He was still standing there when Rae came back nearly twenty minutes later. She was beaming, but she frowned a bit when she saw Spot's expression. "What's the matter?"

"Duchess was here."

She froze. "She knows you're back?" she whispered.

He nodded. "And I told her why too."

"And.... and she didn't do anything?"

"She said she'd let it slide," he said, omitting the fact that she had still threatened him and his family.

Rae breathed a sigh of relief. "That's wonderful."

Spot looked at her, "What did he say?"

She smiled. "I'm pregnant." He whooped and picked her up, spinning her around. She laughed gaily. "Happy?"

"Thrilled!"

She grinned.

Chris walked out into the hall. "What's all the noise?"

"Well... er... Rae isn't sick, like we thought..."

"She was sick?" Chris asked.

"We had thought so," Rae said.

Annie raced into the hall with Andy close on her heals. "Did Dr. Trent say if Momma's gonna have a baby?" she asked.

"A baby?" Chris repeated, looking at them suspiciously. Rae nodded hesitantly. His face grew red and he was sputtering, obviously very upset. After a minute he turned and stormed into his room, slamming the door.

"Well... he took that better than I thought... I think..." Spot said.

"Maybe one of us should go talk to him."

"That would be the wise thing..."

"Do you wanna go? Or do you want me to?"

"I don't really know..."

Rae sighed. "I'll go."

"No... I'd better..."

"You sure?"

"Of course not.... But I'd rather you not stress over it."

"Let me go try first..."

"Are YOU sure?" She nodded slowly.

"Yes." He squeezed her hand gently. Sighing, Rae walked down the hall on knocked on the door to Chris' room.

"Go away!" he yelled.

"No!" Rae yelled back. "I'm more stubborn that you, Chris, I'm not leaving until we talk!"

"There's nothing to talk about!"

"Open this door right now, young man!"

With a loud growl of frustration, he stalked over and threw the door open.

Rae stormed in and slammed the door behind her. "Now you are going to tell me what is wrong."

"I told you! There's nothing to talk about!"

"Then what are you yelling and slamming doors for?" she demanded.

"Julie's dying and none of you really care!"

"We do so care, Chris!"

"You sure don't act like it!"

"How do you suppose that?"

"My sister isn't even dead yet, but you and Spot are already trying to replace her!"

"Now get this straight, Chris. We are NOT trying to replace her!"

"Sure!"

"We AREN'T! I would've been pregnant whether or not Julie was sick!" He rolled his eyes and turned away from her. "We never want to replace Julie," she said. "NOTHING can replace her."

"Well, excuse me if I'm not happy about it," he said, nastily.

"We don't expect you to be happy about it, but we don't need this attitude of yours right now!"

"And I don't need you telling me what to do!"

"Then who WILL tell you what to do, Chris? Who will help you make the right choices?!"

"Just leave me alone!"

She sighed. "Can't you see we're trying to help you, Chris?"

"It doesn't seem like it, Rae."

Walking over to him, she pulled him to a stand. "What is it that makes you think we are against you?"

"I don't know, alright!"

"Well how can you be so rude to us with such an attitude if you have no reason to be?"

"I'm just so frustrated!"

"We all are... but you shouldn't take it out on everyone! You should do something that's helpful for everyone, not hurtful!"

He sighed. "I don't know how..."

"Well, when you're feeling this way, pick up a rag and start cleaning, or take the kids out for a walk... or talk with someone..." After a moment's hesitation, he nodded. Putting her arms around him, Rae gave him a tight hug. Feeling very much like a little boy, he wrapped his arms around her as well. She patted his back and stepped away. "Now, I'm going to let you be now... Come find Spot or me if you want to talk."

He nodded.

She gave him a bit of a smile and then left the room.

"How did it go?" Spot asked, worriedly.

"I think we came to an understanding..."

He smiled. "That's good... I was worried for a moment."

She smiled back. "You worry too much."

"With a family as crazy as this, who wouldn't?" he replied with a smile.

She gave a slight laugh and then sighed. "I think I'll go check on Julie...and then I want a nap..."

"All right."

"Is that alright with you?"

He nodded. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Just making sure..."

He smiled and kissed her gently. "Have a good nap."

"I will," she said, kissing his cheek.

* * *

"Andy! Annie!" Rae yelled from the kitchen doorway, one late afternoon, a couple weeks later.

