The next morning Maggie wakes to find a baby on either side of her. She vaguely recalls waking in the middle of the night and bringing Morgan to bed and repeating the process with Dylan half an hour later. She snuggles down with her little darlings and sighs contentedly.
Then the memory of last night's phone call resurfaces and she groans as she face heats up. She can't believe they did that and the fact that she agreed to call him again tonight has her face turning an even brighter shade of red. With a moan, her eyes open and she knows she's not going to get back to sleep anytime soon with that memory bopping around in her head.
Very carefully she extracts herself from the bed, makes sure the babies aren't likely to roll off of the bed and then limps into the bathroom. Her feet don't hurt nearly as much as they did yesterday and she hopes she'll be able to make the trek downstairs, if for no other reason than to have a change of scenery.
She showers quickly, dries off, and puts fresh dressings on her feet before she gets her clothes on. Just as she's finishing up, Morgan wakes up and acts like she hasn't seen food in days. Maggie quickly changes Morgan's diaper and then sits down to feed her. Once she's sated, it's Dylan's turn and she repeats the process all over again. Just as he's getting near the end of his feeding, Peg sticks her head in the door.
"Good morning," the older woman greets. "How are you this morning?"
"Good morning," Maggie replies with a smile. "I'm doing well."
"Anything you need help with?" Peg asks.
"Would you change Morgan's diaper and put her in some day clothes, please?" Maggie requests.
"Sure, not a problem," Peg happily agrees as she comes all the way into the room and picks up her great-granddaughter. "I love dressing up little girls. Don't I, sweetheart?"
Peg walks away from the bed and continues the one sided conversation with Morgan who's loving it if the coos and giggles are any indication. Maggie can only smile as she watches this woman whom she's only known for a short time and realizes that she's come to care for a person who a couple months ago was a complete stranger she wanted nothing to do with. It's funny how life changes sometimes.
Peg finishes getting Morgan dressed just as Dylan is finishing his meal. She puts Morgan in Maggie's lap and then takes Dylan from his mother. While Dylan is being changed, Maggie plays with her daughter. After a rousing game of peek-a-boo, Peg helps Maggie bring the twins downstairs. Susan meets them at the foot of the stairs with a large manila envelope in her hands.
"This was just delivered by registered mail for you, Margaret," Susan states as she hands the item over.
"Oh good, I've been waiting for this," Maggie replies as she exchanges Morgan for the envelope with her grandmother. "I'm going to read this in the parlor if any one needs me."
Peg looks at Susan a bit perplexed and Susan just shrugs as Maggie hobbles away.
"It's from her lawyer," Susan explains as she heads off. "Probably a will and what not. But let's not worry about that now. She's letting us play with the babies again. I have no intention of wasting that opportunity especially since she'll be going home in a couple days."
"Right you are," Peg agrees with a nod as she heads for the family room. "I had serious baby withdrawal yesterday when she wouldn't let them out of her sight for more than a few moments. Though, after what happened yesterday morning, I can't say as I blame her."
Maggie spends most of the day in the parlor reading the papers and talking to her lawyer on the phone. The tedium of wading through all of the legal jargon is only broken up by meals, hers and the babies. By around four o'clock she finally comes staggering out of the parlor looking thoroughly exhausted.
"So, all of the legal bits taken care of?" Susan asks as she brings Morgan over to Maggie for another feeding.
"No, but I've gotten as far as I can today," Maggie answers as she takes her daughter and latches her on. "My lawyer's flying out tonight. She should be here by tomorrow morning with paperwork for me to sign."
"Why come all of the way out here just to have you sign a will?" Peg inquires from where she's rocking Dylan.
"It's not just the will," Maggie explains. "A lot of it has to do with Mom and Dad."
"What about us?" Rupert asks as he walks into the family room followed by Selma.
"I'm giving you back your money," Maggie replies. "But I'm trying to do it in a way that the IRS won't come knocking on our doors demanding more than their fair share."
