November 1955 - January 1956
"I love it Hawkeye, but can we really afford it?" I was lying on the living room floor, staring up at the ceiling. We'd had to put off moving for a little while as through most of October, Felicity, followed by BJ and April got a round of colds and stomach flu, which Hawkeye Daniel and I all picked up as well.
"Sure we can, I love it too. We'll have to scrimp and pinch for a little bit baby, but it's perfect for raising a family." Hawkeye was rocking a now 6mo April to sleep, she was still a bit sick and was going to bed earlier.
"We'll ring Ray then?"
"You bet, now do you want to put Angel-features down, or shall I?" I got up, and took my heavy eyed daughter and put her in her bed. That day we'd heard that the elderly and now late Mrs Robinson's house was being sold, and we had fallen in love with it.
"Ray, you've got yourself a customer, tomorrow at noon, see you then." Hawkeye had rung Ray to tell him we were buying the old Robinson place. Daniel would move with us, and though he had let us choose whatever we wanted, we knew Daniel would like it.
Because it had initially been built to fit Mrs Robinson and her sister Lorraine Harford, also widowed in WW1 and left with four children, there were two master bedrooms, one upstairs, one downstairs, and they both had private bathrooms and studies, making it ideal for us. There were also four smaller bedrooms upstairs, and for us, this worked well as it meant all our children could have separate rooms, and that was what mattered.
"Baby, we got ourselves a home!" Hawkeye bent down to talk to my still non- existent belly. We'd settled simply on calling this latest child 'Baby' as that was really what we'd planned, four children would keep us satisfied and I thought four children in three years was definitely enough.
I put my hands down on Hawkeye's black head. Though he had been going definitely grey during Korea, the grey seemed to have lessened, and his ebony hair was thicker and darker than ever. He lay his head against my stomach, listening for any response from the baby.
"Where's Dad, he'll want to know?" I asked, pulling Hawkeye to his feet and wrapping my arms around his waist. Hawkeye shrugged, Daniel had taken the dogs for a walk, and was not yet back.
"He can wait, do you want some cocoa?" I went into the kitchen and started to heat some milk on the stove, I wanted some anyway, and though only 5pm the wind was cold so when Daniel returned, I knew he'd want some.
"Thanks baby, we're getting a house, a proper, big house! I can't believe it, this is the life we wanted!" Hawkeye took the cup of warm cocoa from me. BJ tried to climb onto his lap, and Hawkeye gave him a helping hand.
"Hey sport, oh you want some of daddy's cocoa hmm? Let's see, careful, it's very hot . . ."
"Hawkeye! That's our cocoa, it'll be far too strong, let him have this." I handed Hawkeye a plastic cup with weaker, milkier cocoa. With some help, the 18mo boy drank a little.
"Me too!" Felicity called, looking up from her blocks. I sat her in a highchair and gave her a cup with a lid and a cookie. They hadn't had dinner yet, but it didn't matter, both also still feeling blocked up with head colds, I was just glad to see them eat. I settled BJ similarly with a cookie and Hawkeye and I sat down to a good hot, drink.
"There you are Mr and Mrs Pierce, you're now the owners." We'd signed the papers the next day and made a down payment, and the old Robinson place would soon be the Pierce place.
"When we go home tonight, we're going to open a bottle of something to celebrate! Now we'd better go, Dad can't mind the kids at the clinic all day. Thankyou Ray, we'd better hurry." Hawkeye and I left the office, Hawkeye running down the steps ahead of me. When he was at the bottom, he opened his arms.
"We did it! Yahoo!" I threw myself at him, and we stood there in the street, Hawkeye holding me under my rear, while my legs were wrapped around his waist. People walked around us, giving us filthy looks.
"I think it's time we went back and got the kids." Hawkeye suggested, kissing me.
"I think you're right." I said. Hawkeye put me down. We went back into the Cove and gave Daniel the good news. He was suitably thrilled as sleeping in the same room as two sick toddlers was beginning to get to him.
The next two weeks was a madness of sorting and packing, as we wanted to be in our big house by Christmas and it wasn't until November 20 that we could even consider going to the other house due to deceased estate red tape.
"You have more junk than the 4077!" Margaret said. She had come up to help us pack everything.
"Well, there weren't three children at the 4077th!" I replied with a laugh, throwing a series of teddy bears into a box across the room. At birth, my twins had received no less than 52 teddies and other soft toys between them, this number continued to grow. April had received an equally large amount, and continued to do so from her biological father who was besotted by her, and sent up new toys, clothes and other frills and fancies every week. He visited once a month too, and continued to see that his offspring, and the only Winchester heir was happy and healthy.
