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Louisa agrees, pointing at my stomach. “It’s talkin’ tummy talk.”
That almost made sense. The next thing I know, the twins are both trying to push me out of bed with four small hands. They’re both laughing their heads off like moving a grown up is the funniest thing ever. It’s been a long time since I was around small children. My brother and his wife adopted these two amazing little ones after my older sister passed away. Tommy and Louisa look just like Nicole. That makes watching them running around playing bittersweet. I miss her and my father so much it hurts.
I allow the twins to roll me out of bed and then I stretch my arms all the way up in the air and yawn, which of course they find hilarious as well. I’m starting to wonder if everything I do is humorous or if these two are just determined to laugh at everything today. We go to the kitchen where Cleo is just finishing the breakfast dishes.
“Good morning sleepyhead,” Cleo says. We decided to let you sleep in. I hope that’s okay.”
“Absolutely. Once I start working, I won’t get much opportunity to sleep late.”
Cleo has her toddlers tumbling around in a playpen situated against the wall. I stop by long enough to say hi to each of them. When Sammy and Solomon see me coming, they scramble to their feet and grab the rim. They both start jabbering at the same time, happy as can be. I glance over my shoulder at my brother’s wife, “It’s funny how you and Siege ended up with two sets of twins. Don’t you think?”
Cleo shuts the dishwasher and laughs. “Double the trouble and double the love, I guess twins must run in the family.”
I come to my feet and glance around at all the kids. “I don’t know how you do it. Taking care of four kids and working every day must be exhausting.”
Her expression is happy as she explains, “I’m not doing it all by myself. Your brother helps out a lot and we have two part-time nannies to do the caretaking in the afternoons until I get off work. It’s been a lot easier since Tommy and Louisa started school. That means for eight hours a day they’re under someone else’s watch.”
“Kids are great and all, but I prefer the ones you can visit with and then give back.”
Cleo smiles at my little joke. “Amazingly enough, they adore their Aunt Serena, so you’ll get the opportunity to spend time with them anytime you like.” Without waiting for me to comment she adds, “Come and eat. I’ll heat your food up.”
“Thanks,” I say eagerly. “I’m absolutely starving.”
I quickly settle down at the table, while Cleo wanders off to warm my plate in the microwave. I watch as Tommy and Louisa dump armfuls of stuffed animals into the playpen for their younger siblings. There are whimsical bears wearing tutus, giraffes with extra-long necks and even a stuffed fairy with wings.
When they’re finished, Tommy gives Louisa an assist so she can climb into the playpen. Then he climbs onto a kitchen chair that’s been pulled back against the wall and takes a silver ball out of his pocket. When he digs into his pocket again and comes out with a fist full of tiny pieces of foil that look like they might have once been wrapped around chocolate kisses, I realize my industrious little nephew is making a foil ball. He carefully smooths each new square of foil around the ball and presses it together with both hands. The look on his face is one of determination.
I would make a terrible mom because once Cleo puts my plate in front of me, all I can think about is stuffing my face. I’m clearly too distracted to be responsible for little ones.
When she comes back with a cup of coffee for me, I swallow the bite of food in my mouth so I can speak. “You make delicious pancakes. Is this a top-secret family recipe?”
“Yeah, it’s one your mother gave to Siege. He’s the local resident pancake maker and grill master in this house.”
I’m delighted to hear my brother is such a responsible family man. “Congratulations on domesticating my brother. I thought he was going to be a feral cur forever.”
“You must be kidding. Siege is the last of the great family men. He helps give baths, wipes dirty faces, reads bedtime stories, and gives goodnight kisses.”
I chuckle at her description of my brother’s domestic skills. “Yeah, but does he do that for just you or does he pitch in with the kids as well?”
My sister-in-law blushes furiously. “I was talking about the kids, of course. Siege even has tea parties with Louisa.”
I try to imagine my big muscle-bound brother wearing a floppy hat and squeezed in around all the stuffed animals at her little table with a teacup in his hand. The image is just too bizarre. “I’m sorry, but I’m gonna have to see that with my own eyes to believe it.”
“You’re welcome to spy on him anytime you want, but you should know if he catches you, he’s going to put you to work helping out with these kids.”
“He won’t get any complaints from me. I’m growing quite fond of my nieces and nephews.” When Cleo drops down in the chair across from me, I ask, “What’s on the agenda for this fine Saturday morning?”
“The brothers have scheduled a family day at the clubhouse,” she tells me, while looking all kinds of shifty. I say shifty because she doesn’t look at me when she says family day, and her voice goes up an octave.
I eye her suspiciously, wondering what’s really going on there. I hope it’s not some set up for me to meet all the new club members because my brother is hoping I’ll take a liking to one of them. Or it could be the first time they had a family day and she’s not quite sure what it is herself. “Our dad used to have those back in the day. Let me guess, it’s gonna be almost like a carnival, right?”
She nods, “They’re having a cookout, renting a bouncy castle, and setting up a bunch of games the kids can play to win prizes.”
Tommy’s head pops up and he asks, “Foil prizes?”
His mom grins back at him. “You better believe it. We’ve got foil squares in every color of the rainbow just for you.”
I don’t know what it is with this kid and foil, but his eyes light up like it’s Christmas morning. He’s all kinds of cute. Louisa stands up in the playpen and starts climbing over the side to get out. Tommy hops down from his chair, wraps an arm around his sister’s waist and hauls her up and over the edge. He’s wearing a little black leather vest with his name printed on a patch on the front. It’s much like the one his father wears, only without a club logo on the back. In this moment he looks so much like Siege, it makes me smile. I love that my brother finally has a sweet family of his own. He deserves all the happiness in the world.