"Our money?" Selma questions. "But honey, if you give us all the money, what will you have?"
"My money," Maggie responds. "While I did inherit everything when you two were proclaimed dead, I also have the money I inherited when Grandfather died. Plus the money that was invested has produced quite a sizable return over the years. My lawyer's coming tomorrow so we can discuss all of this. Let's worry about it then. I've been staring at my will all day. My brain hurts."
"I'll go make some tea," Selma offers as Maggie leans her head onto the back of the couch and closes her eyes. "That'll help."
"That would be wonderful, thank you," Maggie replies without even cracking an eye open.
The rest of the evening passes without much more fuss and before she knows it, everyone's asleep except for her. She calls home to find that Abe's patiently waiting for her call. She's not sure if she's relieved or not until the keening starts and then nothing else matters but finding release from the quickly rising pressure.
When they're done, she lies there panting for a few moments. They talk for a while before saying their goodnights and hang up. She stares at the ceiling less than satisfied. While the physical need has been taken care of, talking to him over the phone just isn't the same as him being here and it sure as heck isn't as much fun to cuddle with a phone. It takes some time before she can relax enough to actually fall asleep and when she does, it's not long before she's woken for the next feeding.
Late the next morning finds Maggie's lawyer standing on the front door step. She's invited in and introduced to Maggie's parents just before they sit down and start talking about money. Nearly six hours later caused by several interruptions for nursing breaks, the paperwork is finished and Maggie staggers into the family room while Rupert and Selma drag themselves upstairs to take a nap.
Over dinner, Maggie fills Susan and Peg in on the details of what was worked out and the length of time it will take to finalize everything. It's complicated and lengthy, but in the end, everyone should be happy. Rupert and Selma are just thrilled that they're home with their family again and the money is secondary to what they have already regained.
It's been a long day and it doesn't help that Maggie didn't get a great night's sleep the previous evening, so she goes to bed early, hoping that the twins will wake her in time to call Abe. Instead, she ends up bringing them to bed with her and nursing them while she lies down. By the time Dylan is done, Maggie is sound asleep and the call time goes by as Abe lies in her bed on the other side of the continent wondering and worrying.
Maggie wakes up the next morning feeling fairly rested despite the interruptions in sleep caused by the babies. She stretches with the nagging feeling like she's forgotten something. Then she sees the phone sitting on her nightstand and her heart all but stops.
She grabs the device and quickly calls home but ends up only listening to her own voice as the answering machine picks up. Then she calls the bureau and after five minutes of transfers and holds, she finally gets through to the library.
"Hola," Guillermo greets when he picks up the phone.
"Hola, tio," Maggie responds. "Is Abe there?"
"I'm doing well, thank you," Guillermo teases. "And how are you?"
"I'm fine, thanks," she grumbles. "Please, Uncle, is Abe there?"
"Oh, he's around someplace," he replies nonchalantly. "So, how are your parents?"
"They're doing ok," she answers. "Please, Uncle, where's Abe?"
"Moping about, probably," he responds. "He's been cranky all morning. You wouldn't know why, would you?"
"I didn't call last night," she replies.
"Ah, yes, the late night calls up at the house," he chuckles. "So what are you two discussing at that late hour?"
"That is between myself and Maggie," Abe growls from behind the librarian.
"Well, speak of the blue devil," Guillermo snickers as he spins his chair around and faces a less than pleased merman. "Look who crawled out of his hole."
"Guillermo Chavez you hand over that phone right now or so help me you'll be changing diapers for a week when I get home," Maggie threatens.
"Ok, ok, jeez, you're both a couple a grouches today," Guillermo laughs just before he hands over the phone.
"Thank you," Abe says begrudgingly.
Abe waits until Guillermo gets up and leaves the area before claiming the vacated seat and he brings the hand set up to his face.
"Maggie?" he asks worriedly.
"I'm sorry, love," she apologizes. "I was so tired last night that I ended up going to bed early. I had hoped to that when the twins woke for their feeding I would wake up, but I guess I was more exhausted than I thought."
