(no subject)
Last time with the Rossi clan, our winsome founder, Keila, gave birth to a black-haired daughter, Aliyah. She then got engaged to the baby's father, Dominique, and was surprised to find herself pregnant once again. At the end, she went into labor. This time, she gives birth to fracternal twins, who wind up being more trouble than they're worth...
Dear Diary,
Yeah, it's me again. Life has been hectic these past few weeks so I haven't been able to write as often as I should. Now, where was I?
Oh, right. Labor. I wasn't serious the last time I went into labor--about not having anymore kids--but I knew for sure that this one was my last. For sure this time; I couldn't believe that some people actually birthed six or more children. How did they do it? I decided that they must have some kind of mental illness and left it at that. Anyways...
"It's a boy!" I hollered triumphantly, cuddling my new baby boy in my arms. Dominique whooped and hollered and strutted around the kitchen, looking all too pleased with himself. I made a noise of disgust in the back of my throat and gently stroked my son's bald head.
"Ignore your daddy." I whispered to him with a wry expression. "You'll live longer if you do." My breath exhaled in a hiss as pain shot up my body.
"What the hell?" I muttered, handing Forrest--the name we'd decided on, should it be a boy--to my husband and clutching my stomach. "Oh, no." I growled when I realized what this meant: twins.
I'll spare you the gory details, but Forrest's twin was a girl--and she looked exactly like him. Of course, it was hard too tell since they were still babies, but I was 99% sure that they were indentical twins. We named her Felicity, after her paternal grandmother who had passed away when Dominique was a child.
The months passed surprisingly quickly, considering the fact that I now had four children to take care of--a toddler, two babies, and my husband. Don't get me wrong, I love Dominique, but sometimes he's a complete pain in the neck.
Anywho, soon it was time for a triple birthday; Ali was to turn into a child, and the twins into toddlers. Dominique harps on me whenever I call them "the twins" instead of by their names, so I try not to do it when he's around; something about them being individuals, and deserving to be called by their given names instead of lumped into a group. He's a strange man, that one.
First up was Forrest...
Followed by Felicity...
And ending with Ali.
A picture of Felicity and Forrest together--I really hope I don't need to explain to you which is which.
The days passed, and soon it was time to take Ali in the optometrist for her first eye
exam. Both Dominique and I were equally surprised when he pulled us aside and explained that Ali needed glasses. She was thrilled, since she got to pick out the frames herself. Unfortunately, her parents were not.
"How are we going to afford this?" I whispered to Dominique as we dutifully followed Ali and the optometrist down the hallway. "We're pinching pennies as it is!" With a child and two toddlers at home, we were nearly broke.
"Don't worry, I'll handle it." He drawled, offering me the familiar grin that flashed the dimple in his chin. I'm still not sure how, but we did manage to pay off the glasses eventually.
Ali was, to put it bluntly, a bit of a nerd. She spent most of her time studying, which usually ended up paying off in all the A+'s she brought home, day after day. Dominique always joked that she'd gotten his looks and my brain, which made me smack his arm. He claimed that there was a never-fading bruise there from me hitting him so often.
At night, she enjoyed taking a break from her schoolwork to do outside and try to catch firelies. She always assured me that she'd let them go after she got them, but so far, we haven't had to worry about that--since she hasn't caught any. It's frustrating to her, since she's usually so good at everything, but she insists that one day she'll finally do it.
"Good for you!" Dominique enthused, often going out and sitting on the front steps to watch her.
Ali was our own personal gardener--we built a small greeenhouse in the backyard. Ali spent most of her time there, and soon her plants were thriving.
Unfortunately, another trait she'd gotten from her father was her fierceness when it came to video games. She was always terribly disappointed when she lost--which she always did, since Dominique didn't allow her to win, like most fathers would do.
"Dom," I begged him one night in a whisper, so Ali wouldn't overhear. "Can you let her win just once? Please?" Dominique just stared at me blankly.
"Why would I want to do a daft thing like that?" He muttered, looking clueless as I groaned and resisted the urge to hit him again.
"Forget it." I grumbled and he went back out; I winced when I heard our daughter groaning and Dominique cheering delightedly. I asked him again and again but his answer was always basically the same: no way--what did he look like, some kind of wanker? I always had to bite my tounge before I snapped out a 'yes'.
Ali and her little brother were as close as two siblings so far apart in age could be. While she usually avoided her mischief-making younger sister, she could often be seen playing with Forrest or trying to get him to say "Ali". His best attempt so far as been "Awi".
Speaking of the twins...
Unlike her older sister, Felicity was a wild-child and seemed intent on driving me nuts. She was always eating Cinnamon's dogfood, splashing in the toilet and puddles, or playing with my makeup. Unfortunately...
