Chapter 4

Iwas still wrapping my mind around the concept of twins as I set Josh into the bathtub to clean him up. From the other side of the bathroom, Izzy let out a miserable sound as she threw up.

Coop had pulled her hair up and out of her way. Archie and Frankie had picked them both up from school on their way back from their appointment. They weren't the only ones being hit by a stomach flu.

"Daddy," Josh said in a quavery voice. "I don't feel good."

"I know you don't," I said, the bath was lukewarm water only because Josh definitely wasn't. He had a fever and from the way Izzy was throwing up, I'd imagine she had one too. "We're going to fix it."

"I want Mama," Izzy said after Coop wiped her face and flushed the toilet.

Yeah, they always did. "Let's clean you up first," Coop suggested. "Dad went to the store to get some stuff for your tummies. Mama has Charlie at the moment."

"Is Charlie sick?" The demand in Izzy's tone chased away some of her unhappiness. I stole a glance over to find her staring at Coop with the fiercest expression.

God, she was so Frankie at that age. Our little girl was almost a carbon copy of her mother. Tough. She'd happily throw down if it came to that. Fearless.

Loyal to a fault.

"We don't know yet, little miss," Coop told her in a tone that brooked no arguments even if he didn't have to raise his voice one iota. It was impressive. "Let's finish cleaning you up and then you can try some crackers."

"I didn't get it all over me, Pop. I was careful."

"I know you were," he said, nudging her toward the door. "Let's change anyway. Probably be more comfortable out of the uniform."

Her sigh was everything and I caught Coop's eye roll followed by a swift grin.

"Daddy," Josh said, laying his head against my arm. "I'm gonna be sick again."

I twisted and got the bowl under his face before he puked. Some days, I looked at my life and thought, who planned for this? Two kids throwing up, the likelihood that we'd have a third one doing it anytime now, and the simple fact we'd probably have a round of it go through all of us.

We really needed to avoid Frankie getting this. Granted, we might not have a choice, but fingers crossed.

When Josh finished, I dumped out the bowl into the toilet and flushed it away before going back to him. The hard flush to his cheeks was diminishing and I used a washcloth to spread the cooler water over his neck and back.

"You're doing good, bud," I promised him. "You're doing real good."

"I don't like this."

"Yeah, me neither. We'll fix it though." I gave him another five minutes in the bath. I wanted the heavy flush out of his cheeks and that fever reduced. I checked with the forehead reader before I took him out. Down a couple of degrees.

Better.

When I wrapped him up in a towel and lifted him out, he rested his head against my shoulder. Coop had Izzy squared away, so I took Josh for clean clothes. Jeremy was in his room when we came in and he gave Josh an assessing look.

"I brought up some Sprite and Crackers if we're feeling up for it."

"I'm hungry," Josh said and Jeremy grinned at him. "Thank you, Grandpa Jere."

"You're quite welcome, Mr. Joshua. Do we want pajamas or play clothes?"

Josh looked up at me and I winked at him. "Whatever you feel like, bud. You're not going back to school today." The next day wasn't looking likely either. Not when he had to be fever free for twenty-four hours.

"PJs please," Josh answered.

Jeremy went over to the dresser and pulled out some Transformer ones that Josh had gotten from my parents on their last visit. They'd gotten Izzy the superhero ones she really wanted and Transformers for Josh.

After I dried him off, Jeremy helped him get dressed and then I headed back to the bathroom to hang up the towel. We stored buckets under the sink for these occasions.

The soiled school clothes were already gone, so I just carried the bucket back in to Josh. Jeremy already had him set up in bed with a tray over his lap. I shook my head at the television. The kids didn't have them in their rooms, but we did have one we could roll in when they were sick.

Their "shared" television was in the larger rec room. There they could watch movies, shows, or play video games. But we could also restrict it when necessary. Unsurprisingly, the Transformers movie was already on. I set the bucket down next to the bed.

"Will you stay and watch with me, Daddy?"

That was an impossible invitation to turn down. "Sure thing, bud. Jeremy can you let them…"

"Absolutely, Mr. Jake. Would you like anything to eat?"

"Probably not right now." Especially since Josh was still pale. "But thank you."

"Of course."

Then he left us alone. Josh nibbled on a cracker and sipped his Sprite, but he didn't rush through anything. I sprawled next to him and when he wanted to cuddle up, I wrapped him up and held him. We didn't even make it to the halfway point and his eyes were heavy.

I eased him down and moved the food tray so he could lay comfortably. The door pushed inward and Frankie peeked in, worry plain on her face.

