"This one is mine," Sienna snarled.
"I was here first!" Jackson yelled, yanking back.
"I'm older!"
"She likes me better!"
The star of her two older siblings' argument, a ten month-old Gianna giggled gleefully. Caleb, on the other hand, crawled as fast as his tiny limbs could manage towards the playroom door.
"No she doesn't!" Sienna screamed.
Changing his war tactics, Jackson dropped the chubby feet he had been grasping and swiped his tongue up Sienna's arm. A hysterical shriek rang through the entire house.
A shriek that was cut short the second she saw her mother, eyes ablaze, standing in the doorway with her second tea party participant on her hip.
_____
On the other side of the property, his zen playlist played from the outdoor speakers as Spencer calmly enjoyed his morning tending to his vegetable garden. He had gotten a glimpse of the neighbor's sorry-looking patch and was proud to say there was no competition. His family only ate the best of the best.
He swiped the sweat from his forehead, his eyes assessing the readiness of his prized zucchinis. Perhaps one more day. Then he would harvest them. For now, he moved onto the herbs for tonight's dinner.
He was mid plucking thyme when his wife's yelling wiped all thoughts of horticulture from his mind.
He rushed inside, panicked at the sight of his wife fuming as she paced around the kitchen with both babies on her hips. "Hey baby, what's wrong?"
"I don't know what to do with them," she replied, exasperated. Unable to throw her hands up, she dropped her head back.
Spencer slowed, cautiously watching the babies as he inched around the island. When he got close enough, he reached to safely remove his youngest kids from their mother's grasp. Though neither seemed to mind, her grip was unnaturally tight on their thighs.
"No, not them." She pulled them closer to her body, offended.
"Oh." His eyes darted between Gianna and Caleb as they clung to their mother's neck. They were still in that phase where their mother was everything to them. Though Spencer felt confident that he was breaking through to at least one of them.
"The other two," Olivia sighed.
"Oh," Spencer repeated, his mind piecing together what had most likely transpired in the house.
Now that the twins were older, they had developed minimal interest in their age appropriate toys. Instead, their eyes followed Sienna and Jackson's every move, desperate for the day they could join in on the shenanigans. It didn't help that Sienna and Jackson saw the babies as excellent pawns for their games. And while the idea of one's children entertaining themselves would make most parents jump for joy, Spencer and Olivia had one problem—Jackson and Sienna never wanted to play together.
"We can talk to them again," Spencer tried, but Olivia just shook her head.
You can talk to them again were the last words Spencer heard before his wife stormed out of the kitchen. Babies and all.
_____
Walking towards the playroom, Spencer put on his best serious face. Usually, he and his wife did their best to not yell at their kids as a way of modeling healthy emotional regulation. But after seeing his wife's frustration, he knew the kids were driving Olivia to her wits' end. Sternness was the way to go in this situation.
He opened his mouth to speak, but his resolve dropped the second Sienna caught sight of him and scrambled over. "We were just playing, daddy," she pleaded, her eyes blinking innocently.
Running to join his sister, Jackson pitched in. "We weren't hurting them!"
"They're strong! They never get hurt!"
And though his twins did seem to be built like tanks, Spencer still had a lesson to impart.
"They're not toys to play with," he explained, sitting on one of Sienna's play chairs.
"We'll be more careful," Sienna nodded, climbing into his lap.
"Yeah, we promise, daddy," Jackson agreed with matched enthusiasm. "We just want to include them!"
Looking at his kids, he couldn't help but realize that he'd seen this dynamic before, that his daughter and son eerily resembled another bipolar sibling duo he knew, one second at each other's necks, then the next presenting a united front that not even their parents could break.
"Okay, but for today let's chill out. Mommy's had a long week, and she needs some peace and quiet."
Feeling that he did what needed to be done, Spencer went on the hunt for Olivia, finding her in the master bedroom, sitting cross-legged on the bed with Caleb and Gianna laying out in front of her.
"Who's mommy's precious baby," she grinned, her fingers digging into Gianna's rolls, eliciting little giggles. She did the same to Caleb.
"I talked to them."
She looked up. "Thank you," she smiled softly. "They've just been nonstop this week. One day, one of these babies are going to be missing a limb."
Gianna rolled onto her stomach, holding her head up to look at her dad.
Noticing the tiredness in his wife's eyes, Spencer came up with a plan. "Why don't you get out of the house. Take my card and go to the spa."
She shook her head. "I don't want to leave you here with all of them. Plus, they need to be put down for a nap soon and—"
"Olivia, I know how to put babies to sleep," he cut in. "I've done it once or twice before."
Olivia's nose wrinkled. "Sorry."
