I was typing up the seventh chapter to my romance novel, and I was right in the middle of one of the raunchier scenes when a notification popped up on my screen. High priority email.
All right, I guess if it's that important, I'll check it, I thought. I pulled up my email and found the email from someone by the name of Dolores Quinn. I had no idea who she was, but the email didn't go to my spam folder, so I assumed it was important. I opened the email and read it.
My jaw dropped. I read it again to make sure I was seeing everything correctly.
The email had said that my great-uncle Louis had passed away last night. Uncle Louis, the weird uncle that had never gotten married or had any children of his own. The one that decided to adopt four little boys a month ago because he was lonely. It also mentioned that I was his only living relative with enough income to take care of the boys.
Was I going to become a mother?
I wasn't sure how to feel about it. Sure, I loved kids. But I was kind of awkward around them, like I was with every other human being. And it was four boys. Boys were usually more mischievous than girls. Well, they couldn't force me to take care of them, but after some thought, I decided I would much rather raise them myself than let them go to some strange person who might not be a suitable parent. Besides, I had motherly instincts. I had been told that by many people for years.
I quickly responded to Dolores's email (it said in her email that she was their social worker), letting her know I was fine with taking them in and that she could bring them here when she was ready. In a few minutes, she let me know that they would be flying here from Virginia the day after tomorrow.
In the time that I had, I child-proofed my house to the best of my abilities. If I was going to be a mommy, I was going to do it right.
********
I sat on my couch, waiting for my doorbell to ring. Today was the day. I was going to meet my boys for the first time. I honestly got lucky on a few things. I already had two other bedrooms in my house with a full-sized bed in each, so two of them could have one room and the other two could have the other. I was also lucky to have an SUV that would fit all of them inside. Dolores said they would come with all of their clothes and books and toys, so I shouldn't worry about that. Of course, I had to buy them welcome gifts. I was a Potterhead, and I was going to make sure they grew up to be the same way, and I had bought four shirts, one with each house's symbol on it. I was told about the personality of each of the boys by Dolores over the phone, so I knew which shirt was going to who already. I had also bought them all a stuffed animal, though I would let them choose which one they wanted out of those. I had a stuffed duck, a stuffed bear, a stuffed squirrel, and a stuffed weasel. I hoped they would play nice when they picked which ones they wanted.
As I was lost in my own world, thinking about my boys, I heard the doorbell ring. They're here! I thought. I got up and quickly walked to the door. I took a deep breath and opened it, seeing a smiling older woman with white hair, flanked by four children.
"Hello, Miss Jones, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said, extending her hand.
I shook her hand, the smile on my face probably making me look like an idiot. "The pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Quinn."
I showed her inside and watched as the boys followed her in a straight line, like little ducks. It was one of the cutest things I had ever witnessed. I took a seat on the couch as Dolores sat in the chair adjacent to it. "Now boys," she began. "Why don't you introduce yourselves to Miss Jessie? She's your new mommy now, so it would be nice if she knew your names, your birthdays, and how old you are, and you could tell her about your favorite toys."
I looked at them, all standing in a row in front of me, noticing they were all holding some sort of toy in their arms. They all seemed kind of timid, so I decided to get up and kneel down to their level.
"It's okay, you can talk to me," I said to them. "I don't bite." They all giggled at the last part. "How about we start with the oldest one?"
The tallest one stepped forward. He had hair similar to the color of chocolate, and his eyes were around the same color. He was wearing a plain red shirt and a hat that looked like a bear. I know which stuffie he's going to pick out, I thought.
"Hi," he started. "My name is Kenneth, and my nickname is Ken. My birthday is September 21st, and I'm five years old, and my favorite toy is Betty." He held out a stuffed corgi. "Oh, and Miss Dolores told me to tell you that I'll be starting school in the fall."
"Really?" I said. "Are you excited for school?"
He nodded at me and smiled.
"Okay, who's next?" I asked, waiting for another one to step forward.
In a moment, the next one stepped forward. He was shorter than Ken, but not the shortest of the group. He had raven hair and skin that was slightly darker than the others'. His eyes were also chocolate brown. Judging by the shape of his eyes and some of his other features, he was of east Asian descent. He was wearing a red flannel shirt and carried a little box with a face on it in his arms.
"Uh, hi," he said. "My name's Mark. My birthday is June 28th, and I'm four years old." He looked down at the box in his arms. "This is my favorite toy, Tiny Box Tim."
"Tiny Box Tim is very cute," I told him.
"Thank you," he said, grinning at me.
Then the next one stepped forward. He was about the same height as Mark, with dirty blond hair and sky blue eyes. He wore a light blue shirt and had an action figure of some sort in his hand.
"Hello," he said cheerfully. "My name is Felix, and my birthday is October 24th. I'm four years old."
