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 Chapter 27

   The morning after the pot luck supper we headed back over to our island
to start our life as Mr.  and Mrs.  Wally Brinkley.  Later that fall we got
away on a belated honeymoon.  The trip to Hawaii was wonderful and Jennifer
enjoyed every moment of our time there.  The trip was made memorable for
another reason - Jennifer discovered she was pregnant.

   *****

   Jennifer had a fairly routine pregnancy and once the early bouts of
`morning sickness' ended, she enjoyed her life as a mother-to-be.  Her
pregnancy meant that we needed to get ready for the new child and that
managed to keep Jennifer busy for a while, making sure she had everything
we'd need to look after the baby.  A side effect - a nice one - was that
Jennifer seemed hornier than she had been and that's saying a lot.  I
wondered if I was going to survive until the baby came.

   Finally, the time was near for the baby to be born.  After a lot of
discussion we finally agreed that Jennifer would spend the last couple of
weeks with Elizabeth and Helen.  At first, Jennifer had been adamant that
she was going to have our child on our island but I finally convinced her
that if anything went wrong during the birth, the last place we'd want her
to be was out on our island.  I stayed on the island for the first week
then got Faye, our `cabin sitter' to come out to look after the animals and
allow me to be with Jennifer.

   I'd only been back on the main island for two days when Jennifer gave
birth to a beautiful baby girl.  At first we'd discussed naming the child
after one of the grandparents but realized that this might not be a wise
idea.  Whichever grandparent wasn't chosen might feel slighted and the
tenuous relationship we had with her families might be broken.  In the end
we chose a name of our own - Bethany.

   Shortly after Bethany was born, Jennifer told me she'd like to have
another child - but not for a couple of years.  "I'd like Bethany to be at
least two before we start trying again." I agreed and soon Jennifer was
back on `the pill'.

   Over the next two years it was a joy to watch Bethany grow.  I realized
just how much I had missed with the 2 boys that Sheila and I had produced
and I made the most out of helping raise Bethany.  Once Bethany was
toddling around, it was easy to find Maggie and Ralph.  Neither of them
were far away from Bethany.  One day I saw Bethany lying on the floor,
sound asleep, her head on Maggie as if Maggie was a pillow and with Ralph
curled up at her side.

   Not long after Bethany turned two, Jennifer and I agreed it was time to
try for a second child.  It didn't take long and Jennifer told me she was
pregnant again.  "Ready to cuddle another baby?" she asked that evening as
we lay in bed cuddled up to one another.

   As we'd done when she was pregnant with Bethany, we made sure to visit
the obstetrician regularly.  During one of these visits, the doctor told
Jennifer that she was pregnant with twins.  I was delighted - two babies to
cuddle.

   We'd started preparing Bethany for the arrival of a new baby.  "One day
soon Mommy is going to bring a new baby brother or sister to live with us,"
we told Bethany.  She asked a few questions (`when', `what's the baby's
name', `where are you going to get it from') and a few others.  We tried to
explain things in the simplest terms but I don't think Bethany really
understood things.

   As Jennifer's pregnancy progressed it got harder for her to do things as
she became quite large.  Bethany finally understood that the new baby was
`in mommy's tummy' and delighted at feeling it move.  We never tried to
explain that there were two babies in mommy's tummy.  We just decided to
make it a surprise.

   Finally the time had come for Jennifer and I to go to Vancouver. 
Jennifer had been dead set against having the babies at anywhere other than
the main island but finally the obstetrician with the help of Elizabeth and
Helen convinced her that there were just too many possibilities for
complications with twin births.

   With the `cabin sitter' in place and Bethany staying with `Aunty
Elizabeth' and `Aunty Helen', we headed south.  As it turned out it was
none too soon as just over a week after we arrived in Vancouver, the twins
were born - identical boys.  We named the boys Michael and Mark.  A couple
who had been friends of Jennifer's parents had twin boys named Michael and
Mark and Jennifer liked the sound of their names and so did I.

   Back home with a stop on the main island to pick up Bethany.  The
animals were happy to see us but curious about the new bundles that we had.
We let our pets smell the babies and they seemed content.

   *****

   Once the twins were settled down to a regular routine, I made a trip
over to the mainland to have a `snip' job.  Jennifer and I had discussed
this and agreed that we liked the bareback sex and that we didn't want to
have any more babies.  Faye came over to stay with Jennifer to help her for
the few days I would be gone.

   Bethany was intrigued with her new brothers and on occasion had to be
reminded that the boys weren't toys and needed to be left alone to sleep.
She watched as her mother looked after the boys and soon she was able to
help with some of the simpler things.  Her happiest time was when she was
allowed to hold one of the babies while she sat in the recliner.  It was
obvious that Bethany was destined to be one of those natural care givers.

   *****

   Time has rolled on and Bethany will soon be ready to start school. 
Jennifer and I had talked about what we should do between ourselves as well
as with the Grade 1 teacher in the school on the main island.  We finally
decided that we'd home school Bethany but that we'd try, weather
permitting, to get her over to the school for a full day, once a week.  We
did a little arm twisting to get Elizabeth and Helen to agree to look after
her for one evening then get her off to school.  We'd take Bethany over in
the afternoon, leave her then go back and pick her up the next afternoon. I
have to admit that it didn't take much arm twisting to get the ladies to
agree.  When I offered to pay them for their time, both ladies became quite
incensed.  I was told that if I made that suggestion again, Jennifer would
have to carry me back to the boat as I'd be black and blue from the
pounding they'd give me.  They felt it was a wonderful privilege to have
Bethany stay with them.

   This arrangement worked well for a couple of reasons.  On a couple of
occasions the weather turned ugly and we couldn't get back to pick Bethany
up so she stayed an extra night.  It also was good in that she got a chance
to be with a number of other kids her age and get used to being in that
situation.

   By the time Michael and Mark got ready to go to school we wondered what
we'd do with them.  While the ladies could handle one young girl, they
didn't have the room to take in Bethany and the twins.  Unbeknownst to us,
Elizabeth and her `posse' had realized that this was going to be a problem
and had quietly been looking to see how they could help us.  It turned out
the solution to our problem was right under our noses - my friend Ben.

   Ben had a son who would finish high school and then was off to college.
Ben caught up with me one day and offered to take both boys.  Ben and his
wife were wonderful folks, often looking after someone else's kids in an
emergency and having Michael and Mark would ease the empty nest feeling. 
After school all three of the kids would go to Ben's and we would collect
them from there.

   *****

   After we left all three of the kids over on the main island for the
first time, the house seemed so empty.  Jennifer was so restless that night
and could hardly sleep.  The next morning I discovered her side of the bed
empty and found her upstairs in the hall looking at the kids' rooms. 
"Wally, I had no idea that this would hit me so hard.  I guess I just never
thought of how empty the house would be without the sounds of the kids."

   I took Jennifer in my arms and held her listening to her quietly crying.
Finally she stopped and looked at me.  "Am I being silly - missing the kids
for one night?" she asked.  "Not on your life," I assured her.  "I'm
missing them too.  For the last eight years we've had them with us and I
never thought of what this would be like.  Tonight will be wonderful when
we meet them at the dock." Jennifer smiled and hugged me.  That evening I'm
sure the kids were confused as to what was going on when we came to pick
them us as we hugged all three of them into a group hug.