They decided to do the zoo tomorrow, after meeting Aunt Julie. Jennifer fed McKenna and put her down for a nap, and Jonathan got the big kids settled upstairs with a movie.
He and Jennifer went to their room to talk and take a nap.
"Did you lock the door?"
"Yes, I did".
She leaned up and kissed him while he took his tie off.
"I'm so glad you took the afternoon off".
"Me too".
He walked into the bathroom and hung up his tie.
He grabbed some jeans and a polo and brought them to the chair in the bedroom.
She was under the covers waiting for him.
They wasted no time.
He wrapped his arms around her, and his lips found hers.
He kissed her face, and then her neck, and then that spot behind her ear.
He nibbled on her breast some, and rolled her on top of him.
She leaned forward so that her hair fell on his shoulders as she kissed him.
He reached over and grabbed a condom out of the nightstand drawer and put it on and then returned to her.
"You are the most beautiful woman in the whole wide world".
She kissed him as he plunged inside of her, and propelled his hips forward over and over again.
He squeezed her breasts as he did so, and softly bit her earlobe.
She let out a soft moan, and gripped his shoulders.
He took her over the edge first, and then a few minutes later, they went over it together.
He kissed her as they calmed down, and wrapped his arms around her.
"That was fantastic."
"Yeah, we both needed that".
"Yes we did".
They cuddled for a little bit, and then he started kissing her face again.
"Want to do it again?"
"If you do".
This time, he was like a wild animal. He couldn't get enough of her. It was rough, even more intense than normal, and instead of enjoying it, Jennifer just tried to get through it.
He passed out when he was done, so she pulled herself off him and climbed out from under him.
She went and showered and then got dressed, and went to see what the kids were doing.
Savanna was watching a movie downstairs with Max and Luke was playing xbox. McKenna was still asleep.
Savanna climbed into Jennifer's lap when she came downstairs.
"Did you and Uncle Jonathan take a nap?"
"Yes, we did. He's still asleep".
Jennifer started making a list of things they would need for dinner.
"Max, do you want to go to the market or do you want to watch the kids?"
"I'll take the market, Miss Edwards".
She handed him the list and he promised to be back as soon as possible.
He was back in about an hour, and she started on dinner.
She was making everyone spaghetti and meatballs. She let Savanna help her mix the spices.
Jonathan woke up when McKenna was crying, and brought her downstairs.
"There she is, I told you we would find Aunt Jennifer".
"Hi monkey".
She gave them both a kiss.
"Aunt Jeffer is making pasghetti for dinner".
"I can smell that, it smells yummy".
She made two boxes of noodles for all of them, and doubled the sauce.
Max and Luke were in the den watching a basketball game.
Savanna looked at Jonathan.
"You sleeped a long time".
"Yeah, I did. I was tired. How long did you sleep?"
"No sleep for me".
"Maybe you will sleep tonight".
"Here's hoping she will".
Jennifer got out Savanna's antibiotic and gave it to her, and then returned to the spaghetti.
About 20 minutes later, it was ready. Jonathan put McKenna in her highchair and they gave her a bottle of water, and Jennifer made her a bowl of noodles and sauce.
"Darling, can you take her shirt off her, please? And her pants."
"Just a diaper?"
"Just a diaper. If she gets messy, I'll bathe her after dinner".
Jonathan went to tell Max and Luke that dinner was ready, and then set the table.
Savanna declared that she wanted to sit next to Aunt Jeffer, so they made that happen.
McKenna practically devoured her spaghetti, and got it all over her face and head.
"I think she likes it, Aunt Jeffer".
"Yeah, I think so too".
Max even told her it was amazing.
"Well thank you, Max".
Jonathan did the dishes, while Jennifer fed McKenna some pureed pears, which she loved.
"I think this girl just likes food. She seems to attack everything on a spoon".
Savanna stayed right by Jennifer's side.
After the dishes were done, Jennifer and Savanna gave McKenna a bath in the sink, and got her all nice and clean.
"Savanna, go ask Uncle Jonathan if wants a special dessert".