"What's that you have in your hand?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah. This is Stephano, and he's my favorite toy." He held him up so I could see the action figure. It appeared to be a warrior of some sort, wielding a sword.
"Stephano looks cool," I said, slightly amused at the name he gave it.
He smiled at me and laughed a little.
Finally, the shortest one stepped forward. He had medium brown hair, similar to the color of my own, and his eyes were baby blue. He wore a green shirt and had a stuffed...eyeball? It was green and blue, and quite strange looking.
"Hi," he said. "My name's Sean, and my nickname is Jack. My birthday is February 7th, and I'm three years old." He held up three fingers to make sure I understood. "This is my favorite toy, Sam." He gestured to the eyeball he was holding that was the size of my fist.
"Can Sam see anything?" I asked, trying to be facetious. Sean just giggled and covered his face with his hands.
"Okay, now that I've met all of you, I have some presents for you all," I chirped. They all cooed with delight and had excited looks on their faces. I sat crossed-legged on the floor in front of them, and Dolores told them all to do the same. They sat in a semi-circle around me as I slid the folded up shirts and plushies off the couch and into my lap. They stared in awe.
"Okay, so I have shirts, one for each of you," I stated. "Have any of you seen the Harry Potter movies?"
"Yes," Felix spoke before anyone else had a chance to. "We all watched the first two together with Mr. Louis."
"Oh, that's good," I said. "So you'll probably understand what the shirts mean. Here, this one is for you, Felix." I handed the shirt to him. He looked at it and attempted to read the word on it, but gave up eventually.
"It says 'Ravenclaw'," I told him. "You're a Ravenclaw because you're smart."
He smiled at me and hugged the shirt to his chest.
I picked up the next shirt on the pile and handed it to Ken. He looked at it and smiled, probably recognizing it. "This is like Harry," he said happily.
"Yeah, that's right," I added. "Harry is a Gryffindor, and so are you. You're brave, like he is."
He sat the shirt next to him on the floor and sat Betty on top of it.
I picked up the next one in the stack and handed it to Sean, or Jack. "This one's for you, Jack."
He looked at it and smiled. "It's green," he said cheerfully. That must be his favorite color.
"Yeah, it is. You're a Slytherin, Jack. And that means that you are persuasive."
"Per-sway-sihv?" He sounded the word out. "What does that mean?"
"It means you are good at getting what you want," I informed him. He grinned.
"And this one is for you, Mark." I handed him the last shirt. He looked at it and looked back up at me.
"What does my shirt mean?" he asked.
"It means you are loyal," I told him. "And that you're like me. I'm a Hufflepuff, too."
He smiled really big and looked so excited. I smiled back at him. I had a feeling he'd be the closest with me out of all of them.
"It looks like I need to be going," Dolores interjected. I had almost forgotten she was there.
"It was nice meeting you," I said, getting up and walking her to the door. "Have a good day."
"You too, dear," she said. "Remember, all their things are in the boxes in your garage."
"I will, as soon as we're done here, I'll unpack everything."
"Goodbye, Miss Jones."
"Goodbye, Mrs. Quinn."
As she started walking to her car, I went back into the living room to find all the boys sitting on the couch, waiting for me. I chuckled at them and picked up the stuffed animals I had bought. "Okay, time for more presents!" I cheered, inciting a chorus of 'yay's from the boys.
"Okay, this time, you get to pick which ones you want," I told them. "So who wants to go first?"
"Me!" Mark exclaimed.
"Which animal do you want, Mark?"
"The squirrel." I gave him the stuffed squirrel, and he hugged it to his chest. We continued with the gifts, Felix picking the duck, Jack picking the weasel, and Ken picking the bear. After that, I went in the garage and brought in their things, the little ones helping me as much as they could. I put their clothes in the drawers and closets, and their toys were placed around their rooms but out of the way of walking.
Before we knew it, it was dinner time. "Okay everyone, who wants chicken nuggets?" I asked as I pulled them out of the oven. I heard every one of them shouting 'me!' before I could even get the nuggets onto their plates. All of us, yes, even I, ate chicken nuggets and baby carrots for dinner, with dipping sauce, of course. At the table, they talked to me about Louis, and how he loved to watch movies with them. My heart fluttered in my chest when they called me 'mommy.'
After bath time, which was one of the silliest experiences I will ever have, I'm sure, it was bed time. I helped Jack get into his pajamas before tucking him and Mark in, giving them kisses on their foreheads. I went to Ken's and Felix's shared room and tucked them in as well, giving their foreheads the same treatment. I went back to the living room and turned on the TV, flipping through the channels until I found a crime drama I like. I sighed happily, not paying much attention to the TV.
It was only my first day as a mommy, and I was already completely in love with all of my babies.