"Pay No Mind" by Sims
"What-yes-ca," Murphy tried to get a word in, holding the phone away from his face with the most adorable look of frustration on it. "Ro-no-can I get a fecking word in?"
I bit back my laugh before taking the phone from him as he thrust it out towards me. "Hey Romeo."
"Oh, Cec! I am so excited to be coming out to visit you guys," he gushed. "Is there anything I should bring for the kids? Or you?"
"No, Romeo, I think we're okay. But that's sweet of you to ask. When are you coming in?"
"I'll be leaving on Friday, so probably Tuesday or Wednesday as long as the weather's good."
"You're still coming by ship?"
"Yeah, don't like planes. I'll bring some Mexican food for you guys."
"That actually would be great, we can't get that stuff over here so easily."
"Great!"
"And you'll be staying with us. We've got the room."
"You would have to throw me out."
"Good, I'll give you back to Murphy." Before Murphy was able to protest, I had handed him the phone again and walked away. Immediately, it reverted to Romeo just talking excitedly while Murphy tried to be involved in the conversation at all. I can't wait for someone else to drive the boys insane so I can have a break from that for a change.
Eventually Murphy was able to end the conversation and hang up. He grumbled under his breath as he came over to me and kissed my cheek. "Ye're evil, ye know that?"
"I like seeing you squirm."
He rolled his eyes but smiled. "I'll return the favor to ye, love."
"You always do." I kissed his nose as he playfully scowled.
"So who is this again?" Tyler questioned as he, Smecker, Connor, Murphy, and I were standing on the docks waiting for Romeo.
"He helped us in Boston the second time," Connor supplied, taking a drag on his cigarette. "Not the brightest, but he's got a lot of heart."
"He's sweet," I agreed. "And he did say he was bringing some Mexican food."
"Hopefully that includes hot sauce," Tyler said dreamily. I laughed. We can get it here, but not many varieties and it's expensive.
"Probably, I'm sure he remembers how much ye use of it," Connor laughed as he looked at me. I rolled my eyes and continued looking at the people getting off of the boat.
"Oh, there he is!"
"Shit, his hair got better," Murphy grinned. He and Connor ran over, nearly knocking Romeo over when they got to him. Immediately, Romeo looked like he was going to cry. Instead of the mullet we were used to him having, he now had a mohawk-so essentially the same but short in the back and shaved entirely on both sides.
As soon as Romeo saw me, however, he pushed the twins away and came over to me, pulling me into a gentle hug and then admiring my baby bump. "You look so beautiful, Cecilia! Murphy's treating you okay, right?"
"Hey!" Murphy said indignantly as he and Connor collected Romeo's bags. Tyler laughed, looking delighted that he had just received another source of entertainment.
"He's still perfect," I laughed, hugging Romeo again. "It's so good to see you again. How's your uncle doing?"
"Good! His restaurant is doing really well. There's been a rise in demand for authentic Mexican food."
"Finally, people have gained some tastebuds in Boston."
"I brought hot sauce."
"You're my new best friend," Tyler grinned, throwing an arm around Romeo and talking his ear off about hot sauces as we walked back to the car.
"So which one is this?" Romeo asked, pointing to the triplets.
"Conan Murphy," I answered. He made the mental note and looked at Matteo and pointed. "Matteo Connor." Then at Dina. "Dina Noah."
"Isn't Noah a guy's name?"
"It's their grandfather's name-Connor and Murphy's dad. Besides, my middle name is Killian. That's my dad's name."
"Oh, cool. Traditionally progressive."
"I thought so."
He pointed at each one of the triplets and recited their names to himself. The triplets looked at each other in confusion before speaking in broken Gaelic wondering what he was doing.
Romeo looked shocked. "They speak Irish?"
"They're in Ireland and they're Irish," I laughed.
"Mom," the triplets whined, throwing themselves at my legs. I laughed.
The door in the kitchen opened. "Mom, Da, we're home!" Kelly and Declan yelled in unison. They stopped and stared at Romeo when they walked into the living room before looking at me.
"Romeo," I pointed, "the twins: Declan and Kelly."
