“I’ll make the popcorn,” Ned said to his best friend.
“Those are gonna be some years,” Linda said. “I fear this crew will put the last group of McCarthys to shame.”
“I got here just in time for the show,” their eldest sister, Mallory, said. She’d learned a few years ago that Big Mac had fathered her in a brief relationship before he met Linda. Mallory’s arrival had been a shock at first, but she’d fit right in with the family, and now it was like she’d always been there.
“What about you?” Mac asked his sister. “You’re not adding to the baby boom?”
“We’re forty-one,” she said of herself and Quinn. “We’re too old and set in our ways to detonate that kind of bomb in our lives. We’d prefer to watch the hijinks from the sidelines and then go home to our nice, quiet house.”
“That’s very wise, Mallory,” Linda said.
“We’re inundated with nieces and nephews who’ll keep us young,” Quinn added.
Ned’s wife, Francine, who was also Maddie’s mother, was rocking baby Evelyn. “I can’t believe these babies sleep through all this chaos.”
“They’re used to it,” Mac said. “They’ve been listening to it since before they were born.”
“We’re so thankful they sleep through everything,” Maddie said, yawning. “I’m not sure what we’d do if they didn’t.”
Mac’s younger son, Mac the Third, toddled up to him and lifted his arms.
Mac scooped him up. “Is my buddy ready for bed?”
Baby Mac nodded. He was so unlike Thomas and Hailey, who held out to the last possible second before going to sleep. When Baby Mac was done, he was done.
“We’ll get out of here so you can put them to bed,” Evan said for everyone as the family gathered coats and the dishes they’d brought to contribute to dinner.
“Congratulations to Aunt Maddie and Uncle Mac on your new nephew,” Big Mac said when he hugged them and the kids. “More nephews coming in hot.”
“We can’t wait,” Mac said. He was so glad that Adam and Abby were in Providence at a top-rate neonatal center for the birth of the quadruplets. That sure as hell beat his twins being born in a freaking helicopter. “Give us an update when you get to Providence.”
“Will do,” Linda said as she handed baby Emma to her mother.
“Thanks for giving my arms a break,” Maddie said to her mother-in-law and mother.
Francine settled sleeping Evelyn into Mac’s right arm as he held little Mac with the left one.
“Our pleasure, honey,” Linda said, kissing Maddie’s cheek.
“That’s what grannies are for,” Francine added.
“Thank goodness for the grannies—and grandpops,” Mac said. “We’d be lost without you, so don’t forget about us when Adam brings four new babies home.”
His parents laughed as they headed for the door.
“As if you’d ever let us forget about you,” Linda shot over her shoulder, making Big Mac, Maddie, Ned and Francine laugh.
Mac helped Maddie herd Thomas and Hailey up the stairs, while he carried Mac and Evelyn and Maddie brought Emma. Five kids was a lot.
Thankfully, Thomas could take his own shower while Mac and Maddie bathed Hailey and Mac in the tub in their room. The twins were sleeping in their bassinets.
They got the three “big” kids down without much of a fuss, since they were tired after long days of school and preschool as well as playtime with friends and cousins that afternoon.
Mac fell into bed next to Maddie, who was reading something on her phone. “Any news?”
“Apparently, things are progressing quickly for Abby, and it looks like she’ll avoid the C-section. I’m not sure if that’s good news or bad for her. Pushing out four babies…” She shook her head. “Two was bad enough.”
“Good old Adam had to show us all up with his super sperm. We’re never going to hear the end of that nonsense.”