"I'm so glad there's a playroom!" Hawkeye said. Part of the second floor had a large, bright room that had served as a playroom. It would be the same for us, a relaxed room where the kids could play, and make as much noise as they liked. However, Hawkeye was referring to the fact that many of these bears that lived in the basement would be stored in toy boxes or cupboards here as family playthings rather than being sorted individually.
"Mama! Pa nose!" Felicity hurtled into the room, shrieking with joy. I opened my arms and she threw herself at me. I looked over the messy blonde curls at Daniel.
"I kissed her nose when she asked me to." Daniel explained.
"Mama, nose!" Felicity cried, "Kiss!" I obliged, kissing the little turned- up button nose she had.
"My princess, you learnt kiss!" I blew a raspberry into the sweet-smelling neck. "What a clever girl! Wow, we'll have to add this word to the baby book!"
"When they're unpacked in the new house Annie, I've already added it to my list." The baby books had been packed away already, but Daniel was keeping a list of new words in my babies' rapidly growing vocabulary. "Oh and if you think that's clever, you should hear Ben's newest word." Daniel was doing lots of babysitting while I packed, and I wasn't there to hear every new word as it came. April began to cry and Margaret went to retrieve her from her pram, handing her hastily over to me.
"Mama! Ape cry!" Ben told me seriously.
"Is this April? Say that again precious!" Until recently April had been called little but Baba.
"Ape cry, it bad!" No longer did he mean April was bad to cry, but that it meant something was bad if April cried.
"That's right Sport, she cries because her diaper is extremely heavy, and I would be inclined to say, going off that glorious aroma, so is yours! Come on princess, it's time that Mummy changed your diaper." We were leaving potty training off until we were settled in the new house.
"Oh Benny-boy what have you been eating?" I screwed up my face dramatically for his benefit.
"Mama silly!" He laughed.
"No Ben, Mama funny." I corrected. I didn't want him getting the idea silly was a good word.
"Fun!" Felicity laughed, playing with an empty shampoo bottle on the floor.
"Smart cookie, come on, let's get you fixed and we'll have some juice and fruit for a snack." I put Ben down and started in on Felicity.
"Annie you should be doing that!" Daniel scolded as I lifted a pretty heavy box.
"Rubbish, I'm fit as a fiddle, and I've carried things that Hawkeye couldn't lift before, and I was pregnant!" I put it in the back of the truck, it was December 2nd, moving day and all - touch wood - seemed to be going well.
"Is that the last?" The truck driver asked.
"Yes, that's all. Everything else is in the second truck." I replied.
"Well, do you want to climb aboard and show me the way?" He opened the passenger side door.
"Sure, Hawkeye, going, I'll be back soon!" Hawkeye and Daniel were getting the few bits of furniture we had into the other truck with the help of the moving guys.
"Mmm!" He grunted lugging something heavy. I swung up into the truck without a worry, the other moving guy got in and we went, me giving directions to the new house.
"Where are my medical things?" Daniel called. He didn't need them, but we were trying to find the important things immediately. We'd gotten everything to the new house, and we were trying to unpack a few things and get settled before Mum returned the kids, whom she had been looking after all day.
"In a box labelled kitchen utensils!" Hawkeye shouted. He was upstairs, setting up the babies' cribs in their rooms, they'd be tired when Mum arrived at 8pm, and all they'd want is a snack and bed.
"Dad, they're in your office already," I replied, laughing so hard I had to put down the box I was carrying in case I dropped it. I remembered how we mislabelled everything when we'd bug out, solely to upset Frank.
"Found them thanks beautiful!" Daniel called back. I carried a box of Hawkeye's and my stuff upstairs to our room. It was big, and the small bed looked out of place, something we planned to fix in the New Year. There was a wardrobe that had been built in and was big enough to walk into, and the clothes Hawkeye and I had barely filled it, even though I had been given most of Katharine's clothing.
Some days later, I unpacked a box of junk, and headed for another one. It had all Hawkeye's fatigues and army collections in it, I guessed it hadn't seen light since Hawkeye had returned. I smiled, as much as Hawkeye had hated his time in Korea, it showed that it was also incredibly special to him.
