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Okay, this bathroom is ridiculous. It’s paneled in Pierce Cedar, long planks like a Scandinavian fantasy. Floor-to-ceiling mirrors are placed along two walls. There’s a shower big enough for a rugby team and a sunken bathtub large enough for… Well, I guess we will have to see, won’t we?
Somehow I guess the right combination of dials and knobs to get the shower going. There’s an awful lot of steam, which is all right, I guess. I must have activated some kind of steamy protocol. But all I really need to do is get clean and then get to the kids’ room.
As I am washing the last traces of our encounter from my skin, flashes of it sparkle through my mind. Jack’s long tongue. Chance’s utter concentration as he examined every inch of me. The way they both went for the less obvious erogenous zones. Not just my nipples, but also the ticklish sides of my breasts. The hollows under my arms. The sweeping curve over my hip bones.
Intriguing, I have to say. I wonder what other delights they plan on sharing with me.
When I enter the boys’ room, my hair twisted on top of my head, a T-shirt over the bathing suit I threw on, I stop for just a second to watch. Chance leans on the corner of Matthew’s crib, pulling faces until Matthew giggles himself back to sitting. Ned bounces against the corner of his crib, eager to join in.
It won’t be long until they’re both in toddler beds. They both stand with their heads just over the railings even now. Nothing’s going to hold these little guys back, I can tell.
As soon as he spots me, Ned’s eyes widen in delight and he starts barking out happy noises. Chance grins at me over his shoulder.
“Oh, looks like somebody is already smitten with you,” Chance smirks.
“Yeah, I think I am quite smitten with him too,” I agree as I approach Ned carefully. He’s happy, but sometimes kids can get spooked if you barge into their space too quickly. He certainly seems welcoming so far and just beams at me as I get closer.
“Hey, you guys want to go outside with me?” I ask in a hushed voice, measuring the level of their excitement.
Matthew hauls himself back to standing and reaches out with a chubby little hand, his fingers opening and closing.
“I will take that as a yes,” I remark.
“Yeah, you guys are going to be okay,” Chance smiles as he walks to the side of the room and pulls open a drawer. “So, the guys usually share clothes. They’re basically the same size, so they each have favorites, but there’s not really any rules about who wears what.”
“Got it.”
“We’ve got tops and bottoms in these drawers over here. Nicer stuff is hung up, of course. Socks and undershirts… Diapers over there…”
I hold up a hand.
“You know what? Why don’t you just let me poke around? I’m sure I can find everything that I need.”
His eyes widen slightly.
“Are you sure? I mean… Just ask if you need anything, okay?”
“Will do!” I answer smartly.
Turning back toward Matthew, I waste a few seconds just marking time as Chance leaves the room. To be honest I don’t need him hovering over me. I will find anything I need, but these little fellas and I need a chance to sniff each other out. Pack mentality, you know. We need to figure out who’s who and what’s what.
“We can handle this, don’t you guys think?” I ask them, nodding until they nod as well, catching onto my enthusiasm.
After a quick change into big boy pants and waterproof swimmers, I poke around through cubbies and drawers until I find sunscreen, towels, and hats. There are sunglasses too, though I have never known a toddler who would keep sunglasses on for more than the length of time it took to lose them at the bottom of the pool. Still, it’s worth a try.
Slathered in protective sunscreen and carrying our towels, we march through the great room single file, out toward the pool area. Chance and Jack pause, midsentence, to observe our progress. I give them a wink, silently letting them know everything is fine, no need to interfere, we are just going for a dip.
Ned and Matthew listen really well, especially for their age. I wasn’t sure at first, because they don’t seem to be terribly verbal yet, but I know that around the age of two or three, some kids like to hold back. Sometimes it seems like they’re pretending they don’t know very much yet. They know an awful lot.
But when I give Ned a towel and ask him to carry it for me, he wraps his chubby arms around it and dutifully delivers it to the chair on the far side of the pool. I noticed that they are careful to stay away from the brick border, which is great. They have defini
tely been trained about pool safety.
We sit under the umbrella on the plush chaise lounges as I clip the flotation vests around their shoulders. With white sunscreen across the bridges of both their noses, they grin up at me, eager for what happens next.
“You guys ready? You want to go swimming?”
“Yeah!” they answer in unison.
