Chapter 99

5 months later

Kevin finished his phone call with his mom and then hung up. He got up and went upstairs to find Janel and Kristopher.

He opened the door to the twins' room and walked in.

"Hey babe. I talked to Mom and she said that…" Kevin stopped once he realized that Janel was sleeping.

He smiled as he stared at her and his son. Janel was sitting in the rocking chair with her head resting on her shoulder as she cradled Kristopher in her arms, who was also sleeping.

He went over to them and carefully picked up Kristopher and placed him in his crib. He bent down and kissed Kristopher on the cheek. Then he covered him with his little blanket.

Just as he was about to walk away, he heard a coo. He looked over and there was Brianna, wide-awake and staring at her Daddy with those bright green eyes of hers.

Kevin decided that he would pick her up and take her downstairs, but first he wanted to put Janel in their bed.

He went over to Janel and carefully scooped her into his arms. Once he had her in his arms, he went to their bedroom and placed her in the middle of the bed. Then he got the blanket and covered her as she continued to sleep. He kissed her softly on the lips and then left.

Kevin knew that she was extremely tired because of the twins. Ever since they had brought the twins home, they had had many sleepless nights. Especially with Kristopher, since he seemed to cry more than his sister. Brianna would usually sleep longer, but Kristopher would wake up occasionally throughout the night causing his sister to also wake up. So Kevin and Janel would be up, taking care of their children and trying to get them back to sleep as fast as possible.

Kevin quietly entered the twins' room and went over to Brianna's crib. He figured that he should take Brianna out of the room before she started to cry and wake up her mom and brother. Kevin leaned over the crib and gently picked up Brianna.

"Hi my baby girl," Kevin whispered as he cradled Brianna in his arms and headed back downstairs with the baby monitor clipped onto his back pocket.

Brianna just cooed and then smiled.

As Kevin reached the downstairs, he heard his doorbell rang.

Kevin pretended to act surprised as he looked at Brianna.

He gasped. "Who is that, huh? Who could that be?"

Brianna giggled as her daddy scrunched up his nose and smiled at her.

"Let's go see," Kevin said as he quickly walked to the door, so that whoever it was wouldn't ring the bell again and possibly wake up Kristopher or Janel.

He opened the door and there was Brian and Ashley.

"Hey guys! Come on in," Kevin said.

"Hi Kevin," Ashley said as she took Brian's hand and pulled him inside. "Is this Brianna?"

"Yep, this is my baby girl," Kevin said as they entered the living room. "Do you want to hold her?"

"Can I?" Ashley asked, excitedly.

"Sure," Kevin said as he gave Brianna to Ashley.

"Hi sweetheart," Ashley said as she took hold of Brianna's tiny little hand. "You're getting bigger each time I visit."

"So what brings you two by?" Kevin asked.

"Just wanted to visit," replied Ashley while still keeping her eyes on Brianna.

"Yeah, Ashley wanted to see her niece and nephew," Brian said.

"Oh," Kevin said. "Well your nephew is sleeping."

"Oh, I wanted to see Kristopher too," Ashley said disappointedly.

"Janel just got him to sleep," Kevin said.

"By the way, where is Shorty?" Brian asked.

"She's also sleeping," Kevin said. "She'd been rocking Kristopher for a while, trying to get him to sleep. And when I went to tell about our wedding plans, I found her sleeping."

"Poor thing," Ashley said. "I'm sure she's extremely tired."

"Yeah, a few sleepless nights," Kevin said. "But I wouldn't change a thing."

"Yeah," agreed Ashley, smiling.

"Can I hold my niece now?" Brian asked as he looked at his wife.

"Sure," Ashley said as she gave Brianna over to Brian.

Then Kevin and Ashley sat there watching Brian with Brianna.

Brian made faces at Brianna and watched as her eyes lit up.

"She's gorgeous Kev," Ashley commented.

"Thank you," Kevin said.

"Yeah, and she's a stinky little one," Brian said as he quickly handed Brianna over to her dad.

Brian scrunched up his face as he caught a whiff of Brianna's diaper. Ashley just laughed as she watched her husband's face.

"She waited until Uncle Brian held her to go to the bathroom," Ashley said.

"Gee…thanks," Brian said sarcastically.

Kevin laughed. "Come on my baby, let's take care of your stinky diaper."

Kevin grabbed the diaper bag and then began changing Brianna's diaper.

Brian began laughing at Kevin.

"Look at how well you've gotten at changing diapers," Brian said. "One second there's the dirty one, and the next there's a clean one on her."

Kevin smiled. "I'm a pro at changing diapers, cause I've changed enough to last me a life time."

Then he got up to go throw the diaper out.

"Do you want to hold Brianna now?" Kevin asked Brian.

"Yeah, now that's she clean and I know that she's not going to go to the bathroom on me," Brian said as he took her.

"Okay, I'll be back in a second," Kevin said as he headed outside to the trash.

When Kevin came back in, Brian and Ashley were hovering over Brianna, and making goofy faces at her.