Rummaging further I found letters he'd written to his dad, focusing first on Margaret and how he'd been attracted to her (I'd had suspicions), and then about a pretty new nurse who Trapper had won over on the first day. The letters began to tell of how besotted he was by the blonde beauty who wouldn't sleep with him and was teaching him a lesson on commitment and patience. Finally there was news that he had wed the nurse, and they'd finally been together, he'd seen then that sex was something a lot more special than the way he'd treated it.
"You need help Anne?" It was Daniel, he'd come in to see me sitting on the sofa in the study Hawkeye and I shared. I was riffling through the letters, a slightly dazed expression on my face.
"I'm okay, I just had no idea that Hawkeye felt this way." I'd found a letter that Hawkeye had written after he'd heard of the little encounter BJ and I nearly had in the Swamp. It sounded like I'd half killed him.
"His letters, you mean a lot to him, he never reveals it all." Daniel sat down beside me, putting an arm over my shoulder. Outside we could hear joyful yells as Hawkeye played with the twins.
"I mean, I knew he loved me, but this is incredible." I smiled, leaning on the older man's shoulder.
"But don't let him know you found them, believe me, he's a very private person, he'll let you see them, just make sure he's ready. Okay?" I agreed, and put the box in the cupboard for later.
"It's great Beej, we're going to get a new bed after Christmas, that other one is just about worn out, I've had it since I was 16." I presume BJ made a suggestive joke as Hawkeye chuckled, holding the receiver tightly.
"Look, Annie wants to talk to you, and you're paying so I'd better let her say hi." Hawkeye handed the phone over. I shifted April to my other hip, and tucked the phone under my ear.
"Hi Beej, how are you?"
"Fabulous! Did Hawkeye tell you the news?" BJ's voice had a very certain pitch, it was the tone he used when he was talking about his daughters and I knew at once it was good.
"Amy's walking?" I queried with a laugh. My 14mo namesake was yet to take her first unaided steps.
"No, not yet, but it's even better than that! June 19, Peggy and I are having another baby!"
"June 19, but that's ten days after I'm due!" I echoed.
"You're due? Anne-girl, is there something Hawkeye failed to tell me?"
"I'm going to be a Mummy again!" I told him. "I wanted to tell you myself, so Hawkeye left it out. I guess that means no summer trip this year." We were planning to have a private visit before the reunion in July, but with nine-month pregnancies things would be hard.
"We'll work it out, congratulations, listen, I'd better go, we'll have a huge phone bill otherwise."
"Okay take care Beej, love you."
"You too girl, be good." We hung up. I busied myself with dinner, revelling in the space of the big kitchen.
"Annie, are you sure you should be doing this?" Daniel asked, coming home from work. I was up a ladder in the kitchen, painting the walls a pale cream.
"I'm fine." I insisted.
"Annie! Come on down, you're 3 months pregnant for god sakes!" Hawkeye came into the kitchen.
"Hawkeye, I'm fine." I protested, but came down as I'd finished anyway. There was paint in my hair.
"Listen, sweetheart. This weekend I'm going to do nothing but fix up the house so you don't overwork yourself. And you know something else? Dad is taking you into Portland to look at dining room furniture, aren't you Dad?" Hawkeye said, taking me into his arms and kissing me.
"Oh, Hawkeye. I'm fine." I touched his cheek, leaving a pale cream smudge, settling in his 5o'clock shadow.
"Listen, you're busting that cute butt to make this house a home, and you need a break! So, come upstairs with me, and we'll get in a nice hot bath, and later on, we'll make the most of the fact," He began punctuating his words with kisses. "That you are the most incredibly gorgeous woman I have ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on."
"As tempting as that sounds, it is 5.30pm, Cathie Harrison is coming around for dinner and in roughly five minutes April will begin demanding a bottle." She was happily trying to crawl in the playpen on the kitchen floor.
"Spoilsport!" Hawkeye pouted, releasing me. I went and took of the paint spotted clothes and as I predicted, April wanted a bottle. She gripped it with her hands and seemed content to sit in her highchair while I began cooking.
"Come on in, it's open!" Cathie, her arms full with my twins came in. "Hello babies, did you have fun with Cathie?" She'd been minding them while I painted the kitchen.
"Mummy, yes!" Their little vocabularies were getting ever bigger, and I was no longer 'mama' but 'Mummy' and it tugged on my heartstrings to hear the tiny voices stumbling on the big words.
"Sit down Cathie, can I get you a drink, we'll have dinner as soon as Hawkeye gets out of his work shirt!" I said pointedly. "There is no way he is eating that casserole when he is wearing white!"
