest? With five children around? I think that you are joking Mr Carson..."-Elsie smiled to her husband and she gave him a soft kiss..."This is a result of our big love Charles...Five results to be exact...You can forget about resting for the next twenty years..."
"We will handle, I promise Elsie...I will tak care of everything..Of you all..."
"I know you will sweetie...But please...No more babies...Enough is enough..."
"I agree..We have definitely reached the limit..."
"Charles will you go to the Abbey and fetch Charlie and the girls? They are probably pretty impatient about meeting their brothers..."
"They don't know yet that there are two boys...I've asked Beryl not to tell them, I wanted to surprise them..."
"Oh they will be surprised...Just go and fetch them please..."
"Are you going to be all right in here love? Can I leave you alone?"
"I will be fine..Just take the good news to the Abbey..."
"I will be back as quickly as I can.."
Elsie lied back, trying to get some rest, until the babies will wake and give her a concert of cries and Charles hurried to the Abbey...He went in with the front door, assuming that the children will probably be in the nursery, with Lady Sybil and His Lordship was the first person that he met on the stairs...
"Good morning Carson...I heard that you have really outdone yourself this time..Twin boys...Seriously, I'm still waiting for some instructions from you how to make boys...This is the only thing that I cannot accomplish.."
Charles smiled proudly, he wasn't even feeling too embarrassed anymore, as he was used to His Lordship's weird sense of humor...
"Good morning My Lord. Thank you very much..However I'm not the one who should take full credit for this..It's mostly my wife's merit..."
"Of course it is...How is Mrs Hughes feeling? Is everything all right with her?"
"She is fine generally, but still very weak..The doctor recommended her at least two days without getting up...We are all still taken by surprise, as we haven't expected the second pair of twins.."
"Five children...Will you have enough room in the cottage? Maybe we should think about finding you a bigger cottage?"
"To tell you the truth My Lord, I haven't really thought about it yet...I will speak to my wife about it and we will let you know..I need to know her opinion...I noticed that over the years, she liked that cottage very much and I'm not sure whether she will want to move out..Thank you for this proposal anyway..."
"You are very welcome...And once more take my heartfelt congratulations...But not only this..I decided that in this situation you need to receive a raise from me...Since your wife won't be able to work now for a while, we will discuss the new amount of your salary soon..."
"My Lord...Thank you...It's not really necessary...I..."
"It is Carson, it is...We will talk about it later...Now go and take your happy bunch home..They are so impatient about meeting their new sibling...Three boys...You are lucky Carson..."
"I believe I am My Lord..."
"Isn't this funny in a way? I have everything. I'm a Lord, I have a title, a castle, money and position, but there is one thing that I can't have-a son and you have three...I guess God has his own ways of making us equals..."
"Don't loose hope My Lord...My wife and I have never expected to have five children and now we have them...Who knows? Maybe one day you will welcome a boy in your life..."
"From your lips to God's ears...Maybe one of this days you will give me a recipe for making boys.."-Robert laughed loudly at this own jokes and he slapped Charles's back cordially...
Charles hurried upstairs to pick the children...They were all so excited, talking and laughing and asking daddy, why can't he tell them if they have a brother or sister, but Charles kept his promise and he told them to wait few moments more...
When they've reached the cottage, the children ran upstairs, fighting who will be the first one to get there...When they entered Charles's and Elsie's bedroom, they stilled for a moment, seeing two babies instead of one...But very soon they had million of questions...
"Mommy, mommy...Two babies? Why did the stork bring two babies?"-Charlotte was inquisitive as usual...
"I told you that it's the angel who brings babies..Maybe he was mistaken and he brought mommy two, instead of one...Mommy does angels make errors too?"
"Mommy are these babies boys or girls?"-it was an important question for Charlie...
Elsie felt overwhelmed with all those questions being asked at once...
"Children, please calm down and be quieter...You will wake them...These are your brothers-Logan and Carter Carson..Say hello to them, but be careful.."
"Two boys? I have two brothers?"-Charlie asked, thinking that he may not be hearing right...
"Yes Charlie...This one on the left is Logan and the one on the right is Carter..."
Charles entered the room..
"Are you happy about the surprise kids?"
"Yes daddy we are, we are!"-the girls were pretty enthusiastic..
"Where are they going to sleep daddy? Because they can sleep in my room.."-Charlotte was ready to share everything she had with her new brothers..
"Mommy how come the one is bigger than the other? Are they not twins like us?"-Victoria asked.
"Calm down girls...Take it easy...Logan and Carter will be sleeping here, with us for now...When they will be older, we will think how to handle this further... They are twins like you...Carter is a little smaller, but I'm sure that soon he will grow.."
"Mommy...They are so pretty..."-Charlotte touched little Logan's head..."When will they play with us?"
"Not so soon darling...You will have to wait a bit for that..."
"Mommy, did the angel brought two because you were so good that you got two?"-Victoria asked innocently and Charles and Elsie couldn't help, but smile when they heard it...
"No sweatheart..."-Charles kissed Victoria's confused face..."We got two because mommy and daddy love each other very much and when mommy and daddy love each other very much, they often get two instead of one...This is how it was with you and Charlotte..."
