The Mix-Up

Chapter Three

"I'll be right down!" Teddy called downstairs. She was running late and she was hyper aware of it. She hated being late. In fact the twins were three days past their due date and she had gone crazy trying to get them to come. Anyways this morning had been another busy one – of course she always had these when Alexander was coming for a visit.

Her morning sickness had finally lessened over the past couple days, but the twins needs increased. First Joey caught a cold from the local playgroup and just after she was coming down from it Charley got it. Then Charley's nightmares continued more than once and on two occasions Teddy needed to awaken to change the wet sheets. Finally, just to prove how tired Teddy clearly was she poured the orange juice into Joey's cereal rather than the milk.

Now the bell below signaled that Alexander and his wife had arrived. At least this time he wasn't extra early. Not that she was completely angry about the incident from the week before, but it was a little inconvenient. She had wanted to get herself better prepared and she had planned on mentioning the guest to the girls. But when someone comes two hours before they were invited – well the preparations simply never happened. 

"Doorbell mommy!" Charley announced with a big smile. She was following after her mom yet again.

"Yes honey" Teddy smiled softly and ruffled her daughter's hair slightly. "I heard it. Now how about you go find Joey and play a little as I see to our guests."

The little girl nodded happily and skipped off to find her twin – who was most likely in their room playing with their batch of dolls.

Teddy sighed a little and went to the stairs. She carefully started to descend but paused when she heard the couple talking. Well aware that ease dropping was a terrible habit and one that she shouldn't partake in – especially considering she would reprehend her daughters for doing just this. However the words the couple was speaking were too much to pass up – more importantly what the women was saying.

"Who willingly lives in a town this small? Its basically the size of a prison" Stephanie said with a clear tone of annoyance. "What type of environment is this? There's no class, no growth opportunities, no anything! Imagine growing up in the city? What greatness it'll be. So many friends they could make, the programs that'll be offered and the possible school boards. Here everyone has to go to the same schools, get the same jobs and have the same friends. There will be no social status here."

"Well they are little girls Steph" Alec's voice joined into the conversation. "I doubt they are concerned about social status as you say."

"Just imagine if they were to live in the city Alexander" Stephanie argued back. Teddy needed to hold in a gasp. So that's where this woman was going with the conversation – to lobby for the twins to move to the city. Well jokes on her, Teddy would never leave her home for bigger and better chances in the city. Everyone was doing just fine here. "You could see them so much more often. They would come and stay with us half the time, you're their father after all so you're entitled to fifty percent."

"Yeah Steph, I would love to spend more time with the girls, but what I want more than anything is for them to be happy" Alec stated. "This is their home. I would never take them away from it."

"Some home," Teddy could nearly hear the eye roll in the other women's voice. "They live in a damn bookstore!"

"Stephanie" Alec hissed, "hush up, they could hear you. And they don't live in a bookstore. They live above it."

"But just look at how dusty and dirty this place is" Stephanie was not going down easily. "It can't be healthy for children to be breathing in so much filth. So what if they live above the store? It can't be very large. It is certainly smaller than our apartment. I would be surprised if it has even one bedroom."