"Slave driver." Hawkeye grumbled going upstairs to change his shirt. We sat down to dinner when he returned.
"Look at you baby, you're there, yes you are!" Hawkeye was crooning on Christmas Eve to my belly. We were lying in front of the fireplace after a big Christmas party. I was showing pretty reasonably now.
"Aren't the twins going to love Christmas?" I smiled. We had a big tree set up in the corner, and they'd had a lot of fun helping - though it could have been considered hindering - us in decorating it.
"Aren't we going to love Christmas?" Hawkeye said. "We're together, for real." He snuggled against me.
"Yeah, well we were married for one of the Christmases I spent in Korea."
"And we spent it in the OR." Hawkeye replied. "I remember that."
"How can you handle working in the hospital?" Hawkeye worked 2 nights on emergency in Portland General. I didn't mean the hours, I meant the fact that it reminded us both of horrible OR sessions in Korea.
"Coming home to you. Hey my angel, I have a question for you."
"Ask away my love." I rolled onto my side so I faced him.
"I'm not trying to be nosey, or trying to come across as though it was wrong, but you made me wait until we were married before we went that last step, yet with Charles you didn't, you don't have to answer, but why?"
"Well, I didn't have anything left to loose as such, and I just. . . I guess I'm more relaxed about it after everything I've been through." I shrugged.
"You don't regret it do you? I mean losing your virginity?"
"What can I say? Of all the things I've ever lost, my mind's the only one I miss!"
"Nice answer!" Hawkeye chuckled. "And I know you lost your mind, remember when the baby was left with us?"
"Oh, that." I had been so furious, Colonel Potter had sent me to stay at the orphanage for a harsh reality check. It had helped, and I was reminded that there were some causes and people I just couldn't help.
"I can't believe our guys wouldn't accept her! It was horrible leaving her at the monastery. It's the only time I've ever seen Charles cry."
"I couldn't believe it." The thought of the sweet chubby baby still brought tears to my eyes. "Oh, and Charles has cried, he cried when I left not much, but there were a few tears on both sides. I still can't believe that we'd be so unfair about a baby, so much for everyone is created equal."
"War is hell my angel, things happen that shouldn't to a lot of innocent people." Hawkeye shifted closer to me. We never got as far as climbing the stairs to bed that night, we slept in front of the fire.
Christmas was lovely, the twins enjoyed ripping coloured paper off presents to find pretty things inside and displaying them to doting aunts and uncles, my whole family was in for the day. April preferred the paper, not understanding the object of opening presents, and was especially taken by the glossy silver containing some very beautiful books from her daddy.
I cooked a massive dinner, with Mum and Daniel's assistance. I tried to stop Daniel from helping as he always worked too hard, but he declared that he'd been managing too well for too long to have someone start looking after him now.
By the end of January, we'd bought new furniture for most of the house, we had a new bed, and new sofas and we'd redecorated every room with the exception of the ones that didn't need it. The old chairs were moved into the playroom so the kids would have somewhere comfortable to relax. Everything was just so good, we weren't overcrowded, we could seek either company or solace when we wanted it, and we loved it.
I was in the fifth month of a very healthy pregnancy with Baby, and although I was a little worried about April feeling displaced, I was looking forward to the arrival of what we hoped was a boy to even the scores up, in June.
The twins grew more and more every day, as they approached their 2nd birthdays. Felicity looked more and more like I did, and Ben looked exactly like his daddy and grandfather. They could both run around alone now, and spoke reasonably clearly. They were beautiful little children, and everyone in the Cove loved to mind them for an hour just so they could play with them.
April, now getting on for nine months old was crawling everywhere, even managing the stairs. Her light brown hair and shiny blue eyes looked like that of her Aunt Honoria, and the strange way in which she babbled had us wondering if she picked up Nora's unusual, albeit sweet stutter. We didn't mind if my Angel-features was going to talk oddly though, all we cared was that she was a happy and healthy baby.
"You know sweetheart?" I asked as Hawkeye and I curled on the porch swing, watching the snow fall outside. "I made the worst choice . . ."
"BJ's on the other side of the country, how could you do anything like that again?" Hawkeye teased, kissing the side of my head. We rarely brought it up anymore, preferring to forgive and forget.
"I made the worst choice when I divorced you, but I made the best choice when I married you again!"
"I made the best choice when I asked you to marry me and be the father of my children, my worst choice was doing it all in Korea." Hawkeye said.
"But we're happy now right?" I asked.
"Right." Hawkeye agreed kissing me tenderly. And we were happy, very happy.
