January 1972
"I hope this is the right apartment," said Paul as he drove the station wagon into the parking garage.
"We followed the directions he gave us exactly," Elizabeth replied. The car came to a stop, and they got out. Amon and Jakob followed, and Elizabeth walked around to the back to help Laura with the twins. Jeremy and Jennifer were not quite three, and their mother found them to be a real handful.
Laura took Jennifer's hand, Elizabeth took Jeremy's, and the family went inside the building, rode the elevator up to the apartment, and rang the bell. A few seconds later, Max opened the door, grinning ear to ear.
"Hi! Come on in," he greeted them.
The living room walls were white, and the carpet was brown. A dark green sofa rested against one wall, and opposite it were the television and book case. Toni sat on the sofa, holding her newborn daughter, and on either side of her sat two young women with blonde hair, blue eyes, and identical faces.
"Hi," Toni said with a smile. "These are my friends Rachel and Rhonda Wedemeyer. They've been helping me a lot with Erika."
"Which one of you is which?" asked Paul.
"I'm Rachel," said the woman on Toni's left.
"And I'm Rhonda," said the other woman.
"It's nice to meet you," both women said in unison, laughing and shaking the Brimmers' hands.
"I'm Paul Brimmer, and this is my wife, Elizabeth," said Paul. "The taller boy is my cousin Amon, the shorter boy is my son Jakob, and this is my daughter Laura and her twins, Jeremy and Jennifer."
"More twins!" Rachel remarked.
"Yes, but mine are easier to tell apart," Laura laughed.
"Can I hold her?" Elizabeth reached for her new granddaughter. The infant's eyes fluttered open for a moment, then closed. "She's precious! I know your parents must be thrilled."
"They are," said Toni.
"Have a seat." Max gestured to the two easy chairs at either end of the sofa. "How was your drive up?"
"It was fine," said Elizabeth, sitting down with Erika.
"The twins slept most of the way, so of course they're full of energy," said Laura.
"I'm sorry we don't have enough seats for everyone," said Toni.
"That's all right," said Paul. "The boys can sit on the floor, and it looks like there's room for Laura at the end of the sofa."
"Of course!" Rhonda moved over to make room for Laura. Laura sat down, then pulled the twins into her lap.
"Who are dese people, Mommy?" asked Jennifer.
"You know your Uncle Max, and you've met your Aunt Toni," said Laura. "They just had a baby girl, Erika. She's your cousin."
"What's dat?"
"Your cousin is the child of your aunt and uncle," Laura explained.
"I wanna see da baby!"
"Go to her." Laura sat Jennifer down on the floor, and she toddled over to Elizabeth and Erika. Jeremy followed right behind her. Laura noticed that the Wedemeyer twins looked to be about her age.
"How old are you?" she asked Rhonda.
"Not quite twenty," Rhonda replied. "We're sophomores at Brooklyn College."
"Wow, you're only a couple of years younger than me!" said Laura.
"So what does your husband do?"
"He died when the twins were a few weeks old. He got pneumonia."
A look of shock passed over Rhonda's face. "Oh, no! I'm so sorry!"
"It's all right. I've gotten used to being alone." But she hadn't - not really.
"How do you ever manage, with twins?" asked Rachel, who couldn't help overhearing the conversation.
"I live with my parents, and they help me a lot." Laura gulped, remembering with sadness the little white house she'd been forced to leave behind.
"You must have gotten married right out of high school," Rachel remarked.
"I did. Stephen came back from Vietnam right before I graduated, and we got married just a few days after the ceremony."
"So your husband was in Vietnam with Max."
"Yes, he was. They were together all the way through school, and then they got drafted together. How long have you two known Toni?"
"Oh, we've always known the Shevchenkos," Rhonda laughed. "Mrs. Shevchenko was our preschool teacher at the synagogue, and we grew up in the same neighborhood. We're in between Sonya's age and Aaron's age, so we all played together as kids."
"So you're Jewish, too?"
"Yes. You're Lutheran like Max, right?"
Laura nodded. "I think my Mom went to a different kind of church before my parents got married. Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
"No. Our Mom had a miscarriage when we were seven," said Rachel. "It would have been a boy."
"I'm sorry," said Laura.
"It's all right," said Rachel, watching Jeremy and Jennifer romp on the carpet. "I'll bet they've never seen snow before, have they?"
"No, and neither have I," said Laura.
"There's a park right around the corner," said Rachel. "We could go there now, if you want. We could build a snowman."
"Sounds great!" said Laura.