He walked back over to them and sat next to Ashley.

"You ready to be a mommy?" Kevin asked.

Ashley smiled. "Yes. I want a child so badly."

"But Brian doesn't?" Kevin asked surprised.

"No, he wants one too. But we're not sure if it's the right time for us," Ashley said.

"Yeah, you guys have plenty of time," Kevin said.

"For now we're just going to stop by your house," Ashley said, smiling.

"Well you're welcome here anytime you'd like. I know that Janel and I would appreciate a little break," Kevin said.

"We'll make sure to stop by more frequently," Ashley said, smiling.

"Oh, and speaking of you guys," Brian said. "How's the wedding plans going? When are we supposed to be fitted for our tuxedos?"

"At the end of this week, we should be going to get our tuxedos fitted and the girls will go for their dresses," Kevin said.

"Okay, I was just curious, since your wedding is in less than 3 weeks," Brian said.

"Yeah, I know. It's approaching quickly," Kevin said happily.

"So is everything ready in Kentucky?" Ashley asked.

"Yes, we've got our small cabin where Father Carr will perform the ceremony," Kevin said. "And right now everything is being brought in for the reception."

"So when are we going up there?" Ashley asked.

"As soon as we're sure that the tuxedos and dresses are perfect," Kevin said.

"Okay, well then we better get our things ready pretty quickly," Brian said.

"Does Janel need me to do anything else? Call someone, make other arrangements, anything at all?" Ashley questioned.

"No, I don't think so. You and Lauren have pretty much taken care of everything," Kevin said. "And I just want to thank you for helping us out so much."

"It's no problem," Ashley said. "I just want to make sure that this is the perfect wedding. Because I know that Janel's been waiting a long time for this."

"Yes, definitely too long," agreed Kevin.

"Yeah, it's about time you two got married," Brian said, smiling.

"Thanks Bri," Kevin said.

"No problem," Brian said. "But now I think it's time for us to be leaving. Ash and I are going to catch a movie."

"Oh okay," Kevin said as he took Brianna back into his arms, but not before Brian gave her a kiss on the forehead.

Then Ashley went over to Brianna and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Bye sweetie," she said.

Kevin then walked them out to the car and waved goodbye.

"So now what?" Kevin asked as he looked at Brianna.

Brianna just looked at Kevin with a blank expression.

"I know! Let's go outside in the back and check on Candy," Kevin said. "Let's go see the puppy."

Kevin then went to the side of the house and through the back gate.

As soon as he closed the gate, Candy came racing towards him with her ears flapping and tail wagging.

"Hey girl," Kevin said as he rubbed Candy's head.

Candy followed Kevin as he sat down in the middle of the yard in the soft green grass.

Kevin then lay down, placing Brianna on his chest, so that she could also lie down. Candy came over and began licking Brianna's foot.

"No Candy," Kevin said.

Candy stopped and looked at him puzzled.

"Go lay down," he told Candy.

Candy stood there for a second; then she laid down right next to Kevin.

Then all of a sudden Brianna's little hand reached out and grabbed Candy's ear.

Kevin was prepared to quickly get up, just in case Candy got angry and tried to bite Brianna. But Candy just lay there, not minding one bit that Brianna had a death grip on her ear.

Kevin smiled as he just lay there with his little girl and Candy.

A week later

Kevin and I were trying to get out of the house, but it just wasn't working.

"Okay, if anything should happen the emergency numbers are right by the phone," I said.

"And Janel and I both have our cell phones on," Kevin said.

"And if for some reason you can't get them to sleep or they start fussing, just call me," I said.

"Or you can just call me, I can usually sing to them and they calm down," Kevin said.

"Yeah, and everything you need is in that diaper bag," I said.

"And they should be ready for a nap shortly," Kevin said.

"Yes, so don't forget to grab the baby monitor," I said.

"If you get hungry, help yourself to the food. It's in the refrigerator," Kevin said.

The young girl, Tiffany, stared at us as though we were crazy.

"Are you sure you can take care of them?" I asked.

"They're quite a handful," replied Kevin.

Tiffany smiled as she stood up.

"Howie warned me about you two," Tiffany said, smiling. "You've never left them with a baby sitter, have you?"

Kevin and I shook our heads no.

"Well don't worry, everything will be fine. I have a two year old brother and I've been baby sitting my family's children for a while, so I have experience," Tiffany said. "I know what to do in case of emergency, so there's no need to worry."

Then she walked over to us and grabbed our hands, leading us out the door.

"Now go. I know that you're wedding will be here shortly, so you better go make sure that everything fits perfectly," she said. "See you in a while."

Then she closed the door.

Both Kevin and I stepped forward and knocked on the door.

Tiffany smiled as she opened the door. "Did you forget something?"

"We didn't tell them goodbye," we replied.

She laughed at us as she opened the door more, allowing us to enter.

We quickly went over to our children and kissed both of them and told them that we loved them.

Then the phone rang.