"I love it Hawkeye, but can we really afford it?" I was lying on the living room floor, staring up at the ceiling. We'd had to put off moving for a little while as through most of October, Felicity, followed by BJ and April got a round of colds and stomach flu, which Hawkeye Daniel and I all picked up as well.
"Sure we can, I love it too. We'll have to scrimp and pinch for a little bit baby, but it's perfect for raising a family." Hawkeye was rocking a now 6mo April to sleep, she was still a bit sick and was going to bed earlier.
"We'll ring Ray then?"
"You bet, now do you want to put Angel-features down, or shall I?" I got up, and took my heavy eyed daughter and put her in her bed. That day we'd heard that the elderly and now late Mrs Robinson's house was being sold, and we had fallen in love with it.
"Ray, you've got yourself a customer, tomorrow at noon, see you then." Hawkeye had rung Ray to tell him we were buying the old Robinson place. Daniel would move with us, and though he had let us choose whatever we wanted, we knew Daniel would like it.
Because it had initially been built to fit Mrs Robinson and her sister Lorraine Harford, also widowed in WW1 and left with four children, there were two master bedrooms, one upstairs, one downstairs, and they both had private bathrooms and studies, making it ideal for us. There were also four smaller bedrooms upstairs, and for us, this worked well as it meant all our children could have separate rooms, and that was what mattered.
"Baby, we got ourselves a home!" Hawkeye bent down to talk to my still non- existent belly. We'd settled simply on calling this latest child 'Baby' as that was really what we'd planned, four children would keep us satisfied and I thought four children in three years was definitely enough.
I put my hands down on Hawkeye's black head. Though he had been going definitely grey during Korea, the grey seemed to have lessened, and his ebony hair was thicker and darker than ever. He lay his head against my stomach, listening for any response from the baby.
"Where's Dad, he'll want to know?" I asked, pulling Hawkeye to his feet and wrapping my arms around his waist. Hawkeye shrugged, Daniel had taken the dogs for a walk, and was not yet back.
"He can wait, do you want some cocoa?" I went into the kitchen and started to heat some milk on the stove, I wanted some anyway, and though only 5pm the wind was cold so when Daniel returned, I knew he'd want some.
"Thanks baby, we're getting a house, a proper, big house! I can't believe it, this is the life we wanted!" Hawkeye took the cup of warm cocoa from me. BJ tried to climb onto his lap, and Hawkeye gave him a helping hand.
"Hey sport, oh you want some of daddy's cocoa hmm? Let's see, careful, it's very hot . . ."
"Hawkeye! That's our cocoa, it'll be far too strong, let him have this." I handed Hawkeye a plastic cup with weaker, milkier cocoa. With some help, the 18mo boy drank a little.
"Me too!" Felicity called, looking up from her blocks. I sat her in a highchair and gave her a cup with a lid and a cookie. They hadn't had dinner yet, but it didn't matter, both also still feeling blocked up with head colds, I was just glad to see them eat. I settled BJ similarly with a cookie and Hawkeye and I sat down to a good hot, drink.
"There you are Mr and Mrs Pierce, you're now the owners." We'd signed the papers the next day and made a down payment, and the old Robinson place would soon be the Pierce place.
"When we go home tonight, we're going to open a bottle of something to celebrate! Now we'd better go, Dad can't mind the kids at the clinic all day. Thankyou Ray, we'd better hurry." Hawkeye and I left the office, Hawkeye running down the steps ahead of me. When he was at the bottom, he opened his arms.
"We did it! Yahoo!" I threw myself at him, and we stood there in the street, Hawkeye holding me under my rear, while my legs were wrapped around his waist. People walked around us, giving us filthy looks.
"I think it's time we went back and got the kids." Hawkeye suggested, kissing me.
"I think you're right." I said. Hawkeye put me down. We went back into the Cove and gave Daniel the good news. He was suitably thrilled as sleeping in the same room as two sick toddlers was beginning to get to him.
The next two weeks was a madness of sorting and packing, as we wanted to be in our big house by Christmas and it wasn't until November 20 that we could even consider going to the other house due to deceased estate red tape.
"You have more junk than the 4077!" Margaret said. She had come up to help us pack everything.
"Well, there weren't three children at the 4077th!" I replied with a laugh, throwing a series of teddy bears into a box across the room. At birth, my twins had received no less than 52 teddies and other soft toys between them, this number continued to grow. April had received an equally large amount, and continued to do so from her biological father who was besotted by her, and sent up new toys, clothes and other frills and fancies every week. He visited once a month too, and continued to see that his offspring, and the only Winchester heir was happy and healthy.
