The Way We Were

The Way We Turn Three

"Mommy, is it time?" Mickey asked.

"Not yet." Marcy set Riley back in her bassinet.

"Almost?" Mickey hoped.

"Almost. Come on and let your sister sleep." Marcy picked Mickey up and tiptoed out of the room.

Mickey waited until they were downstairs before squeezing her mom's neck. "Now, Mommy?"

Marcy laughed.  "No, Mac Attack. You and Bro-Bro's party isn't for another hour."

Mickey pouted. "How long is an hour?"

"I'll let you know." Marcy put her down.

Mickey wrapped her arms around Marcy's leg. "Don't forget."

Marcy giggled. "I won't. Go play with the balloons while I finish setting up."

Mickey ran off in search of balloons.

W.W.W.

Mercedes opened the door. "Hi! Welcome! How are you?!"

The guest smiled. "I'm good! How are you?!"

The two hugged. "I'm good! The twins are in the living room."

"Here's their gifts."

Mercedes took them. "Thank you. I'll just put these with the others. Food's in the kitchen if you're hungry."

"Thank you." The guest moved deeper into the house.

Mercedes shut the door and put the gifts with the rest. She went back to the kitchen and reclaimed her seat. "The twins have more gifts."

Marcy smiled. "I don't know how we're going to bring all this junk home."

"It's not junk!" Quinn fussed. "It's presents! The best thing ever!"

"You're too materialistic, Q."

Quinn gasped.

Laura and Mercedes giggled.

Marcy popped a finger food into her mouth. "You're okay. Fix your face."

Quinn crossed her arms jaggedly and huffed loudly. She also turned her head.

"Don't be like that." Marcy poked her cheek.

"We're no longer friends."

"We were never friends."

Quinn looked to her with wide eyes and an open mouth. "What?!"

"We're sisters." Marcy shrugged.

"We're friends, too!" Quinn thundered.

"You just said we weren't."

Quinn screamed in frustration as Laura and Mercedes giggled.

W.W.W.

Mal lit the candles on the pizza. In actuality, Mal tried to light the candles on the pizza. Since they weren't allowed to have sugar, the Fabangeses had the tradition of blowing out candles on a deep dish pizza. Mal was having problems fulfilling that rite of passage.

"Please let someone else do this!" Marc complained.

"I got this!" Mal struck another match but it fizzled out as soon as it touched the wax.

"Daddy, no pizza?" Mickey pouted mournfully.

Mal sighed. "Marce?"

Marcy flipped open her lighter and ran the gear over the side of her chuck. The wick burned and she touched each of the candles.

They stayed lit.

Mal sighed again. "I quit."

Marcy rubbed his back as a cheer went up for the candles working.

He picked up Mickey and she picked up Mally. There were six candles on the pizza, three red, three blue. "Okay, come on, guys. One, two, three, blow!"

The twins leaned forward and blew as hard as they could. Luckily it was a small number and they each took care of their three.

Applause rang out as their guests cheered for them. "Yay! Good job!"

The twins clapped for themselves.

Marcy put Mally down and handed Mal a large knife, handle first. Mal put Mickey down and took the knife, cutting the pie into tiny squares.

Marcy gave the twins the first squares and let them taste it. "Good?"

They nodded. "Yummy!" They had sauce all over their lips.

Marcy smiled at them before plating up the rest of the pizza.

W.W.W.

Mally pulled on Mal's leg. "Daddy, is it time?"

"It can be." Mal leaned down.

"Yay!" Mally hugged him tightly before running over to a group of kids. "We're opening presents!"

Mal chuckled and turned back to the men he was talking to. "I guess we're opening presents."

"He's spry, I give him that." Stan said.

"Yeah." Mal snickered. "Let's go watch them open their gifts."

The men walked over to the kids. The women came from around the house and gathered with them.

Marcy waded through until she was by the twins. "Here you go." She handed them each a present, Mally's wrapped in red wrapping paper, Mickey's in blue.

The twins tore into them.

"Don't you want to know who it's from?"

They looked at her blankly.

"It's from Tio Marc."

Everyone looked at Marc, who beamed. "Thank you, Tio Marc!"

"You're welcome." He said.

They continued to fly passed the paper. They opened boxes and looked at each other in confusion. "Mommy, what this?"

"Mally, you have a microscope and Mickey, you have a telescope." Marcy explained.

"What that?"

"A microscope lets you see stuff up close that's really little. A telescope lets you see stuff up close that's really far away."

The twins brightened and went to hug Marc. "Thank you, Tio!"

Applause rang out as he hugged them back. "You're welcome."

W.W.W.

Marcy pulled the cover up to Mally's and Mickey's chins and smoothed it over. "Comfy?"

They nodded.

"Did you have a good birthday?"

They nodded again, happily.

"Good." She booped both of their noses.

They giggled as Mal walked in. "Whew! That diaper was ripe!"

"Remember when we thought we were good when they started potty training?" Marcy grinned.

"Just two more years." Mal sat on the bed. "Alright! Where are we on the bedtime routine?!"

Mickey giggled as she sat up. She picked up a book from the nightstand. "You have to read to us, Daddy!"

Mal reached for the book as she wiggled down under the cover. "I got this. What book is it?"

"The Ugly Duckling, Daddy!" Mally said proudly.

Mal opened the book and launched into the tale. He made funny voices for the characters and had the twins giggling with his silliness while Marcy looked on in amusement. "The end. Now what?"

Mally yawned. "It's Mommy's turn. She has to sing us a song."

Marcy picked up the guitar she was using all summer and started strumming slowly. She sang softly, even after snores were her accompaniment. When she finished, she and Mal kissed the twins then walked out to go to their room.