Aidan arrives at Caitlyn’s house an hour before the bus will bring Thomas home. He’s still in his work clothes, but it’s too far to go home to change then come back. Him and his twin sister, Caitlyn are 26 today, and Thomas insisted they go out for a family dinner.
Their family is larger than the three of them, but Luca is busy with work and his large family, and no one really cares to be with Colin more than necessary, which is practically never now both their parents are deceased.
Aidan mentions his roommate, Julius McCarthy is considering a move to another state. He’s a big talker and dreamer, so Aidan isn’t sure if he should be concerned.
They both know Caitlyn has a spare room, their Father’s room before he died, but she is hopeful Thomas will move into the space in the next few weeks. It’s illogical to have a completely unused third bedroom for someone who was no longer living, especially since Thomas was forced to share the bed with her until he braved his fear.
They changed the topic to the restaurant Thomas had picked, Lumberjack Pancake House. Even if his family was a bit nontraditional, Thomas was well-loved by the family members in his life, and it made Caitlyn happy to see her brother laugh at the restaurant choice.
He went upstairs to clean up from work, it was a slow day at the fire station, but he still felt grimy.
He noticed the tub was stopped up, and he went ahead and worked on unclogging it. He was proud of his sister owning her own house, but sometimes he wished her house was a bit newer. Even though Caitlyn had some mechanical skills, there was a good amount of maintenance to keep up with.
The bus noisily pulled to a stop at the corner, and after quickly changing, Aidan ran down to greet his nephew. Thomas was thrilled to see his favorite uncle.
At the restaurant, Caitlyn tries to talk Thomas into getting pancakes like her, but he’s considering trout, just like his Uncle Aidan.
Thomas orders for himself, and he gets the same thing as Aidan. Caitlyn isn’t sure how she’s the only one in her group ordering pancakes at a pancake house.
Caitlyn worries Thomas will hate the fish, while Aidan talks up how good it tastes to Thomas.
When the food arrives, Thomas looks for assurances from Aidan. His Mom’s syrup sure smells yummier, and he isn’t sure if he likes lemon at all.
Caitlyn steals a bite, and she uses her best actress skills to claim it’s the most yummiest fish she’s ever eaten. She’s a solid no on fish, but it’s not the worst things she’s eaten.
Both siblings begin stealing food, and being goofy, which distracts Thomas into eating his own food.
Thomas notices a family with two kids at a table across the room. “Will I ever have a brother?” Thomas contemplates, but Caitlyn and Aidan both hear.
“I don’t know, bud. It’s not something on my mind right now.” Caitlyn admits. She’s dated off and on in recent years, but her focus has been on her Dad, Thomas, and her career. She doesn’t feel like she needs a man or a bigger family, at least not at the moment.
Aidan jumps in, trying to make being an only sibling sound great. Never having to share toys, always get your favorite dinners, no hand-me-down clothes. When Thomas doesn’t seem persuaded, he switches gears.
“You know Fireman Benjamin Andersen? He was aiming the deck gun on our tanker, and he couldn’t see where the stream was ending, he ended up taking out a group of bystanders and me with the firehose. We all got washed away, and we were completely soaked when we could finally stand up again.”
It worked, Caitlyn and Thomas both momentarily forgot the topic, and laughed until their sides hurt.
They ended the dinner in high spirits, and they beat the dinner crowd, which meant they weren’t rushed nor had to keep too quiet.
Thomas skipped to the car, feeling like the happiest kid in the world.
He still wished he had a twin though, like his Mom had with Aidan. It’d be better to have a twin to share his old Grandpa Ethan’s bedroom with, then be alone, especially if there were ghosts.
***
Nadia wakes with a bad feeling and nausea; the fun night out which ended up going all the way in the car, she’s pretty sure they weren’t safe. She’s finding herself sick, but no one else in the house is unwell, and it’s a feeling in her gut.
She counts on her fingers, she’d be due in October with baby number five. She says a silent prayer that it isn’t twins this time.
***
It’s time for their baby to arrive, and the contractions have been intense the past month, but so far baby number two hasn’t made an appearance. While Margot’s delivery at the hospital had gone fine, Maeve decided shortly after that she’d like a homebirth the next time around. It wasn’t difficult to convince Isaiah, who was inclined to give Maeve whatever her heart desired.
While Isaiah worked in road construction, he was required to be at work by 6am, and he didn’t pull in until after 6pm. His boss wasn’t interested in Isaiah’s reproductive pastime, and as such, he refused to give him time off in advance.
They decided to hire a midwife, Glynis to stay with Maeve and Margot during his work shifts. She arrived as the sun rise, and brewed coffee mostly for herself, limiting Maeve to only one cup a day, and only if she insisted.
Maeve tried to occupy her time and mind while she waited, which was more difficult than she expected. She was teaching Margot nursery rhymes, and finally her little hellion was interested in learning, which helped brighten Maeve’s mood.
All her maternal dreams were going out the window. Margot wasn’t interested in the things Maeve had expected, she didn’t like helping her Mom cook while sitting on the counter, she didn’t appreciate wearing any clothes, and she’d rather poop in her diaper than a toilet.
Feeling huge and exhausted, and completely uncomfortable, Maeve was allowing herself to just roll with the punches. She even went so far as to hide in the bathroom, with the door cracked so she could keep an ear on Margot, and she read the newspaper without any interruptions. She was becoming her husband.
Naturally, Margot decided to steal Carl’s bed, while Carl watched uncomfortably. He was really in the mood for a nap, and he had found Margot was apt to take all his things.
Glynis is really opinionated on healthy foods for the baby, while Maeve would prefer chow mein, she makes omelettes instead.
