Twelve.

G closed Goodnight, New York City, the evening's fourth story, and glanced hopefully at her young charges. Maggie's blue eyes were wide open and she wedged the baby under her chin. Noah's eyelids drooped and his ensuing question came out as more of a slur.

"All done?"

"All done," G said. "Night night."

She started to stand up, but Noah stopped her. "Gotta give hugs and kisses," he said.

"Oh…"

Before she could do anything, Noah rolled over and wrapped his arms around her torso. G patted his back and kissed the top of his head. "Goodnight Noah," she said, "I had fun with you today."

"We had fun, too."

Maggie fought against the red and blue covers and stood up. Her pink fairy princess pajamas clung to her arms and legs; G once read somewhere that kids were supposed to have tight-fitting pajamas, but both twins' sleepwear fit them like an uncomfortable second skin.

"Hug!" she dove at G and Noah, doing her best to wrap them in a group embrace.

"Ah!" Noah exclaimed, "Ni'night, small sister."

Like she'd done earlier, Maggie plastered herself to G and refused to let go.

"Okay, Maggie," G said, "Goodnight. You're going to sleep here with Noah. Back to your spot, ya go."

Maggie whimpered. Noah flung himself back against the pillows and sighed. G remembered seeing the rocking chair in the twins' room and improvised. "I'll try to get her to go in her crib, Noah. You go to sleep."

"Kay."

When Olivia came home, she found G in the rocking chair with a now-asleep Maggie. Moonlight fell across her daughter's cherubic face—her lips were slightly parted and a faint smirk lingered on her face. Yet again, Maggie had subverted an adult's bedtime resolve. Olivia smiled at G's apologetic, sheepish expression and gingerly transferred Maggie to her bed. She kissed her fingers and lightly touched them to Maggie's cheek. Olivia hovered over Wyatt next and kissed his forehead.

"Thank you for doing this," Olivia said, "And thanks for all the pictures. Gave me something to do in between speeches. Everything, well, except for my daughter's aversion to sleep, everything go okay?"

"Yes," G replied, "With Noah…it's pretty easy. He sure knows what he's doing."

"He does," Olivia said. "Wise and mature beyond his years." She handed a few bills to G but the babysitter politely declined payment. "I insist," Olivia said. "Take it. We really appreciate you…Ed and I…we're a little overprotective."

G smiled graciously and, realizing Olivia wasn't going to take no for an answer, reluctantly took the money. "This really isn't necessary," she mumbled, "But thanks. Let me know if you need me again. I had fun."

"We will. I can call you an Uber?"

"No, no, I'm good."

G left and Olivia looked in on Noah. He was asleep with his fists balled above his head and Bernie at his side. His phone and iPad were charging in the corner—either he'd been overwhelmingly tired or he'd taken to heart the warnings not to use the devices after lights out.

After showering, Olivia slid under the covers and turned so she was facing Ed's empty side of the bed. Via text messages she'd promised to call once she was home. It was almost four o'clock in the morning in Ireland, but she called him anyway. He picked up the Face Time call on the second ring. The lights in his quaintly decorated room were on and he smiled brightly.

"Hey, Lieutenant." He was lying on his stomach on the four poster bed. "How was the dinner?"

"Boring."

He smirked.

"Does the fact I had to sit through three hours of yawn-inducing speeches amuse you?" She teased.

"A little."

"How was your day?"

"Good…sightseein' around here and going out to Cork tomorrow, well," he leaned over and checked the time, "In a couple hours. Had some great stew at the pub down the street. Only thing missin' was me givin' you a taste of it."

"I miss you too," she showed him his side of the bed, "It's been so long since I've slept by myself."

"Yeah," he murmured and naughtily raised his eyebrows, "What are ya wearin?"

"A shirt of yours."

Ed smiled approvingly and said, "Take it off."

"Ed!"

"Take it off," he repeated, more insistently.

Olivia propped the phone against some pillows and slowly gathered the cotton in her hands.

"I can't believe I'm going to do this."

…

While Ed chased down Maggie and Olivia buried her face in her hands, a shocked Wyatt chewed the inside of his mouth, figuring out what to do. Tension like this was rare in his family, and when it happened, he never knew how to react. He wrung his hands. In the distance, waves crashed to the shore, but, in front of him, his mother's shoulders rose and fall as she took deep, calming breaths. Every few seconds, she sniffled.

"It's okay, Mom," he said reassuringly though he was jittery and his chest burned. He sat beside Olivia and put an arm around her.

Olivia put her head on his shoulder and finally put her hands down. "Thank you, sweetheart," she said.

"Maggie's just in a bad mood," Wyatt explained with all the teenage wisdom he could muster, "She'll get over it."

"I certainly hope so."

