Chapter 80

Over the next weeks, all the new babies were born in their group. Charlie and Elizabeth had eight grandchildren at that point.

Liam and Maggie had four kids, Liza and William had two, as did Henry and Bethany. Plus, their friends were keeping pace!

Makayla and Mike had two girls, Brett and Sheila had one of each, and Nick and Hannah had three, two girls and a boy.

She threw herself into her children and got herself back in shape. She would take the twins on a walk in the double stroller to bond with them while the two older boys had their afternoon naps.

They would head down to the park, watch the ocean, and feed the birds as she talked with them in the quiet of the fall weather.

Thanksgiving and Christmas were large, noisy events with their family and friends and so many babies and children! The adults were seriously outnumbered.

As usual, Liam went all out for Christmas, spoiling his children and wife. The lights and decorations were outrageous, but the boys loved every second.

Even Noah and Trevor were enthralled by the lights twinkling and sparkling in the house and outside.

The new year started slow and Maggie loved it. She finally felt like she had a good handle on their lives and went back to school.

Maggie only had two semesters left before starting studying again, and she was very excited.

February brought devastating news for the Olsen family. Anne, their nanny and housekeeper, had passed away in her sleep.

They were all rocked to their core at the news and went to the funeral to pay their respects. Liza couldn’t go as she was only a few weeks postpartum.

Liam took Patrick with him to help Maggie out with the children. Tonya stayed in the guest room over the garage when Maggie got the flu.

It was the worst timing possible, but that’s just how it was. Life always throws you a curveball just when you think you had it all under control.

Charlie, Elizabeth, Niall, and Joan loved every single one of their grandchildren and spoiled them with the other grandparents.

It worked to their advantage that several of the parents lived out of state, so they got lots of time with all the kids.

Before either Maggie or Liam realized it, Noah and Trevor were a year old and even more daring and curious than Patrick and Isaac had been.

Walking at ten months like their older brothers, it seemed to the whole family that the twins had no fear.

It was apparent that all the boys had Liam’s brilliance. Patrick was starting to read when he was three and a half. Maggie read to the kids all the time and thought that he had memorized the pages.

But when she brought home a new book from the store, she sat with him, and he started sounding out the words and reading to her. She was floored!

Elizabeth confirmed that Liam had been the same way, and Maggie knew she had to get him in a decent preschool to help harness this.

She got him into one that happened to be just down the road from her old school and was startled when they recommended that she look at private schools to accommodate his gifts.

She called Ed at her old school and set up a tour. It was different looking at it from a parent’s point of view, and Maggie was proud to have been a part of it for years.

They looked at a few other schools, but Maggie liked her old school the best, especially when Makayla was coming back full-time to teach kindergarten. They knew she would be great for Patrick.

He seemed to enjoy the preschool experience. Having been around so many kids within his own family, he had exceptional social skills.

Plus, when he flashed his inherited dimples at you, you had no choice but to stop being angry and smile at him.

“I wonder where he got that from, babe?” Maggie quipped one night after a particularly crazy day of school, play dates, and learning to read with him.

“I guess he’s a chip off the old block!”

Maggie rolled her eyes and chuckled at him. “Of course, you would say that! You are so conceited!”

He smirked at her. “And you find it sexy, darling!”

She couldn’t deny it as he crawled up to her on the bed, pushed her back on the pillows, and kissed her passionately.

He stuck his hand under her shirt, flicking her rapidly pebbling nipple. She moaned into him as they started another very satisfying round of mind-blowing sex.

Their sex life never wavered, and they couldn’t seem to keep their hands off each other. Their friends teased them mercilessly, and the parents kept warning them that they would end up pregnant again.

“No, I think we are done! I am almost done with my master’s and want to get back in school before too long,” Maggie explained to Elizabeth, Joan, and Sheila.

“Well, then you better do something permanent, Mags. It seems Liam’s swimmers have superhuman powers and get through any type of birth control that you use!” Sheila teased.

Maggie giggled. “I know. We found something good now, so don’t jinx it!”

The ladies laughed and went on with their day.