The Shock Of My Life

"Aw, Mommy!" Montana protested.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," I told my son. "But Whiskers is making your sister sick. Maybe we can find another kind of animal you'd like even better."

"But I like Whiskers better!" Montana glared at his sister. "This is all your fault!"

"It is not her fault!" I said angrily. "Don't you dare blame her!"

"Come on, sport," Alexei said cheerfully. "Maybe we can get you a pet monkey or a pet dragon...or maybe a pet dinosaur!"

Montana giggled. "There aren't any more dinosaurs, Daddy! They're all stinked now!"

"Extinct," I corrected.

We took Whiskers back to the pet store and explained the situation to the owner. Luckily, Montana found a Shih Tzu that he fell in love with, and the owner let us exchange the animals. "So what are you gonna call your new puppy?" I asked my son on the way home.

"How about Simba?" Montana suggested.

Alexei and I laughed. "That's a good name," said Alexei.

Little Simba kept us awake all night long, crying and howling. It was several days before he got used to his new environment.

On Saturday we picked Liam, Topher, and Aidan up and took them to the race track. Alexei let Montana ride with him while Nevada and I looked on. After that we went to the goofy golf course. I like to play goofy golf too, so Alexei and I took turns watching Nevada.

"That was a lot of fun," Alexei said after we'd taken Liam, Topher, and Aidan back home. "It was just like going back in time ten years. You weren't with us the first time we went all those places, were you?"

"No, I was probably working at the hospital that day," I replied.

"Well, I'm glad you were able to come along this time," said Alexei. He stopped by the pizza buffet on the way back home. The sun was just beginning to set, bathing the atmosphere in brilliant shades of pink and purple.

"I talked to my boss about Liam," he told me while we were eating. "He said he's going to call him in for an interview."

"Good," I said, wiping pizza sauce from Nevada's chin. "I hope he gets the job. Then he can stay here."

"That would be nice," Alexei agreed.

After we finished eating, we let Montana stay and play the games for awhile and then went back home, where we watched a movie and then went to bed.

I was awakened at about two in the morning by Nevada's screaming. I checked on her and found that she was burning up with fever. I gave her some liquid Tylenol and rocked her but still couldn't get her to settle down. We were both awake until the wee hours of the morning. I was awakened by Alexei's gently shaking my shoulder.

"Oh! I need to call the doctor," I mumbled. I called Dr. Tanner's office, and the nurse asked me if I could bring Nevada in at ten. "Sure," I said.

"I'll take her," Alexei offered. "You've been up all night with her. Stay here and rest."

"Thank you" I replied, creeping to my bed and falling asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow. Montana and I were just finishing breakfast when they returned.

"What did the doctor say?" I asked anxiously.

"She has another ear infection." Alexei sighed. "He said he's going to have to operate and put tubes in her ears. The surgery's scheduled for two weeks from now."

"Oh, no!" I groaned.

"It'll be all right." He came to me and embraced me and stroked my hair.

"Thanks," I said. "I feel better now."

A few days later, I was going in to work when I saw Liam working as a security guard in the parking lot. "I'm so glad you were able to get on here," I told him.

"Yeah, me too." He grinned. "I just started today. Hey, tell Alexei I said thanks for talking to his boss for me. I wouldn't have got the job if it weren't for him."

"I will," I promised. "Aidan's gonna be happy, too."

The emergency room was slow that day, until about five minutes before I was supposed to get off, when a young woman who'd fallen off her bicycle and broken her arm came in, accompanied by Cole.

"Hi, Cole," I said with a forced smile, thinking about Lara and wondering how she'd take this. "How have you been?"

"Great!" he said. "I'm glad Lara and I decided to take a break. All that pressure was really getting to me, you know what I mean? I just met November here last weekend. So far she's been a lot of fun."

I finished with November and left for the day, wondering what I'd say to Lara the next time I talked with her. I got home a little bit later than I'd expected to. Alexei had already prepared and served dinner, and he and the kids were just finishing up.

"I'm sorry I'm a little late," I told him. "A patient came in with a broken arm and I had to take care of that before I could come home."

"No problem," he replied. "Things like that happen."

"Liam's working there as a security guard now," I continued. "He told me to tell you thanks for helping him get the job."

"That's great!" said Alexei.

