Chapter 47: Epilogue: Part 1: Barbecue

She pushed the gate to the backyard open, and waved to the familiar faces on the other side of the privacy fence. “This fence is new.”

Cosette walked towards them as they stepped through. “Too many of the neighbors were complaining about how we were ‘corrupting’ their kids. So we built it simply to shut them up. What they don’t realize yet is that there are numerous large ‘windows’ built into it that we can open if we want to very easily.”

Tony nodded from the large grill nearby. “We’re glad you could make it. Isn’t your aunt in town right now?”

Kara nodded grimly. “Yes, and we WERE supposed to go to my folks place and see her. This gave us a valid reason to not go there. And the kids were much happier to be here than around Aunt Leslie.” She glanced over at Pia as Cosette did.

“What it is Pia? You see something, I’m sure of that.”

Pia smiled. “Kara’s clearly pregnant. And if I’m not mistaken...”

“Let me; it is my happy news to share. As Pia just noticed, I’m carrying twins.”

“Twins?!” several of them shouted.

“We just found out a few days ago. One of them was being shy.”

“Are you doing what Allison did with her twins?” Shelley asked.

“Yes. I don’t care what the various extendeds might say.”

Cosette grinned. “Yay! More little ones. Speaking of them, they’re with Kelsey and Jeremy in the basement play room.” She glanced down through an open window. “Isabella asked me a very interesting question by the way.”

“Have they?”

“Three weeks ago” Tony began. “I think we stumbled upon the same video you showed them. But you know that’s not enough for Kelsey. So we ordered them a book that goes into a little more detail, but is still age appropriate.”

“Oh, and it appeared there was something else she wanted to say, but wouldn’t for some reason.”

Kara smiled, and nodded at Vanessa. “This is your show now.”

“My most recent trip made me realize that the relationship I’ve been searching for all these years was one I’d already found ages ago. Just this morning I got the twin’s permission to become more than just an Auntie.”

Pia giggled. “Is that why little Isa was talking about ‘mamas’ in the plural?”

Cosette smiled again, and pointed to a shady area further in the back. “Speaking of waiting for years, look who finally moved back this way.”

Kara looked more carefully, then grinned. “Bonnie! What has it been ... six years?”

Bonnie turned around, a small head popping out of the carrier on her chest. “Closer to seven. Your kids are so big!”

Did we ever have a chance to tell Bonnie when the twins were born?

I sent her a birth announcement card. But I recall it was worded from the three of us. So, it’s no wonder she thinks Isa and Petra are mine too. “She’ll get there before you know it. Enjoy her while she’s this small. Where’s your husband?”

“He had to work today. He sends his hellos.” She glanced around for a few moments. “Where are they anyway?”

Cosette laughed and pointed to one of the open windows. “Down there. We’ve got a good view of them from here.”

As Bonnie came closer, the baby started to look around. “I couldn’t help overhear the little girl saying something about their Mommy, Daddy, and Mamas coming. Did you add someone to your triad?”

Allison nodded at Vanessa, then grinned at Bonnie. “Earlier today. As my precocious daughter would phrase it ‘Mama Vanessa, not Aunt Vanessa’. She was quite adamant about that when Petra used ‘aunt’ instead accidentally.”

“Wait, she’s your daughter?”

Kara smiled softly at her. “If you want to get technical, then yes; Isabella and Petra are Allison’s direct children. But with how we divide the labor around the house and the parenting tasks, I’m just as much of a true mother to them as their biological one. Vanessa will likely turn out to be the same. And when my twins come along, they’ll have Mama Allison and Mama Vanessa in addition to mommy.”

“They certainly seem well raised and happy. You three ... sorry, four; make the saying ‘It takes a village... ‘ truer than most times it’s referenced.”

“If I didn’t have Kara around to help as often as she did, then I’m sure they’d be neurotic messes. Instead, Isa’s probably going to be president someday, and Petra’s content to simply follow her lead. Or so it seems.” If we could peek into his head, we’d know if that’s true or not.

All of the evidence that we have definitely points to Petra doing something to support whatever Isa decides she wants to do.

He may pull out from his sister’s shadow at some point Manny. And even if he doesn’t, he’ll still make his mark in a big way.

“What are they doing, anyway? They’re considerably more quiet than I’d expect four young children who are as close as cousins to be.”