"I'm so glad there's a playroom!" Hawkeye said. Part of the second floor had a large, bright room that had served as a playroom. It would be the same for us, a relaxed room where the kids could play, and make as much noise as they liked. However, Hawkeye was referring to the fact that many of these bears that lived in the basement would be stored in toy boxes or cupboards here as family playthings rather than being sorted individually.
"Mama! Pa nose!" Felicity hurtled into the room, shrieking with joy. I opened my arms and she threw herself at me. I looked over the messy blonde curls at Daniel.
"I kissed her nose when she asked me to." Daniel explained.
"Mama, nose!" Felicity cried, "Kiss!" I obliged, kissing the little turned- up button nose she had.
"My princess, you learnt kiss!" I blew a raspberry into the sweet-smelling neck. "What a clever girl! Wow, we'll have to add this word to the baby book!"
"When they're unpacked in the new house Annie, I've already added it to my list." The baby books had been packed away already, but Daniel was keeping a list of new words in my babies' rapidly growing vocabulary. "Oh and if you think that's clever, you should hear Ben's newest word." Daniel was doing lots of babysitting while I packed, and I wasn't there to hear every new word as it came. April began to cry and Margaret went to retrieve her from her pram, handing her hastily over to me.
"Mama! Ape cry!" Ben told me seriously.
"Is this April? Say that again precious!" Until recently April had been called little but Baba.
"Ape cry, it bad!" No longer did he mean April was bad to cry, but that it meant something was bad if April cried.
"That's right Sport, she cries because her diaper is extremely heavy, and I would be inclined to say, going off that glorious aroma, so is yours! Come on princess, it's time that Mummy changed your diaper." We were leaving potty training off until we were settled in the new house.
"Oh Benny-boy what have you been eating?" I screwed up my face dramatically for his benefit.
"Mama silly!" He laughed.
"No Ben, Mama funny." I corrected. I didn't want him getting the idea silly was a good word.
"Fun!" Felicity laughed, playing with an empty shampoo bottle on the floor.
"Smart cookie, come on, let's get you fixed and we'll have some juice and fruit for a snack." I put Ben down and started in on Felicity.
"Annie you should be doing that!" Daniel scolded as I lifted a pretty heavy box.
"Rubbish, I'm fit as a fiddle, and I've carried things that Hawkeye couldn't lift before, and I was pregnant!" I put it in the back of the truck, it was December 2nd, moving day and all - touch wood - seemed to be going well.
"Is that the last?" The truck driver asked.
"Yes, that's all. Everything else is in the second truck." I replied.
"Well, do you want to climb aboard and show me the way?" He opened the passenger side door.
"Sure, Hawkeye, going, I'll be back soon!" Hawkeye and Daniel were getting the few bits of furniture we had into the other truck with the help of the moving guys.
"Mmm!" He grunted lugging something heavy. I swung up into the truck without a worry, the other moving guy got in and we went, me giving directions to the new house.
"Where are my medical things?" Daniel called. He didn't need them, but we were trying to find the important things immediately. We'd gotten everything to the new house, and we were trying to unpack a few things and get settled before Mum returned the kids, whom she had been looking after all day.
"In a box labelled kitchen utensils!" Hawkeye shouted. He was upstairs, setting up the babies' cribs in their rooms, they'd be tired when Mum arrived at 8pm, and all they'd want is a snack and bed.
"Dad, they're in your office already," I replied, laughing so hard I had to put down the box I was carrying in case I dropped it. I remembered how we mislabelled everything when we'd bug out, solely to upset Frank.
"Found them thanks beautiful!" Daniel called back. I carried a box of Hawkeye's and my stuff upstairs to our room. It was big, and the small bed looked out of place, something we planned to fix in the New Year. There was a wardrobe that had been built in and was big enough to walk into, and the clothes Hawkeye and I had barely filled it, even though I had been given most of Katharine's clothing.
Some days later, I unpacked a box of junk, and headed for another one. It had all Hawkeye's fatigues and army collections in it, I guessed it hadn't seen light since Hawkeye had returned. I smiled, as much as Hawkeye had hated his time in Korea, it showed that it was also incredibly special to him.
