Best Laid Plans

Epilogue

Perrie

"Can you wipe whatever that is off of Jaylen's face? My sister and her husband are on their way from the airport. I'd like to keep up the appearance that we know what we're doing."

"It's jelly. And we do know what we're doing." Jade's rinsing out a children's cup in the sink while Jaylen uses the extendable ladder on his firetruck to transport what looks like a chicken nugget to Tubbs-McGee.

"It doesn't look like we know what we're doing when Jaylen has dried jelly on his cheek and is feeding the cat a chicken nugget. Why on earth was he eating chicken nuggets with jelly? You know what? Never mind, I don't need to know. We have more pressing issues to discuss."

"Such as?"

"Pressley wants a kitten."

"Okay," Jade says easily, like a kitten is no big deal. It's a big deal. A very big deal, it'll change the household dynamic.

"Jade. What if Tubbs-McGee doesn't want a kitten? What if his feelings are hurt? What if Pressley picks out a kitten that Tubbs-McGee hates and they never get along?"

"First of all, you said the same thing about Jaylen when you were pregnant with Pressley."

It's true, I did.

As if on cue, Pressley dances up to Jaylen and hugs him. Then she grabs the firetruck her brother was playing with and runs as fast as her little legs will move. Jaylen stares in disbelief for half a second before he hollers and takes off after her. Panic ensues while I glare at Jade.

"I don't really know how to deal with this," I tell her, throwing up my hands. "As you know, I was a very well-behaved child myself." I manage to say this without a hint of irony. My poor mother would dispute this, but she's not arriving in town until tomorrow.

Jade rolls her eyes and grabs Pressley as she's running past and plops her onto the countertop. Once she's plucked the firetruck from her daughter's hands and handed it back to Jaylen, she turns her attention to her.

"Pressley, why did you take your brother's firetruck?"

"I wanted to play chase!" she shouts in glee, one tiny fist raised in the air as if she's leading a revolution. She is. A revolution of chaos.

"Next time, ask Jaylen to play tag instead of taking his things without asking. Okay, sweetie?"

"Okay, Mama. I'm three!" Pressley dissolves into a fit of giggles. Their joint birthday party is this weekend and she's beyond excited about it, it's all she can talk about. Yup, a joint birthday because Jaylen and Pressley are fifty weeks apart. I managed to get pregnant with Pressley when Jaylen was all of ten weeks old. What can I say? Jaylen was a real good sleeper and I'm very attracted to my wife.

When Pressley has recovered from the giggles, Jade sets her back on the floor gently with a kiss on the forehead and instructions to apologize to her brother. A moment later they're hugging and playing together, using the firetruck to rescue a herd of tiny plastic cats that Pressley has collected.

"See?" Jade tilts her head in their direction. "They adapted. Tubbs will adapt too."

"Maybe." I shrug.

"Besides, I think I saw a stray kitten near my office. It'll all work out."

"You're ridiculous." I'm shaking my head in bemusement when she pulls me in for a kiss. I melt against her for a moment because Jade is very good at kissing, and I like doing kissing things with her very much. But then the pieces fall into place. "Wait." I reluctantly tear myself away from her soft lips. "What does that kitten by your office look like?"