Living the Dream (Betrothed To Your Enemy 2)

After Seven Years

"Agitha!" Varian cried as he caught her as she fell off the chandelier.  "What on earth are you doing?"

"Training!"  Agitha exclaimed.  "I'm gonna be a lieutenant like mama when I grow up!"

"I'm sure you will, but please, please, be more careful and maybe not climb on things," Varian begged as he set her down.

The six year old pouted, but Varian crossed his arms.  She took that as her cue that she better do something that would not get her in trouble.  Varian felt someone tugging on his pant leg.  He looked down at the four year old.  "Yes, Darren?"

The little boy pointed up at a book on a shelf that he couldn't reach.  "Can you as for the book?"  Varian inquired.

Darren nodded silently and pointed.  Varian sighed.  He wasn't going to push it.  Darren just wasn't ready to talk yet, and that was fine.  He'd talk when he's ready.  It was just confusing because Darren was already pulling out encyclopedias and strange topics and could write, but had yet to utter a word.  He had a voice, because he could make grunts and laugh.  The doctor said it was because he must not be ready to speak because nothing was wrong.

"Daddy, have you seen Ruddiger?"

"No, Marren.  He's probably napping right now.  You can play with the raccoon later," he said to Darren's twin sister.  "Why don't you play with your dollies."

"Ok..."  Marren walked over to her dolls.

Varian picked up his son.  "Which book are you wanting, Dari?"  Darren looked closely for a moment before pointing to a book on physics.  "Are you sure?"  Varian asked.  The boy nodded.  The father shrugged and pulled it off the shelf and put both of them down.  Darren happily accepted the book and happily took it to his reading corner.  Even though Darren's face was expressionless as always, Varian knew when his son was pleased or not.

Good.  Everyone was finally calmed down.

"That was such a boring meeting," Cassandra grumbled as she walked into the nursery.  "I don't know why they called one."

"Hey, Cassie.  You regret the lieutenant position?"

"No.  I just wish they wouldn't call me away on pointless meetings.  Maybe they'll have a meaning in the future though," she sighed as she ruffled Darren's hair.  He didn't look up from his book.  "I'll take it from here."

"Right, I need to deal with the trading issues that we have developed.  I have the five solutions I need to present to Eugene and Edmund.  Then I need to check on Annette.  Being a Royal Babysitter may not be as easy as it sounds."

Cassandra chuckled.  "Something tells me that she can handle Flynn and Ryder well enough."

"I don't know... Ryder is always bouncing off the walls like Aggie here."

"She has a way of calming the boys down.  Besides, I'm sure Raps checks on them all the time."

"I know, I'll only take a quick stop by there, I promise," Varian kissed his wife before leaving the nursery.

It would be easier if they hired a nanny, due to both Cassandra and Varian having extremely important jobs, but they wanted to be the ones to raise their children.  Nothing was wrong with a nanny, but they had made a decision to just work things out from the beginning.  They wanted their kids to have a close relationship with them and show them that they could always come to them when they needed to.

"Hello."

Darren glanced up from his book.  He gave the blue figure in front of him a blank expression.  Saying nothing, he just waited for her to speak as always.  He liked it when she talked to him, because she never expected him say anything back.

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So Varian and Cassandra have three children, plus Annette, so they have four kids.

Agitha is six years old atm

Marren and Darren are four year old twins.