"Ok".
She ran off and asked him and then came back.
"He said what is it?"
"Tell him it's a surprise".
"Ok".
She was drying off McKenna and getting a diaper on her.
"He said yes".
"Ok".
She took McKenna to him and gave him some pajamas to put on her.
"Max, and Luke, do you want dessert?"
"Yeah".
"Sure, Miss Edwards".
She went and got it ready and then sent Savanna to tell them to come on.
When they all came in the kitchen, Savanna yelled out "Ice cream sundaes".
"Oh yes, what a wonderful surprise".
She kissed him and got out the bowls.
Jonathan made his and Luke's bowl, and she made hers and Savanna's.
They took their ice cream to the den, and she made McKenna a bottle and gave it to her.
After they ate their sundaes, she took the dishes to the sink and rinsed them and put them in the dishwasher.
She came back and snuggled on the couch with Jonathan, and ultimately, Savanna.
They stayed up till the news came on, and then they all went to bed.
Jennifer plugged in the night lights that Jonathan had brought home in Savanna's room, and offered one to Luke as well.
After they were down for the night, Jennifer and Jonathan went to bed.
She opened the windows and they climbed into bed.
He wrapped his arms around her and they fell asleep.
***Middle of the night***
A storm rolled in, and woke up Savanna. She started crying and went to Jonathan and Jennifer's bed.
Jennifer pulled her into bed with them and she went back to sleep.
Luke woke up too, and came to their room. He brought a blanket and a pillow and slept on the floor at the end of the bed.
Jennifer woke up around 5, hot and sweaty.
She was sandwiched between Jonathan and Savanna.
She scooted Savanna over, and then climbed over Jonathan and got out of bed. She went to the bathroom and got a cold washcloth to put on her neck.
After she cooled off some, she got some water and came back to bed. She moved Savanna over and got in the middle between her and Jonathan and went back to sleep.
They slept till 8, when Jonathan woke up.
He started getting a little touchy-feely with Jennifer.
"Darling, there are kids in the bed".
He sat up and saw Savanna in the bed and Luke on the floor.
"Don't you remember them coming in here last night?"
"No, not at all".
They got up and went downstairs and found Max feeding McKenna avocado.
"I heard her crying so I went to get her and decided to take the breakfast shift. Hope you don't mind".
"We don't mind at all, Max".
"I made a run to get donuts and pastries. They are on the counter".
Savanna picked out the rainbow sprinkle one, and Luke picked out the chocolate.
Jennifer usually didn't eat donuts, but she decided to go with the Jelly filled and Jonathan went with custard filled chocolate covered.
"Thanks for the donuts, Max".
"Sure".
After they were done eating, Jennifer ran upstairs and got a shower and got dressed, and then got Savanna a shower and got her dressed. Jonathan told Luke to take a shower and get dressed, and when he came downstairs, McKenna was dressed also.
"Darling, what if we have Max take the kids to the park, and we talk to her, and then we introduce them later?"
"Yeah, we can do that. Or we can have the kids meet her first, and then go to the park, or even upstairs to watch a movie".
She made some sweet tea and some chocolate chip cookies and had them sitting on the coffee table when the doorbell rang.
Jonathan let them in, and brought them to the den.
"Hi, I'm Jennifer Edwards".
"Hi, I'm Julie Luckett, and this is my husband Sean".
They all shook hands.
"This is our houseman, Max. And these are the kids. Luke is 8, Savanna is 5, and McKenna is 8 months".
"Hi kiddos".
Max took Luke and Savanna upstairs so the adults could talk, and got them watching a movie.
McKenna was content in her jumperoo.
"Ok, so here's the deal. Caroline and Patrick were our best friends, and they passed away in a car accident a few months ago. We took care of them, and then we gave them to someone we thought was Caroline's sister. As it turns out, she wasn't."
"She wasn't her sister?"