"I was worried that something had happened," he admits. "I was scared. I don't like being scared. Please come home."
"I'll be home soon," she assures him. "A few more days at best. I want to make sure Mom and Dad have everything they need before I head back."
"They're not coming back with you, are they?" he asks, a sudden thought causing him more worry.
"No, they're staying here," she tells him as Morgan starts to wake up. "That's why I want to make sure they have everything they need."
"What do they need?" he questions, now curious.
"Well, I've now set up a bank account with debit cards for them so they'll have money," she starts while she sits up and starts to change Morgan's diaper. "They need a whole new wardrobe since Sharon had to do a lot of guessing about sizes in Hawaii and while shorts are great for the tropics, they're not so great at this time of year in Northern California. They're going to need a car, but they need to have a refresher course in driving first and that's after they get their driving permits. Peg will probably leave today or tomorrow, so that's going to leave us without a car since Manning took the rentals with him. Grandmother is having her chauffeur drive the limo all the way from Atlanta and he'll be here until she goes home, but he probably won't get here until tomorrow night. Peg has been looking for a doctor for them since they could have some serious health issues after being out there for so long. Grandmother is looking at getting them at least a maid and a gardener and maybe a cook, but she's waiting until I leave since we don't want to chance anyone seeing the twins. On the plus side, we've gotten them their social security numbers reinstated."
"How long does your grandmother plan on staying out there?" he asks when she finally stops to breathe.
"Probably until they kick her out," she chuckles as she relaxes into nursing Morgan.
"I missed you last night," he quietly states out of the blue.
"I'm sorry," she repeats sadly.
"I love our little 'talks'," he adds.
He softly starts to keen and she whimpers in response. Before she can beg him to stop, she hears a 'thwap' over the line and the keening discontinues with a muttered expletive. Abe rubs the sore spot on the back of his head and looks down at the bundle of papers that assaulted him.
"NO KEENING!" Guillermo shouts from where he's working half way across the library. "You do that again and I'll find something bigger to throw at you!"
"Sorry," Abe grumbles as his wife snickers from the other side of the country.
"Remind me to thank Uncle when I get home," she chuckles.
"He hit me!" he replies indignantly.
"And you were trying to get me worked up while I was nursing your daughter," she growls back.
"Sorry," he says contritely. "I really do miss you."
"And I you, my love," she sighs. "I certainly hope you haven't been pining away in your tank all this time."
"I've been keeping busy," he responds slyly.
"Doing what?" she asks.
"I'll show you when you get home," he answers secretively.
"You're not going to tell your wife what you've been up to?" she inquires, a bit perturbed.
"Nope," he snickers. "I want to give you incentive to come home."
"Like you weren't incentive enough?" she reminds him.
"Well, there's that too," he concedes and she can practically hear him smiling.
There's a soft knock at the door just before Susan sticks her head into the room.
"Who in the world are you talking to at this hour of the morning, child?" Susan asks, still dressed in her house coat.
"Abe," Maggie answers
"Yes?" Abe responds, a bit confused.
"I understand," Susan nods with a knowing smile and then disappears back through the door.
"Grandmother just wanted to know who I was talking to at this hour," Maggie replies.
"I see," he states. "I should let you go get breakfast."
"I'm not going anywhere for a while," she says. "I haven't finished feeding Morgan and Dylan hasn't woken up yet."
"You're not feeding them at the same time?" he asks.
"When I gave that extra feeding to Dylan Monday morning, it off set their feeding pattern," she answers. "On the plus side, it's a lot easier to feed them at night since I don't need help. On the down side, it takes longer to feed them now."
"How well are you sleeping?" he questions in concern.
"I'm doing ok," she yawns. "I've figured out how to feed them while lying down. I wouldn't be able to do that if they were still eating at the same time."
"I think I should let you get back to sleep," he suggests.
"No, I'm fine," she mutters as her eyelids start to droop.