"Hi, this is the Richardson's house," Tiffany answered. "Oh, hi Howie. Yes, they're still here. I had them out the door, but they came back. Okay, I will. Hold on."

Tiffany pulled the phone away and then said, "Howie says to leave now. He told me for force you out if I have to."

Kevin put his hands up in surrender. "Okay, we're going. We're going."

Kevin and I said one last goodbye and then headed towards the door.

"Okay Howie, they're leaving now. So hopefully they should be there soon," Tiffany said. "Bye."

Kevin closed the door and locked it. Then we got into the 4-Runner and finally left.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" I questioned as Kevin stopped at the red light.

Kevin leaned over and kissed me. "They'll be fine Pumpkin. Tiffany seems like she has everything under control."

I shook my head agreeing with him. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"And we'll only be gone for a couple of hours," Kevin said. "Then we'll be back at home with them."

"Yeah, just a couple of hours," I said.

Kevin arrived at the bridal shop and dropped me off.

I gave him a quick kiss and then hopped out. "See you soon."

"Bye, love you," he said. Then he drove off.

I turned and went into the bridal shop. I walked in and saw the girls sitting there talking.

"Hey you. It's about time you showed up," Lauren said.

I smiled. "It was so hard to leave the twins."

"I'm sure it was," Lauren said. "But we won't be here too long."

"Thank goodness," I said.

"Okay, who's first?" the lady asked as she walked up to us.

"The bride," the girls replied.

"Okay, this way," she said.

I got up and followed her.

She stopped and then pulled a long rack out, which carried a few wedding dresses. She took the first one off and showed it to me.

"This one is yours," she said.

I smiled as I saw my wedding dress. It was absolutely beautiful. It was a white silk gown with a flaring skirt. It had small cap sleeves and a scooped neck in the front and in the back it was a V-neck.

"Wow," I said.

"You like it?" she asked.

"Yes, I love it," I said excitedly.

I took it from her and then went to try it on.

Guys

"It's about time you showed up Old Man," Nick said as Kevin entered.

Kevin walked over to Nick and punched him in the arm.

"Ow!" cried Nick. "I was just kidding."

Kevin just smiled. "Sorry to make you wait Nicky. But are we ready now?"

"Yeah," the guys replied.

They went to the front desk and soon they were trying on their tuxedos.

Girls

Once we all had finished, we stood outside talking and waiting for our men.

"So how do you think Tiffany's doing?" I asked Lauren.

"I'm sure that she's fine," Lauren said. "If anything would've happened, she would have called you."

"Yeah, so consider it a good thing that she hasn't called," Stacey said.

"Yeah, I guess," I said. "So what are all of you doing now?"

"Probably going home to eat," Ashley said.

"Yeah, same here," Tina said.

"Well do you just want to come to our house and I'll cook for all of you?" I asked.

"Sounds good to me," Stacey said.

"How about the rest of you?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure," Tina said.

"We'd love to," Ashley said.

"Howie and I will be there," said Lauren.

"Okay good," I said.

Then all of the guys pulled up. I hugged all of my girl friends and then waved good-bye. "See you soon."

Then I got into the truck with Kevin.

"Hi baby," Kevin said as he kissed me.

"How did everything go?" I asked. "Everything fit perfectly?"

"Yep, just perfect," Kevin replied. "You?"

"Yeah, everything was good," I said, smiling. "By the way, I invited everyone over for dinner."

"Oh, okay," Kevin said. Then he asked, "Did you get a call from Tiffany?"

"No, did you?" I asked worriedly.

"No. I was just wondering if you did," Kevin replied.

"Nope, but Stacey said that it's a good thing we didn't," I said.

"We'll find out soon," Kevin said.

We eventually arrived back at our house and then quickly got down, anxious to see if the twins were all right along with Tiffany.

We opened the door, expecting to hear crying. But instead we didn't hear a thing…absolute silence. Kevin and I looked at each other puzzled.

We walked into the living room and the TV was on quietly, but Tiffany wasn't there. Then we decided to see if they were in their room. But as we made it half way up the stairs, Tiffany was walking back down.

"Hey you two," she said. "I didn't hear you come in."

"Yeah, we just got home," Kevin said.

"Where are they?" I asked.

"Sleeping," Tiffany answered as we all went back downstairs. "I just went to check on them to make sure that they were all right."

"So everything was fine while we were gone?" I asked.

"Yeah. I changed them and sat with them for a while. Shortly after they began to fall asleep so I took them upstairs and put them in bed," she said.

"They didn't cry?" asked Kevin.

"No. Kristopher fussed a bit, but I just held him a little longer and then he was out," Tiffany explained.

I hugged her. "Thank you for taking such good care of them."

"You're welcome," she said. "Anytime."

"We really appreciate it," Kevin said.

"Glad to do it," she said.

Kevin then paid her and walked her to the door. Once she left, Kevin came back to me and we went upstairs.

Kevin and I crept into the room to take a little peek at our children.

We smiled as we sat that both of them were sleeping peacefully with their little bear blanket covering them.