Love Lives On

Anastasia

Anastasia
I am watching as everyone is opening the presents and it looks like the knights and their guests are really enjoying themselves. No awkwardness at all. My little terrors are in awe at the the new members of the family and for some reason they have not broken a thing yet. What I didn't know is that Christian bribed them. He told them that he would put a dollar in their piggy bank for each day they used their energy to straighten up their rooms and toy boxes. So far it is working. Let's hope it works. But I suspect they are behaving well because the other children are behaving well. I am of course feeling the labor pains and putting off telling anyone, but Gail and Grace already saw me wince. Thank God Christmas is is winding down.
Christian
Mom and Gail inform me it time to get Anastasia to the hospital. We quietly say our good byes and get her into the car with her bag and head to hospital this time she is ready to go and we get to the emergency room and she is rushed into the delivery room and we have a girl within a minute and then another girl both tiny. But the boy is about two pounds bigger, we have tiny girls a big boys. We aren't having any more thank goodness. Emily Dawn, Savannah Mae, Carl Thomas Grey were born about 8 pm Christmas Day.

Mia
I hand my bouquet to Colleen and Joseph stands there grinning from ear to ear. Collin and Collin Jr are holding the rings for us. We have all kinds of flower people and ring bearers walking around with fake rings. My nieces and nephews demanded they be included in the wedding can't think where they get that CEO attitude from at all. The wedding was great beautiful and funny as hell. A few disasters but everything ended up perfect by the time we left for our honeymoon. We took the GEH jet and stayed at Christian and Anastasia's island home. No wonder they loved it here. I only got a few days and never saw the big place.
Joseph
Everything was great a little disorganized but it was a fun time for all of us. We didn't tell anyone about our recent news. We are having twins and we are very happy and Collin worked out his pain about Belinda and Mia. She was upset about it at first but soon learned he was looking out for her in the long run. He and Colleen eloped to Vegas after they got engaged. The Grey family took care of the three boys for them. I have married into a huge family and I love it. We are partners in everything we are like two sides of a coin, things happen for a reason and I think God we found each other.

Seven months later
Our little princess and prince arrived with a star birthmark on their necks. Jennifer Leigh, and Joshua Lee Rogers. Jenny looked like me and Josh looks like Mia. When we get together we all are running after children as the grandparents are watching from the sidelines laughing at our plights. The Knights have moved to Seattle and they have built satellite offices around the areas.
The Kavanaghs, the Millers, The Rogers, the Knights, the Baileys the Grey's all get together for a huge party at least twice a year.
All kinds of multiples running around and ours included. Mia is running her companies from home these days because we adopted a family of our who needed a home and we had the space and love for them. Four stair steps were left with a babysitter on Valentine's Day and their parents didn't make it even to dinner when a truck lost its brakes and we had decided to be foster parents. We became parents to four more children two months later. Susan Ellen, Ruth Eileen, James Allen, and Timothy Linus Jones last names became Jones Rogers. We thought that would be all for us, but Mia got pregnant on Valentine's Day. We decided to get me a vasectomy quickly. The others told me what yo expect and Elliott told me to make sure no swimmers were still swimming.
Ray
I look around and I can see all my grandchildren and Stephanie smiles at me and we look at all the other grandparents enjoying every previous moment with their grand babies. We love watching the parents running after the children and think we are glad that isn't us. Our children had a population explosion within themselves. Starting to think they are wanting to take over the world. They just might. Anastasia is laughing as she is tackled by her six. I am amazed at how she handles all of them. Christian is grilling and chuckling at Elliott and their eight. Mia has her seven close by her. Their baby is walking around now. June or June bug as she calls her was born in June. Two years ago. She was two months early and they didn't think she would survive, but here she is all bubbly and happy. Walking strong and proudly.
Stephanie
I am so happy to be here today, because we are counting the days now. The drugs they kept me on for so long effects have appeared and I hope Carla is bringing in hell for taking so much away from us. The damage is done my nervous system is damaged. Soon Ray will have to feed me and bathe me and dress me. But until then we are going to enjoy every moment around our family. I smile at Ray.
Christian
Anastasia and I know about Stephanie and we make sure she gets plenty of time with her grand babies and us. We have them staying in a home in the property now. It is better that way.
Anastasia
I try to have fun with the children so I can avoid mom's pain. Dad tells me that I need to treat her normally and I try I really do. But things are going to fast and Carla did this to my mother.
Barney
I see Kate having fun with everyone and the children are playing with each other and I am standing by Christian and he has his mind elsewhere while grilling the meat. I ask him what is wrong and he says life is unfair sometimes. I see him looking at his mother in law and notice there is something definitely wrong with her.
When we think that age is going to be the factor in losing our family our children prove us wrong. Kate called me and told me to come to the hospital immediately. I drop everything and arrive in thirty minutes. I see our youngest laying on a gurney and people are trying to save her life. We watch as they rush her into surgery. An hour later they return and they give us the bad news. Olivia died from a brain aneurysm that no one knew about. There was no bruising to indicate she hit her head. They think it just developed out of the blue.
Kate
I have to hold Kate up as they let us see Olivia before they get her to the morgue. Grace and everyone is here, but that doesn't help me or stop me from begging to wake up from this nightmare. My baby has died. Seeing her in that tiny casket killed me. I wanted to wake her up. I know my other kids need me, but I don't think I can do anything for them at this point. But they come to me and we all cry for our loss.
Six months later we visit Olivia and we are better than we were just after her death. We make everyone is healthy and watch for things we might have missed with Olivia. Grace said that we could never have detected the kind of aneurysm she had. That we did nothing wrong at all. She said that children and people die suddenly for no reason and can't be helped by any kind of medicine or parents being good parents.

Anastasia
We bury mom today after a year of her suffering and it is hard, but it was harder watching Olivia being buried. I look over at our children and all the rest of the children and think that no matter what we do we can't protect them from everything we can just love them and make sure they are safe, but things happen. Kate is coping better than I would.
Christian
Barney  and Kate needed to be with each other so all of us took turns to see they had everything they needed to survive the loss of Olivia. All of us came together and it was there surviving children who finally brought them back from the grief. I am watchful if our children even more now. All of us have learned that we can't think that we are incapable of losing our lives or our children so we are grateful for everyday we have and have to enjoy our families.