"Sure you are," he gently teases. "Call me tonight?"
"Mmhmm," she agrees.
"Good, I'll talk to you tonight," he replies. "'Bye."
"'Bye," she mumbles just before hanging up.
She drifts off to a light doze as Morgan happily slurps away.
The rest of the day passes rather unremarkably for Peg and Susan as they take Rupert and Selma off to go clothes shopping. On the way back they visit a few dealerships and take a look at some cars to get an idea of what Selma and Rupert might like. Then they stop and pick up dinner on the way home.
When they get there they find a rather worn out Maggie waiting for them. She stands in the entryway when they walk in, a baby in each arm and looking like she's about to collapse. Her hair is a mess, there are various stains on her untucked shirt and wrinkled pants and the twins are only wearing onezies at this point, the nice clothes they had been wearing earlier long gone.
"Oh, thank heavens," Maggie sighs in relief when she sees the Chinese takeout containers. "I was going to try to make spaghetti, but I barely even managed to go to the bathroom by myself today. I'm glad I at least got a shower in before you guys took off. I swear if they weren't eating they wanted to be held if they weren't being held they were crying and they barely slept. I don't know what's gotten into them."
The three older women look at each other and smile, but hold their tongues. Selma and Peg take the twins from the exhausted new mother who immediately heads for the bathroom. By the time she joins them in the dinning room, the others have already sat down to eat and Maggie looks a little better with her face washed and her hair combed out.
They sit down to dinner and Rupert talks about the cars they looked at after Selma discusses at length what passes for fashion these days. Maggie just happily eats now that she's allowed to eat more than two bites in a row.
"Good heavens, child," Susan admonishes the younger woman. "Slow down and chew your food. You're going to choke if you keep that up."
"I'm sorry," Maggie says after swallowing her latest mouthful. "It's just that this is the first meal I've had since breakfast. It took me over three hours just to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich this afternoon."
"Twins can be a challenge," Peg points out with a smile. "But they are also a blessing."
Before anymore can be discussed on the joys of motherhood and twins the phone rings. Peg gets up and answers it with a knowing smile playing across her lips. She talks on the phone for a few minutes and then returns to the table.
"That was Sean," Peg announces. "He and Tracy are on their way to the hospital."
"Do you have everything packed?" Maggie asks, suddenly realizing that she's going to miss her maternal grandmother.
"I packed after I got dressed this morning," Peg answers. "I will miss you, Maggie. I know you'll be gone before I get back. But I'll come out and visit as often as I can, so I won't miss too much of those wonderful babies of yours growing up."
"I'll go get your bags," Rupert offers as he stands.
"No, Rupert," Peg declines with a raised hand. "I can get them myself. I know how tired you are after all you've done today. Besides, the exercise will do me good."
With that, Peg leaves the room and the others follow. Despite her protests, Maggie follows her grandmother upstairs and helps her with her bags. Tearful goodbyes are exchanged and Peg swears to call as soon as the baby is born just before she drives off.
The others head back inside and back to their dinner, but none of them feel like eating now. The remains of their supper are put away as Maggie takes the twins upstairs to bed. After feeding the twins and getting them put to in their crib, she spends some time looking up the cars that her parents had looked at on the internet.
When she hears her parents passing her room, she calls them in and they spend some time going over the cars together. Nothing gets decided right then, since Rupert and Selma need to go in and get their driver's permits still and their appointment isn't until the next day. After that they'll need driving lessons that Maggie has already looked into and has narrowed it down to a couple driving schools.
When that's done they sit and talk for a while. Peg's departure has driven home the fact that soon Maggie will leave as well and it's a thought that saddens them all. When Morgan wakes for her late night feeding, Selma and Rupert say their goodnights and head for bed.
Once the twins are changed, fed and put back to bed, Maggie changes for bed and then does a quick 'check', determining that once more she's the only one awake in the house. With a shaking hand and a rapidly beating heart, she dials her number. Before the first ring is over, Abe picks up the phone, eagerly waiting for his wife's call.