As I was eating, I couldn't get the incident with Cole and November out of my mind. "You seem awfully quiet," Alexei remarked.

"It's just that...the girl I was telling you about who broke her arm? Her name's November, and Cole came in with her. They've been seeing each other."

"Is that so?" He cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I don't know what I'm gonna say next time I talk to Lara."

"Well, they did decide to date other people, remember?"

"I know, but still..."

Alexei shrugged. "I guess she'll just have to get over it."

I sighed. "Maybe the thing between Cole and November is just a temporary fling. I hope so, anyway."

A part of me dreaded hearing from Lara again, but as it turned out, she called that very night.

"Hey, girl! How are you?" she asked when I answered the telephone.

"I'm all right," I replied. "How are you?"

"Great! I just met the coolest guy!" she exclaimed. "His name's Arthur, and I met him at the gym. We had apricot smoothies together at the bar yesterday and got to talking together. Turns out we have an incredible amount in common. He's taking me out to dinner tomorrow evening. I'm so excited!"

"Boy, you sure got over Cole fast." I felt both relieved and disappointed. Now I wouldn't have to worry about whether or not to tell her about Cole and November, since she'd found someone else herself. On the other hand, now chances of Cole and Lara getting back together seemed bleaker than ever.

"Well, maybe Cole and I just weren't meant to be," she replied. "If so, better to find out now rather than after getting married."

"Just be careful and don't rush into anything," I cautioned her. "You know you're still on the rebound from Cole, and you just met this Arthur."

"Of course I will be," she said airily. "How are Alexei and the kids?"

"They're fine! Alexei just re-connected with some friends he hadn't seen in a long time, and the kids have a new puppy named Simba. Nevada also has to have tubes put in her ears in a couple of weeks, so I'm kind of worried about that."

"Well, I don't have any kids myself so I can't really say I know how you feel, of course, but I hope everything goes well for her."

"Thanks." We chatted for a few more minutes and then said good-bye.

"Well, it turns out Lara's met someone new too," I told Alexei when I got off the telephone.

"That's good," he replied.

"I was kind of hoping she and Cole would make up," I said.

"Well, perhaps it just wasn't meant to be."

"Maybe not." I sighed. "I'm just glad we're still together and that things are going so well."

"Forever and always." He embraced and kissed me. "I'll always be so grateful you gave me a second chance."

As the date for Nevada's operation drew nearer and nearer, I got more and more nervous about it. The night before we were to take her to the hospital, I paced back and forth anxiously in the bedroom.

"She's just so young to have to go through this," I fretted.

"She'll be fine." Alexei hugged me from behind. "This time tomorrow, it'll all be over with and we won't have to worry about it anymore."

In his arms that night, I finally drifted off to a troubled sleep. We got Nevada up early the following morning. Montana had spent the night at my parents' and was still there.

"Want toast!" Nevada demanded.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," I told her. "But you can't have anything to eat before your operation."

Nevada began to scream angrily. "Sh, sh." Alexei held her and bounced her and sang to her in Russian. Fascinated, she stopped crying and just looked at him. As he pointed to various parts of her body, she giggled.

"What song was that?" I asked him when he was finished.

"It's called 'Mouth, Nose, Ears, and Eyes," he told me. We walked out to the car, he fastened her into her car seat, and we were off.

We arrived at the hospital, signed in, and waited to be called. Nevada dozed in her stroller as I nervously looked around the waiting room. There were a couple with a little boy of about six, and elderly couple, and a young man in about his early twenties who seemed to be alone. The little boy wandered over to us and stood staring at Nevada.

"My name's Dustin," he told us. "What's hers?" He pointed to Nevada, and I told him her name.

"I'm getting my tonsils out," he said.

"Nevada's having tubes put in her ears," I told him.

"Dustin!" called his mother, and he hurried back his parents.

"Cute kid," Alexei remarked.

After awhile an attendant came with a gurney to take Nevada back. I lifted her from her stroller and held her tightly, reluctant to let her go. Finally I laid her on the gurney. "I love you, sweetie," I told her as I kissed her forehead. I watched her blonde curls until they disappeared behind a set of double doors.

I felt Alexei's arms around me, holding me tight, and rested my head on his shoulder. "It's going to be all right," he said softly.

While waiting, I picked up one magazine after another but failed to find an article that held my interest. Alexei read a book in Russian that he'd brought along. "What is it?" I asked him.