"He's alright," I said softly, I'd gotten him settled and I eased off the side of the bed as she crossed the room. She'd changed clothes and looked more comfortable. With gentle fingers, she brushed the dark hair off of Josh's forehead.

"He's still warm."

"Yeah, low-grade fever now. Let's get a little more food in him and keep it down and we can go for the kid aspirin if we need too."

I slid my arms around her and settled my hands on the steadily firming bump. The arrival of a new bump was something we all enjoyed. Rubbing my cheek against the top of her head gently, I gave her a squeeze.

"I hate it when they're sick," she admitted. Not that she needed to remind me. Every single time one of them suffered, Frankie's empathy poured out of her.

"I know, Baby Girl," I whispered. "I hate it when you get sick too. So let's ease out of here. If you haven't already gotten it, I'd like to avoid you getting sick if we can."

She rubbed her hand against the back of mine where I cradled her bump. "Izzy wants me to come cuddle, but Coop almost had her asleep too."

"Good." I pressed a kiss to the side of her head. "Come on, they will be fine and we can turn on the intercom so we can hear him."

Her soft sigh tugged at me as I drew her out of the room, just before I closed the door, I pressed the intercom to open it to downstairs. It meant we would be able to monitor. Before Izzy was born, we'd reworked the whole system so we could switch to broadcast and listen in different areas.

Down the hall, we peeked in on Izzy. Coop glanced at us from where he was tucking a sound asleep Izzy in. Like Josh, Izzy had a pail next to the bed. A television had been rolled into her room too. The movie was Fellowship of the Ring. She'd seen it so many times in the last year. It was her favorite.

Coop turned on her intercom before he closed the door. "Josh?"

"Fever still, low-grade. But he's sleeping," I told him.

We both looked at Frankie. "Charlie?"

"He seems fine so far, he's outside playing with Archie. Jeremy was going to fix something light for lunch for all of us. Ian called, he's coming back early."

"He was meeting with the new producers, right?" I asked as we headed downstairs.

"Yep, we need a new tour manager and the producers were bringing in a few for Ian to meet." Frankie smothered a yawn as she followed Coop down. He just took the step ahead of her like we'd practiced it. Then again, we kind of had. "But he doesn't want to get stuck in Manhattan late, and he'd rather be here helping."

"Sounds good." The upcoming tour had been decided on before Frankie got pregnant, but it wasn't like we were unaware of the attempts. We'd even tracked ovulation for a while.

"I'll be serving lunch outside," Jeremy told us pointedly.

"Do you want some help bringing it out?" I offered before Frankie did, but Coop was already herding her out the door to where Charlie's laughter floated on the breeze.

"I'll take care of it, Mr. Jake. Half of it is already waiting. I can also hear Miss Izzy and Mr. Josh if they need anything."

"Thanks, Jeremy, seriously." Having a lot of adult backup was amazing, but more kids meant more likelihood they all got something and shared it around.

Murray and Maxie were bounding around the yard herding Charlie. Archie was on his feet, keeping an eye on all of it. Charlie was great with the dogs, but they were still a little too enthusiastic sometimes. Right now, though, they seemed to be behaving well. Murray would lay down and patiently lick Charlie each time Charlie toddled over to him to pet him.

Charlie thought it was all hilarious.

"Come and eat," Frankie was saying and Charlie pivoted at the sound of her voice.

"Mama!" He was already racing as fast as his little legs could carry him. I had to smother a chuckle. Maxie and Murray were hurrying over to her too. Everything revolved around Frankie and it was the best orbit I'd ever been in.

She scooped Charlie up, then gave him a raspberry of a kiss to his cheek. His laughter was so open and happy.

"Pop!" Charlie was already flinging himself at Coop.

"I wish I had half of his enthusiasm," Archie said as he joined me.

"We used to," I said, smirking. "For Frankie, we still do."

"You have a point," he said, clapping me on the shoulder once. "Good man. Big sandwiches to eat."

"Roast beef?"

It was one of Frankie's favorites. Jeremy made sure all cold cuts had been heated before he prepared anything for her. The possibility of bacteria was bad for pregnant women, so he took no chances once we figured out she was pregnant.

"Yep." He led the way over to the table where Frankie was cleaning Charlie's hands. I used one of the hot, wet towels that Jeremy had brought out to clean mine. Good habits.

Then Coop buckled Charlie into his seat between him and Frankie. Archie beat me to the other side of Frankie. His smirk amused me, but I just pulled out the chair opposite her. At least I got the best view.

