His Heart

Chapter two: Lizzie

"Give it back!" Liam yelled.

"I had it first!" Luke argued, clinging to the action figure.

"Did not."

"Did too."

I looked in the rearview mirror briefly. Liam was trying to prise the toy out of his twin's hands.

"Boys not now, I'm driving." I said. "Wait until we get to Daddy's house."

The pair continued arguing and I parked the car.

"Give it here." I said.

The twins hesitated.

"Luke, give me the toy." I said again.

He handed it over.

"Now will you two please be quiet whilst I drive?" I said. "Should we put some music on?"

"Yes please." The twins chorused in perfect unison which even after five years still amazed me.

I found the kids bop channel and we continued our journey in relative calm, the twins singing along and competing to see who had the best jazz hands.

"Daddy!" The pair yelled as I parked the car.

"There go my boys!" Josh said, picking them up with ease. "You're late."

"Oh yes, I forgot you had a sparkling track record when it came to drop off." I murmured, getting their bags out of the boot. "I'm a mother of five year old twins. Being late is part of the package."

He laughed and kissed my cheek.

"Hi, Liz."

"Hi. So what are you up to this weekend?" I asked.

"I'm thinking about taking the boys to splash park." He said. "I've picked up some swimming costumes for them."

"Oh you didn't have to do that, I could have packed some." I said.

"No trouble. I've put them in the drawers with some of their other clothes." He said. "We're going to go to McDonald's after. The kids still like burgers, right?"

"Luke will probably get the nuggets. Just get them a happy meal, they'll be more interested in the toy anyway." I said.

"What? Nuggets? What's wrong with the burger?" He said, looking at his son.

"That's Liam." I said.

"Oh." He put the twins down. "You need to start dressing them separately. It's already hard enough to tell them apart."

"Well maybe you can take them clothes shopping this weekend." I said. "Come here, boys."

The twins ran into my arms and I kissed them goodbye.

"Have a nice time with Daddy. I'll see you Sunday."

The three of them waved goodbye as I drove off, kids bop tunes floating out of the radio.

~*~

I looked around as I put the shopping away, evidence of the five year olds were strewn across the house.

I clicked the radio on and hummed along as I picked up all the toys and tumbled them into the toy box like I told the twins to do time and time again.

I loved the radio. People said I was crazy for having the radio blaring when the kids weren't home. Relax! Read a book! Enjoy the quiet! They said.

But I liked the noise. The twins filled the house with laughter and joy, and lots of fighting. But the house was full. When they weren't around, it was quiet. So very quiet. It didn't feel like home.