“I’m glad you agree,” Joanna said, her eyes creasing at the corners as she picked up the carrier. “Now, if you ladies don’t mind, how about we get these two settled in the nursery, so I have a few minutes to relax before they’re hungry again.”

“Wait,” Addison said as she looked from Fran to Evelyn and then back to Joanna. “We have a nursery?”

Joanna snickered and motioned toward the stairs, and one by one the women followed her. As they came to a stop at the doors leading into the east wing, Joanna reached into her pocket and pulled out a key, and noticing Addison immediately arch an eyebrow, she grinned. “I’m sorry, but if you saw this...well, I’d have shown my hand, and I wasn’t yet prepared to do that.”

Unlocking the doors, everyone followed Joanna to the first door on the left, and unlocking it as well, she said, “And to answer your question, yes, we have a nursery.”

***

An hour later, the babies were comfortable in their cots and Addison was in awe. Yet to have learned what apparently they already knew, Addison had stood back and watched as Fran, Evelyn, and Joanna extracted the twins from their carriers, changed their nappies, and got the babies settled into the cribs, all the while cooing at the sleepy infants or chattering to each other like it was just another day.

They had no idea Addison was memorizing their movements, pressing into the recesses of her brain every word spoken, every smile displayed, and every gurgle bubbling from the pouty lips of her children. They had no idea she would never forget this day, and they had no idea just how close she was to crying...again.

Addison cleared her throat, and blinking back her tears of joy, she focused on her surroundings in hopes of getting her emotions in check.

Joanna had turned yet another place in the house into something to talk about. The walls of the nursery had been painted a pale, blue-green, and the draperies were the color of ivory. The wood moldings were now white to match the furniture filling the room, and while the dark tones of the oak planking could be seen around the edge, a thick carpet matching the hue of the drapes covered the floor. In the far corner was an L-shaped crib made for two, and to the left and right of it were identical changing tables and tall, narrow wardrobes, all displaying hardware of either pink or blue. Along the wall nearest the doorways were two matching cushioned rockers and between them, a small table holding a lamp decorated with baby animals. But of all the items in the room, the ones that caught Addison’s attention and held it was the two mobiles hanging above the cribs. Spinning ever so slowly were butterflies hanging from threads dangling from plastic rainbows of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.