Page 48 of A Baby Changes Everything

"I can do it." Alex tried to grab the furry material from his little brother.

Zach held on tight. "So can I."

Fighting between siblings. More uncharted territory. As an only child, Hope had no experience whatsoever on this front. But with both boys digging in their heels and pulling the tree skirt in a tug of war, Hope needed to intervene sooner rather than later.

"How about we do it together?" She stepped in between the feuding brothers to take the skirt from both their grips.

"How we gonna do that?" Alex furrowed his little brow, reminding her of Drew. Hope wondered if their child would inherit the same mannerism. She hoped so.

"Well?" Alex prompted.

"You take this side." Hope handed Alex one end and turned toward Zach. "And you take the other. Now get down on your knees and crawl under the tree, bringing the ends with you. I'll be in front making sure it stays straight."

They did as she instructed. "Okay," Alex informed her from his spot under the tree. "Do we hook it together in the back?"

"Yes, attach it where the Velcro is."

"Got it," Zach shouted.

Hope smoothed out a few wrinkles in front. "Okay, try to back out without knocking anything off the tree."

Gingerly, or as gingerly as two energetic boys can manage, Alex and Zach commando-crawled backward, careful not to rise too high until their heads had cleared the bottom branches. Both sat on their haunches. "Now what are we gonna do?" Zach wanted to know.

Hope looked around the room at the explosion of plastic containers, lids, empty ornament boxes, and shredded paper. "I think we definitely have some cleaning up to do," she answered, bracing herself for their fervent protests.

Only none came. Instead, both boys nodded, not overly enthusiastically, of course, but in agreement nonetheless. Hope decided to run with it before they changed their minds.

In less than an hour, everything was packed back in the containers, which they carried to the garage, leaving the one with all their ornaments by the door, so they wouldn't forget to take it with them. Returning to the living room, Hope vacuumed up the remaining debris, and the boys returned the step stool to the closet.

"Now what?" Zach reiterated his favorite question after the vacuum had been put away.

"Now, we fix some dinner and then sit down to admire our work." While Alex and Zach might be blessed with an unlimited energy supply to keep going and going, Hope was positively pooped.

"We'll help!" Zach squealed, running to the kitchen. "What're we havin'?"

"How about grilled cheese?"

"That's my favorite," Alex declared.

"I like macaroni and cheese the best."

Hope rummaged through the cupboards and fridge to locate the bread, cheese, butter, and some boxed mac and cheese. "It's not going to be homemade, so this will have to do."

"It's my second-best favorite," Zach stated.

Both lent Hope a hand, helping to assemble the sandwiches, measuring the water for the macaroni, and setting the table. Forty-five minutes later, everything had been cooked, devoured, and cleaned up. With juice boxes in hand for the boys and a glass of milk for Hope, they headed to the living room and curled up on the sofa to watch a Disney movie Alex had found on TV.

Ah, finally, Hope thought, a little rest for the weary.

Chapter Eleven

It took nearly three hours, but between Drew, Zeke, and Daniel O'Malley, they were able to deliver the mare of her foal. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do to save the prematurely born colt, but at least there hadn't been complications that would put the mare at any further risk.

They stayed to inject the horse with a healthy dose of antibiotics, made sure she expelled all the afterbirth, and gave O'Malley explicit instructions for her care and what to watch for during the next forty-eight hours. Both Drew and Zeke told the horseman not to hesitate to call if anything didn't look right.

Once back in Zeke's dual-wheeled pickup, Drew caught the water bottle his grandfather tossed him and downed half of it in one swallow. "Guess that wasn't the best first impression I could have made, huh?"

Zeke drove away from the main stable. "Why? Because the foal didn't make it?" He cast a sidelong glance at Drew. "You know as well as I do if we couldn't stop the labor, there was no chance of saving the foal. It was too early. O'Malley knows that."

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