"I'm sorry she said that to you," Wyatt's voice cracked ever so slightly. He and his sister were both generally happy and content. However, when frustrated, Maggie never hesitated to express her discontent, and everyone was used to instances of Maggie saying things she didn't mean. She could be incredibly dramatic, and, most of the time, her tirades were amusing rather than upsetting. Wyatt wasn't sure he'd ever heard her say "I hate you" to anyone. She surely hadn't said it to their mother.

"She didn't mean it," he mumbled.

Olivia straightened her back and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. She sighed. "Everyone's so miserable…"

"We all had plans and they didn't work out," Wyatt said.

Olivia tugged on a section of his close-cropped brown curls. Her eyes beamed with pride. "You're so smart, honey. You're right." Another sigh, "Maybe a couple more days…"

"Then Noah'll be here and Maggie can go to that stupid bonfire."

Chuckling, Olivia asked, "Why's it stupid?"

Wyatt screwed up his face, "They play weird music and a bunch of them smoke and it's…" Wyatt trailed off.

"…not your thing?"

"No."

Olivia started to ask what exactly they were smoking, but she didn't want to take too much advantage of Wyatt's willingness to be honest. Her younger son did not have any innate ability to be deceptive—the few times he'd attempted a lie or evasion had been comically disastrous.

Wyatt had successfully helped put his mother at ease, but, when a scowling Ed returned, he promptly announced he was going to bed.

"Night bud," Ed said in a tone incongruous with his expression. He quickly turned his attention to Olivia. "You okay?"

"I'm fine."

Evidence of tears belied her words. Ed hovered over her and leaned down for a kiss before coaxing her to her feet. He tapped his phone screen a few times and music began playing from their wireless speaker. They began swaying to songs on a playlist Ed had curated especially for moments like these. "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran played first—it had been Sarah's and Justin's wedding song but, after the reception, Ed stole it and claimed the tune as theirs.

Head on her husband's chest, Olivia gradually felt her blood pressure and heart rate return to normal. She forgave Maggie. Wyatt was right—the vacation had come at both the best and worst time—when everyone in the family was a little off. Noah's presence always lightened the collective mood, and he would arrive soon.

Ed felt the tension leave her body. By the time they went to bed, he believed she was, truly, fine.

….

Noah and Olivia dropped the twins off at day care and continued on to school. As usual, Noah half-skipped his way along the sidewalk, and his backpack bounced up and down against his shoulders. He blithely swung his mother's hand and relayed the details of the previous night with G. He described the walk, the path they took, the snack at the café and taking pizza home—he made sure to tell her Wyatt ate only two bites while Maggie devoured a large portion of G's slice.

"And how many stories did you read?"

Noah ticked off the count on his fingers, "One, two, three, FOUR!"

"G told me you helped out with Maggie and Wyatt. Thank you, sweet boy."

"Yep! Those babies like ta run around so I told G s'okay to get 'em outta da stroller. Then I jus' play with 'em till it was time to go."

Olivia smiled sweetly. "I'm glad you like G, sweet boy. Would it be okay if she stayed with you again? If Sarah or Brooke can't watch you when Mommy and Daddy are away?"

"Yup! It okay!"

"Good."

"But! We like it when you and Daddy are with us!"

Olivia's heart exploded. "We like to be with you, too, sweetie. We love you so much."

"Love YOU!" Noah looked up to her with his brow furrowed, "Hey! We didn't talk ta Daddy last night! Cause you were at da fun'raiser!"

"I called him when you were asleep," Olivia admitted, "He misses you, but he and Grandma and Aunt Margie are having a good time. We'll call him tonight. And then, in three days, he'll be back!"

Noah narrowed his eyes, "You talked ta Daddy?"

"Yes."

"What'd he say?"

Olivia shivered and suppressed laughter as she thought of her husband's X-rated demands. "He said he was eating good food and seeing a lot of old buildings and today they were going to where Grandma Caroline was born."

"Wow!"

"Yeah. When he gets back we'll have him show us all the pictures on the big screen."

"Mommy?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"What you gonna do at work today?"

"Oh, I have to sign a lot of papers that says the work Sonny and Amanda and everyone else did was good work. Then I have an appointment with the man who is making the TV show—remember, I told you about that?"

"I 'member."

"And then I'll help the squad with the investigations we have going on. I'll probably have to make a lot of phone calls."

"Who ya callin?"

"The lab mostly, they do the science tests that help us solve our cases," Olivia said, "What are you going to do at school?"

"First we have math then reading and writing and we have lunch and recess then science and social studies and," Noah scrunched up his face, "What day's today?"

"Thursday."

"We have music t'day. Playin' da r'corders."