Romeo pointed at Kelly while saying her name and did the same to Declan. The twins shared a look, a smile, and then immediately began insisting that their names were reversed.
"No, I'm Kelly," Declan rolled his eyes.
"And I'm Declan. Honestly, Mom, where do you find these people?"
Romeo immediately turned pink and started sputtering out an apology. I was trying not to laugh as I watched this unfold. It lasted for about five very uncomfortable minutes for Romeo before Murphy came out in the living room.
"Welcome home," he greeted the twins. They started laughing, causing him to squint at them. "What did ye do?"
"We've been convincing Romeo that our names aren't our names."
Murphy looked torn between being proud and scolding them. He settled for a shrug in the end. "Fair enough."
"Wait, you just let them try to trick me?" Romeo asked me, exasperated. I shrugged with a smile.
"I can't keep them from their twin antics any more than I can keep Connor and Murphy from doing twin shit," I laughed. The twins grinned at their dad before going back into the kitchen to retrieve their things to do their homework. I have a feeling that they're going to have a lot of fun picking on Romeo for the next few weeks.
A few nights later, it was finally the weekend and all of the kids got to pester Romeo all day. Now that they were all in bed, he was clearly done for the night.
"How do you manage with so many kids around?" Romeo asked, laying on the couch in exhaustion. Murphy and I looked at each other and shrugged.
"You get used to it. Plus we often have help," I replied, stretching with a yawn.
"It's not so bad, they're just kids," Murphy agreed as he sat on the loveseat. I sat beside him, thankful to be off of my feet again. I'm getting to the point of being uncomfortably pregnant again. But I'm only a few weeks from the due date they estimated. At this point I'm just so over being pregnant.
"I couldn't do it. And you're going to add two more to it?"
"Well, that wasn't intentional," I chuckled, teasing Murphy. "But I'm sure it'll be fine. The triplets are getting older and the twins are almost teenagers."
"How old are the young ones?"
"They'll be three on Christmas Day."
"So there are gaps between all of the birthdays?"
"Thankfully," Murphy nodded. The twins were born in April and the new set of twins should be the end of September. I have a feeling it'll be the beginning of October though. I'm not sure why, I just feel like they'll be late because they're the last ones. But I hope not.
At least there won't be any more of them. Murphy did actually get a vasectomy. Thank. God. Anything more than seven kids just sounds like too much.
We spent the rest of the evening sitting around and watching TV. Eventually Connor came back, looking like his world had just changed forever.
"What's with you?" Murphy asked, nudging his foot.
"I'm not smooth. The girls planned this whole thing," Connor stared at the ceiling. Murphy and I stared silently. "Oh my god, ye knew!"
Murphy raised his hands in self defense. "I only know because of Cecilia."
"I can't keep that to myself. If I have to know it, you have to know it. That's the rule," I said firmly.
"But ye didn't tell me," Connor reminded me.
"Well, we thought it was best if you didn't know it. At least not for a while. Though I did vote in favor of 'never.'"
"Does everybody know?"
"Probably because you know Eunice is bffs with Smecker and, well, you know Smecker."
"I lost it. I was smooth at one point."
I almost laughed but turned it into a cough.
"You didn't think I was smooth when we met?"
"Not really. I thought you were sweet and a little bit devilish." A look of horror dawned on his face.
"Murphy's the smooth one."
"I could've told ye that," Murphy laughed.
"But ye let me think it was me?!"
"It was good for yer confidence. And the ladies liked ye trying so hard."
"I thought I was always two steps ahead."
"No," I laughed. Romeo let out a snore from the couch, causing me to laugh even more. Just like old times.
"My whole world just changed and he's just sleeping away," Connor laughed. He rubbed his forehead.
"Ye'll be fine," Murphy laughed, patting his knee. Connor stared.
"That was such a 'da' thing to do." He laughed. "Life's weird. But nice."
"Yeah, it is," I agreed before standing. "Now I'm exhausted and I need sleep." I kissed Murphy before kissing Connor on the cheek and went to bed, leaving them to talk amongst themselves. It feels like all of the good parts of Boston are back.