They barely manage to pass pleasantries before he starts keening again. With a whimper and a moan she lets him talk her into finding completion, her panting and barely contained groans are all that he needs to help him find his own release.
After they've both calmed down enough to talk sensibly, Maggie tells him about her day. How the twins were such a hand full, about her parent's shopping trip and Peg leaving to meet Sean and Tracy at a hospital in San Francisco. He listens quietly, making appropriate noises where necessary, but other than that, keeping his mouth shut. When he can hear the tiredness in her voice, he wishes her a goodnight and hangs up the phone, knowing that very soon he'll be holding her and not the phone.
Shortly before the four am feeding, the phone rings. Maggie groggily answers it at about the same time her mother does. They wake a bit more when they realize it's Peg on the other end of the line to announce that Tracy had a healthy baby boy and she managed to give birth without drugs. Maggie thinks that either Tracy is nuts or the bravest woman in the world, but is too tired to say anything. After getting all of the vital information, they say their goodbyes and hang up the phone. No sooner does Maggie start to drift off to sleep again than Morgan decides it's time to eat.
At breakfast the early morning call is announced to the two people who managed to sleep through it, which is pretty odd considering Air Mages have such sensitive hearing. The telling of the drug free birth gets a 'tsk' of disapproval from Susan while Rupert and Selma share a secretive smile. Maggie's too tired to even notice much of anything beyond her breakfast cereal.
Well after breakfast, a taxi arrives to take Selma and Rupert to the DMV so that they can get their driver's permits while Peg stays behind to help with the twins. A few hours later the front doorbell rings and Maggie gets up to get it. She opens the door and is suddenly staring at a powerful chest wearing a white pilot's uniform. She cranes her neck to up into a pair of amused crystal blue eyes.
"You're early," she bluntly states.
"Good to see you too, Maggie," he chuckles. "I can go away if you like."
"No, I'm sorry, please come in, Ron," she ashamedly replies as she steps back.
More than six feet of broad shouldered man steps into the house with an overnight bag looped over one of those shoulders and Maggie closes the door behind him a second later.
"I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow morning," she explains as he turns to face her. "What happened?"
"The business men I flew out to Japan had their deal fall through so they decided to come back early," he answers with a shrug. "I'm wiped out. Is there some place I can crash?"
"Yeah, go ahead and take the room you and Sharon were using," she replies as she heads for the staircase. "I'll get you some sheets for the bed."
"Ok, thanks," he yawns as he follows her upstairs.
"I'm afraid the sheets are going to have to wait, Margaret," Susan calls from the bottom of the stairs, holding a fussy Morgan. "You have a prior commitment."
With a resigned sigh, Maggie points Ron in the direction of the linen closet and heads back down the stairs. By the time she's done feeding both of her children, Ron's snores can be faintly heard downstairs and Rupert and Selma return, each loaded down with several bags. They both have silly grins on their faces like a couple of kids that have been let loose in their favorite toy store with the freedom to buy whatever their little hearts desire.
"Now, if you two don't look like the cat that ate the cannery," Susan comments when they come in.
"After passing our written exams with flying colors we decided to take a little tour of San Francisco by ourselves," Selma proudly claims as she places her purchases on the coffee table.
"Oh, dear, if you wanted to see San Francisco you should have waited until Kirk got here," Susan admonishes. "You shouldn't have gone by yourselves."
"No offense, Mother, but that's exactly the reason why we went today," Rupert tells the older woman as he lays his bags on the couch. "Ever since we were found, people have been acting like we're going to break with the next breeze. We survived on that island for well over twenty years; a day in San Francisco isn't going to kill us."
"You're right," Maggie admits as she places Dylan in the bassinette next to his sister. "It's just that you've both changed so much and you were in that hospital for so long, that we're all worried."
"And you should talk about changes, young lady," Rupert chuckles as he comes over to look at his grandchildren. "You went and grew up, got married and had children while our backs were turned. Very discourteous if you ask me."
