Liz laughed. “Well, you’re in for a treat, because we go all out. You won’t be able to button your pants by the time you’re done with dessert.”

“Hey, where’s Arie?” Ani asked, coming abruptly to a stop.

“Well, she was driving me crazy, so I sent her outside to play,” Liz said jokingly about their toddler. When Ani didn’t take the bait, she sighed. “She and Dad fell asleep in the recliner when they were watching a movie. You walked right past them when you came in.”

“Aw,” Alex said. He’d taken one step back toward the living room when Ani jumped onto his back, covering his mouth with one hand while she clung to him like a monkey.

“If you wake my child, I will make this weekend absolute hell for you,” she hissed.

I watched them in fascination. As an only child, I hadn’t grown up horsing around and fighting with siblings, and for the first time in my life I wondered if I’d missed out.

“I’d like to say they’re usually not like this,” Liz said with a sigh. “But I’d be lying. Ani, get off Alex’s back before you wake the baby. Alex and Abraham, I need some wood brought in for the woodstove, and I haven’t bothered your dad with it, because his back’s been giving him trouble.”

“On it,” Alex said, helping Ani slide safely off his back. He came over to give me a quick kiss. “I’m so glad you came with me.”

Bram and Alex went quietly out the back door, and Liz gestured for me to sit at the kitchen counter.

“I don’t know how many jobs I have around the house to keep them occupied, but if I need to, I’ll make some up,” she said conspiratorially to me. “Would you like some coffee?”

“I’d love some,” I replied.

“We all do that,” Ani said to me, pointing at the back door.

“Do what?” Liz asked.

“Leave Bram and Alex alone to bond,” Ani said, shuffling through a basket on the counter and pulling out two little individually packaged snack cakes. She set one down in front of me and opened the other.

“I was more concerned with getting the two of them out of the house before you all woke up the baby or scared Sarai off,” Liz said drily. “But yes, I guess I do try to give them some time to themselves.”

“I can’t believe they’re identical,” I said, taking my coffee from Liz with a smile. “They look like brothers but not like twins.”

“Right?” Ani said around her mouth full of cake. “They look totally different.”