She seemed to rub off on her twin brother, and we often found him partnering in crime with Felicity.
Despite his (many) faults, Dominique was a doting father, which was when I was surprised to find him gone one day. One minute he had been outside, gazing up at the stars with his new telescope, and the next...he was gone. I thought it was strange, but I didn't have much time to worry, since I had to change diapers, put the twins down for their naps, help Ali with her homework...I was swamped.
A few hours later, I was officially in all-out panic mode. I raced outside when I saw the flashing lights, thinking they were headlights.
"Oh, my Lord..." I whispered when I saw the object in the air, sketching a quick cross over my chest. I had been raised Catholic, but I rarely attended Mass; this, however, called for some special cirtumstances. I screamed when I Dominique falling from the aircraft, but he somehow wasn't hurt when he hit the ground.
"What...happened?" He choked out as I squeezed him tightly around the neck.
"I think...I think you got abducted." I replied solemnly, and his eyes widened a crack. "Don't say it!" I warned as his mouth opened, likely for something akin to "cool!". He could act like a 10-year-old sometimes, Dominique could.
As the months passed, his stomach grew larger and larger, and the amount of time he spent praying to the porcelain God increased. He also had the strangest cravings at all times of the day and night. Could it be...?
"Dominique," I started hesitantly one afternoon, brushing his hair back from his sweaty forehead as he dry-heaved into the toilet. "If I didn't know better, I, um," I cleared my throat and caught my lower lip between my teeth. My voice dropped to a nearly inaudible whisper. "I would think you were, you know..." I trailed off and Dominique gave me a dirty look; he was also prone to mood swings. One moment he would be pleasant as all getout, the next he would be furious, and then a minute later he'd be upset.
"Nooo," He replied icily. "I don't know." I winced as he bent over the toilet once more.
"Pregnant, okay? I think you're pregnant." He gave a bark of laughter.
"Pregnant...that's a good one. Not possible and you know it, luv."
"But--" I frowned. "Before...that day, we didn't think alien abductions were possible, either." He scoffed at the idea, and I silenced myself.
It wasn't long before the twins had another birthday, and we had three children in the house, which was easier than a child and two toddlers in a way...but in another way, much harder.
((Author's note: The quality of Felicity's picture is awful, sorry! She really is a cute kid.))
The minute she was old enough, Felicity begged me to let her dye her hair. I reluctantly said yes, but under the condition that a professional do it. She agreed. Forty minutes and one grueling trip to the colorist later, Felicity was a brazen blonde.
Worse yet was when Forrest started wearing eyeliner. It was tough enough for Dominique to accept the fact that his baby girls were wearing makeup, but now his son? But whenever he was confronted about it, Forrest just gave that world-weary, you-just-don't-understand sigh that was a typical behavior in kids these days and explained that "everyone was doing it." Unfortunately, the man hadn't yet realized that cliches were a bad idea.
"If they jumped off a cliff, would you do it?" He snapped and Forrest regarded his father coolly.
"Totally. Cliff-jumping is all the rage these days, Pop." He winked, sniggered, and disappeared to go skateboarding with his friends.
His sister was even worse. She seemed intent on antagonizing "Miss Perfect," as Felicity mockingly referred to Ali. She short-sheeted her bed, jumped in the piles of leaves that Ali had painstackingly raked, and made fun of her and her straight A's every chance she got. She even called her a "freak" for her interest--almost an obsession, really--with the paranormal.
For you see, after Dominique's abduction, she was fascinated by everything even remotely having to do with aliens or anything other-worldly. She'd even remodled her room so it featured aliens instead of the former Barbies.
The twins were extremely close, as close as any siblings I'd ever seen. Sometimes I wondered, though; they seemed to share a connection of some short. They were always finishing each other's sentences and when one made even the smallest of gestures--such as Felicity brushing her hair behind her ear, or Forrest smiling--they burst into laughter, almost as if they could read each other's minds. Not that I'd be terribly surprised if that they true; after all, I'd dealt with alien abductions and obsessions, and a male pregnancy--whether my stubborn husband would admit it or not. Twin ESP was a little thing compared to that.
I never thought I'd say this, but sometimes I wondered if the two were too close. Almost every day, Ali came to me nearly in tears because Felicity and Forrest were telling secrets in their special "twin language" and she just knew they were about her. My eldest daughter was a little paranoid. I couldn't bear to tell her that their special communication was really just a form of Pig Latin, so instead I pulled her close and assured her that they weren't. Maybe that was when the trouble started...
I'll end this entry with a picture of my gorgeous children. They all look a startling amount alike.
Previous episodes:
Generation 1: |1.1| |1.2|
Generation 2: |2.1|