“They’re reading a book” Tony began “although I can’t make out which one from here.”

“It’s the one we got them after ‘that’ incident.”

“Oh...” he turned back to Allison “is that okay with you?”

“As long as it’s actually age appropriate, then that’s fine. But perhaps it’s better to have an adult with them.”

Kara grinned. “Would it surprise any of you that I’m interested in being that adult?”

Allison, Bonnie and Cosette all laughed loudly. “A few months ago, I would have been right where you are. I imagine carrying twins brings that point up much faster.”

“You’d be right Bonnie; Isa and Petra certainly did that to me.” She turned to Kara. “We’ll make sure you don’t miss anything important.”

Kara nodded and headed toward the door. The stairs creaked as she walked down them, causing all four children to turn to face her as she stepped off the last one. “Mama Kara! Are you okay? Are the babies okay? Did we...” Isabella paused, glancing up in the direction of the window “did we do something wrong?”

“The babies are fine little Isa, and you’ve done nothing wrong. I’m just tired, and wanted to see what you’re reading.”

“Tired? Is that normal?”

Kelsey nodded her head. “It’s very normal Isa. Carrying babies is tiring; that’s what momma said when she was pregnant with Jeremy. That’s why daddy got her the big chair in the corner.”

Kara glanced at the huge chair. “That looks very comfortable. Can we move there? I’ll read some of the book to you if you want.” All four nodded and quickly stood up, running toward the chair. Kelsey and Jeremy each took a side, leaving the middle open. “I see. But there won’t be enough room for Isa and Petra that way.”

Kelsey smiled. “They can sit on your lap!”

I’m about to be the middle of a pile of kids. Do either of you think it would be risky for me to have both Isa and Petra on my lap?

I see ... that’s the only way there will be enough room. I don’t think that will be an issue. Right Manny?

If I’m remembering what the doctor said back then, yeah.

Good. “Okay. You can lean on me a little, but be careful, okay?”

“Okay!” they replied in unison. Isabella carefully climbed onto one leg, then nodded at Petra, who did his best to repeat the motion. Isabella took the book from Kelsey, then pointed to a page. “We were here!”

“Can we start over?”

They looked at each other. “Why?” Jeremy asked.

“I need to know what you already read. That way, I can answer any questions you might have.”

“Oh ... okay!”

Kara flipped to the first page and started to read aloud. Okay, I’m impressed by this book in just the first few pages. There’s a lot more here than I expected they’d be able to explain, but it’s really well written.

She felt Allison smile. Cosette said that she and Tony reached out to others in the association that they knew were parents, and asked if they ever had to deal with their monsters getting into their stuff. Enough of them did AND recommended that book over any of the other options.

“Hey! Who kicked me?!” Petra suddenly shouted.

“That was one of the babies, Petra. Sometimes they kick mommy.”

“That’s mean!”

Kara laughed softly. “They don’t know that they’re doing it, and they’re not hurting me. They’re just testing how their legs work, that’s all.” I’m feeling rather tired my loves.

We have been here for an hour now. Do you want one of us to bring you some food, then we can head out a little after you’re done eating?

Yeah. I’d also love a little adult company down here. Someone I can cuddle with for a bit.

Vanessa will come down. You can send the kiddos up here for a bit; Tony has a game that he thinks they’d enjoy.

Sounds good. “Can we return to the book another time? I’m hungry, and uncle Tony has a fun game for you four upstairs.”

“But we don’t have the book Mama!”

“That’s okay Isa. Daddy is going to pick up a copy on his way home Monday. Then you can read it whenever you want to.”

“Okay. Is someone bringing you food Aunt Kara?”

“Mama Vanessa is.”

“How do you know that?”

Kara grinned, and nodded at Isabella. “Because Mama Kara can talk with Mommy and Daddy like Petra and me can!”

“Wow!” Jeremy and Kelsey exclaimed, then hopped off the chair. “Okay!”

It figures that the monsters would tell Kelsey and Jeremy about their gift.

One of us will explain that not everyone should know about that. Especially since some folks won’t know how to handle it.

Thank you Ally.

Kara glanced toward the stairs as a loud series of creeks began from it. “Is that you Vanessa?”

“Yeah. I had to dodge a few over-excited kiddos just to get on the stairs.”

She smiled and nodded to the chair. “That’s ... a lot of food. Although...”

