Endings and Beginnings

Chapter 59

After lunch and nursing the twins, Don and Meryl fell asleep on the sofa in the den while the babies were sleeping in the bassinet next to them in the den. They found that it was best for Don to lay on the recliner end of their large sectional while she laid with her head in his lap. She was worried about hurting him but he wanted to keep her and their babies as close to him as possible; and she didn't mind one bit. Meryl woke up when she could hear crying from the bassinet and immediately recognized them as her daughter's cry. She carefully got up off the couch and went over to the bassinet. "What is it my wonderful baby girl? Huh? You can't be hungry." Mags only cried harder. "Shhhh...let's not wake up Daddy and Brady. Want to go for a walk with Mama? I know how much you love to walk the halls with Daddy but he can't do that yet so I guess Mama is going to have to do." Meryl kissed Mags head. "Your aunties and brother and sisters did a great job of cleaning up this place for us. We left here in a hurry, didn't we?" Meryl choked as she realized the last time she was in their apartment with her husband and their babies was when her brother tried to take Mags from them. Meryl shook her head as if she was trying to erase the memory like a picture from an Etch-A-Sketch. She then walked into the kitchen. "Even the kitchen is all clean; your siblings and Daddy know how happy that makes Mommy which is something you and your brother will learn." She smiled as walking seemed to calm Margaret down. "Let's go up the stairs and check on things up there; just don't tell Daddy." Meryl smiled into her daughter's head as she carefully walked up the stairs and froze when she came to their babies' nursery. She took a deep breath. "I guess we have to go in there sometime, my girl. I'm just glad you're with me. Daddy and I love you so much; and we won't let ANYONE EVER hurt you again." Meryl said as she walked into the nursery with Mags in her arms. She looked around as the emotions completely took over her. She thought about how they almost lost their daughter, then how Child Protective Services was called on them then their world was truly rocked with Don's accident. Meryl sat in the glider and held her daughter as close to her as possible as she let herself breakdown. "Thank God you and Daddy and Brady are all okay. Nothing is going to hurt you ever again, my Maggie girl...NOTHING."

***

Don stirred awake and was surprised when he no longer felt his wife beside him. He wasn't sure where she would be. He looked around and she wasn't in the den. "Darl?" He yelled but didn't get a response. "Meryl? Sweetheart?" Still no response so he grabbed his crutches and hobbled over to the bassinet and only saw Brady in there which he thought was strange. He looked and saw a baby sling under the bassinet. "Okay, Brady boy let's go see where your mama and sister are. Now, I can't carry you around like I normally would but hopefully I remember how Mommy showed me to use this thing in the hospital. Things are sure a lot different than when your big sister Louisa was your age." Don managed to lean on a crutch and put on the baby sling. He looked down and it looked right. He then reached into the bassinet to grab his son. "Okay bubs, let's see if this works." Don managed to sit down with Brady and place him in the sling; making sure his son was incredibly safe and secure in the sling. He then hauled himself up with the crutches. "Let's see how well Daddy can do this. I won't let anything happen to you, Brady boy. We're in this together." Don hobbled to the stairs on his crutches and once he got to the stairs he threw one to the ground; and then he held onto one crutch and the railing with the other hand as he slowly, but surely, pulled himself and Brady up the stairs. "You doing alright, bubs?" Don asked his son as he looked in the sling and he was still fast asleep. "You can sleep through anything, huh? Well, we finally got up the stairs." He turned the corner towards his and his wife's room and could hear his wife crying. He followed the cries as he got to the nursery and he froze momentarily as he saw his wife sitting in the glider with their one month old daughter and a memory hit him. "Baby?"

"Don Man?" Meryl choked as she looked up and he hobbled over to her, sitting in the glider next to her.

Once Don sat down he threw his crutch to the floor and took Brady out of the sling, holding him close as he kissed his daughter and his wife. "I remember the last time we were in this room. At least I think it was."