Shortly after, they wandered in. "Yes ma'am?"

"Sit," she said, pointing to the table.

They exchanged glances and slowly sat down. "Are we in trouble?" Andy asked.

"No. I'm just tired of you two complaining that you have nothing to do...besides, we can't have you getting behind anymore with your schooling."

"We gotta go to school?"

"Not a real school...but we will do some school stuff here at the house..."

"We can do that?"

She nodded. "You most certainly can."

"Then why do we have to go back to regular school? Can't you just teach us at home?" Ann asked.

"We'll talk about it when we get home."

She nodded and settled in her chair.

Rae handed them both a piece of paper. "Practice your letters."

They glanced at one another and slowly took a pencil. "Go on," she said, motioning towards the paper. Ever slowly still, they began to write their letters. Once sure that they were busy, Rae began to work on dinner.

Occasionally, they would peak at one another's work to check that they were doing their letters correctly.

Andy slammed his pencil down. "I'm finished."

Ann glanced at him and frowned. "Mine's prettier," she argued.

"So?"

Annie stuck her tongue out at her brother. "It's supposed to be pretty!"

"No it's not!" he replied, sticking his tongue out too. "It doesn't matter how it looks!"

"Nuh huh! Miss Avery says that they have to be pretty!"

"No! She just has to be able to read it!"

Annie turned to Rae, "Don't it have to be pretty, Momma?"

She smiled, glancing at them from the stove. "No, I just have to be able to tell what each letter is."

"Told ya!" Andy said, sticking out his tongue. And right back at him, she stuck out her tongue.

"If you two don't stop I'll send you both to live with Hades..." Rae said softly.

"Nooo! I don't wanna live with her! She feeds us funny food..." Andy whined.

Rae smiled and went back to fixing dinner.

"Can we go play now Momma?" Ann asked.

"No. Clean off the table and set it for me." The twins nodded and cleared away their things, setting the table.

"My, my..." Chris said, entering the room. "Are you two actually working together?"

They both stuck their tongues out at him. With a slight smile, he reached over to nibble a piece of the chicken that Rae was cutting up. She grabbed a wooden spoon sitting nearby and smacked the back of his hand with it.

"Oww! What was that for?"

"Stealing my food."

"But I'm going to be eating some of it later... I'm just taking an early share."

Rae pointed the spoon at him and shot him a warning look. "You're setting a bad example." He grinned faintly. "Why don't you go see if Julie's ready to eat," Rae said, pointing to a bowl of soup sitting on the counter.

He nodded and took the bowl of soup down the hall to her room. Julie was staring listlessly out the window. "Hey Julie... want some supper?"

"Not really," she whispered.

He sat the bowl down on the nightstand next to her bed. "Want to talk about it?"

"I'm not hungry."

"Well, I mean... why you aren't... or something? Anything?"

"I'm just so tired, Chris."

He sat down next to her.

"You don't have to stay, Chris. I know that you probably have something else to do."

"No... I want to stay..."

"Chris?"

"Yeah?"

"Hold me?" Quietly, he nodded and put his arms around his sister. She rested her head on his shoulder. Chris rubbed her shoulder gently. "I don't want to go..."

He frowned deeply. "I don't want you to either..."

She sighed. "Dad hasn't written back, has he?" she asked.

He hesitated. "No."

With a frown, she murmured, "It will be my luck that he shows up with a smile on his face and a 'Sorry I'm late'... when it's too late..."

"Do you really want him to come?"

After a long pause, she whispered, "Yes..."

"Then maybe he will."

"Do you really think so?" she asked seriously.

"For your sake I hope he does."

"I hope so too..." "Will you try to eat a little now?"

She glanced at the bowl of soup on the nightstand. "I... suppose I could."

He sat up and took the bowl. "Let me help you."

"I can do it..."

"At least let me hold the bowl."

"Oh... all right..." He handed her a spoon. "Thank you."

"I want you to eat all of it, Julie."

She sighed a little. "I can't promise anything."

"Just try."

"I know... I will." She slowly ate the soup in the bowl, stopping before she had eaten even half of it. "No more..."

"Are you sure? Not even a couple more bites?"

"I'm too tired, Chris," she said, weakly collapsing against her pillows.

He sighed. "All right..." Setting the bowl aside, he said, "Get some sleep, sis." He tucked the covers around her shoulders.

