A Summer of Discovery

Epilogue

The Christmas lights down Main Street were twinkling and reflecting off of our car windows, red, green, blue and yellow flashes of colour as we made our way the familiar route back home.

"Mom..." came the repetitive call from the back seat and Lilly and I glanced across at each other in the front with a slight eye roll and a smile "Momma please tell Emily we aren't sharing next year" Tegan asks flustered and irritated, she had been begging us to put Emily in with the littles this year because apparently a sixteen year old cannot be seen dead with her fourteen year old sister.

Lilly ran her hand down my forearm coming to a stop at my wrist and rolling her thumb over my knuckles in circles. "What do you think Mom can she finally get her own room" she asked me as I concentrated on the road ahead.

"Depends" I say with a slight smirk thrown Lilly's way, her dimples pop as she looks back to the road from me with a smile.

"On what" Tegan asks.

"On whether you want your own room because you have a boyfriend now... because let me tell you my girl there will be no girlfriends or boyfriends passing that door" I state.
"Or that window" Lilly interjects and we look back to each other with a knowing look.

"Good catch" I whisper back.

"We were teens once Emery we can't forget the loop holes"

Tegan was just like Lilly at sixteen which we both admitted was a pretty terrifying prospect, she was taller than Lilly but the same build otherwise, she had her green eyes and dimples but with the most stunning red hair and freckles that decorated her features in such a way you couldn't help but want to reach out and touch them like the stars. Tegan would most definitely be the death of us, keeping suitors at bay had become challenging but she was now settled with a young man called Matthew who reminded me of Sam. Nevertheless Matthew would never be acquainted with our staircase, or our second storey. Teenage girls we had come to learn were a different breed of human, Emily however was so far keeping her head down, doing well in school and surrounded by good girlfriends, Lilly is pretty certain she's secretly in love with her best friend Cara so we await the baby gay drama imminently just hoping not to have to do triage on a broken heart. Emily was her mom's image with my personality, we were most definitely more chill than Teeg and Lilly, probably for the best as it balanced us all out, four sets of hormones under one roof was always going to be fun.

"But Moms... I'm not sharing with the littles either" Emily says like she's going to burst into tears at the thought.

"Emily" a little voice pipes up from the car seat between the teens "I want to share with you"

We all look back to the large brown eyes that suck us all in as she manipulates us as only a four year old can do "Carmen" Emily says with affection "you're just... too... damn... cute" and she was but she knew it too and boy did she have everyone she knew wrapped around her finger. Carmen (or Mimi as she was fondly nicknamed by the family) Lilly liked to tease was my absolute double, the apple did not fall far from the tree there, she had dark hair and dark eyes and a light olive skin tone (just like my own momma Carmen and I) but her personality was much more Lilly, Sass passed on in the womb I had no doubt.

"Well guess what girls" I say squeezing Lilly's hand as we pull into Pops and Janes street. Lilly nods realising the time was now for our big announcement.

"What" they all ask excitedly.

"Momma you passed Pops house" Emily observes with her nose pressed against her window.

"Where are we going" Tegan asks with a look of confusion because in the ten years we had been coming for Christmas we had never not pulled straight into Pops drive where he waited with open arms on the porch in a Santa suit.