Rummaging further I found letters he'd written to his dad, focusing first on Margaret and how he'd been attracted to her (I'd had suspicions), and then about a pretty new nurse who Trapper had won over on the first day. The letters began to tell of how besotted he was by the blonde beauty who wouldn't sleep with him and was teaching him a lesson on commitment and patience. Finally there was news that he had wed the nurse, and they'd finally been together, he'd seen then that sex was something a lot more special than the way he'd treated it.
"You need help Anne?" It was Daniel, he'd come in to see me sitting on the sofa in the study Hawkeye and I shared. I was riffling through the letters, a slightly dazed expression on my face.
"I'm okay, I just had no idea that Hawkeye felt this way." I'd found a letter that Hawkeye had written after he'd heard of the little encounter BJ and I nearly had in the Swamp. It sounded like I'd half killed him.
"His letters, you mean a lot to him, he never reveals it all." Daniel sat down beside me, putting an arm over my shoulder. Outside we could hear joyful yells as Hawkeye played with the twins.
"I mean, I knew he loved me, but this is incredible." I smiled, leaning on the older man's shoulder.
"But don't let him know you found them, believe me, he's a very private person, he'll let you see them, just make sure he's ready. Okay?" I agreed, and put the box in the cupboard for later.
"It's great Beej, we're going to get a new bed after Christmas, that other one is just about worn out, I've had it since I was 16." I presume BJ made a suggestive joke as Hawkeye chuckled, holding the receiver tightly.
"Look, Annie wants to talk to you, and you're paying so I'd better let her say hi." Hawkeye handed the phone over. I shifted April to my other hip, and tucked the phone under my ear.
"Hi Beej, how are you?"
"Fabulous! Did Hawkeye tell you the news?" BJ's voice had a very certain pitch, it was the tone he used when he was talking about his daughters and I knew at once it was good.
"Amy's walking?" I queried with a laugh. My 14mo namesake was yet to take her first unaided steps.
"No, not yet, but it's even better than that! June 19, Peggy and I are having another baby!"
"June 19, but that's ten days after I'm due!" I echoed.
"You're due? Anne-girl, is there something Hawkeye failed to tell me?"
"I'm going to be a Mummy again!" I told him. "I wanted to tell you myself, so Hawkeye left it out. I guess that means no summer trip this year." We were planning to have a private visit before the reunion in July, but with nine-month pregnancies things would be hard.
"We'll work it out, congratulations, listen, I'd better go, we'll have a huge phone bill otherwise."
"Okay take care Beej, love you."
"You too girl, be good." We hung up. I busied myself with dinner, revelling in the space of the big kitchen.
"Annie, are you sure you should be doing this?" Daniel asked, coming home from work. I was up a ladder in the kitchen, painting the walls a pale cream.
"I'm fine." I insisted.
"Annie! Come on down, you're 3 months pregnant for god sakes!" Hawkeye came into the kitchen.
"Hawkeye, I'm fine." I protested, but came down as I'd finished anyway. There was paint in my hair.
"Listen, sweetheart. This weekend I'm going to do nothing but fix up the house so you don't overwork yourself. And you know something else? Dad is taking you into Portland to look at dining room furniture, aren't you Dad?" Hawkeye said, taking me into his arms and kissing me.
"Oh, Hawkeye. I'm fine." I touched his cheek, leaving a pale cream smudge, settling in his 5o'clock shadow.
"Listen, you're busting that cute butt to make this house a home, and you need a break! So, come upstairs with me, and we'll get in a nice hot bath, and later on, we'll make the most of the fact," He began punctuating his words with kisses. "That you are the most incredibly gorgeous woman I have ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on."
"As tempting as that sounds, it is 5.30pm, Cathie Harrison is coming around for dinner and in roughly five minutes April will begin demanding a bottle." She was happily trying to crawl in the playpen on the kitchen floor.
"Spoilsport!" Hawkeye pouted, releasing me. I went and took of the paint spotted clothes and as I predicted, April wanted a bottle. She gripped it with her hands and seemed content to sit in her highchair while I began cooking.
"Come on in, it's open!" Cathie, her arms full with my twins came in. "Hello babies, did you have fun with Cathie?" She'd been minding them while I painted the kitchen.
"Mummy, yes!" Their little vocabularies were getting ever bigger, and I was no longer 'mama' but 'Mummy' and it tugged on my heartstrings to hear the tiny voices stumbling on the big words.
"Sit down Cathie, can I get you a drink, we'll have dinner as soon as Hawkeye gets out of his work shirt!" I said pointedly. "There is no way he is eating that casserole when he is wearing white!"
"Slave driver." Hawkeye grumbled going upstairs to change his shirt. We sat down to dinner when he returned.