Olivia chuckled as she imagined Noah's class of twenty playing the rudimentary musical instruments. "I haven't heard from Mia in a while. How's she doing?"

"She good," Noah said.

"Does she play the recorder?"

"Yeah, but she sometimes hasta take a break," Noah said.

"She'd probably rather sing."

"Yep! She's a good singer. I wanna play da bongos, but the teacher say, 'Noah, everrone play da recorder first then ya can play da bongos at free time."

"Free time?"

"Yep! Dats when ya play what ya want."

"Wow," Olivia said, laughing again, "That must be…loud."

"S'really loud!" Noah said gleefully. "Miss Watson goes into her office and watches us through da glass!"

"Oh my…"

"I telled her I have headphones at home for my g'tar and she say 'Noah, thatsa great idea' so I think she gonna get some headphones like da ones Sare Bear have for making things quiet."

"Maybe we should get her a set for a present."

"Great idea, Mommy!" Noah giggled, "We're good idea people!"

"We sure are."

In an effort not to be late, Olivia left the apartment several minutes early, and they arrived at school with at least a half hour to spare. "Hey," she said brightly, "Here's another idea…we have some time…how about we go get something a little sweet to start our day?"

"Breakfast again?" Noah asked disbelievingly.

"Sure," Olivia said, "Or a fun drink?"

Noah's eyes grew wide. "How 'bout a frap'cino?"

"You got it, sweet boy."

"Then maybe I jus' go to police with you?" Noah asked with a shrug.

"You could," Olivia said, not wanting to completely shut him down, "But then you'd miss music and your friends and all the learning you're going to do today."

"Yeah," Noah agreed, "Gotta go to school so I can grad-u-ate."

"Graduate?"

"Yeah! Dat's da end of school! Da big kids came an' told us about it."

"Oh?"

"Yeah! And one of 'em showed us all da different medals and ropes—dat means he's really smart."

"Wow."

"When I'm big, I'm gonna have all the stuff!"

Picturing her son graduating with honors caused a lump to form in Olivia's throat. "Keep working hard, sweet boy, and I'm sure you will have all those ropes and medals."

"But first," Noah said cheerfully as they approached the coffee shop, "We get frap'cinos!"

Olivia forced a smile. They had many remaining years of Frappuccinos and pub dates and walks to school, but she wished she could capture and prolong moments like these.

…...

Cool, breezy mornings on the Delaware shore delighted Olivia. When the kids were younger she would cuddle with them under a blanket on the back porch. Wyatt would typically be up first, then Noah, and, finally, Maggie would add herself to the pile. Ed made breakfast, and Olivia and the kids planned their day. Even as they got older, the back porch was the family's morning gathering spot. Only now, during this trip, Olivia's snuggly children had turned into churlish teenagers wearing hoodies and athletic shorts and making it a point to sit as far away from each other as possible. She suspected Wyatt had admonished Maggie last night before he went to bed because, throughout hot drinks and breakfast, the wayward girl had not so much as looked at her brother.

"I'm gonna get things cleaned up in the kitchen," Ed said. He and Olivia had done a poor job of requiring the kids to do chores. However, if asked, they readily lent assistance. "Then, Wyatt, I need you to help me lift the countertop out here." The rest of Ed's morning was devoted to giving the outdoor cooking area a thorough scrubbing.

"Okay."

"Will you take my card and run down to the store for Brillo pads?"

"What's a Brillo pad?"

"It's uh," Ed made his hands into a circular shape, "It's like a sponge, but it's steel wool."

Wyatt looked it up on his phone and nodded. "I got it. But these pictures look really old. Are you sure they still make this?" A mischievous grin formed on his face. Ed rolled his eyes and put Wyatt in a playful headlock.

Olivia expected Maggie to make some excuse to leave her presence, but she stayed put.

Last night, after Olivia and Ed danced for several songs and made love, they fell asleep without Ed giving much detail as to what he said to Maggie. He correctly sensed Olivia wanted to temporarily forget their daughter's venomous outburst.

"Want to go for a walk?" Maggie asked in a quiet, repentant voice. It was about as far from "I HATE YOU" as she could get without completely groveling at her mother's feet.

Thrilled, Olivia offered a tiny smile and shot to her feet. "Sure." She called in to Ed, "Maggs and I are going for a walk!"

"Kay," he nonchalantly called back to her.

Their footsteps were making imprints in the wet sand along the shoreline before either one of them spoke. Unbeknownst to anyone, Maggie had been up most of the night, crying and beating herself up for what she'd said. She'd worked herself into a fit of despair and was convinced her words were unforgiveable.

"Mom, I'm sorry," Maggie blurted out after they'd walked for several minutes. Tears spontaneously poured down Maggie's cheeks and she slapped them away. "No matter how mad I was or how much I wanted to go, I should have never, ever said that and I feel really, really bad."