“Emanuel thought it would be too much. Allison assured me that this would be just enough.”

Kara laughed softly. “She definitely knows better in this case. I am eating for three after-all.”

“Do you want me to send Allison down?”

“Why? I’m happy to cuddle with you” she paused, biting into a burger “that is, unless you don’t want to.”

“No ... I definitely do. I just thought...”

“If we weren’t serious earlier, we wouldn’t have said what we did. We, and that means ALL of us, want you to play an even greater part in our lives.”

Vanessa smiled softly, wiped a tear from her eye, and sat down next to Kara. “It’s just that ... I told a few friends from work what I was thinking about asking and why ... and some of them suggested that you’d say yes just to be nice.”

“Are any of them poly?”

“Two of them claim to be.”

“Then either they got burned by someone in the past, or they’re lying to you. You know Allison and I have been attracted to you for years now. And we definitely wouldn’t welcome you into our kids’ lives the way we have if we weren’t serious about improving our relationship with you. Truth be told;” Kara paused and ate a little more of the burger “Allison and I were talking about finding a fourth primary, and you’re the only person we could see really fitting right.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes. You were also the only ‘aunt’ that Allison or I was sure the kids would readily accept as a ‘mama’.”

Kara sighed happily as Vanessa laid her head down on her shoulder. “I guess it doesn’t feel real yet. I’ve been hoping for years that I might be able to too.”

“And you know the specific circumstances we each needed to link us together. It was only Allison and Emanuel for whom it seemingly happened accidentally. For us to all link together though...”

“So, what you’re saying is ... is that if it’s meant to happen, it will happen. I don’t know what your trigger would be in that case though.” Kara nodded her head, and could feel the tension drain out of Vanessa. “I was so worried. Even with what happened this morning, their voices are so hard to get out of my head. Especially when one of them insisted that even if I somehow met your approval, there was no way I’d ever get Isa or Petra’s approval. At best, I could hope to be the mistress that’s merely tolerated.”

“Your office friends sound like jealous harpies to me. If they can’t be happy, then no one can.”

Vanessa laughed sadly. “I wish I could say you’re wrong, but you’re not.”

“Are there other people you can make friends with instead?”

“Not really. Most of the guys in the office all seem to belong to the same ‘boys club’ and have no room for anyone not like them. They’re nice enough, but ... it’s that faked niceness that you know hides something unpleasant or awful underneath it. And the women are almost entirely either like the harpies or are outright hostile. I think they think they need to be like the men to ‘compete with the men’ as they sometimes put it.”

“Why are you still there then? It sounds like you really don’t fit in with the culture there.”

“I’ve been there so long, and unfortunately most places in my field are like that. This is actually one of the better places. My seniority at least means that most of the boy’s club can’t actually do anything to me.”

“Having some clout in a place that’s slowly killing you isn’t worth it.” Kara paused for a moment, thinking carefully. “Do you like the work you’re doing?”

“Sort of. It was really meaningful at first, but not the last few years. And as much as I’d like to quit, I really can’t afford to.”

“You’re still planning to move in with us, right?”

“Yeah, but it wouldn’t be fair to not contribute in some way.”

Kara sighed loudly. “Unlike many households, it seems, none of us believe that being a parent should be free. Allison’s been on a long sabbatical for awhile now, but that doesn’t mean we think she’s doing nothing to contribute to the household. If anything, her work is the most valuable.”

“But I’m not a parent.”

“Bullshit. You’re going to be as much of a parent to the kiddos as I am. They only make the distinction of ‘mommy’ verses ‘mama’ because it matters to some. The roles, to them, are exactly the same. Just like when my two are born, you and Allison will be ‘mama’ to them as well.” She glanced up out the window. “Or, at least whatever they decide to call you. They might choose a different word entirely.”

“Are you really sure?”

“What will it take to prove that what we’ve said is true?”

“I don’t know.”

“Give me a few moments. I need to confer with Allison and Emanuel about something.” Did either of you know that Vanessa’s having a hard time believing we meant what we said earlier?

“Okay, I’m done conferring with them. It sounds like the longer you stay your current job, the more it’s affecting your mental health. Am I right?” Vanessa nodded sadly. “We don’t want to see you continuing to hurt; especially not while we can do something about it. So if you choose to accept our offer to move into the current guest room, know that it will come with a promise from all of us.”