A Party that is not a Funeral

            Kyle’s death was difficult for my entire family, but I had been positive that it would prove hardest for Frederick. Being his father’s favorite, life would be very different without him. Another one of the children, surprisingly, seemed to display the most signs of struggling however.

            Francis had been the only one of the children to not come straight home from school that day. He’d gone off to play with a friend at their house. Or their dog might be more accurate.

            It was terrible, waiting until he came home to tell him.

            Francis cried the most, often having multiple spells in a row. And his grades in school took a slip as well. To be honest, I had not expected much of a reaction from him. That might make me less of a mother.

            My first twins were the reason the household did not completely fall away from routine.

            Although they were pained, they showed it sparingly, helping me with their siblings as much as possible for two teenagers.

            Milton took it an extra step, keeping a close eye on his twin.

            And he also watched over me.

            Feeling the way I felt after losing my husband, it made me ponder on whether or not Mother had been the smarter woman. Maybe she was simply cleverer. She had never taken seriously to a man, thus never having to grieve his departure. Grieving nearly felt like an endless struggle. One not even work could pull me from.

            Life deemed it necessary to move on though.

            My two sets of younger twins had birthdays that fell on the same day. I decided to throw a party, inviting a plethora of guests. Odie came, although she didn’t bring Kylie as I’d instructed her. She broke down over Kyle’s death as well, leaving me to question whether she had a romantic relationship on the sly with both of the men I had dated. I did not wish to think ill of Kyle, and so I pushed that thought from my mind.

            The repairman agreed to come, which was a treat for the boys.

            And I also invited Dedrick, for reasons that could only be explained by loneliness or lack of sleep. By the horrible looks he gave me, I believe he was smart enough to catch onto Lois and Milton’s genetics.

            Not being able to agree upon who should go first, I made my boys stand at their cakes at the same time.

            It was wonderful to have something happy to focus on for a few minutes.

            I believe that they each turned out quite nicely. Of course Mother was rude in her critiques.

            Francis surprised the entire party when he went to his crying infant sister. He snuggled her in front of all the onlookers.

            Seeing his brother praised, Frederick changed Gloria’s diaper.

            At least their rivalry was turning more productive.

            It was late, and I did not want to keep the guests for the girls’ aging. Too cold outside for the traditional aging location, they became toddlers in the garage.

            They were still young, but I thought that perhaps they were more of an even mix between myself and Kyle. Their hair color was just as confusing as the middle twins. Kyle had light blonde locks, and I was stuck with Mother’s awful mess of colors. How did I throw so many brunettes?

          Toddlers. They were too young. I would celebrate my last birthday before they were even children.

            No matter where the hair color came from or how old of a mother I would be, Aubrey soon showed herself to be very much a part of my family. She loved the mailbox as much as Milton had.

Changes

            Odie visited once during my pregnancy. She attempted to play a game of dominoes with me, but often became distracted in telling me tales of her imagined life. Every time I tried to broach a real world subject, like Kylie or anything about her short-lived relationship with Dedrick, she simply dodged around it.

            In a probable attempt to upset his twin, Francis slept beside me for a night. This confused my elderly husband.

            Kyle spent part of the night outside. I found him frozen solid on the grass early the next morning.

            “Come now Dear, you cannot die on me yet,” I muttered while using a hairdryer on his purple body. “You are not allowed to leave me with an infant.”

            My backaches were increasingly frequent and painful from the pregnancy. I decided to visit the spa, where I spent most of the rest of that day, leaving Kyle behind with the children. He called and told me about how they pestered him for hours about where I had gone.

            He failed to warn me that Milton and Lois aged. I returned from the spa and nearly asked who they were. They looked different as teenagers. Both had longer hair and fuller lips. It appeared as though they had both inherited my chin.

            “Those other ones better not grow up to be any uglier!”

I chastised Mother, of course. Although, it did make me wonder how vastly my younger twins would differ with age.

            The next morning I was woken early with pains of labor. While Kyle and I were at the hospital, my teenagers helped to reorganize Infant Central for its current needs.

            I gave birth to yet another set of twins: Aubrey and Gloria. They plucked at my maternal strings, although I did still worry about future bedroom arrangements.

            Kyle volunteered to take first watch of the newest twins, so that I could shower and rest a few hours.

            His passing on was not part of the arrangement.

            The iconic sound of Grimm coming for a soul shook me from my nap. I ran faster than I ever had to get to Infant Central, ignoring the fact that it was not necessary, as it was only a few yards from my bed. And I knew that Grimm did not often reconsider his decisions.

            The children were at school, allowing me to sob alone, save for the infants.

            When Grimm was gone, I was left with a bare rectangular urn on the rug. That was all that was left of my husband, a man who had helped me into my dream career and raised four of my children.

            The witch politely expressed condolences, but Mother never made an attempt to get inside my head that day. I told myself that was perfectly fine. A tiny seed of vulnerability wished to reach out and be coddled by her though.