"No. We found out that before Caroline's parents died, this person came to them and said she was their daughter, thanks to an affair Mr. Jensen allegedly had. The DNA test proved otherwise, and the matter was dropped. Caroline and I were roommates at the time, and she never told me about any of that. Then, 4 months later, her parents are killed in a car accident, and she tells me that a girl approached her at the funeral home and told her she was her sister. As far as I know, they kept in touch but they weren't like best friends or anything. She had this husband, Mike, that she married about 5 years ago, and he's always been odd. We didn't find out she wasn't really her sister till yesterday".
"How did you find out?"
"My private investigator did. We took over caring for the kids, and then they told us that February 1, they would take them. The will stated that they wanted us to care for them short term, and them to care for them long term, so they took them. They called earlier this week and Abby sounded like she was about to have a nervous breakdown. So, we agreed to take the kids, flew out to get them, and brought them here. And we discovered that they were mistreating them, so we decided not to send them back. And we wanted to make sure that there weren't any other relatives out there, before we petitioned for custody".
"I see. Mistreated how?"
"Treated them differently, for starters. Physical abuse in Savanna's case, mental in Luke's".
"Oh, that's awful".
"Savanna has some residual fears. For example, if you tell her you are giving her medicine, she freaks out and promises to behave. I think they were giving her hot sauce as a punishment. And when you give her a bath, she thanks you for letting her have hot water, because they weren't allowed hot showers, only cold ones".
"They have some financial accounts set up for them. All three have college funds, and the will stated that Caroline and Patrick wanted the house to go into a trust or be sold and the money put into a trust for them, so we will see that it's done. They are supposed to each get a third of the money when McKenna turns 21".
"Well, we are more than happy to take them. We aren't able to have kids of our own, so we are more than excited to raise them".
"They are good kids. Savanna and I are very close. Luke loves sports and reading, while Savanna loves Barbies and Princesses. She hates storms and fireworks and haunted houses, and sometimes she wakes up clingy. If she says "can you scratch me," that means a back scratch. And if she says "Will you send me a mail", that means a postcard. I made a list for you. She absolutely cannot under any circumstances have the steroid oral dexamethasone."
"Yeah, she's not kidding. For the love of humanity, don't give it to her".
They explained what she did when they gave it to her and how she was acting.
"It was about an hour, an hour and half of pure chaos".
"Oh my. We will make sure she doesn't get that".
"She takes medicine well, if she knows she can wash it down right after. And she loves to be sung to, and have her back scratched."
"And McKenna is the easiest baby ever. She loves the Batman song, and she will say the Batman part herself. She just started eating solid food, and is doing pretty well with it. Favorites are bananas and pears, and avocado. I have been pureeing all her food myself, I haven't bought her any pre-made baby food. And she takes a bottle right afterwards, and she can feed herself a bottle, but not a spoon just yet. She loves to chew on the spoon after she's done. The last bottle of the night, the one she gets around 9, she wants you to feed to her and she will fall asleep faster if you do."
"Perfect."
Max went to get the kids, while Jennifer and Jonathan asked them questions about themselves.
"We don't believe in physical discipline. But we do believe in child labor, meaning, you make a mess, you clean it up. We are more of a time-out family. And the school they will go to is right at the end of our neighborhood."
"Do you see your mother at all?"
"Yes, every day. She lives in a facility about 10 minutes from me. She has Alzheimer's, and she's at her best in the morning, so I try and spend about an hour with her. Some days are better than others, but she's getting good care where she is, and that's important".
"There are a few things we want to discuss with you. One, we want to be able to visit them, and send them packages and things like that. We can obviously work out the details, but it would be something like we fly up there, take them for the weekend to a hotel or something, and give you guys a break."
"We would love that".
"Another thing is, we are getting married in August, and we promised them we would have them in our wedding. We still want to do that".
"Of course! We have no problems with that".
"Wonderful!"
Max brought them in then, and Savanna climbed up in Jennifer's lap.
"Can you say hi to your Aunt Julie?"
"Hi".
"You are such a pretty girl".
"Thank you".
"Lovebug, Uncle Jonathan and I talked to Aunt Julie and Uncle Sean, and they agreed to let you guys still be in the wedding".
"Yay!".
Savanna looked at Julie.