Conversation was on hiatus while we sorted out food and drinks. We had iced tea courtesy of Jeremy. It had a flowery taste so probably one of the herbals. Frankie had developed a taste for them when she was pregnant with Charlie and Rachel sent her a crate of every herbal tea on the planet.

Or at least that was what it felt like.

Still, it made Frankie smile. While I wasn't banned from real coffee, I'd enjoy the flowery tea with her.

"So," Coop said as I took a bite of my sandwich. "Twins?"

Their message had included a photo of the ultrasound.

"Twins," Archie said and his eyes alternated from wild to determined to delighted and back to wild again. That seesaw was going to get a hell of a workout. "Doc Patterson said we needed to take notice of any significant changes and that starting with the third trimester, Frankie will have to see her more often."

Frankie washed down her bite of sandwich with a long drink. "So far, I feel fine. I've been tired, but it's grant season, Ian and I are working on tour stuff, and the kids just went back to school. Tired would seem fairly normal."

"Well, maybe we revisit the schedule a little?" I suggested. "You work from here a lot which is convenient, but that also means Charlie and he doesn't nap as often as he should."

Charlie paused mid bite with a handful of fruit gripped in his fingers. "No naps. Not tiwed."

"Of course not," Frankie told him, her voice automatically soothing. "Naps are for after lunch."

"No nap," Charlie said firmly then threw the fruit at her. Frankie actually caught the apple slice.

"Mine now." Then she ate it. Charlie's outrage damn near killed me because I couldn't laugh at the way his mouth opened in an "O." "Next time," she told him. "Don't throw your food."

"How about you don't throw anything," Coop said, his tone firming into what had to be, the ultimate Dad voice. Of all of us to get it, Coop had nailed it from day one. Archie was mashing his lips together to keep from laughing. "We don't throw things at Mama. Ever."

Lower lip jutting out and trembling, Charlie looked from Coop to Frankie. "Sowwy, Mama."

"Apology accepted," she told him, then kissed his fingers. "But it's still my fruit."

Not laughing was incredibly tough. "Anyway," I said in something of a strained voice while fighting to keep my humor contained. "We can look for different ways to give you an extra hour or two each day whether you n-a-p…" Yes, we spelled out conversations. Sometimes you just had to. "Or sit and read. You know, some quality Frankie time. Might ease some of the stress and the tired for you."

She tilted her head from side to side as if weighing her options. "Maybe, but let's see how it goes. She said the third trimester would likely be the toughest. But I will pay attention to any and all symptoms that I might have. That includes the tired and maybe an extra hour a day is not a bad thing when we're home."

"You'll get more on the road," Archie said, though his frown seemed at odds with the sentiment. "Should you and Bubba maybe rethink two weeks on to one week off a different way?"

"We can absolutely talk about it," she offered, her patience fully on display. We got overprotective. Most of the time, she just rolled with it and indulged us. Other times, she countered and proved her point. "Twins is different, but—in my experience, all the pregnancies have been different. I don't know if it's because with Izzy everything was new and with Josh, we were focused on other stuff and then again with Charlie."

When his name was said, the toddler beamed and held out an apple slice to Frankie. She tapped his nose gently.

"You eat it, sweetheart. Mama has to finish her sandwich."

"Otay."

Then she looked back at us, sweeping all three of us with one look. "I'm willing to discuss, debate, and brainstorm anything you guys want in order to make sure that we don't leave a stone unturned. I would like to do the tour… Ian never complains but this is important to him."

"You are far more important to him," I reminded her. "You and our kids. Our family. I'm not saying the tour isn't important. I love hearing you guys perform. Do we get a little jealous when you're gone for a couple of weeks here or there and Bubba gets you all to himself?"

"Yes," Coop answered for us. "We do, but we also know you love us and wish we were there too."

"I do," she admitted and then reached a hand over to Archie. He clasped it quickly, blowing out a breath. Yeah. We'd all been there. "I adore you and I love being here with you guys and I love being out there with Ian. So, we find the best way to make it work for all of us. The two weeks on and one week off for a tour works well because then we get to see all of you. This will also be the first time I leave Charlie."

Her expression tightened and then she laughed, the sound eased one of my concerns.

"And it will all be fine, I know it will. We have plenty of support. The grandparents will all descend soon enough."

"Yeah," Archie said. "We're telling Dad tomorrow night. Then Hank. Then we tell everyone else."

"The best part of when they all come to town is they always want to kidnap the kids and that means we can steal away with Frankie." That was a plan.