"Anna Karenina," he told me.

After what seemed like a very long time, a nurse came to talk to us. "The operation went well," she told us. "We're going to keep her here for observation for a couple of hours, and if everything continues to go well, you can take her home today."

She led us to the recovery room, where Nevada lay fast asleep in a crib. To me she'd never looked so tiny. I walked to her side and just stood there stroking her hair and watching her chest move gently up and down. Alexei stood beside me and took her small hand into his own.

It was perhaps thirty minutes or so later when her eyes fluttered open. "Juice," she said weakly. I took her into my arms and held her sippy cup to her lips. She took a few sips and then drifted back to sleep.

It was around lunchtime when they let us take her home. We stopped at my parents' to pick Montana up on the way. Alexei carried a sleeping Nevada into the house.

"Oh, sweetie!" Mom cried, patting my daughter's back. "Did everything go all right?" she asked me.

"Everything went fine," I told her.

"Thank goodness!" she exclaimed.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Montana cried as he ran toward us.

I put a finger to my lips. "Nevada had an operation this morning, so she doesn't feel very well," I told him. "You're gonna have to be a good boy and keep quiet so she can rest."

"OK, Mommy."

When we got home, Alexei put Nevada in her crib and then kept Montana busy with drawing and coloring and, when he got tired of that, watching a video. I watched Meadow closely to make sure that she was comfortable and didn't seem to be suffering any complications. They'd told me to call right away if there was any bleeding or swelling. She woke up at dinner time and ate a few bites but, other than that, slept for almost the entire day.

"Boy, long day," Alexei yawned as he joined me in bed that night.

"I'm sure glad it's over," I agreed. I snuggled into his arms, and we were both fast asleep soon.

Fortunately, Nevada recovered from her operation quickly and was fine within several days. Spring break arrived, and Montana was out of school for a week. On our days off, Alexei and I tried to keep him busy with trips to the park, the zoo, and movies. On Friday I bought baskets full of candy for the kids and a couple dozen eggs to dye different colors for an Easter egg hunt. I spent most of Saturday evening boiling and dying them and sitting them in holders to dry.

"Looks like we're going to be eating eggs for awhile," Alexei remarked as he strolled into the kitchen. I swatted his behind, and he hugged me and kissed my cheek.

That night before going to bed, I found a large basket to put all the eggs into and put it in the refrigerator. Early the next morning, Alexei got out of bed in his slippers and went to hide all the eggs in the back yard. He was already back in bed and asleep by the time I got up myself.

"Montana! Nevada!" I called, going into the kids' rooms. "Time to go see what the Easter bunny brought you!"

Both kids scrambled out of bed excitedly. I made sure they were both wearing shoes before they went outside.

Montana began looking for eggs right away. Nevada was still too young to really understand, so I had to direct her on what to do. "Why don't you check underneath that leaf, Nevada? Look, there's one!"

Within moments both the kids' baskets were full of eggs. "I bet I found more than her," Montana said as he walked over to us.

"That doesn't matter," I said shortly. We were headed back to the house when Alexei walked out, already dressed and grinning.

"Daddy!" Montana said excitedly, running toward him. "Look what the Easter bunny brought me!" He was swinging the basket so wildly that a couple of eggs fell out.

"Careful, don't lose them all!" Alexei laughed as he went to fetch the eggs my son had dropped.

"Daddy! Eggs!" Nevada crowed as she toddled up to Alexei.

"So I see!" Alexei scooped her up and kissed her cheek.

We went back inside, where I hurriedly fixed breakfast for us and made the kids eat, as I knew that there would be absolutely zero chance of their eating a bite of breakfast once I gave them their Easter baskets. I was just clearing up from breakfast when Alexei walked in with a big grin, carrying both baskets.

Montana grabbed excitedly for the one containing the race car, and Alexei handed the one with the doll inside to Nevada who squealed with joy when she saw it.

Within almost no time, both kids were smeared with chocolate from head to toe. "What a mess!" I laughed. Alexei got his camera and took pictures.

Later we went to my parents' for lunch. Mom had cooked a ham and made potato salad and green beans and biscuits, and there was coconut cake for dessert. Aidan was there with a girl I'd never seen before. "This is Jana," he said proudly.

Jana had dark blonde hair and big blue eyes. Aidan introduced everyone to her and and she smiled and said hello.

