The next thing she knew, it was time for another round of change-feed-burp.
“Too bad this isn’t an Olympic event,” Adam said as they went through the motions once again. “We’d be gold medalists in no time.”
“Right?”
“Aren’t you glad I bought stock in the diaper company?”
“Did you really?”
“Nah, but I should’ve.”
Abby laughed as she burped Beckett while Adam handled Murphy. Her mom had Rory, and Linda had Kane. All bases covered. She’d begun expressing breast milk so each baby would get some every day, as feeding them one by one just wasn’t feasible.
“I know it seems hard to believe right now,” Linda said after they’d settled the babies once again, “but this will all be routine to you guys in no time.”
“I find that very hard to believe,” Abby said.
“Linda’s right,” Carol said. “In a week or two, it’ll be like they’ve always been here, and you’ll be able to handle two at a time like old pros.”
“I guess we’ll see about that,” Abby said, full of anxiety over the looming trip home with four infants and a toddler whose entire life had been turned upside down by the arrival of his brothers.
What could go wrong?
* * *
After receiving a text from his dad letting the family know that Adam and Abby would be bringing the babies home the next day, Mac McCarthy sprang into action by calling his father-in-law, Ned.
“I need a huge favor,” Mac said when Ned picked up the call.
“What’s up?”
“Well, it’s like this. The babies are coming home tomorrow?—”
“Heard that. Excitin’ news. Can’t wait to meet ’em.”
“Me, too, but what I need more than anything is a night out with my wife before we lose the help of half the grandparents for a while.”
“Ah, I see whatcha mean. What can I do?”
“Can you and Francine babysit tonight until about midnight or so?”
Ned chortled with laughter. “That’s way past our bedtime.”
“I know, and I feel bad about asking you, but desperate times call for desperate measures. You can sleep over so you don’t have to wait up.” And that would give him more time alone with Maddie. He’d take as much as he could get.
“Lemme check with the missus to make sure she ain’t got somethin’ else planned for tonight. I’ll call ya back.”
“Thanks, Ned.”
“You got it.”
What would they do without the grandparents on call at a moment’s notice? If there was one huge benefit to living on the island, it was having his parents and Maddie’s close by to help out as needed—and they needed the help a lot, especially since their nanny, Kelsey, had been injured in the storm.
That reminded him he was supposed to meet Morgan for a beer after work. He texted his childhood friend. Hey, can we push our beer to tomorrow night? Let me know! Looking forward to it.
He wanted to say that something had come up, which was true, sort of. If things worked out as he hoped, he’d be up in more ways than one. Mac laughed when he imagined what his wife would have to say about the juvenile direction his thoughts had taken.
“What’s so funny?” Julia Lawry, the manager of his construction company, asked as she came to the door of his office.