"Oh, Daddy," she laughs as she wraps her arms around his thin middle.
He gladly returns his daughter's embrace as Selma starts to sort through the bags.
"The hospital stay was a precautionary measure to make sure that we didn't have anything," Selma says as she continues her rummaging. "They especially wanted to make sure we didn't have anything contagious. Ah ha!"
"Ah ha?" Maggie inquires, pulling away from her father enough to look at her mother.
"When we were on Pier 39 we realized that we had completely forgotten your birthday," Selma replies.
"I got you two back, I don't want anything else," Maggie reminds them.
"We know, but we couldn't resist," Selma smiles as she pulls a box out of a bag.
Curious, Maggie takes the cardboard cube that's less then six inches on each side. She opens the box and pulls the tissue out of the way and stares. The thing looking back at her nearly defies description. A blue-green fish with big red lips and huge false eyelashes that's standing on legs that a Rockette would kill for which are clad in fishnet stockings and shod in spiked red heels and wearing a flapper's dress from the 1920's stares up at her from the box.
Maggie looks first at her mother and then her father, both of whom are desperately trying not to laugh and failing miserably. Maggie purses her lips, mockingly glaring at them and that's enough to send them over the edge. Within moments they have to sit down as they hold their sides with laughter.
"Oh, good heavens, what did they give you, child?" Susan demands as she stands, crosses the room and takes the box from Maggie. "Great merciful heavens, what is that thing?"
At this point, even Maggie can't hold it in and bursts out laughing. Her parents are now laughing so hard that tears are streaming down their faces. Susan takes the thing out of the box to view the full horror of this thing before she places it on an end table.
"Better you than me," is the kindest thing Susan can think to say before she leaves the room.
When Selma is finally able to talk almost normally again, she picks up the box again and hands it back to Maggie.
"You missed the rest of your present," she sniggers.
"Please tell me this thing didn't spawn and have babies," Maggie gasps as she takes the proffered item.
"Just look," Rupert tells her, still chuckling.
Maggie looks back in the box and finds a small black box hidden in the tissue on the bottom. She takes it out, removes the lid and then gasps. She pulls out the delicate gold chain from the box as her parents come over to her. Hanging from the chain is a pair of intertwined gold hearts and inside each heart is a small stone.
"It's beautiful," Maggie whispers as her father takes it from her.
"It originally had diamonds for the stones, but we talked the jeweler into replacing them," he tells her as he undoes the clasp and puts the necklace around his daughter's neck. "A sapphire for Dylan and an emerald for Morgan."
Maggie delicately traces the outlines of the hearts as they lay on her chest.
"It's beautiful," Maggie repeats as she hugs her parents. "Thank you."
"I'm glad you like it," Selma smiles as she sits back on the couch. "So, when did Ron get here?"
"About and hour before you two came home," Maggie answers as she also gets comfortable.
"When are you leaving?" Rupert asks, trying to hide the pain.
"Whenever he can take me back," Maggie sadly replies. "I don't want to go but at the same time I can't stay either. Does that make any sense?"
"Actually, it does, dear," Selma answers as she takes her daughter's hands in hers. "Go home to him. You both need each other and that's how it should be. We'll be out to visit when we can."
"I'll miss you both," Maggie whispers as a tear falls down her cheek and she hugs her mother. "I better start packing before the twins wake up or I'll never get out of here."
Before the water works can really let loose, Maggie quickly leaves the room and heads upstairs. Rupert and Selma sit in silence for several minutes before Selma starts to half heartedly go through their purchases and Rupert stares numbly at the bassinette.
Off in the distance they hear the doorbell ring and someone answering the door. Voices are heard for a few moments and then the door closes. A second later the sound of a couple pairs of feet reaches the depressed couple and a moment later Susan enters the room with a man wearing a chauffeur's uniform causing Rupert to automatically stand.