"So how did you meet my brother?" I asked her.

"In the supermarket," she told me. "Aidan helped me find the Tahini. Then we got to talking and he asked me out."

"Cool!" I said.

"Aidan told me how you and Alexei first met each other," Jana continued. "I thought it was so romantic how you finally got back together after being apart for so many years."

"And we'll never be apart again." Alexei slipped his arm around me, and I rested my head on his shoulder.

"I haven't met too many people around here yet," said Jana. "Mom, Asher and I just moved here a few weeks ago, after her divorce."

"Who's Asher?" I asked.

"My younger brother. He's sixteen."

"So where's your Dad?" I asked.

"My stepfather still lives in the same place. I have no idea about my real Dad. I've never met him. He and my Mom had an affair when she was a dancer in Las Vegas. He left a long time before I was born, and my Mom married John. He's Asher's father. I do have a picture of my real father, though. My Mom gave it to me a few years ago."

She took a photograph from her purse and showed it to me. I gasped, shocked. It was Lara's father.

Jana frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I said quickly. "It's just that...your Dad looks familiar, somehow."

Nothing else was said on the subject for the rest of the visit, but the subject came up immediately as Alexei and I were on our way home. "All right," Alexei began with a mischievous smile. "Who is he?"

"He's Lara's father!" I exclaimed. "My brother's dating Lara's half sister!"

"What?" Now it was Alexei's turn to be shocked.

"It had to have happened right after her parents got divorced," I continued. "That was when her father went to Las Vegas."

"And she never knew her father had another daughter?"

"Not as far as I know."

"She's certainly in for a surprise," Alexei said softly.

"I don't think I should be the one to tell her," I told my husband.

"No, you shouldn't," he agreed. "But she does have the right to know, I suppose."

"Of course she does. What we should do is to get the two of them together and let them find out on their own. Have you ever seen the movie 'The Parent Trap'?"

"Nope."

"It's about these two girls who are really identical twins, but they have no idea until they end up at summer camp together."

"Well, it's not exactly the same situation, is it?"

"No, but there has to be some way to get them together. Maybe we could throw a party and invite them both."

"We've never thrown a party together before," Alexei said. "That might be fun."

I knew I wouldn't make the mistake of putting up an announcement on the bulletin board in the employee lounge at the hospital again. I definitely didn't want Olivia to show up at our party.

As it turned out, the plan to bring Lara and Jana together ended up being postponed indefinitely, as there was just too much going on in our lives at the time. One day in early May, Alexei came home with a big grin on his face. He picked me up and spun me around, then kissed my lips. "Guess what!"

"What?"

"I've been accepted to the police force! I start in two weeks."

"That's great!" I was really happy for him. Although I knew I'd miss being able to have lunch with him at the hospital, I also knew that he'd wanted to be a policeman for a long time and that this was a dream come true for him.

"How about if I take us all out to celebrate?" he suggested.

"But I've already cooked dinner," I said.

"No problem! I'll take us all out for ice cream afterwards."

After dinner he took us to Dairy Queen. I got a chocolate sundae for Montana and a strawberry one for Nevada. Alexei and I both had banana splits.

"I can't wait to see you in your uniform," I told him. "I've always thought cops were very sexy."

He laughed and kissed the tip of my nose.

"Now you can arrest bad guys, Daddy!" Montana exclaimed.

"That's right!" Alexei ruffled his hair.

A couple of weeks later, I got a rude surprise when Dr. Brown asked me to assist with an obstetrical complication. "It's a woman with a placental abruption," he told me. "If I don't perform an emergency C-section right away, she could bleed to death."

My heart was in my throat as I followed him to surgery. I knew that placental abruption meant that the placenta had separated from the uterine wall prematurely, resulting in severe bleeding.

When I got there, I saw that the patient was already lying on the operating table, white as a sheet. She was bleeding profusely from between her legs, and several towels were already drenched with her blood. But what absolutely floored me was my first glimpse at her face. She was Sydney!

There was no time to recover from that shock, as I had to jump right in with assisting Dr. Brown. I helped him prep for surgery, then watched as he made the first incision into Sydney's abdomen. I'd assisted with many C-sections before so was accustomed to the sight of blood, yet my heart beat faster with a mixture of anticipation and dread. Would the baby look like Alexei? How could I bear it if it did?