"Did she tell you not to give me the crazy medicine?"
"Yes, she did. We won't give it to you".
"Savanna is very 'tell-it-like-it-is', and she likes to set the record straight".
"Her father was a lot like that".
"The children have some boxes in the house in New York. As soon as the other aunt and uncle get back from wherever they went, the boxes will be obtained and I will have them shipped to you. They contain their baby books, their toys, and some special mementos".
"Perfect. We can't wait to see them".
Jonathan went and got McKenna and set her down on the floor. To everyone's surprise, she started crawling and crawled over to Julie.
Julie picked her up and set her on her lap.
"She sleeps through the night?"
"Yes, she does. She goes down anywhere between 9:30 and 10 and sleeps till about 6:30 or 7".
"That's a great sleep schedule".
"Savanna's favorite songs are 'You are My Sunshine', 'Twinkle Twinkle', and the one she calls the feel better song is "I love you A Bushel and a Peck".
"What are we supposed to call you?"
"Well, what if for now, you called us Aunt Julie and Uncle Sean?"
Savanna nodded, and so did Luke.
"Do you have a dog?"
"No, we don't. We will probably get one someday, but we don't have one right now".
"Well, we are taking them to the zoo, and we should probably get going. How long are you guys going to be in town?"
"Till tomorrow afternoon. We can pick the kids up at say, 3 p.m.? Our flight is at 5, so we need to get to the airport by 4".
"I tell you what. I have my own plane, and I'm happy to fly all of you back to Portland. That way, you can take the crib, the jumperoo, the pack n' play, the high chair, and all their stuff with you".
"Thank you, we'd love that".
They exchanged contact information then, and the kids gave them hugs.
Jonathan saw them out, and then looked at Jennifer.
"You ok?"
"Yes. I feel good about it. They seemed to be sensible people".
"I agree".
They all went upstairs and changed clothes and came back downstairs.
They headed to the zoo, and spent 4 hours looking at all the animals.
Savanna rode most of the way on Jonathan's shoulders, and Jennifer pushed McKenna in the stroller.
They grabbed hot dogs from a hot dog cart and ate them in front of the elephants.
After they were done, they headed home.
"Who wants to go to Chuck E Cheese tonight?"
"Me! Me!"
"Me too!"
"Ok, let's go".
"Darling, are you sure?"
"Yeah. I want them to have a fun last day with us".
She nodded.
They stopped by the house and dropped McKenna off with Max.
"We'll be back in a couple hours".
They swung by an ATM and then headed to Chuck E Cheese.
The kids said they didn't want the pizza but they did want drinks, so they ordered drinks and then sat down.
Jonathan took Luke to play the race car games and the weapon shooting games and Jennifer took Savanna to play ski-ball and the bucket toss.
About a thousand dollars later, the kids had bags full of prizes and they were ready to head home.
They all got into their pajamas when they got home and then made sundaes again.
McKenna was excited to see them. Jonathan ran her around the house like an airplane a few times, and got a few laughs out of her.
By 10 p.m., everyone was asleep.
Jennifer and Jonathan climbed into bed.
He wrapped an arm around her.
"Goodnight, I love you".
"Goodnight, I love you too".
***Sunday***
Jonathan got up and made everyone French toast, and sliced fruit and bacon.
Jennifer fed McKenna some bananas and pears, and a bottle.
After breakfast, Jennifer did the dishes while Jonathan got everyone baths and dressed.
Their things were downstairs at 1. He loaded the Explorer and had it ready, so that he could follow Julie and Sean to the airport.
They arrived at 2:45.
Jennifer gave the kids lots of hugs as she told them goodbye, and she was better prepared for it this time. So were they.
Jonathan was back home by 5, and found her in the kitchen.
He pulled her into a warm embrace.
"It's going to be ok. They are going to be well cared for".
"I know".
"Let me take you somewhere".
"Ok".
He went upstairs and packed them a bag and then secretly put it in the car.
He came back and found her pouring the tea she had made into a travel mug.
He took her hand, and after leaving a note for Max, led her to the car.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see".