"Go," he insisted, picking up Gianna, who had managed to cross the entire king-sized bed to get to him.
"Okay," she relented, the idea of an afternoon away sounding more and more enticing the longer she sat with it.
He came around the bed to offer her a hand, helping her up. "I'll work on getting them to play together."
"Thank you," she smiled, handing off Caleb and pressing a kiss to his cheek before heading to the bathroom to get ready.
_____
Olivia parked next to her husband's car feeling relaxed and rejuvenated. An afternoon of salt scrubs and deep tissue massages were exactly what she needed to release the tension that had been festering.
Walking into the house, she smiled at the distant laughter. After a week of constant quarreling, her oldest were finally getting along. Her husband had worked his magic. Her smile widened as she thought about how she would thank him later.
As she walked through the kitchen, her eyebrows furrowed when she heard Jackson's yelling break through the laughter.
"One. Two. Three. GO!"
She walked towards the long hallway that connected the downstairs of the house, and her smile fell.
"Let's go, SiSi!" Spencer, lost in his competitiveness, jumped up and down at the end of the hall, urging on his nine year-old as she pushed a cardboard box across the wood flooring.
Inside the cardboard box—her ten month-old baby girl.
And right behind them were her other two.
Olivia took in a deep breath. She didn't have it in her to yell again. She already felt guilty enough about earlier.
"I won!!" Sienna cheered as she ran past her dad.
Spencer scooped up his daughter to celebrate, and his eyes made contact with Olivia's, going wide.
"This is not what I meant," she stared at him.
He uttered the first thing that came to mind. "They got helmets on, Liv."
Olivia looked at Gianna and Caleb. Not only did they have oversized helmets sitting lop-sided on their heads, they each had two pillows strapped to their bodies with a belt.
Pressing her fingers to her temples, Olivia spun on her heels and headed upstairs.
He could handle them on his own for a little while longer.
_____
"I got them to play together," Spencer mumbled into the back of his wife's neck later that night.
"Mhm," she hummed, pursing her lips. Caleb pressed his tiny palm against her mouth, and she kissed his hand repeatedly.
"Let me make it up to you."
"It's time for them to go to bed," she rolled over and deposited Spencer's son onto his chest.
"Perfect timing," he grinned, scooping up Gianna with his other hand.
"I'm going to do some editing." She reached for her laptop, no longer interested in her husband's body.
When Spencer returned thirty minutes later, she was deep in her work. He grabbed onto her ankle, dragging her across the bed.
"Spencer!"
"I said I'm sorry, Liv," he breathed out.
"Spencer, they're not all asleep yet," Olivia gasped, grasping for his shoulder as he lowered his head between her thighs.
"I know," he smirked, kissing up her stomach. "Just giving you a teaser."
"I'm mad at you," she sighed, wrapping her legs around his waist as he lowered his body onto hers.
"I'm sorry, baby," he hummed, "I was trying to help."
"Mhm." She found the hem of his shirt, pulling it over his head.
"Next time, we'll play something else."
But he didn't have a chance to share what exactly before he had to roll off of her at the sound of footsteps coming down the hall.
They both stared at the doorway, waiting.
When not one, or two, but all four of her kids showed up at the door, Olivia's shoulders dropped.
"Why did you guys take them out of their cribs?" she shook her head in disbelief as Sienna and Jackson continued to walk across the room, each of them lugging a baby.
"We're sorry we made you sad, mommy," Sienna said, laying Caleb on the bed before climbing up herself.
Shorter, Jackson struggled and ended up swinging Gianna onto the bed.
Olivia lurched forward. "Jesus."
"I got her." Spencer pulled Gianna into his lap.
Olivia exhaled.
"They have fun with us!" Jackson exclaimed as he slid into her lap.
"Yeah, and we were all playing together like you asked us to!" Sienna kept going.
"We're sorry, mommy," Spencer's voice came from behind Gianna.
Meanwhile, Caleb crawled into her lap, the look on his face indicating that at least one of them had made it to sleep before being dragged from bed.
Olivia surveyed her family members, who stared back at her expectantly.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you two earlier, but—"
The two oldest cut her off, cheering as they tackled her back against the pillow. Then Spencer sealed the deal by wrapping his arms around the bunch, and annoyance was no longer an option.
"Can we sleep here, mommy?" Jackson asked after a while of them all cuddling together. He was being nice and asking, but his body was already getting mighty comfortable against her side.
Spencer's head popped up, making eye contact with her over their kids' heads. He still had other plans.
She smirked back at him, testing how sorry he really was. "Yes baby, you can."
_____
I missed these babies and their chaos. Also this book surpassed 100k reads recently which is crazy. TY!