Swiftly Dr. Brown made the next two incisions, the one through the layer of muscles and then the one through the uterine wall, and the next thing I knew, I was staring at the white amniotic sac. Dr. Brown punctured it and then reached inside for the baby. Mesmerized, I stared as he pulled the tiny, blue-tinged body out and laid it on the table. I saw that it was a boy.

I cut his umbilical cord, and he began to wave his little arms and kick his little feet and let out a tiny sound like the mewing of a kitten. He opened his eyes, and I saw that they were dark blue. In spite of myself, I felt the same tug at my heart strings that I always felt at the sight of a newborn.

I cleaned him up and then placed him on the scale. Five pounds, four ounces. Such a tiny little guy. And just as sweet as he could be.

Tears sprang to my eyes. I couldn't help it.

I put a diaper on him and dressed him in a white onesie and put a tiny hat on his head, then wrapped him tightly in a blanket. It was the smallest size onesie we had, and yet it still seemed much too big for him.

Dr. Brown had turned his attention to Sydney, whose bleeding was now under control, and I pushed the newborn in his warmer to the hospital nursery. His tiny face haunted me for the rest of my shift, and even after it had ended and I was on my way home.

"All right, Addison. What is it?" Alexei asked me at the dinner table that night.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You've looked like you were a thousand miles away all evening." He frowned. "Did something happen at work today?"

I nodded. "Sydney's baby was born."

His bottom jaw dropped. "Really?"

"She came into the emergency room with a placental abruption, and Dr. Brown had to do an emergency C-section on her. He weighs just five pounds, four ounces. You ought to see him, Alexei. He's absolutely perfect!"

"So she had a boy," he said softly. I saw a longing in his eyes that I'd never seen there before, and I felt a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach.

We didn't say a word to one another for the rest of that evening. I'd never felt so alone since Alexei had left me for Sydney the previous fall.

The next day at work, I was walking past the hospital nursery when I saw to my surprise that Alexei was there, staring in through the window. Silently I went to stand beside him, and right away my eyes fell on the crib labeled 'Steadman, baby boy.'

"How long have you been here?" I asked.

Startled, Alexei jumped. "Oh, hi, Addison," he said. "He's beautiful, isn't he?"

I looked into his eyes and realized that they were the saddest I'd ever seen them.

Montana's four-year-old kindergarten held a little ceremony for the students who were 'graduating' up to five-year-old kindergarten. As we entered the cafeteria where the event was being held, I noticed right away that Riley and Brian were there. Robin smiled and waved us over.

"Hey, girl!" she exclaimed. "Long time, no see. How have you been?"

"Great!" I told her. "This is my husband, Alexei."

"Wow, so you're married now! Congratulations!"

"Thanks. We did it on Valentine's Day."

"How romantic! Brian and I just found out that Camryn's gonna have a new baby brother or sister soon!"

"That's great!" I said, glancing at Alexei, whose face bore a winsome smile. I knew that he was thinking about Sydney's baby, and that thought put a knife through my heart.

Montana's little ceremony was cute, especially when the little boy who was singing the alphabet song got confused and sang 'Y and Z' instead of 'W,X,' and afterwards there was refreshments and mingling.

"So, what do you do?" Brian asked Alexei.

"I just got on with the police force," Alexei replied. "Before that, I was a security guard at the hospital where Addison works. How about you?"

"I'm a butcher at the supermarket," Brian told him.

"Do you know Aidan Bradley?" I asked.

"He's a good friend of mine," Brian replied.

"He's my brother," I said.

"Have you met this girl he's dating now yet? He seems to be really crazy about her. Talks about her all the time."

"She came over for Easter dinner." I didn't add that Jana was also my best friend's half sister.

Montana's fifth birthday was in the middle of June, and we planned a party for him at the pizza place with the arcade. I invited Camryn, his cousins Rachel and Daniel, the Shikov children, and several others. Fortunately, Alexei and I were both able to get the day off, so we loaded the kids into the car and drove to the restaurant. Montana was so excited that he did a little dance in the parking lot before we went in.

Aidan arrived with Jana. "I'm this many old now!" Montana told them, holding up five fingers.

"Wow, you're getting to be a big boy!" Jana exclaimed.

"I'm gonna be in kindergarten next year," Montana told her.