"Rupert, Selma, I would like to introduce you to my chauffeur, Kirk," Susan says before she turns towards the tall man that towers over her. "Kirk, this is my son and his wife, Rupert and Selma Cavendish."
"How do you do," Rupert greets as he crosses the room with his hand out.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both," Kirk responds as he shakes Rupert's hand.
"Not to appear rude, Kirk, but how tall are you?" Rupert asks, getting a kink in his neck just looking up at the other man.
"I'm 6'9"," the dark skinned man chuckles. "And to head off the next question, I can barely walk and chew gum at the same time, so dribbling a basket ball and throwing it through a net is out of the question."
"So why become a chauffeur?" Selma asks.
"I like to drive big fancy cars," Kirk answers with a grin, his white teeth nearly blinding them.
"Fair enough," Rupert laughs. "Welcome to our home. I'll show you to your room."
"Kirk, Margaret is going to need a ride to the airport either this evening or tomorrow morning, please be ready to go when she is," Susan instructs her employee.
"Yes, Mrs. Cavendish," Kirk agrees. "Will there be time for me to get some rest first?"
"Of course," Susan answers. "That band saw that's going on upstairs is the pilot, so I think it may be a while before you'll need to be ready."
"Yes, ma'am," Kirk nods and then follows Rupert upstairs.
Several hours later, Ron has scheduled his flight plan, Maggie has packed the items she's taking home with her which includes the god awful fish thing from her parents and the bags are waiting at the foot of the stairs. The things that Maggie isn't taking home, maternity clothes for the most part, has been boxed to be donated. Dinner is a subdued affair and what laughter there is seems forced, though Ron, Kirk and Rupert do have a rather animated discussion about cars going for most of the meal. After the dishes are cleared, washed and put away, they sit and talk for a while in the family room. They don't talk about anything important, but they're not quite ready to say goodbye.
"Ms Cavendish?" Kirk calls from the doorway.
"Yes, Kirk, what is it?" Maggie asks.
"I've put your luggage in the trunk and the car seats are now in the car," Kirk answers.
"Oh, thank you, Kirk," she replies, trying not to sound disappointed.
"It's 9:00, Maggie," Ron points out. "We should get going."
"You're right," she sighs as she stands up and heads for the door.
Her parents follow with the bundled up twins in their arms and Kirk leads the way out the front door. He opens the back door to the limo and watches quietly as the children are passed one at a time to their mother who puts them in their seats. If he notices their odd coloring, he makes no comment and gives no sign that he's even noticed.
Once the twins are strapped in, Maggie climbs back out and says her tearful goodbyes to her parents and grandmother. Ron eventually has to pull her back to the limo before she gets in for good. She watches and waves out the window from her spot between the twins until the limo makes the turn in the driveway and the others disappear from sight.
"The pre-flight check will take a while once we get there," Ron tells her, trying to get her mind off of the family she's just left behind. "I suggest that you feed the twins while I'm taking care of that. If they're anything like Vicki they'll sleep through most of the flight once we get moving. There's a couch on the plane the pulls out into a bed so you can get some sleep too."
"What about you?" she asks.
"I'll be fine," he assures her. "I've got a book to read and some crossword puzzles. I'm still a bit on Japan time and it's early afternoon over there right now. Besides, I took that nap, so I'm good."
"Are you sure you'll be ok?" she inquires. "It's six hours."
"God, you're like your cousin," he laughs. "I'm a big boy; I can take care of myself."
Maggie simply bites her tongue at the 'big boy' comment and checks on the twins. They're both sound asleep and she can't help staring at them in wonder. To her, they're the most beautiful babies in the world and none can hope to come close to their cuteness. With a happy sigh, she caresses a soft downy head.
"Uh oh, I know that sigh," Ron says worriedly.
"What sigh would that be?" she asks with a raised eyebrow.
"That's the sigh that says, 'I want more babies and I want them now,'" he replies with a smirk.
"So says the man who's fathered two children," she retorts.
"How did you know?" he demands. "Sharon hasn't even told her mother yet."