Maeve has to remind herself she hired the woman, and she really doesn’t mind her on a logical level. However, she’s emotional, regularly in pain, and she just wants to wander around her house eating ice cream from the carton in her raggiest pants.
Isaiah’s Mom, Mary calls every single day, and Maeve can’t get her to stop. If she had the baby, Mary would be told. Maeve has zero intentions of leaving her mother-in-law in the dark, perhaps they’d just happen upon her in fifteen years when the baby was getting their driver’s permit. The latter is sounding more and more appealing the longer the baby dawdles.
Thankfully Margot still takes naps, so Maeve can sleep too. She can’t make it through the day anymore without needing a rest, the honeymoon period of the pregnancy has been gone for months.
When Isaiah get homes he greets his girls and the baby. Each day they bounce between thinking it’s a boy and then a girl. Their pretty sure this is their last baby, and they can’t decide if they’d prefer one of each or two daughters.
Glynis prepares healthier Chow Mein for Maeve, and she calls out from the kitchen that they don’t get any choice on the baby’s sex, and it’s already been decided anyway.
Isaiah pulls Maeve in for a hug, whispering, “Really, the baby is already decided? Wow!”
Maeve laughs, but she stands up for Glynis, because she doesn’t like being mean, even if the lady is driving her crazy.
Glynis has them take a seat, she’s going to serve them dinner before heading home for the night.
They don’t make it far into the dinner when Maeve stands with sharp pains. Glynis has already left, and Maeve waits to see if it improves before calling her cell.
Margot starts a tantrum, and all the noise nearly brings Maeve into tears.
Isaiah comes over to check on Maeve, and she insists she’s fine. It’s just the beginning of labor, she’s pretty sure of it. It’s likely their last dinner, and it’s one she’s been craving, but she’s lost her appetite.
She heads to bed, knowing she’ll need the rest if the baby decides to come that night.
Isaiah tends to Margot, bathing her, and getting her ready for bed, even though she screams that she wants her Mommy to do it.
At 2:00am, Maeve awakes with labor pains, gasping for Isaiah to wake up and call Glynis.
The baby is coming too fast, and instead of Glynis helping to deliver, she talks Isaiah through the process through the speakerphone.
Maeve is beginning to have regrets about this whole homebirth thing when her husband gets prepared to catch.
Thankfully the delivery goes smoothly, and with tears in his eyes, Isaiah announces they have a son.
A blue-eyed son just like his Daddy, and they couldn’t be more pleased.
They struggled to settle on a boy name, both feeling complete with their family with having one of each.
They decided in the end to name him Howie.
The next morning, Margot awoke surprised to see she had a new baby brother. She was smitten with him immediately, and the parents couldn’t be happier.
—
February Birthdays
Mandy McCarthy – 86 years
Nathan Gavigan – 62 years (pnpc)
Grant Millett – 55 years
Caroline Welsh – 45 years (pnpc)
Chris Holmes – 44 years
Cesar Gonzales – 41 years
Isaac Gavigan – 32 years
*Aidan Traver – 26 years
*Caitlyn Traver – 26 years
Linnea Barthelet – 24 years
Evie Jitmakusol – 23 years (pnpc)
Jason Sumner – 17 years (pnpc)
Diego Martinez – 11 years (pnpc)
*Clio Browning – 5 years
*Thea Browning – 5 years
Margot Gavigan – 3 years (pnpc)
Febraury Anniversaries
Tyler & Kenzie Goss – 39
Reed & Caroline Welsh – 22 (pnpc)
Expecting
Brooklyn McCarthy – 7 months; due April
Lainey Grimsley – 4 month; due July
Nadia Browning – 1 month; due October
Notes: I know babies look really similar, but I swear, Howie looks like he has the same nose and lips as Margot has now as a toddler. We will see! I’m pretty excited for them to have one of each. The house they moved into has a third bedroom with blue paint, so it’s ready go for him once they get around to decorating. I’m pleased Howie has his Dad’s blue eyes and Margot has her Mom’s brown eyes.
I couldn’t believe Nadia got pregnant by risky woohoo. Five kids! Oi!
Thanks for reading!
MILLWOOD 
Sweet family!
Thank you Cathy!
The dinner at the pancake house was really sweet and a little sad. Distraction was a really good tactic – not sure if Caitlyn and Aidan could have talked Thomas out of ordering fish but it ended well. Thomas and his fear of ghosts, his grandfather’s ghost, is also sad.
Poor Nadia! She had fun getting to the fifth baby though!
That child! So Maeve thought she’d have a girl out of a baby-stuff ad or a mother’s album, all dressed up and happily watching Mom cook. Instead, there’s Margot. I feel for the dog too. Having Glynis as a midwife doesn’t seem to have worked out all that well but she got to eat really healthy food for a while. The baby is adorable! How did you come up with ‘Howie’?
Lovely and beautifully written. Thank you for these!
I think you’re right about Thomas, I don’t think they could have talked him out of ordering fish. I really thought Caitlyn would be married by now, she was dating Elias, and they were so hot and heavy. But now he’s married to Julia and a Dad, and Caitlyn is still alone. She has an okay amount of romantic choices, but not many are great and mostly townies. If Thomas gets a sibling, he might be decently old unless Caitlyn has a BC failure, if she ever goes on a date!
I felt bad for Nadia too! I was in shock… I thought this family was absolutely done.
I think Maeve has very high expectations, and she’s regularly disappointed by reality. Isaiah spoils her, which keeps her in the little bubble she’s put herself. But Margot is pretty head strung, I don’t think she’ll cater to her Mom’s whims. Howie came about from the book I was reading earlier this summer, I thought it fit well with Margot for having some old fashioned charm but not exactly common place.
Thank you for commenting!