My Year with Grandma

Okay, Now I'm Really Scared

Six weeks since my world changed for the harder. Six weeks since I've had a full night's sleep. Six weeks since my sixteenth birthday. Six weeks since my twins made their grand entrance the night of the barbecue and I wouldn't change a thing. I was allowed to stay at the hospital until Jackie was big enough to come home. Rikki and Missy Ann went back to Japan last week after he introduced me to a pediatrician that he felt was good enough to take care of my babies. Of course, I asked if he was related to us in any way since Gram seems to be related to everyone I find myself in need of. Surprisingly enough, he wasn't.

Jimmy Dad has been incredibly helpful during the days and Gram has helped during the nights. Actually, everyone has been very helpful. I can't imagine how much harder this would be without all the help I get. I don't think I could keep up with my studies AND take care of twins at the same time. I've been at this farm for eight months and somehow managed to not only catch up with my schooling but get ahead a bit. If I stay on this track, I should graduate a year early which still may not happen because I have these kids. College is just out of the question. I have to go home in four months, and I won't have the support system there that I have here. I'll be lucky if I can figure out how to graduate. Makes me wonder if Mom would let me stay here until I graduate like she did.

I'm actually kind of hoping she will move back here and marry Jimmy like she should have in the first place. She swore to me she didn't do anything with him when she came to visit but Gram and I knew she was lying. She was a lot more relaxed when she left, and Jimmy is still walking around with a stupid grin on his face and skip in his step. Gram and I have bets on what day the baby will be born. She says Memorial Day, I say Mother's Day. She says girl; I say boy. Of course, we don't discuss this with Jimmy or Mom since they deny being together.

We were sitting out on the porch listening to Mackerel and his brother Josh play their dueling violins. The infants were sleeping, and the toddlers were playing on the porch among us. It was the first evening I've been able to just relax out here with the crew since the birth of the twins. I've missed these porch concerts. I never would've thought I could enjoy violin music, but these boys sure do make it sound amazing. The fact that both of them are hella good looking doesn't hurt either.

Speaking of good-looking people; I finally met Mackerel's wife today for the first time. Mack wasn't kidding when he said she was a beauty. Holy crow, she's pretty enough to make a straight girl want to hop the fence. Honey colored hair with matching eyes, flawless complexion, hour-glass figure and dainty hands with long slender fingers. And she is really nice which is unexpected for one so pretty. I can see why Mackerel was drawn to her.

Their babies are gorgeous too. Well, not as gorgeous as mine, but then I am biased. I got to hang out with her and the kiddos most of the afternoon. Bethany played with her son, Fish Stick, who looks like his daddy, while our babies slept. He's a year younger than Bethany but he's already taller by a couple of inches. Their language is similar, and they seemed to play well together. That is until he looks cross-eyed at my twins, then she goes into protective mode and blocks him from getting to close to them. She has adopted them as her siblings and as such she is their very overprotective second mom. I kind of wish I would have asked what his real name was but since his own mother calls him Fish Stick, I opted not to. I'll ask her the story behind it when I know them a little better.

Just as the boys finished their musical duel someone pulled up in a beat up old Ramcharger that was in serious need of a muffler. The driver was Gram's pastor dad and the passenger was a young redheaded woman who looked maybe twenty-five-ish. She had a toddler with her, and both were sporting some serious bruising on all their exposed spots. I didn't have to look at Gram to know her eyes had turned a deep blue.