            Thinking of Mother and the career she held, I set Kyle’s urn out on the shelf, hoping I might see his ghost one day. I chose to disregard Mother’s past talk of how ghosts were nothing of the people they had once been, simply floating projections that needed to be sucked into a Banshee Banisher.

Note: With Twallan's mod, I have risky woohoo in my game. I have it set at a 5% chance of pregnancy. Kyle and Aspen both wished for some lovin' and so I decided to take a risk and let them try risky one last time. I really didn't want any more babies in this generation, haha! And she had twins, again!!

It really was Risky

            Odie invited me to her house to visit with Kylie again. Before I could make it out the front door, a strong wave of nausea came over me. I had to rush upstairs to the free toilet. “Oh no,” I muttered to myself as I stood and wiped my mouth. “Not another one, not now.”

            I tried to forget about the vomit and returned to what I had been doing.

            Kylie had grown into a toddler that closely resembled Milton and Lois. I briefly pontificated on the fact that she was both their sister and cousin.

            Despite being very hungry, Kylie put on a good face and allowed me to play with her for a few moments. I rewarded her with a bottle, before searching for her mother.

            “And then it all came crashing down. The gnomes had won and we were all just llamas on ropes, bouncing around, hoping to have a few flamingos left to kick.”

“That’s all very interesting Odie, but I had only asked you about Kylie’s progress in learning her basic skills.”

“Oh yeah, those. I’m not going to conform to the bullfrogs and teach her those. She’ll get by without them.”

“Odessa!” I chastised. “Even Mother taught us how to walk.”

            “Thanks for offering to help with that stuff!” Odie sprightly said and hugged me. I hadn’t, but went along with it despite this. Perhaps she was the smart one between us.

            I spent hours with Kylie, attempting to cram in as much knowledge as possible before departing. By the time I returned home, it was past bedtime for my own children.

            “Say Dad, how ‘bout one of those bedtime stories? I hear they’re the canary’s tusks!”

            My work hours changed, which allowed me to be able to see my children off to school. I took notice of how far away Francis kept from the other three. Even if he was a bit peculiar, I loved him. My maternal side was strong, and I thought I could have loved any child. I was happy to not have to worry about such things though. My four were the perfect number.

            Pregnancy kicked in while I was preparing myself for work in the bathroom. At first, my reflection in the mirror was that of a wild panic. Four was more than enough, and it was far too late in my life to be having a baby. And what about bedrooms? I had two lovely sets of twins and four bedrooms. It all worked out perfectly. Anymore and it would ruin everything.

            Then I saw my face soften as I rubbed my newest baby stomach for the first time. It was far from ideal, but I could live with another.

The Shower and the Repairman

            Although there were no longer any toddlers in the house, Kyle was absent from bed most nights, still complaining of being too tired to do anything other than nap in the rocking chair. It was great for Frederick, who liked to sleep by me, but I longed for my husband.

            After getting the children to their beds, I came out to Infant Central. Kyle was staring out the front window.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh,” he dragged the simple word out. “Just thinking about things I guess.”

“Any thoughts you would like to share?”

“Hm, I don’t really know. Nothing specific.”

            We hadn’t kissed in a long time. Not once since the second set of twins were born. I had nearly forgotten how it felt, and so I refreshed my memory with a simple peck. I hadn’t specifically meant it to lead to things, but I did not mind.

            We found ourselves in the bathroom, since my bed was being used.

            I pulled away for a moment, feeling quite sad despite the situation. “What’s wrong?” Kyle asked.

“I thought that you were no longer interested in me. As a wife.”

“What? How could you even say that?” I didn’t have to answer. “Well, I guess I get it. I’m just… I’m just getting tired too much lately, ya know? The kids, they’re hard work.”

“Yes, I suppose they are.”

“But I love them. And I really love you! You guys are my family, my passion in this world. I’m happy I finally found you!”

            We did not exchange further words, taking our activities into the shower.

            Kyle never dressed after we finished in the bathroom. He strode out and fell into the rocking chair as if nothing were amiss. I found myself biting my lip when I thought of Mother and her late nude years.

            Avery, the repairman, returned to fix the television again. Francis became interested in the man and loudly asked if he could keep him. Embarrassed, I forgot about the man’s staring and apologized for my son addressing him like a stray canine.

“I could stay for a while though, if you don’t mind. I love kids, but I don’t have any of my own.”

            Of course I was going to ask the near stranger to leave after hearing that, but the other children came to investigate what had Francis so excited. They, too, decided that they liked the man, each asking him various questions and prompting him to pillow fights. I told him that he could stay, as long as he cleaned up any messes that they made. Frederick volunteered to take care of them.

            I stayed in the room while all four children gathered to play video games with the repairman. Everything appeared quite innocent.

            I had to wonder if my children were so taken by the man because of an internal need for a fatherly figure. They knew Kyle to be their father, but they were at the age where they could first notice that he was not like the other dads. The repairman more closely resembled their friends’ fathers, and he did not walk around without clothes. At least, not in front of them.

            Before going to bed, Frederick thanked me for allowing the nice man to stay for games. I hoped they would not catch the correlation between broken objects and the man. Especially not Francis.