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"Play withit out I ranit for braids She loved to have her hair braided "Simon seems worried"

"I think anytiets a little jittery I don’t even think he’s aware of it," I replied, keeping my eyes on the door where they’d just left "He’ll be fine as soon as we kno Ma, Sophia was just Sophia By tonight? She’ll be soht," Mihter "I always figured I’d be the first with the kiddos"

"So did we" I chuckled, flipping her hair under and over , did I tell you that?"

"Shit no! When did that start?"

"Prettythe pill We thought ait at first, but we talked about it and we both want a faured, what the hell Let’s do it" She turned back to look atit"

"Atta girl," I said, tugging on her new pigtails

"I didn’t want to say anything until after she had the baby, you know I didn’t want any thunder stealing"

"I don’t think you can steal thunder when you don’t technically have thunder yet"

"True," she replied, then turned around as the boys ca a tray of coffees "We grabbed extra, just in case you changed yourfroo look at the babies behind the glass" She led him by the hand as he handed off the tray to Si?" I asked him as he handed me a coffee and sat in the chair next to mine

"Me? I’, which was bouncing up and down nervously "Eh, a little edgy I guess"

"I know" I sighed and leaned my head on his shoulder We sat in silence for a bit, as silent as a hospital waiting room can ever be

"I hate hospitals," he said, and I nodded ood news, like this is obviously going to be, I hate being in theh his He didn’t say anything else And he didn’t have to I sat next to him, and kept my head on his shoulder A few minutes later, Mimi and Ryan ca around the corner frorin

"You guys want to cohter?"

Mary Jane: 62 pounds, 19¼ inches long Tiny and pink, with ten perfect fingers and ten perfect toes And one giant voice We didn’t stay long, since by then both sets of grandparents were swarh to see both Sophia and the baby Each of us got to take a turn holding her; each got to take a turn hugging Neil, as Mr Waterworks There were ed And when the four of us finally left the new parents, ere exhausted Not as exhausted as Sophia, but tired nonetheless

We said good night, or goodactually, to Ryan and Mie to Sausalito The sky was just beginning to lighten, just a barely lighter gray than the rest of the sky Sih he’d been so happy at the hospital He’d held Mary Jane as long as they would let hi to try it Dida baby girl? It was like a bohtful

I pushed the door open first, bracing myself for a rush toward my ankles First careet, she trotted over and proht that her people were ho and lean and beautiful She headed straight for Simon, as ever She was a one-woman cat for sure She tolerateddown the stairs one at a tis, see to say "Hello hello, where have you been? Hello hello, why did you leave? Hello hello, ould anyone ever leave here?"

"Hi, sweet girls, how’ve you been? Did youup both Norah and Dinah, while Ella languished in Simon’s ar, just around the corner, sat Clive Cal at us all with bland disinterest

When Clive ran away last year, we had been devastated He was lost for weeks, and while we had kept up the search, over ti were growing sliht when he surprised us both by just waltzing into the backyard and back into our lives And he wasn’t traveling alone No sir, ht hoirlfriend, but three And as ridiculous at it see three more cats into our household had proved to be a wonderful idea Now Clive had his harem, and we had three more personalities to keep us entertained And entertained ere, on the daily