A/N: These keep getting longer. I don't mean to show favoritism towards one lad over the others. But Eddie's story is special to me. The details are a little heavy, but there's still plenty of fluff here.
It wasn't fair.
It wasn't fair.
Chris, his own twin brother, had gotten to go with Uncle Thomas on a trip. He got to fly on an airplane. To Florida.
To stay with Uncle Thomas, Uncle Eduardo, and Mimi.
For a week.
It. Wasn't. FAIR.
And then the day after Uncle Thomas and Chris had left, his cousin Brandon had driven down from Lexington. Aunt Becky and Uncle Adam had wanted Alex and Eddie to come stay with them during spring break.
Lexington wasn't Florida, but at least it was a city. And Eddie always liked visiting his aunt and uncle. And his cousins.
Even though they were all older, they were still fun. Liza, Emily and Jason always did fun things with Eddie and his brothers when they visited. Taking them horseback riding, or to basketball games, or to laser tag.
Last year, Brandon had gotten married. His wife Vanessa had a son. Jalen was almost eight, and was really fun to play with. He asked Brandon to bring Alex, Chris and Eddie to Lexington almost every weekend.
But when Brandon came, Mam and Da wouldn't let Eddie go with him.
He had gotten sick earlier that morning.
"But I want to go!" Eddie had begged Mam and Da. "I'm feeling better! I can still go to Aunt Becky's house-"
"No, you cannot," Mam had said, her lips pressed together. "You likely have the flu that we all had last week. I won't have you go there and make them all ill." She had glanced at Brandon. "And I doubt your cousin would like it if you threw up in his car."
"Ew, gross," Alex had muttered, pinching his nose shut.
Da had put his hand on Eddie's head. He'd wanted to shake it off.
I'm seven! Not a baby!
"You have a fever too, my lad," he had said. "You can go to Lexington another time."
And so Eddie stayed at home. Sick.
While his brothers went off and had fun.
It wasn't fair.
"At least it's spring break, and you don't have to miss school," Mam said that night, wiping his head with a cool cloth.
That was unfair, too! He was sick, and he wasn't even missing school! It was like being sick in the summer!
Da came back into the bedroom carrying the now-clean bowl and a cup. He set both on the little table by Eddie's bed.
"Here's some ice for you," he said. Eddie sat up against his pillows.
Da gave him a little piece of ice to suck on. Eddie's lips were cracked. The ice tasted good in his mouth, but his stomach didn't like it-
Mam grabbed the bowl just in time.
"My poor baby," she said. Da took the bowl from her hands and held it steady.
"I am not a baby," Eddie muttered after he'd spat into the bowl one last time.
Mam didn't seem to hear it.
She sat on the edge of the bed and held him. Despite his anger at her calling him a baby, he relaxed in her arms.
Being sick made him tired.
"I hate seeing him like this," Eddie heard her whisper. "Any of them sick is bad enough, but…" Her breath tickled his hair.
"This is the worst of it, I'm sure," Da said to her. He leaned over and kissed Eddie's hair. "I'll stay with him tonight. I don't want you getting it again."
Eddie swallowed the medicine Mam gave him and was asleep before Da came back in.
He was sick twice more during the night. Da kept giving him ice chips, and carried him to the bathroom once.
When Eddie woke up in the morning, he felt much better.
He was hungry.
"Good!" Mam said. The skin around her eyes crinkled when she smiled. "I'll get you something."
"Can I have pancakes?"
"May I. And no, you may not. Not until you're better. I'll make you tea, and you can have some crackers. And maybe some dry toast for you in a while after you've eaten that," she said.
He drank the tea and ate the crackers. By the afternoon, he was hungry again.
He was glad to be hungry.
The toast and soup he ate tasted really good.
Two days later, he was almost back to normal. His stomach was still complaining a little, but he hadn't been nearly as sick as the day when Alex left.