"Look at you baby, you're there, yes you are!" Hawkeye was crooning on Christmas Eve to my belly. We were lying in front of the fireplace after a big Christmas party. I was showing pretty reasonably now.
"Aren't the twins going to love Christmas?" I smiled. We had a big tree set up in the corner, and they'd had a lot of fun helping - though it could have been considered hindering - us in decorating it.
"Aren't we going to love Christmas?" Hawkeye said. "We're together, for real." He snuggled against me.
"Yeah, well we were married for one of the Christmases I spent in Korea."
"And we spent it in the OR." Hawkeye replied. "I remember that."
"How can you handle working in the hospital?" Hawkeye worked 2 nights on emergency in Portland General. I didn't mean the hours, I meant the fact that it reminded us both of horrible OR sessions in Korea.
"Coming home to you. Hey my angel, I have a question for you."
"Ask away my love." I rolled onto my side so I faced him.
"I'm not trying to be nosey, or trying to come across as though it was wrong, but you made me wait until we were married before we went that last step, yet with Charles you didn't, you don't have to answer, but why?"
"Well, I didn't have anything left to loose as such, and I just. . . I guess I'm more relaxed about it after everything I've been through." I shrugged.
"You don't regret it do you? I mean losing your virginity?"
"What can I say? Of all the things I've ever lost, my mind's the only one I miss!"
"Nice answer!" Hawkeye chuckled. "And I know you lost your mind, remember when the baby was left with us?"
"Oh, that." I had been so furious, Colonel Potter had sent me to stay at the orphanage for a harsh reality check. It had helped, and I was reminded that there were some causes and people I just couldn't help.
"I can't believe our guys wouldn't accept her! It was horrible leaving her at the monastery. It's the only time I've ever seen Charles cry."
"I couldn't believe it." The thought of the sweet chubby baby still brought tears to my eyes. "Oh, and Charles has cried, he cried when I left not much, but there were a few tears on both sides. I still can't believe that we'd be so unfair about a baby, so much for everyone is created equal."
"War is hell my angel, things happen that shouldn't to a lot of innocent people." Hawkeye shifted closer to me. We never got as far as climbing the stairs to bed that night, we slept in front of the fire.
Christmas was lovely, the twins enjoyed ripping coloured paper off presents to find pretty things inside and displaying them to doting aunts and uncles, my whole family was in for the day. April preferred the paper, not understanding the object of opening presents, and was especially taken by the glossy silver containing some very beautiful books from her daddy.
I cooked a massive dinner, with Mum and Daniel's assistance. I tried to stop Daniel from helping as he always worked too hard, but he declared that he'd been managing too well for too long to have someone start looking after him now.
By the end of January, we'd bought new furniture for most of the house, we had a new bed, and new sofas and we'd redecorated every room with the exception of the ones that didn't need it. The old chairs were moved into the playroom so the kids would have somewhere comfortable to relax. Everything was just so good, we weren't overcrowded, we could seek either company or solace when we wanted it, and we loved it.
I was in the fifth month of a very healthy pregnancy with Baby, and although I was a little worried about April feeling displaced, I was looking forward to the arrival of what we hoped was a boy to even the scores up, in June.
The twins grew more and more every day, as they approached their 2nd birthdays. Felicity looked more and more like I did, and Ben looked exactly like his daddy and grandfather. They could both run around alone now, and spoke reasonably clearly. They were beautiful little children, and everyone in the Cove loved to mind them for an hour just so they could play with them.
April, now getting on for nine months old was crawling everywhere, even managing the stairs. Her light brown hair and shiny blue eyes looked like that of her Aunt Honoria, and the strange way in which she babbled had us wondering if she picked up Nora's unusual, albeit sweet stutter. We didn't mind if my Angel-features was going to talk oddly though, all we cared was that she was a happy and healthy baby.
"You know sweetheart?" I asked as Hawkeye and I curled on the porch swing, watching the snow fall outside. "I made the worst choice . . ."
"BJ's on the other side of the country, how could you do anything like that again?" Hawkeye teased, kissing the side of my head. We rarely brought it up anymore, preferring to forgive and forget.
"I made the worst choice when I divorced you, but I made the best choice when I married you again!"
"I made the best choice when I asked you to marry me and be the father of my children, my worst choice was doing it all in Korea." Hawkeye said.
"But we're happy now right?" I asked.
"Right." Hawkeye agreed kissing me tenderly. And we were happy, very happy.