Run, Girl (If You Can)

The adults chatted while the kids played until about 7 PM. The Singletons needed to get home to put Logan to bed.

Noah really didn't want to go. He hid behind Violet as if it would make it so his parents couldn't see him and buried his face in her long brown hair. "I wanna stay here! Go home without me!"

Jennica and Cameron exchanged a glance and barely managed to hold back their snickers. "Come on, baby. We're going to come back tomorrow."

He dared to peek out, skepticism written all over his little face. "Promise?"

"Promise," Jennica assured him. "The sooner we go home, the sooner we can come back."

That convinced him. He gave Violet and Kaleb big hugs before toddling over to his mother and reaching for her hand even though she was occupied holding the baby.

"Can you hold Daddy's hand? Mommy has the baby."

"Mommy always has the baby," he pouted. "I want Mommy."

"I'll take him, Jen," Cameron said, holding his hands out for Logan so she could give their older son some love.

Jennica called "see you tomorrow!" over her shoulder as she led Noah away. Keeley returned the farewell and began cleaning up the plates before Aaron stopped her. Of course he would want to do it.

Instead, she told the twins it was time to come in and take a bath. Her husband insisted on doing that too so she didn't strain herself bending over. The only thing Keeley was able to do involving bedtime was read the books the kids picked and sing them each a lullaby.

Putting them to bed became much more difficult after they got their own rooms. Sometimes she missed the good old days where she only had to do one bedtime routine. Aaron would read a book to one of the kids but she always had to sing the lullabies because he couldn't hold a tune for the life of him.

The first time she had a bad cold and lost her voice when the twins were about two he tried taking over lullaby duty and the results were disastrous. The kids ended up crying and took even longer to put to bed. After that incident, Keeley made sure to record a couple of lullabies she sang on her phone in case she ever lost her voice again.

Once the kids were asleep, Keeley made her way to the TV room and turned on an episode of a cooking competition show she liked. Dinah curled up in her lap as she watched.

Molly had passed on about four months ago at the ripe old age of fifteen. She had been devastated because they had been together so long but the twins were inconsolable as well. Keeley had wanted to get a new kitten to fill the void but Aaron disagreed.

His reasoning was that Dinah was getting pretty old too and probably wouldn't live more than a few more years. She should be allowed to live out the rest of her life in peace. They could get two kittens once Dinah passed away.

Keeley couldn't really argue with his logic. Aaron loved his cat and wanted her to be comfortable in her old age. He would be as upset as she had been about Molly when Dinah eventually died.

Aaron joined her on the couch and put his arm around her wearily. "You'd think those two would be tired after all of that playing but no. They want to stay up and play even longer."

That was the energy level of little kids in a nutshell. She had been devastated when they claimed they were 'too big' for naps a couple of years ago. Naptime had been her one respite as a stay at home mom.

Keeley loved her kids to death but sometimes she needed a break from being a mom. Like right now. The couple of hours after bedtime could be the best part of her day.

Things would be even more chaotic once Oliver was born. She needed to enjoy this while she could.

"Just wait until the baby is born; we'll be even more tired," she predicted grimly.

Aaron sighed. "We need to keep reminding ourselves that we're the ones who wanted a bunch of kids. We made our bed and we need to lie in it."

This was true. They had wanted four so Oliver would have a friend a little closer to his age. There would be a fairly sizable gap between him and the twins.

He went quiet for a while, soaking up the relative peace and quiet of just the two of them (technically three, with the sleeping cat). When he did speak again his voice was wracked with nerves.

"I know you have your final checkup scheduled for the 16th already but could you reschedule it? I really don't want you going out that day. Nothing can happen to you if you're at home."

Keeley turned to look at him and saw the desperate plea echoed in the depths of his eyes. "Aaron, I already tried that, remember? It's the only day Dr. Chapman can see me and she really wants me to come in that week. I'll be fine. Nobody is out to get me right now."

Alistair may not accept her but he hadn't tried to pull anything shady either. Probably because he knew it was useless. He had been thoroughly beaten.

On the rare occasions he showed up at the shareholders meetings these days he hardly spoke a word and always had a sour look on his face. According to Aaron, anyway. She trusted his judgment when he said his father was no longer a threat.

So why was he so worried? Did he really think the universe would reincarnate them with the sole purpose of putting them back together only to take her away again on the same day?

Keeley used to think the force that caused them to be reborn was cruel before realizing how good her life could be utilizing this second chance with Aaron. Since it had worked so hard to get them back together she really didn't think it would tear them apart again.

But Aaron didn't think that way. He had lost her before and he would rather die than lose her again, especially now that they were actually happy. Ever since she got friendlier with him again after Jennica and Cameron's wedding he had been waiting for the other shoe to drop.