Marriage is Murder

"Well," Khaat said, knowing that the answer to Catlins question was complicated. "Sort of, yes." In a way, yes, they were all connected. And in a way, no. They had their own families and the adults made the choices for their own children. But at this age, kids didn't understand the differences.

"Not the same," Abbey said to the child. "They boys. We girls. And they loud and fussy."

"Yes, well, you were once smaller than that," Khaat told Abbey. "Much smaller."

"No, I not. I big girl. And I not fussy," she said.

"I'll have Daddy get the photo books and show you," Khaat said. "You were all little and fussy at one time."

Catlin chuckled and screwed up her nose " boys yucky" she said and got down " girls better" she said and ran to play with Jaylen who was playing with some stuffed toys. Jack chuckled and nodded to Abby.

"From what I was told you were as small as a doll" he told her as Cassidy returned with two albums in her arms.

" are these what you wanted Khaat" she said smiling as she opened the book to show a small baby in over sized clothes. " see thats you when you were smaller" she said and knelt down in front of her so she could see them as she turned the pictures. " I thought I'd fetch them so not to disturb Robert"she said smiling knowing Robert and Kate had a lot of catching up to get through.

"Yes," Khaat said.

"Daddy!" Abbey picked out the picture of Brian easily but didn't make the connection of the tiny baby he was holding.

"Yes, and that's you," she said.

"It a blankie," she frowned.

"No," Khaat said. "Look closer. There's a baby in the blankie." Abbey looked closer.

"Not a toy?"

"No," Brian said, coming in. "That was you. That was the day I brought you home."

"Where Mama?" she asked.

"It took Mama a couple more days to get here," Brian said.

"She late," Abbey said.

"Well, yes. Sort of," Brian said. "And you were very very tiny. Your new brothers are lots bigger already than you were at that age."

"I bigger now," she said proudly.

"Yes. You certainly are," he said. "Aren't you supposed to be taking your nap? The last I knew you still took a nap after lunch."

"I a big girl now," she said. "I no take naps now."

"When did that start?"

"Now," she nodded.

"You think?" he laughed. "And that's too bad. I know there is a new storybook upstairs. You wont get to hear the story."

"Papa read it to me," she said

"Not today, he won't, and everybody else will know the story but you," he said. She gave him an unhappy pout. "If I were you, I'd think twice about that nap. I sure wouldn't want to miss the story."

Brant chuckled as he saw the look Abby gave Brian " best hurry if you want to hear the story I think I hear the book opening" he said smiling at Khaat and Brian as Cassidy picked up a sleepy James and Jaylen in her arms while Steven held Catlin and little Robert both headed for the stairs and walked up to the nursery. Placing the children they had down in their cots. Jim walked in with the last Cassidy placed each in so only Abby was left awake.

Brant moved to the kitchen and set the dishes to washing as he started on a summer fruit pudding for suppers desert. Jack chuckled and looked at the twins who were still sleeping. " wish our twins were that good" he said and chuckled. " ours woke every four hours for a feed." he smiled then moved to sit back down.

Abbey reluctantly went upstairs.

"You do know it won't be that easy forever," Khaat said.

"No, but I'm going to enjoy it while I can," Brian said. "Remember, we have a whole bunch of little ones now, but at some point, we're going to have loads of teenagers to deal with. We're going to get a lot of practice in dealing with contrary behavior."

"Don't make me any older than I am," Khaat said. "Lets not look at that before we have to."

"Getting older isn't as bad as you seem to think it is," Edward said. "In act, there are a lot of perks to it. There are, as in all things, some drawbacks, but there are far more good things."

"Such as?"

"Few people who will really argue with you or give you a hard time. You are far more settled in your life. Hopefully, your children are on their own and giving you grandchildren that you can have fun with and send back when they get cranky. And then there's all of that time to do whatever you like. Travel, garden, live quietly. I rather like it," Edward said.

Jack sat and listened to them both and chuckled as Abby left and headed up for her nap. " ow don't remind me about the teen years " he said and chuckled as he shook his head thinking about how the house would be full of noise and shouts and the smell of nail varnish as the girls painted both toes and nails.

Cassidy Abby walk into the nursery and smiled " hi Abby coming for your nap?" she asked " Papa isn't here yet" she said as she took the new book off the shelf and placed it by the large rocking chair ready for Robert to read to her.

"Just think of all the walk in closets you'll have to make," Khaat teased Brian.

"And all the smelly socks and messy bedrooms from the boys you'll have to deal with," Brian said.

"No," Khaat said. "I'll just handle it the way my father handled your room."

"Oh, now, that's just mean," Brian said, remembering.

"He set a charm on Brian's room," Khaat said. "If things got too out of place or got to smelling too badly--beyond a certain point--the charm just set that stuff on fire."

"I lost a lot of great socks that way," Brian sighed. "And a couple of my best shirts."

"Serves you right," she said. "Those had gotten well beyond rank. And it wasn't as if my mother hadn't asked you to bring them to be washed."

Upstairs, Abbey knew Papa, if he came to read the story, was never late. Today he was late, so she didn't believe he was coming.

"He not coming," Abbey said. "He busy. No story. I guess I no nap."

Jack laughed out loud " ow now that is a useful charm" he said and chuckled thinking on how they would learn quickly if they did that to them. Cassidy looked at Abby and sighed.

"Abby you need to nap, tell you what, go and knock for him" she said pointing to the door across from the every nursery. " he might have just forgot what with everything thats happened." She said with a smile hoping he would as she could see by Abby's eyes she was over tired and that mean she would become cranky really quickly.

Edward had followed them upstairs, heading for his room for a particular old book to research some things in, when he saw Abbey heading across the hall towards Robert's room. Edward knew that Robert and Kate simply wanted a few hours alone, and they were about to be interrupted by a three year old.

"Abbey," he said, coming up to her. "What do you need, Dear?"

"It time for stories," she said.

"Ah. And you miss the way he reads to you," he said. Abbey nodded.

"I do know how to do that spell too," Edward said. "Can I read to you today?" Abbey nodded. Edward followed her back to the nursery to keep Robert from being interrupted.

Once the kids were settled, Edward opened the book on the floor and simply used Robert's same tossing motion and seemed to take the illustration in his hand and tossed it up on the ceiling. The kids were delighted.

Cassidy smiled seeing Michael walk in with Abby " thanks Michael I think Robert wants time with Kate" she said softly as she covered up James who was now curled up and a sleep some of the others sat up to watch the show Cassidy chuckled and sat down between several of the cots to make sure they settled down to sleep.

Brant finished in the kitchen then moved to the potions lab. He was thinking about his first date with Amelia. He'd arranged to meet her for lunch so they could talk and get to know each other now he was worried she would not like him. He sat in the lab and mixed potions to take his mind off it.