She nodded a little. "Thank you again, Chris."

He kissed her forehead. "Welcome." Picking up the bowl, he gave her one last worried look and headed for the kitchen.

"How is she?" Rae asked as she set a bowl of steaming carrots on the table.

"Well," He held up the bowl. "She only ate half of it..."

"We'll try again later." With a bit of a sigh, he nodded. "Go tell Spot and the kids that dinner is ready."

With a nod, he left the kitchen in search of 'Spot and the kids'. The kitchen was soon crowded and full of noise.

Molly glanced at Chris, who was the only quiet one in the room. "Feeling any better?" she asked.

"A little." She reached over and took his hand. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "You know... I'm here for you, right?"

He hugged her close. "I know."

"Eat up everyone."

Everyone quickly sat down and began to fill their plates. Annie bounced in her seat. "Momma?"

Rae paused with her fork in midair and glanced at her. "Yes, Ann?"

"Do we have to wait forever for this baby? Like we did with Sam?" She nodded.

"We'll have to wait a while, anyway."

Molly dropped her fork. "You're pregnant? And you didn't tell me?!"

"I'm sorry, Molly. I had assumed that with the way Annie been chattering constantly that you had already heard."

"Well, she had been chattering about babies, but I had assumed that she was at that time that she'd ask the big question."

"What big question?" Ann queried.

"When your older, Annie," Spot said.

"What are you guys talking about?" she persisted. "What big question?"

"We'll talk about it later Annie," Rae said. "But not at my table."

She huffed and mumbled something that sounded like, "always later..."

"Annie," Spot said with a warning tone

"Yessir...." And she sighed and picked at her dinner.

Molly looked at Rae, "When?"

"In about 5 months," Rae answered, going back to the food on her plate

"A fall baby... how sweet..." Molly sighed with a smile. "That'll be pretty near Sam's birthday, a month away, about."

"Sam's gonna be two," Andy piped in wisely.

Rae shook her head. "How the time flies..."

"I four," Kendra said, holding up four chubby fingers.

Molly nearly choked on her water. "Excuse me," she said, getting up and running from the room.

Spot blinked, watching her run off. "What happened?"

Rae stood. "I'll go find her."

He nodded, with a sigh. What was with the women in his house these days?

Rae found Molly in the room she shared with Ann, hastily throwing her belongings in a carpetbag. "What's the matter, Molly?" Rae asked, watching her work.

"I can't take it anymore, Rae."

"Take what?"

"I can't sit around here and watch Kendra grow up...knowing that I'm lying to her..."

"Then why are you running away? Tell her the truth."

Molly shook her head. "I can't."

"Why can't you? What's stopping you?"

"I don't want her to know the truth about her mother, Rae!"

"Well is running away really going to make you feel any better?" she snapped.

"At least I won't have to watch her grow up."

"She deserves to know, Molly! And what about Chris? You're abandoning both your baby and a boy who needs you as he is losing his sister?!"

"I'm not the kinda girl that Chris deserves, Rae."

"Who are you to determine that?" Rae demanded.

"He deserves better than that Rae," she said, closing the carpetbag and heading toward the door.

Rae grabbed her arm. "You leave, and you're leaving a family who loves you and a boy who cares deeply for you, despite what has happened in your past."

A single tear trickled down her cheek. "Please don't stop me, Rae."

"Why can't you accept the good you have right here, Molly?" Rae persisted.

With a sob, she tore her arm from Rae's grip and fled the house.

"Molly!" Rae shouted after her. With a groan of impatience, Rae stalked into the kitchen. "Spot, she left!"

"Who?" he asked.

"Molly?" Chris asked, jumping to his feet.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because...." Rae sighed and looked at Chris. "Because she thinks that she's not worthy of you, Chris."

"That's insane!" he yelled.

"I tried telling her that, but she wouldn't listen!"

"Where'd she go?" he demanded.

She shook her head. "I don't know... down the street."

Without another word, he bolted for the door.

Rae slumped into her chair. "I hope he can bring her back... She's making a mistake, I know it..."

Spot reached over and took her hand. "We can't keep her here, Rae. Maybe it's time she try to live on her own for a while."

"But she's leaving for all the wrong reasons, Spot!"

"She'll be back, sweetheart."

She sighed and rested her head on the table.