Olivia slung an arm around Maggie's neck and kissed the side of her head. Their long brown locks swirled in the wind and became loosely tangled together. "Apology accepted, sweet girl," she said. "I…I really do trust you, Maggie, it's just…I get so worried…I don't trust other people. I can't help it. I've tried, as you and Wyatt and Noah have grown up, not to worry so much, and I'm a lot better than I used to be, but I still…if anything ever happened to you, I couldn't handle it. I need to know you're safe."

"I wasn't thinking about you," Maggie admitted, "I was being really selfish. I forget…I forget how much you worry. And I wish you wouldn't, but…I guess…"

"…you're sort of stuck with that," Olivia finished for her.

"Yeah."

"Sweetie, I will keep trying…but, being a Mom, it's a scary thing. I, well, I don't think I've told you this before, but I never thought I would be a Mom. I had kids late in life, and you and your brothers are that much more precious to me."

"Dad sorta told me that."

Olivia wiped away tears of her own.

"Why did you wait so long to have kids?" Maggie asked.

"A lot of reasons," Olivia replied, "For a long time I was zeroed in on my job. Then I was in…well…I was in some head spaces where…having a child would've been a very bad idea. The first adoption agency I went to basically laughed me away, then, there was more work stuff, I got promoted, but right when I thought I was maybe ready to have a family, everything fell apart again."

"That guy you wrote about in the book?"

"Yes. That. And then, my boyfriend at the time, we wanted different things. But," Olivia continued on more cheerfully, "I got Noah a few months later. And everything changed—my priorities, my outlook on life—it was challenging, but it happened."

"Then Daddy…"

All three of the kids knew their parents' story and enjoyed teasing them about it from time to time.

"Then Daddy," Olivia gave Maggie another side-hug, "And then you and Wyatt. Two more strokes of luck…"

Maggie winced. Last night she doubted her mother felt lucky to have her. "I am so, so sorry," she mumbled.

"I forgive you, sweet girl," Olivia said.

Maggie grabbed Olivia's wrist so she stopped walking and pulled her into a firm, proper embrace. "I love you, Mom."

Olivia battled impending sobs and managed to croak, "I love you too, honey."

They both took deep breaths of ocean air as they turned around for home.

"Wyatt and Dad are probably going to take forever cleaning that thing," Maggie said. "Can we go to lunch later?"

"Absolutely, sweet girl. Anywhere you want."

…...

A morning of navigating narrow rural roads left Ed in need of a drink, so once they got settled in the small village inn outside Cork, Ed immediately led his mother and sister to a waterfront pub. It was too chilly for the windows to be open, but they were seated at a table with an unimpeded view of the harbor. White sailboats and tourist cruisers stood out prominently in contrast to the gray, cloudy day. Ed imagined his children pressing their faces to the glass and, Maggie especially, bellowing "BOAT!"

"Spectacular countryside," Caroline remarked of the drive as they sipped Guinness. "And, Eddie, I wasn't once afraid of crashing."

"I never knew you hated my driving."

"You drive like a cop."

Margie rifled through their tour books and pamphlets. She busied herself making a plan for the rest of the day—there were several sites and museums to visit and tour, and they were spending the night in the village so they weren't pressed for time.

Ed snapped a few photographs and sent them to Olivia. He made his mother crowd in for a selfie and sent that particular photograph to Noah's phone so he would have a nice surprise in case he checked the device.

"How's Olivia managing with the three babies?" Caroline asked.

"She's good—had somethin' last night so she called the babysitter. Sarah and Brooke were busy. Twins are going to day care…tough parts are takin' them all to the park and bedtime."

"She's a good woman, Eddie."

"Yeah she is."

"Looking forward to her retiring?"

"Yeah. Not really sure what to expect, but yeah."

"It will take her some time to get used to it," Caroline said, "When your Dad retired, at first, I was begging him to go back to work!"

Ed grinned. "I'm sure she'll find somethin' to do part time. She won't be able to totally give up her career. This I know."

"And you don't mind?"

"Nope. I want her to do what makes her happy. We'll still have tons of time to travel, be together…and she's excited about bein' a full time Mom."

"And what are you going to do?"

"Same thing I've been doin'…be there…for whatever."

Caroline raised her glass, "I'm proud of you, my boy. And…whatever it took for you to get her to marry you…it was worth it. Well done."

"Second," Margie mumbled, still consumed with her books and maps.

Ed raised his eyebrows and pretended to be gravely serious. "Do you actually think I'm that awful?"

Caroline gulped her beer, swallowed, and, with a deadpan expression, replied, "Once upon a time, yes."

…..

#Tuckson