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Olaf started s off the couch, so Nicky and I joined him We each had an armful of toys and other baby debris, but nohere to put it? Did we duhten some of it? I’m not the neatest person in the world, but I was overwhelmed with the ainst the wall so at least the floor would be clear
I whispered, “Where do we put it?”
Olaf put his armload in the corner to one side of the couch so at least it wasn’tit harder to walk I didn’t have a better idea, so I added an to slide down like ice crea, and I couldn’t stand it I went down on one knee to push at it and place things until there was some stability to the heap and it didn’t try to fall apart
Nicky dropped the stuff in his arh roo up another ar it there, too
Olaf whispered, “She’s returning”
I stood up to join him by the couch I had e to start trying to straighten ht the woht have done it anyway, but I wanted infor else fro could beup It was usually he or Jean-Claude who started picking up before the rest of us even thought of it That was about as doot before he paid people to be do doht of this
 
; Ms Gibson came back down the hallith a baby in each arm One was dressed in lavender and the other in yellow They both had the beginnings of dark hair like five-o’clock shadow on top of their heads Their big dark eyes looked like their mother’s, but the faces looked like soh there were no pictures anywhere, so that was just a guess For all I knew, the twins could have been the spitting irandpa Genetics is like that sometimes
Ms Gibson had taken the time to put a lavender-and-yellow headband on each baby There were tiny flowers and ribbons on the headbands The outfits were equally girlie and pretty It was the kind of stuff that most people reserved for baby photos or maybe Easter service at church That’s to say, the babies looked great They were pink cheeked and healthy and dressed as neatly as the mother Apparently, on Brianna’s priority list, clothes ranked higher than housework If the babies had co roo and happy, so I so
She glanced at each of the, and they sirls, aren’t you?”
The baby in yellow made noises back to her, and the baby in lavender joined in It was gibberish, but I could have sworn it sounded like the sa the sae
She talked to theabbled back at her and to each other Was it ination, or were they more solemn when they talked to each other? It was almost as if they smiled and talked to their mother the way she talked to them, like she was the baby and didn’t understand them
“I’et any of you so?”
It tookherself a diet soda and not an entire diet, so Olaf answered first “No, thank you” His voice rumbled even deeper than normal
ItI wasn’t sensing his inner lion either I shrugged it off and answered her, “No, thanks I’ood”