Chapter 19

Four years later.

Two sets of twins! How did anything so momentous come about? They were a handful, to be sure, but Adam and Eve were getting old enough now to take an active part in raising them. Even though they were senior by only two years, they were still older than the now four-year-olds. Adam and Eve were given increasing responsibility in looking after them, and that became training that they would later need if they indeed married and had children of their own.

The years flew by on the mountain. All of the children grew and prospered and learned and thrived in the high meadow. The library, which only consisted of a few books at first, had grown to almost 500 and everyone became voracious readers. Television was unknown and the only radio that they had was the solar-powered link to the outside world. As far as the children were concerned, though, the outside world didn't really exist for them. They knew it was there, to be sure, but they had no desire to be involved with it. In a very real way, they had all become like their parents, not rejecting the world perhaps, but choosing not to be a part of it. Their world was the high meadow and the mountains and they all loved it.

Adam and Eve were in their teen now: fifteen, specifically. It had been explained to them several years ago that they were not siblings but individual children in their own right. Adam's parents, Tom and Julie, were not actually married to Eve's parents, George and Jenny. It only seemed like they were. Adam and Eve were free to date each other if that was what they wanted. They understood that but it really didn't sink in until they both went through puberty. The raging hormones in their bodies awakened feelings and desires that they didn't know how to handle. Fortunately their parents had gone through the same feelings and desires and were now available to help them through this difficult period.