Chapter 403

~~ Trinity ~~ We had to fend off the paparazzi for a while, but it finally died down. The kidnappers had been sent away, and the babies were safe. I was enjoying the down time and was just generally happy that everything was peaceful for us right now. And Devon had been right. Reece was pissed off when he found out what had happened. He wanted to go down to the station and beat the shit out of the person as soon as I told him what happened. I had to forbid him from doing so because we didn't need word of that getting out at all. I had to remind him that Reagan and I were both OK at least a hundred times before he settled down enough to think straight. It was August the thirty-first right now, which made it technically one day after Reagan turned nine months old and the day before Rika turned nine months old. It was funny how months made them further apart in age. I could always tell Reagan he lost his month older status because February doesn't have a thirtieth. The babies were getting so big now, bigger than I thought they would be at this age. If you compared them to how little they were when they were born, they were giants. They were off the charts for heights compared to Griffin, and they were developing amazingly well. They enjoyed exploring and having fun together too. I knew it wouldn't last forever so I wanted to enjoy the cooperation while I could. Eventually, they would fight and argue like most siblings did. I was finishing up a paper for school, having gone back after taking the spring and summer semesters off. My class load was still just two classes though. I needed to have the chance to watch my babies. The good news, though, is I had done so many classes in the beginning, loading them up when I was on lock down, that I was still on track to graduate in the next year or so at max. We were in the living room when Reece came home from work. He always came right to us and said hello before he did anything else. Usually we opened the gate, and let the babies crawl to him; that always made Reece smile happily and his eyes to mist over. I went about the same routine as I always did. I opened the gate to the play yard, and then walked over to kiss my husband and welcome him home. We turned to look at Reagan and Rika, and they were both holding onto the sides of the play yard and looking at us curiously. "Come on." Reece bent down and beckoned them to him. I knelt next to him and did the same. "Come on you two, come give Daddy his hugs. That was when the most amazing thing in the world happened. Reagan and Rika held each other's hands and started to take steps toward us. They had been walking while holding onto things for weeks, but this was the first time that they walked without assistance. And they were walking together too. That was just so cute. Neither of us thought to take our phones out to record it; all we could do was stare at them in awe as they took eight steps in total. They were right in front of us, but they lost their balance and fell back onto their bottoms. "You walked!" I cried out. "They're walking!" Reece added. At our outburst, Lila came running from down the hall where she was painting a picture. "They're walking? Already? And I missed it." She was so happy yet so sad as she watched Reece and I hold the babies against our chests and hug each other. It was a hug with all four of us. It was a family hug. and I couldn't have been happier. We watched them like hawks over the next few days. It didn't take long for us to see them walking again. This time they were walking toward each other until they met in the middle and hugged each other. Between Reece and I, we filmed the whole thing. He had Rika on his video and I had Reagan. We filmed them until they hugged and then fell to their bottoms. "Ree Ree." Reagan said his sister's name to the best of his ability. "Rea." Rika did the same. I wished that this love for each other would last. This was the sweetest, most perfect thing that I had ever seen. They really were the best of friends, even though they had play dates once or twice a week with all the other babies. Even Jackson's little girl Melody, and Heather's twins, a boy named Tyler and a girl named Charlotte, were finally here and able to come to the weekly meetings. This was going to be an interesting couple years, twenty two babies in the course of a year and that was just for those close to me. What was going to happen with them all? It would be interesting to see. Over the next few months, the babies went from barely walking to running. Their words cleared up, and they were able to say more things. Lila was Lolo, mom was Nono, dad was easy for them since he was just Papa. Grandfather was recently shortened to Momo. They even had names for their aunts and uncles. Some were funnier than others, but it was still cute: No No and Nin, Car Car and Emm Emm, and Ry Ry and Kay Kay. We were now getting close to their first birthday, and all I could think about was that time had run away, and I couldn't believe that it had been a year already. I even found myself crying that they were almost a year old already. It didn't seem possible at all. I caught Reece staring into their cribs one night about a week before their birthday. He was crying silently, and he would go back and forth between them as he rubbed their heads gently. Even he was sad that time was moving so quickly. He was such a good dad, so sweet and gentle with them at all times. We really were a lucky family.