Abby

Me: I really wish you could’ve come and helped us with all the kids!

Me: I know, Aunt Lori. Take care of yourself. And Avery, I’m sorry I messed up your winter break dates. I thought you’d be off by now.

Avery: We definitely need a family online calendar! Maybe now everyone will listen to me.

Wyatt: I don’t need more reminders on my phone.

Avery: I could snail mail reminders, like I did over the summer.

Wyatt: No. Just no. Fifty letters in a week was too many.

Avery: It just shows you how much I love you, brother.

Rafe: Abby. Abby! Come to Snow White’s Grotto at the side of the castle. NOW.

Me: Oh, no. On my way.

Go to Disneyland at Christmas time, they said. It’ll be fun and beautiful and make a good memory, they said.

Ha! Maybe if it’d been just Rafe, me, and our two kids, it wouldn’t have been so bad.

No, that wasn’t right. Our daughter seemed to find more trouble than most of the rest put together. Beck and West said Sophia reminded them a lot of me as a child. But I didn’t think I would’ve ever been able to sneak into a haunted house, hide, and scare the living crap out of my parents like she’d done with us when we’d finally found her this past Halloween.

The spires of the castle came into view, and as I rushed toward the side where the wishing well stood, I finally spotted Rafe. He held our younger daughter Victoria on his hip as he gestured wildly toward the waterfall.

The waterfall had three levels, with Snow White and the dwarves spread across three tiers wearing a few holiday decorations. The bottom tier had a fake log running between the two sides of rock, and there was my older daughter, walking across it, singing as she went.

I reached Rafe’s side. “What the hell happened?”

“I don’t know! I was making a wish with Tori and the next thing I knew, Sophia was over the fence.”

A security guard was drawing near, and I knew we were this close to being kicked out.

We might still be, even if I got Sophia back over the fence. But I didn’t want to cut my kids’ vacation short. So as my daughter reached the safety of the other side of the grotto—and was no longer balancing over the water—I did my best to keep my voice somewhat even as I said, “What did we say would happen if you climbed up any of the landscape props in the park?”

She shrugged. “I get one less souvenir at the end. But it’s worth it! I want to see Snow White, Mom! I can see the castle better from up there, too.”

I gripped the rails of the fence, trying my best to stay calm. My daughter liked to challenge Rafe and I, and shouting would only make her dig in. “Do you want to go home? Because if you don’t come back over the fence, Sophia, they’ll kick us out.”

In addition to the security guard talking into a radio, the rest of my family showed up, their kids in tow. We now filled most of the area around the well.

Zach and Amber’s daughter, Luna, shouted, “Sophia, you shouldn’t be up there!”

West and Emmy’s son, Ben, scowled. “They’ll take you to jail if you don’t come back.”

Beck and Sabrina’s daughter, Charlotte, only stayed in place because Beck kept his hands on her shoulders as she said, “I want to climb up the waterfall too!”

Nolan and Katie’s son, Bowen, was the eldest of the kids there and said, “I bet you can’t make it to the top!”

As Sophia moved to climb up the second level, Rafe swore, handed me Tori, jumped over the railing and went after our daughter. He managed to catch up to her, scooped her up, and brought her back. Once she was back on the ground, Sophia tried to squirm away, but Rafe kept his hands on her shoulders.

I was torn between hugging her close and scolding her. Before I could utter a word, the three security guards moved closer and one of them asked us to go with them.

An hour later, Rafe and I had managed not to get banned permanently, only for the day, meaning we could thankfully return tomorrow. However, if any of our children climbed the scenery again, the punishment would be harsher.

Since West and Emmy were watching Sophia and Tori temporarily, I stopped Rafe just before we left the security building. He raised his brows and then pulled me into a hug. I sighed. “I’m going to be completely gray within the next year, aren’t I?”

He chuckled and said, “Well, she is a lot like you, love. And when two people are a lot alike, they tend to butt heads more.”

I hugged him tighter. “Well, Tori is more like you. And once she’s older, then she can give you more gray hairs.”

“Let’s hope she doesn’t resort to a constant stream of casual hookups once she’s older. Because I will dust off my baseball bat and chase them away.”

We stood hugging each other for another minute before I raised my head and kissed Rafe. “We should probably head out.”

“After we talk with Sophia, Emmy offered to watch them tonight to give us a break.”

“She must miss the twins being younger because I can barely manage two kids, and she has two step kids and three with West. Five! I couldn’t do it.”

“Two is more than enough. Especially with the mini-Abby running around.”

He sighed dramatically, and I playfully hit his arm. “Be nice.”

“Well, I seem to remember falling in love with you and staying married to you and having two kids with you. I think that means I’m fond of you and anyone like you.” He kissed me and continued, “Let’s go back outside before security tells us to leave.”

And so we exited the building and spotted Emmy and West and all the rest of my family gathered near a tree. When we walked up, Sophia held up an ice cream cone. “I’m sorry, Mommy. This is for you.”

“Bribing me with ice cream, are you?”

I took it, and Sophia replied, “I didn’t mean to break the rules. But I just wanted to see the statues up close. And Bowen told me earlier I couldn’t do it because I was too little.”

Nolan raised an eyebrow at his son. “Did he, now?”

Bowen crossed his arms over his chest. “I didn’t tell her to climb the waterfall!”

Nolan and Katie gathered their kids, said they’d meet us later, and herded them out of the park.

As Rafe and I did the same with our daughters, Sophia looked at me again. “I am sorry, Mom. I won’t do it again.”

“Well, we have to leave for today. And you’ve lost your remaining souvenir privileges, too.” Sophia opened her mouth, but I beat her to it. “But maybe, if you behave the rest of the vacation, you can have one at the very end. But only if you’re on your best behavior.”

“I will be, I promise!”

Rafe spoke up. “And don’t take every dare you get from you cousins, Sophia. Remember what we talked about?”

“To stop and think. And if I might get hurt, to say no.”

Rafe nodded. “That’s right.” He pulled her against his side and gave her a one-armed hug. “We’re just happy you’re safe.”

With his other arm, Rafe hugged me and Tori, too.

And as we walked out of the park, Tori said something to make us laugh, then Sophia moved between Rafe and I to hold each of our hands. And even though we’d been kicked out of Disneyland, it somehow was one of those perfect moments that I’d remember for the rest of my life.