"I like the way you think," Coop commented and we all chuckled.

"No matter what happens, I will take every precaution and follow the doctor's advice."

Archie kissed her hand before he nudged her back to eating.

"When are you guys gonna do the babymoon? Especially if the third trimester has more concerns?"

"Already working on a plan," Archie said. "Let's get the tour settled and keep one eye on the doctor reports and worst case scenario, we take the babymoon after they come."

I wasn't the only one squinting at Archie. "You are not leaving them right after they're born."

"No, we absolutely aren't," he said, grinning. "But we have the rest of our lives and I'll just pocket that babymoon for later."

Frankie laughed and Coop shook his head. No, we'd work out something else. The babymoons were important. It was good bonding time for us with Frankie and time to focus on that new parent feeling.

I'd fucking loved the one Frankie and I took when she was still pregnant with Josh. It had definitely brought us closer. Besides, there were a lot more distractions here now with all the kids.

What if we got them a pied-à-terre in the city, then they could escape there for the babymoon but not have to worry about any other travel complications? Maybe. When lunch was done, Coop picked up Charlie.

"Gonna get him ready for a nap and check on the kids. Then I need to do some calls." He gave Frankie a firm look. "Now would be a great time for you to nap too."

I could practically read her desire to stick her tongue out at him, but with Charlie present she resisted the impulse. "Archie and I were already planning a little more strenuous activity when we got home. Might nap after that."

My dick twitched at the low husky note at the end of the sentence. We were rapidly approaching the time her sex drive doubled. Damn those were some good times.

"If you're tired," Archie said and she didn't respond, just covered his mouth with her hand as she looked at Coop.

"If you need to work, we can keep an ear out for them too." Then she removed her hand from Archie's mouth and he captured it to hold with a smile.

"I know," Coop said, bending to give her a kiss and then Charlie wanted one too.

"No nap," he told Coop confidently and I hid a smile.

"Sure thing," Coop said, winking. "It's only a couple of hours, but I canceled some appointments and I want to make sure they got rescheduled, then check in on them."

"We got this," I told him and waved him off. Archie and I pretty much worked for ourselves and Standish, which was also ourselves. So we could and had taken all the time we needed when we needed.

It was a perk, a luxury we could provide when the kids were sick or one of us was or if we simply missed Frankie after a tour and wanted a few days at home with her. Coop bumped my shoulder with his fist as he headed back into the house and I leaned forward to study the two of them.

"Are you really okay?"

"Honestly?" Frankie lifted her shoulders. "I'm not bad in the slightest. Stunned. A little apprehensive maybe, and trying to figure out all the ways that twins are going to be harder than one new one. Charlie will be potty trained in the not too far distant future, that will help, but…"

"I'm freaking out a little," Archie admitted and after the freak out last week, I was glad he had no trouble owning it. "At the same time, I can't fucking wait. This is… we're gonna have twins. Our family is growing. I missed out on having siblings."

"Me too," Frankie admitted. "And I love the ones I have now but…"

"It's not the same as growing up with them." I knew that well. Those two and Bubba hadn't had to share their parents or their attention or put up with little sisters who got into everything. I wouldn't trade mine for anything and at the same time… "I get it."

"I love this family we're making." Frankie said and a tear escaped to roll down her cheek. She swiped it away. "And I know we were going to talk about whether we wanted to go for more after this baby was born…"

"But now it's babies. A girl and unknown. Izzy will be happy about the girl part." She'd wrinkled her nose when Charlie turned out to be a boy. So I had a feeling she'd love a baby sister. "We'll figure it out," I reminded her. "Five kids is nothing to sneeze at and we're enjoying them. If you want more babies after—well, I'm always up for practice one way or another."

"Same," Archie said. "And we will figure it out, but I believe you made a request earlier…"

"Oh yes," she brightened. "Three orgasms."

"Lucky bastard," I said and Archie just grinned.

"You can give me three later," Frankie offered, then circled the table to give me a kiss. I wrapped my arms around her and tugged her into my lap for a moment.

"Anything you want," I promised, then nuzzled the corner of her mouth with another kiss. "Now, let Archie take care of you and let us worry about the kids for a bit."

"If you need us…"

"I know where you'll be." One last kiss and then I set her on her feet. "Go on."

She drifted inside, hand in hand with Archie, and I leaned back. Maxie and Murray looked up from where they were napping in the shade. Once Coop was done, I'd take these two out for a run. Bubba might be back by then.

Tilting my head back to let the sun hit my face, I sighed.

Twins.