This story is based on true events.
Chapter One
Marie waited at the school gates, doing her usual best to ignore the din of conversation between the other parents around her. It had already been a long day, a mad rush to get home from the supermarket with the weekly shopping, giving herself just enough time to throw the tins, cans and packets into their usual places in the cupboards before running back out of the house to begin the next manic stage of her day.
It was early April and the afternoon sun was taking the edge off the spring chill that still remained in the air. She loved this time of year. Marie wasn't a sun-worshipper, owing to her naturally auburn hair and fair complexion, but she didn't like the cold either. The winter - especially the lull after Christmas and New Year - always seemed so long and dreary. But spring brought a change in the weather and always filled her with a sense of hope.
The school pick-up was always the same routine, however. She would drive the mile-and-a-half from their house extra early so she could make sure she got a parking space and would then have to sit there, dumbly scrolling her phone for the next half-hour until it was time for the short walk to the school. All of the other parents would be bustling up to the gate by then, already engaged in conversation, giving each other a review of their day or week so far, their plans for the weekend, their hopes that the kids wouldn't be too tired to function.
Though for Marie, the pick-up always brought an additional challenge compared to most other parents as she and her husband Chris had been blessed with twins. Twice the love and joy, in many ways, but double the challenge in another. They - their son Oliver and daughter Lauren - would often come out of school as polar opposites of each other; Lauren would come out beaming, already yapping on about her day, her backpack neatly on her shoulders, everything packed away where it should be, whilst Oliver would trudge his way out, always at the back of the line, dragging his PE kit back in one hand, the straps trailing the ground whilst his backpack clung for dear life off his shoulders, his coat bunched-up between the straps in disarray.
But this day, she already knew, would be slightly different. They both bounded out together, this time further up the line to ensure a swifter exit, and could not contain their excitement. For today was the last day of term before their two-week Easter break. On top of that, it was their 9
th
birthday in a week's time. Oh, and not to mention that their step-brother Nathan was arriving that evening to stay for the holidays!
Marie winced as she remembered that little detail once more. She had kept forgetting about their additional house-guest. Not that she ever had a problem with Nathan at all, the opposite in fact. They had always gotten along famously and the twins adored him, but after such a draining work week, Marie was hoping for a nice quiet break herself. To help manage all of the delirium in the household, Marie had opted to take the first week of the holidays off from work too, with Chris taking the second week. This is how they had always had to work it - sharing the holiday duties - and had rarely been able to book blocks of time off together for a proper family holiday.
She shepherded the chatty twins back to the car, got them to routinely throw their bags in the boot, and within a couple of minutes they were away from the ambush that was the end-of-term kicking-out time and heading home. The twins declared their immediate hunger for a snack as soon as they ran through the front door and then proceeded to rush upstairs, shattering all peace and quiet that had existed beforehand. Listening to her children's shrill voices echo throughout the house though, Marie couldn't help but smile.
*****
Marie had always wanted kids. Amongst other things, she believed that one of her purposes in life was to be a mum. She had met Chris nearly eleven years ago, whilst away on a week-long training course for a job with the NHS. It was an IT skills course which both of their employers had insisted they go on, despite the lack of need in either of their jobs at the time to know much about Excel formulas, pivot tables and the like. Chris worked in a completely different field as she did (he was in a more logistics-based role) and so both of them clicked straight away over their mutual distaste for having to be there. Most of the delegates on the course were staying in the same Holiday Inn just a short drive from the college, so they ended up meeting of an evening for a meal and drinks afterwards. It only took until the second night for them to end up in bed together, after more than a fair share of the bar's supply of Chardonnay.
The sex had been good from the start, both of them feeling the heightened excitement of not yet knowing each other but wanting to explore each other in the most intimate ways. Living only one town and a few miles apart, the affair continued over the coming weeks and soon enough, they both knew they were serious about each other and wanted more. They were engaged within six months and married within the year.
Marie had always known that Chris already had a child - his son Nathan, then seven-years-old - when they met, but that things had gone south with Nathan's mother and they had amicably split when he was only four. Chris and Jennifer had remained good friends, which helped him maintain a lovely relationship with his son. Chris' own parents had split when he was young and the divorce had been messy and, as a result, his relationship with his own father remained strained for many years. Chris vowed he would not let the same thing happen with his own son.
Despite her early anxieties, Marie found that Nathan accepted her like a second mother and for a time he helped fill the void until she fell pregnant in the summer of 2013, just ahead of their second wedding anniversary. A few minor bleeds early on prompted Marie to be seen for early scans which, at seven weeks gone, revealed that they were expecting twins. Oliver and Lauren arrived the following April, a full seven weeks early.
When Nathan knew of his new siblings, he couldn't have been happier. He arranged with his mum to pay extra visits, when possible, to the hospital to see them. Due to their prematurity, the twins spent the first month of their lives in neonatal care, finally going home in the first week of May. Nathan had never missed their birthday since and once he was old enough to make his own arrangements, he told his mum that he would spend the school holidays with them.
Nathan had turned eighteen the previous November and was coming to the end of his college days, looking forward to hopefully starting university that summer. It had been a full six months since his last proper visit and the twins were at fever-pitch awaiting his arrival.
That evening, the peace was shattered once more when their dad returned home, with a fish-and-chip tea and their big brother in tow.
*****
When Marie saw Nathan walk in through the door behind Chris, carrying both of his overnight bags easily in one hand, the first thing she noticed was how much taller he seemed since she last saw him. He was now easily two or three inches taller than Chris, a good half-foot taller than herself. When he reached in and hugged her, she also felt how much firmer not only his grip but his upper body seemed, as she wrapped her arms around his back. He smelled good too. He had obviously reached an age when he was picking his own cologne and wanting to attract the ladies. And with just one whiff of him, she was sure it worked!
"Hey, how are you?" Nathan said as he finally pulled from their embrace.