Elsie smiled hearing Charles's explanation. They both watched contended, as the girls were enchanted with their little brothers, they still asked a lot of questions, they touched the babies and there was such confusion in the room, that for a moment nobody noticed, that Charlie was missing...
After a while, Charles finally realized that his oldest son was not participating in this family eruption of joy and he quietly left the room too, leaving Elsie, Charlotte and Victoria, who were still delved deeply in the conversation...
He checked the children's room and downstairs, but Charlie was not there, so he decided to look for him outside...He soon found him, sitting in the back garden, looking at the ground and squeezing some stick in his hands...
Charles may not have been the greatest psychologist in the world, but he understood, that his eldest son was overwhelmed with all this...Until now, he was not only the oldest one, but also an only boy in the family...Now, after almost ten years of his life, he was forced to share the attention of his parents with his two brothers...That was not easy for him...
Charles approached the boy and he sat on the bench with him...
"What's the matter Charlie? Why are you here and not with us all upstairs?"
"I thought that I wasn't needed there daddy...You were all so involved in watching the boys that I..."-Charlie interrupted his sentence and tears appeared in the corner of his eyes...
"Charlie...My boy..I don't want you to be sad about that...Yes, it's true that till now, you were our only son and now we have Logan and Carter, but the fact that they are here with us, doesn't mean that we won't love you anymore or that you will not be important to us..."
"It doesn't?"
"Of course not my dear boy...You are my oldest son...My pride and joy..That will never change... I don't say this often to you, but I'm very proud of you..."
"Really daddy? You are?"
"Yes my son..You are a great lad...A wonderful pupil and so much of help at the Abbey...Logan and Carter will never learn as much as you, because you are so much older than they are...And in the meantime, before they will grow up, will you help me and mommy to raise them? After all, you are the oldest...You have a very imoprtant task in this family-you have to replace me...Whenever I will be in London or I will have to go away with the Crawleys, you will be rseponsible for mommy and all your siblings."
"I promise daddy that I will take care of them..Always...And when you will go to London, I will be looking for your pantry at the Abbey and then I will come home to watch for mommy and all the rest of the family..."
"My wonderful boy...I'm really proud of you...Just remember that I love all my children equally, all of you, but you have the special place in my heart...And that will never change..."
Charlie didn't answer, he just nestled into Charles...Charles hugged the boy tightly and even though it was against his rules-he always wanted to make a man of Charlie and not to pamper him too much, but in this particular moment, he knew that it was needed...
"Now come ony Charlie...You will say a proper hello to your brothers and then you can take the girls outside to play, as mommy needs to feed the boys..."
Charlie took Charles's hand and they went upstairs to find Victoria and Charlotte still bent over the boys cribs and Elsie smiled and relaxed, as she watched her two daughters completely fell in love with their new brothers...
"How are you girls doing here?"-Charles asked.
"We are fine...The girls can't take their hands off Logan and Carter..."
"What can I say...Carson men have that effect on women..."-Charles beamed from joy saying that..
"I can conform that they are. Where were you with Charlie?"
"We had some men business to talk about..Nothing to concern you with, right my lad?"
"Yes daddy...Mommy, I will take Victoria and Charlotte outside to play now, so you can feed my brothers..."
"Thank you Charlie...My protective son...Now give mommy a kiss before you do that.."-Charlie neared Elsie and she gave him a big kiss...
"I want one too mommy! I want one too!"-Victoria and Charlotte were both by Elsie's side instantly and they both nestled into her...They didn't want to leave...
"Now, now girls...It's time to go outside...You see...Logan is already crying...He is hungry...Mommy needs to feed him...Go outside with Charlie and play..."
The girls reluctantly left the room, pressed by Charlie and Charles closed the door, so Elsie could feed the babies...He helped her to unbutton the night dress and handed her Logan, who was already demanding his food very loudly...
Elsie apposed him to her breast and was about to start feeding, but with a horror on her face, she noticed that she was lacking milk...She tried and tried to feed her son, but she wasn't able...
"Oh my God Charles...I can't...I don't have milk...I can't feed Logan...Oh my God...What are we going to do now? He is hungry..."
"Elsie...Calm down...Just wait a minute, I'm sure it will be fine...You never had problems with that before..."
"Yes, but I was much younger...I'm forty four now, it is possible that I can have a problem with it...Oh no...Not this...My poor baby.."-she kissed Logan's head and tried to rocked him, to calm him down, but it didn't work...
What was even worse, Carter soon joined his brother, with loud screams, as he was hungry too and now they were both crying, while Elsie and Charles looked at each other with dismay on their faces and the feeling of helplessness...
That's it for today...I'm leaving Chelsie in a difficult moment...They will have to find a solution and pretty soon...I've packed so much into this chapter...The joy of the new arrivals, the enthusiasm of girls and Charlie's uncertainty of the new situation, plus his very needed talk with Charles and Elsie's difficult problem...Hope you liked this fully family chapter...If so, your reviews are always awaited and appreciated. Stay safe and see you soon!