"I'm bored," he whined from the couch in the family room. He set the Ipad aside. Mam had locked it so he couldn't stay on it too long.
It was nice to FaceTime with Chris. But it made him wish he was in Florida, too.
Books were stacked on the side table and scattered on the floor. Eddie had read most of them. He had watched some TV with Mam, and an old movie, The Adventures of Robin Hood, with Da the night before.
He had fought Da to a draw in chess that afternoon.
"There's nothing to dooo." He sank back against the cushions. If it wasn't raining, he would have gone and played on the deck. It had a little roof. But raindrops drummed against the windows.
"If you're well enough to whine, you're well enough to work," Mam said from the kitchen.
Ugh. I HATE when she says that!
Eddie winced, hoping she wouldn't say anything more.
"You can help me dry the rest of the dishes."
He rolled his eyes, dragging his feet all the way into the kitchen. He grabbed the dish towel from the rack so hard it snapped almost like a whip.
"I'm glad you're here." Mam's voice was quiet underneath the running water in the sink. She smiled down at him. "I don't often get a chance to spend time with just you. Neither does Da."
He hadn't thought about that. Having a twin and an older brother, there was always someone else around.
"Where is Da?"
She lifted a pan from the soapy water and set it on the drying mat. "He's doing some work in our bedroom. He should be done soon. Charlie," she called. "Are you finished? We'll be done shortly."
"Almost," Da rumbled from behind the closed door.
Eddie bit his lip drying the serving spoon. He didn't want to smear it, but the spoon didn't want to be dried.
"It doesn't have to be perfect," Mam told him, stacking more of the dishes she'd finished on the stove. She bent over and kissed him on the cheek. "No matter what your Da says."
They laughed together.
"Who wants to play a game?" Da said a few minutes later. He raised his eyebrows at Eddie. "We don't have many games for just three, but we have a few. Or would you like a rematch of chess?"
It was tempting. But Eddie didn't feel like playing a game.
"Um…you read to us sometimes," he began.
Mam's eyes brightened. "That's a lovely idea! It's been a long time since Da read to us."
"Something good for a rainy spring evening," Da said, going into the family room. He peered at the tall bookshelves. "What would be a good story…"
"No," Eddie stomped his foot. "I don't want you to read! I can read, too!"
"We know you can, bairn," Mam lifted his chin gently. "There's no need to shout."
Sometimes she called Alex or Chris her baby. But she only used the word 'bairn' with Eddie.
He jerked himself away from her. "Don't call me that," he hissed, his fists clenched. He didn't know why he was so angry. He just wanted her and Da to stop calling him a baby. "My name is Eddie."
For a split second, he thought Mam would be angry. She blinked several times.
Then she turned towards Da, her shoulders slumped.
"All right, Eddie. We'll listen to you read. Whatever you like."
Her voice sounded thick.
Was she crying?
He looked across the room. Da watched Mam, a line between his eyes.
If I made her cry, I'll be in trouble.
Eddie gulped. "I-I'm sorry, Mam. I'm sorry I shouted." He went up behind her and put his arms around her waist. To his relief, she turned and hugged him back.
"I forgive you," she brushed at her eyes. "I sometimes have a hard time remembering how much you've grown."
"I'm not as tall as Chris, but he's only fourteen minutes older than me. I'll catch up."
Mam laughed. "I'll love you no matter how tall you are! And he's thirteen minutes older than you. Not fourteen. I think I remember that."
"If anyone remembers correctly, it would be you," Da said. He sat down on the couch with a thick album in his hands. "Yes, here it is. Thirteen."
"Really?" Eddie asked. He sat down next to Da. Mam sat on his other side, so he was in the middle. "Chris always says fourteen."
"He's got it wrong," Da said. He laid the heavy book on Eddie's lap. It wasn't really a book, but an album with pictures and other things in it. "See? These are copies of your birth certificates."