Riley arrived looking slightly pale, with Camryn in tow. "How are you?" I asked her.

"I'm having a little trouble with morning sickness, but other than that, I'm fine," she told me.

"I can sympathize," I replied. "I got a lot sicker with Nevada than I did with Montana, but I've always heard that you get sicker with girls than with boys."

"I think for me it's about the same as last time, so I must be having another girl," she said.

Patty came with Rachel and Daniel. "They've both grown so much," she said when she saw Montana and Nevada. "Jeff would have been so proud of them." I didn't say anything because I didn't want to spoil Montana's special day.

Our waitress, a teenage girl named Ashlynn, arrived then to take our order. She was just bringing our pizzas to the table when Kennedy hurriedly dashed in with Taylor, Morgan, and Jordan. "Sorry I'm late," she said. "Morgan couldn't decide what dress to wear, Nicolai smashed his thumb with the hammer, and then I couldn't find my car keys. It was just one thing right after another for us this morning."

"That's all right," I told her. "I'm just glad you could make it."

Several minutes of mayhem followed as the kids grabbed for the kind of pizza they wanted. I knew that Nevada probably wouldn't eat much pizza, so I'd brought along some macaroni and cheese for her. We were about halfway through the meal when Morgan started crying.

"What is it, sweetie?" asked Kennedy.

"My tooth really hurts, Mommy!" Morgan wailed.

"Well..." Kennedy looked undecided.

"If you want to take Morgan to the dentist, I can take care of Taylor and Jordan until you get back," I offered.

"I'll see if Nicolai's home," Kennedy decided. "If he is, could you please just keep an eye on them until he can get here?"

"Sure, no problem."

"Thanks so much!"

"Anytime," I replied.

She left with Morgan, and Nicolai arrived about twenty minutes later. I noticed that his thumb was heavily bandaged. "Are the kids all right?" he asked me.

"They're both fine," I told him.

"Thanks so much for watching them," he said.

"It was no problem at all," I replied.

Nicolai's eyes met Alexei's, and soon the two of them were busily chatting away in Russian. Ashlynn brought Montana's birthday cake with its five candles to the table. She lit them, and Montana blew them out and everybody sang 'Happy Birthday' to him.

After that Montana opened his presents, and then the party degenerated into a frenzy of eating cake and running around playing and making noise. Nevada got cranky and fell asleep in Alexei's arms. Eventually the excitement dwindled down and the children and their parents began to leave one by one.

"Thanks again for watching the kids," Nicolai said as he left with Taylor and Jordan.

"Glad to do it," I told him.

Nevada was still fast asleep, and even Montana was getting cranky, so I gathered up all the presents and leftover food and we headed out to the car. When we got home, I hurriedly stripped both kids and put them into the tub and washed all the pizza sauce and cake icing off them. They were both asleep soon afterwards.

"Looks like its just you and me now." Alexei grinned at me. He made us a couple of white Russians and we drank them while watching an erotic movie. Soon we were making out very heavily. Alexei removed my shirt and bra and suckled my nipples until they were hard and aching.

"Do you want it?" He grinned mischievously at me.

"Oh God, yes!" I moaned.

"Then beg me for it," he ordered.

"Please, Alexei." I felt tears come to my eyes.

"I never could resist you when you look at me that way," he murmured. Ever so slowly, he removed the rest of my clothing. I was writhing and moaning impatiently by the time he finally parted my legs and began to lightly finger my slick folds, then applied his tongue and lips to my most intimate parts.

I came almost as soon as his tongue hit my most sensitive spot, and I arched my back as I bit down on my bottom lip to keep from crying out his name and awakening the kids.

I lay back on the sofa, and he entered me. "Alexei!" I protested.

"Oh, yeah." Suddenly remembering that he'd forgotten the condom, he dashed into the bedroom, and I followed. Within moments we were on the bed, making love vigorously.

Sometime before dawn, I returned to the living room and gathered up our discarded clothing before the kids could awaken and and find it.

On the fourth of July we went downtown to watch the fireworks. We were sitting on the curb watching people walk past when suddenly a stroller appeared and I saw that it was being pushed by Sydney, and that Olivia and her daughter were with her.

"Baby!" Nevada crowed at the sight of the sleeping infant, and before I could stop her, she'd ran up to the stroller and stood gazing at Sydney's son.