Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 80517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Doug asks to see Karrie. I nod and tell him where she is.
“So what do you think, Grandpa, good name?” He doesn't have to say anything at all because I know in that moment that everything is something so perfect!
Epilogue Two
Karrie
Six years later.
“Cooper Douglas, you better get back here before I get your father!” I yell from the kitchen, looking back at the flour mess all over the brown floor, three little prints showing exactly where they went.
“I no do it,” he yells from behind the couch in the family room. “Is Franny and Vivi.” Franny aka Francis Parker, both our mothers’ names combined. Our daughter came out one year later. They were almost what you call Irish Twins. I found out I was pregnant again when Cooper turned three months. It was a shock to both of us, especially since we literally only had sex the one time. Okay, maybe not one time, but we weren’t going at it like rabbits. Okay, fine, it was daily, but it wasn’t like twice or three times a day. He did travel with the team.
We decided to move out of the brownstone as soon as Cooper was born. Instead, we got a house in Long Island. The commute to the city isn’t that bad, if the kids are sleeping. Plus, we had the summer house near Cooper and Parker. What I wanted was a nice and cozy house. Well, step in my husband and my father and then throw my father-in-law in there and here I am in an almost fifteen-bedroom home. I pretended to be pissed about it for months, especially when we found out that our parents had bought it for us. Cooper couldn’t stand the fact that Dad put in half, so he put in the other half, and let's not talk about the gifts that arrive daily from them. All that aside, my kids are showered with so much love, it's what makes me look away most times.
Vivienne Allison came into the world two years after Francis. Again, no trying was needed. I was finally sleeping through the nights, teething was done, toilet training was almost done, and boom he shoots he scores.
I walk to the back of the couch where I see my three culprits. Cooper, with his black hair and blue eyes, starts talking first. “Franny want to make pancakes, Momma.”
“No, I don’t,” my curly blond hair blue-eyed girl says with flour all over her face and hands. “Is Vivi.”
My other blond child looks at me. All she’s dressed in is a diaper.
“Where are your clothes and where is your father?” I stand with my hands on my hips.
Vivi answers first, “Shh, he’s sleeping.”
I shake my head and turn around, going into the game room or what was the game room and is now a princess shrine. Most of it vintage from Allison. There in the middle of the room lying on his back with blue eye shadow, pink lips, and orange cheeks is my husband sound asleep.
“See, Momma,” Vivi answers, “he’s so tired.” She puts a finger to her lips, telling me to be quiet, but her whisper is her normal voice.
He is back home from his two-week long road trip. When I had only Cooper we would accompany him, but then when Francis came it was too tough, so he did it without us. Pouting the whole time.
“I miss so much when I’m on the road.” He started saying while he threw his bag on the bed. “I missed Francis rolling over.” He turned back to get his stuff from our closet.
“Matthew, we all missed it. She woke up on her back.” I pointed out, looking at the monitor beside my bed. Cooper was not kidding when he said he had someone to hook us up. The whole house had cameras in it and you could watch them on all the televisions. Beside our bed was a monitor of all three kids’ rooms, all three kids passed out.
“Still it’s not fair.” He almost sounded like Cooper. I was expecting him to stomp his foot.
“Matthew,” I say in a soft voice while he grumbles. “Matthew, you need to get up and come clean the kitchen.”
He blinks his eyes open.
“Daddy, Franny and Vivi made a mess.” Cooper comes forward.
“Oh, you are not going to get away with it this time,” I tell him, knowing full well that Cooper has Matthew wrapped around his finger, along with the girls, who can never do any wrong.
“How did you guys make a mess when you were supposed to be resting with me?” Matthew sits up and grabs my hand, yanking me down onto his lap where he buries his face into my neck, biting it. A giggle escapes my lips.
“Is gross,” Cooper says while the girls mimic their brother.
“Yeah, gross.”