Chapter Four

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"We need to make some lunch for when those twins wake up. They'll be starving."

I reluctantly pull myself from where I sit and enter the kitchen. I meander over to the counter and lean against it while Elias pulls various things from the cupboards.

"What're we making?" I ask, watching as he sets things out.

"They haven't had our famous chicken caesar salad in a while, have they?"

I shake my head.

"They've had mac and cheese pretty much every night since we needed more groceries."

"Then this will be a nice little break."

He slides a package of uncooked chicken breast across the counter towards me and I feel a twinge of nausea.

"Be a dear and cut that up for me, would you?" he asks.

"I'm...a vegetarian. You've known this since-"

"Honey, that's very noble but this little birdie's a bit past the point of saving, don't you think? Besides, all you have to do is cut it up. I never make you eat it."

"But...I might get sick."

He huffs and rolls his eyes before swapping the chicken for a head of lettuce.

"Fine, I'll cut up the chicken. You can pull apart this lettuce. Careful though, I heard about a new study that reveals plants might be able to feel pain. I don't have to worry about that over here. This chicken's pain-feeling days are done."

I feel my jaw tighten as I rigidly pull apart the lettuce.

Eventually, we manage to mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Elias has the decency to make a separate, chicken-free salad for me.

We set everything out just as I hear two sets of feet sleepily making their way down the stairs. They appear in the doorway, their hair wild and their tired eyes a little bit red as they rub them. Corey has his fuzzy blue blanket wrapped around his shoulders. They both look a little out of it.

"Corey, you're wearing your superhero cape," Elias hints, pointing to his blanket.

Corey grins and comes running through the kitchen making 'whooshing' noises as if he were flying.

"I'm superman!" he cries.

"Superman?" Elias questions. "Just yesterday, you were Captain America."

Corey turns and gives Elias a 'duh' look.

"Captain America doesn't have a cape! Superman does!"

"Oh! That makes more sense then."

"Corey, come sit up here with Maisie and have some lunch," I instruct, pushing Maisie's chair in as she sits at the table.

Corey comes 'whooshing' over and takes a seat beside his sister. I go to push his chair in but he scoots in on his own with a determined; "I'm superman, mom. I can do it.".

"I had a nice dream, mummy!" Maisie exclaims joyfully.

"Oh? Tell me about it."

"We were outside again," she glances at Elias, hinting, "and Corey climbed to the top of the tree and we couldn't get him down but he didn't fall."

"Oh, that's good then. Did we just leave him there?"

Maisie giggles.

"No! We got a ladder!"

"Oh, of course, of course," I add with a wink before taking a bite of salad.

"Daddy had to climb up and get Corey but he didn't want to come down. He made friends with the birds up there!"

"He wanted to stay with the birds more?" Elias asks with feigned disbelief.

Maisie nods proudly.

"Mm-hm! They were white birds and Corey said they sang good...so he wanted to stay."

"Did we convince him to come down anyway?" I ask.

"I don't know, mummy, I woke up."

"Oh, that's too bad. I wanted to find out what happened."

Maisie tells many more stories while we eat. Most of them, her mind conjured. However, they are still entertaining to listen to and she puts on a good show. Corey is too focused on eating and making sure his 'cape' doesn't fall off his shoulders to listen or add to the conversation. He's always lost in his own little world.

Later, the twins gain loads of energy from their nap, which they wear off running around and chasing each other. I sit contentedly in the living room and listen to them go squealing past every few minutes while Elias sits at the counter and reads a book.

Soon, I hear what sounds like quarreling more than playing. Maisie yells Corey's name in a very distraught manner and he just screams as she tries to take something from him. I assume it's a toy or something. Then I hear it shatter on hard ground and realize it couldn't be.

I hurry from my seat and go to investigate before anyone steps on whatever made that noise. I see shards all across the floor from a glass I left sitting on the bannister.

"Ok, nobody move," I order.

Both of them freeze in place as I kneel down and gather up the larger pieces with my hands. I create a nice little pile and take it to the kitchen, telling the twins to step around the other pieces and follow me to the kitchen. I lead them there and dump the glass in my hand into the garbage before grabbing the broom from the pantry and going to sweep up the rest. Corey and Maisie stay where they are, looking guilty as could be.

When I've finished sweeping and have dumped the rest of the glass, I assure them that accidents happen and they should just be more careful next time. I hope they don't feel too bad about this. I advise them to play where there isn't anything breakable around and send them off. It isn't long before they are laughing and playing normally again.

"What would they do without you?" Elias comments suddenly.

I turn and raise a brow.

"What do you mean?"

"You're very soft on them."

"Well, they're only babies yet."

"Hm, those babies are getting bigger. We can't get slack on discipline-"

"They're little. They're just learning how to feel guilt. That feels bad enough for them right now. We don't need to add to it."

Elias shrugs.

"We'll see, I s'pose."

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