September 1425

"Ivy! Come see!" Elanor grabbed her hand as soon as Ivy stepped from the cart and dragged her into Bag End. Ivy was barely able to wave a greeting to Uncle Sam, who was chuckling at them as Elanor pulled her through the hallway and into the parlor.

Next to the parlor window, Aunt Rosie sat in the rocking chair with a tiny baby in her arms.

"My sister!" Elanor whispered excitedly into Ivy's ear.

Ivy grinned and went over to see the baby. She was happy Elanor got a sister. Maybe she'd get one next time, too. She'd have to ask Estella again. Estella had told her she had to wait and see, but Ivy didn't like waiting.

"This is Rose," Aunt Rosie said, leaning forward so Ivy could see the baby. Ivy heard her family come in behind her as she peered at the little face nestled within the blanket. Rose was squished, like all the newborn babies Ivy had ever seen, but Ivy thought she might turn out very pretty.

"Oh, Rosie, she's lovely!" Estella said behind her.

Ivy pouted when Estella got to hold the baby first. She had to sit on the couch with Elanor and wait her turn. Estella chatted with Aunt Rosie, talking about babies and the birth (the details of which were talked about in whispers). Ivy sighed and glanced up at the clock. When would it be her turn to hold Rose?

Theo crawled over to his mother and used her skirt to pull himself upright.

"Look what I have, Theo," Estella said, holding the baby down so Theo could see. Theo stared at the baby for a second, then started to cry.

"Mummy!" he wailed, tugging at Estella's skirt. His cries made the baby cry. Estella looked up at her and Ivy sighed, knowing what was coming.

"Ivy, could you take him for a walk? He doesn't like that I'm holding the baby."

Ivy nearly pointed out that Theo wouldn't be upset anymore if Estella let her hold the baby, but she didn't feel like getting into trouble. So she dragged herself off the couch and took Theo's hand.

"There's some biscuits in the kitchen," Aunt Rosie said. "Perhaps Theo would like one."

"Thank you, Ivy," Estella said. Ivy just nodded and sighed and pulled Theo out into the hallway. Her brother was sniffling and sucking his thumb. Ivy rolled her eyes. Whatever was he going to do when they got their own sister someday?

She led Theo into the kitchen. Her dad, Uncle Pippin and Uncle Sam were in there, packing food and bottles into a basket. Uncle Pippin had come with them from Tuckborough. Today was Uncle Frodo's birthday and the three of them were going to spend time together. They couldn't very well have Rosie and the children leave this year, so instead they were going to spend the day up at the Party Tree.

"What's the matter?" her father asked, watching her lead Theo into the kitchen.

Ivy gave an exasperated huff. "He's mad because Estella is holding the baby, so I need to get him a biscuit."

Uncle Sam chuckled. "Frodo's been a little jealous, too," he said, nodding towards the baby chair where Frodo sat playing in his bowl of porridge. Sam knelt down in front of Theo. "Would you like to play with Frodo today?"

Theo just continued sucking his thumb and whimpering.

"Ivy, why don't you take the boys back to Frodo's room to play," her dad said.

Ivy stomped her foot and glared at him. "Dad! I wanted to hold the baby!"

"Ivy," he said, a little bit of warning in his voice, "you can hold the baby later. But we need to go and someone needs to watch the boys. Let Aunt Rosie have a rest with Estella for a while."

She pouted, but didn't dare argue with her father any further. Unless...

"Uncle Pippin..." she pleaded.

"Oh, no!" Pippin said, holding up his hands and taking a step back. "Leave me out of it."

She looked back at her dad, but he looked a little angry now. She sighed. "Fine."

"I'll go get Elanor to help you," Sam said. He handed Theo a biscuit and hurried away.

-o-O-o-

"Why did you have to be a crybaby?" Ivy asked, hands on hips, glaring down at her brother. "I wanted to hold the baby."

"Don't like baby!" Theo exclaimed.

"Oh, Theo," Elanor said. She knelt next to him and patted his head. "I'm sure you'll like Rose later."

"No!" He crawled away over to where Frodo was stacking his wooden blocks. Frodo eyed him warily and slid his blocks out of Theo's reach with his foot. But Theo was more interested in chewing on his half-eaten, gooey biscuit than stealing Frodo's toys.

Ivy rolled her eyes and sank down onto Frodo's bed. "It must be nice having a sister," she said to Elanor. She stuck her tongue out at Theo, but he was ignoring her. That just made her mood worse.

"I like her," Elanor said. "Mum said she'll get to sleep in my room when she's older!"

Ivy tried to smile at her, but only because Elanor looked so happy and she didn't want to make her feel bad. Inside, she was jealous that Elanor had a sister to play with now. If she had a sister, she would have someone to play with who wasn't a whiney boy.

Elanor sat on the bed next to her. "Mum said you could stay with us for a while, if it was all right with Uncle Merry and Aunt Estella. Do you want to?"

Ivy grinned back at her. "Sure!" If she stayed at Bag End, she'd get to hold the baby and she wouldn't have to watch Theo and she'd have Elanor to play with.