Eddie looked to where he pointed. Christopher Thomas Carson, 2:14 pm. Edward Charles Carson, 2:27 pm.
"Cool. I'm telling him when we talk tomorrow," he said. He turned the page and frowned. "I've seen this picture before."
Christopher and Edward, one week old, read the caption underneath. It was in Da's neat handwriting. He and Chris were tiny babies.
Well, he was tinier.
"He weighed six pounds, and you were barely five," Mam knew what he was thinking. "And he was an inch and a half longer." She put her arm around him.
"Yeah, I know," Eddie grumbled. Chris had always been bigger than him. His brother loved to remind him. "And I had to stay in the hospital longer."
"Do you know why?" Da asked. Eddie flipped the page. There was a picture of Alex with him and Chris at the hospital. Alex was little himself. Another picture was them with Aunt Becky and Aunt Beryl. And one with Uncle John and Aunt Anna. A picture of the front of the hotel, with a big banner over the doors. CONGRATULATIONS! TWIN BOYS! it read. There were two bunches of blue balloons, tied on either side.
"'Cause I was too little to leave, then I got sick," Eddie said impatiently. "I got a bad cold, or something."
"Pneumonia," Mam flipped the page. "The doctor thought you caught it from another baby."
Eddie's eyes widened. He had never seen the pictures on the next page.
They showed a skinny baby in some kind of glass box thing. There were tubes all over the baby and a big machine behind the box.
He knew it was him because the baby had a tuft of red hair. Both Alex and Chris had black hair like Da.
In one picture, Mam and Da were next to him and the box. They weren't looking at the camera. They were just looking at him.
"Is the new-new-was it bad?"
"Pneumonia. Yes, it was. You were in the hospital for more than a month." Da reached around him and put an arm around Mam, squishing them all closer together. Eddie didn't notice.
Mam and Da in the picture looked worried. Sad.
"You almost died," Mam murmured. "We came to the hospital every day. Some days Da slept there."
"Why didn't you?" asked Eddie.
"Your brothers needed me, too. Chris was a newborn, and Alex wasn't even two years old yet." She glanced at Da.
"Oh, yeah," Eddie muttered. They were babies. They couldn't take care of themselves.
Other pictures showed Da with his hand on Eddie. His hand covered him as well as a blanket. Another showed Mam holding him against her chest. Miss Sybil stood behind her chair, smiling down at them.
"Once you got better, and I could hold you again, I did!" Mam laughed. "I didn't want to let anyone hold you. Not even your father. You were my lucky bairn. You still are." She gave Eddie a squeeze. "Oh, you don't want me calling you that now."
He looked up at her. "It's okay if you want to call me that. Sometimes."
The pictures told him a story. He didn't mind as much as he did before.
"Thank you!" She grabbed him and kissed him. "My bairn, my wee bairn, I'll still call you that when you're twenty-"
Da laughed. "And she will. Always. When you graduate from school, when you bring a date home the first time…"
Eddie hugged Mam hard. They shared a secret glance and grinned.
They both attacked Da at the same time.
"No," Da tried to fight them off. Even he couldn't do it. He laughed harder, shaking the couch. "No, Eddie, you know I'm – Elsie!" he yelled when she tickled his belly. "That's not fair! Don't-"
They laughed so much they slipped onto the floor. Eddie stood up and wrapped his arms around Da. Da held his arms to keep him from tickling him again.
"No," he growled. But he was smiling.
"Oh, we are silly," Mam laughed, wiping tears from her eyes. She set the album on the table. "But that was fun."
They looked at some other albums together. Then Eddie read aloud from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. They played Settlers of Catan. Mam won, but it was still fun. She and Da laughed a lot.
Eddie liked being funny, even if he didn't know why they laughed at some of the things he said. It was nice to play with just Mam and Da.
It wasn't so bad, being the baby.
By thirteen minutes.
He grinned to himself later in bed. He couldn't wait to tell Chris.