Together

22.

22.

It was a pleasant afternoon. Mary-Kate and Ashley thought the twins were great and they clicked mutually. Lizzie was happy that everyone took it so well. Even Jane rose above her expectations. Jane spent a lot of time with Mary-Kate and was very interested in the horse videos that Mary-Kate showed her.

Mary-Kate has been riding horses since she was young. She was very good at it and she regularly competed in jumping competitions. Jane loved the videos and watched them with admiration. It was fun to see how Jane came out of her shell and was curious about the horse videos.

Maeve just walked around Ashley the whole time. She got along very well and together they played some games on Ashley's phone. Lizzie looked at her sisters and children with a big smile on her face.

She was happy that they got along so well. Maybe Jane became a horse girl just like Mary-Kate! Maybe she should ask Mary-Kate if she could come and have a look with Jane. Lizzie herself did not know much about horses. She wasn't afraid of it, but she didn't feel very comfortable with it. You never knew what they did!

'I am home!' Chris came into the garden with a large box. 'Daddy!' Maeve and Jane ran to Chris. Chris set the box down on the floor. 'Hi darlings.' Chris hugged both his daughters. "Did it work?" Lizzie asked curiously. Chris nodded.

"They will deliver everything tomorrow, but I already have some toys here." Chris told. "What did you buy?" Lizzie asked curiously. Chris laughed mysteriously. "Can we watch?" Maeve asked. She ran her finger over the box. 'Naturally!'

Jane and Maeve opened the box and Chris now turned his attention to Ashley and Mary-Kate. 'Hey. How good to see you again.' He greeted the twins. 'Yes indeed. Long ago.' Ashley nodded. 'Say that. How are you?' Chris looked at the two women with interest.

'Yeah, fine. We are very busy at the moment but things are going well.' Ashley said. She looked at Mary-Kate to see if she agreed with Ashley's answer and Mary-Kate nodded in agreement. 'That's good to hear!' Chris replied.

"Daddy, what is all this?" Maeve pulled out a ball from the box. 'A ball. You can play with that. There are other things in the box too." Chris said. He walked over to the box and took out some toys. Chris chuckled when he saw what he had placed at the bottom of the box. He looked to the side and when he saw that no one was looking he quickly put the package in his pocket. He had a really nice idea! "Maeve and Jane, come with Dad." Chris beckoned to his children.

Lizzie looked at Chris and she saw that he had a big grin on his face. Chris took the two children inside and Lizzie was left with her sisters. "He's up to something." She said. "What's he up to?" Mary-Kate asked. "I have no idea, but I saw it on his mind." Lizzie said.

Lizzie was right. Chris was indeed planning something. He had bought water balloons and he was in the kitchen filling them with water. He made a lot of them. In the end he had a pile of more than twenty water balloons in the bucket. Jane and Maeve looked at it with admiration. They had never seen water balloons before and they thought it looked very interesting.

After Chris had made enough water balloons, they sneaked through the other side of the garden towards Lizzie, Mary-Kate and Ashley who were busy talking to each other. There was a new store in New York and the three sisters couldn't stop talking about it.

Chris, Maeve and Jane hid behind the garage. "If I say so, you can throw this at mommy." Chris whispered. He gave the twins each a water balloon. "Doesn't that hurt?" Jane asked. Chris shook his head. 'If you throw the balloon at someone, water will come out.'

"Okay, let's go." Maeve grabbed a water balloon and she wanted to run away but Chris stopped her. 'Gently.' He held his index finger to his mouth and gestured for the girls to be quiet. Maeve imitated him and hesitantly Jane followed suit.

Chris gave both girls a water balloon and they tiptoed through the garden. Mary-Kate and Ashley had already seen the three, but they kept their mouths shut after Chris, Maeve and Jane gestured that they should not say anything to Lizzie.

They now stood behind Lizzie and the young woman still didn't notice. She was busy talking to her sisters. Chris counted down quietly. 'Three two one.' Chris threw his water balloon at Lizzie and Maeve immediately followed suit.

'Aah!' Lizzie screamed and jumped off the couch. She turned around in shock and Chris burst out laughing. Laughing, he hit his chest with his right hand. Maeve also had a big smile on her face and Ashley and Mary-Kate couldn't contain their laughter either. Only Jane stood there looking at her in surprise. She still had her water balloon in her hand and looked at her mother who was completely wet from the water.

'What are you doing now?' Lizzie looked down at her wet dress. "We thought you could use a shower." Chris teased. Lizzie noticed that Jane still had a water balloon in her hands. Lizzie took the water balloon from Jane's hands and threw it at Chris. The water balloon hit Chris' stomach and it burst. Everyone laughed and Chris ran to the bucket of water balloons further down the garden.

"Oh you have more water balloons." Lizzie ran after Chris towards the bucket. Chris took two water balloons from the bucket and threw them at Lizzie. In turn, Lizzie also grabbed a water balloon and threw it at Chris. "Hey, that's not fair."

A water fight broke out between Chris and Lizzie and Maeve also joined in. Jane crawled into Mary-Kate's lap and watched the scene from a distance. Mary-Kate nudged her sister. "Do you see the way Lizzie looks at Chris?" Ashley looked at Lizzie and she chuckled. She recognized this look all too well. Lizzie was still madly in love with Chris...