"Her bathroom was next to mine," she answers with a knowing smile. "Morning sickness is many things. Quiet isn't one of them."
"I swear your family could hear a ghost tip toe through a room," he mutters disgustedly.
"So, you hoping for a boy this time?" she asks.
"A boy would be nice, but I just want a healthy baby," he answers.
"Liar," she snorts.
"Ok, so sue me, I really want a boy," he huffs. "What man doesn't? But I'm not lying about the healthy part."
"That's all any parent could wish for," she replies as she looks back at her two.
"So, you and Abe going to try for any more?" he asks.
"We're not trying to stop any more from coming," she responds. "Though I'm not sure what I'd do if I did get pregnant again."
"You might want to try some sort of birth control or you might get them way to close together in age," he points out trying not to laugh. "And who knows, maybe next time you'll have a whole school of guppies."
Her only response is to throw a soft toy at him from across the car. He laughs as they make their way towards the airport. A short time later, Ron is giving Kirk directions to the small craft terminal and before she knows it, they're at their destination.
Ron and Maggie get the twins into the plane as Kirk unloads the trunk. Ron gets Maggie and the twins settled in before going out and helping Kirk store the luggage. While Ron is off dealing with the paper work, Morgan wakes with a big yawn. Maggie settles down with her and starts nursing her daughter.
Ron comes back a short time later and with no more than a glance at his passengers, he steps into the cockpit. She can hear him flipping switches and pushing buttons. Just as she's finishing feeding Dylan he comes back out.
"We're ready to go when you are," he announces.
"Dylan should be done in a few minutes," she replies.
"Ok, I'll just do one final check outside and then I'll get clearance from the tower," he states.
"Sounds good," she says without ever looking up from staring at her son.
Ron just chuckles quietly and steps out of the plane. A while later he returns to find Maggie putting Dylan back in his seat.
"Ready to go?" he asks.
"Ready as I'll ever be," she answers as she retakes her seat and straps herself in.
"Good," he nods. "I'll come out and adjust the couch so you can lie down when we get to cruising altitude."
"Ok, thanks," she smiles sleepily.
"By the way, turn off your cell phone, please," he requests.
"Oh, sure," she agrees as she grabs her purse and then proceeds to do as asked.
"And if the kids start getting fussy while we're climbing, give them a pacifier to suck on," he instructs. "It'll help equalize the pressure in their ears."
"Ok," she nods.
He returns to the cockpit, shutting the door behind him. A short time later the engines turn over and about a minute later she can feel and see that they're starting to move. A short eternity later they're at the end of the runway with clearance to take off. The engines power up and suddenly she's pushed back into her seat.
There's not much to watch outside, but she stares out the window anyways. A thin fog covers the bay and they pass through it without any trouble as Ron banks the plane until he's got them on course and a short time later they're at cruising altitude.
Ron emerges from the cockpit and goes over to the couch. He presses a large button on the front and seat pulls out as the back lies flat to make a reasonably sized bed. Then he pulls a couple pillows and blankets out of a cupboard and puts them on the end of the bed.
"I'll leave the door to the cockpit ajar in case you need anything," he tells her as he lowers the lights in the cabin. "Please have a seatbelt on when you're lying down in case we hit some turbulence."
"Thanks, Ron, I will," she replies as she gets up.
She grabs the overnight bag she brought on board with her and heads for the lavatory. A while later she comes out wearing sweat pants, a t-shirt and a pair of warm socks. She quickly settles down and gets comfortable despite the seatbelt around her middle.
Just as she's drifting off to sleep she realizes that she forgot to call Abe to let him know that she was coming home. She groans and buries her face in the pillow in despair. But even as upset with herself as she is, the exhaustion of a long day combined with the gentle vibration of the plane soon has her sound asleep.
Author's notes: Sorry for taking so long with this update. I've been working on another story on a different forum combined with the holidays and coming down with the flu, I've been very busy. But I did make this chapter extra long, so hopefully I'm forgiven.