Chapter 3
Kelly
The kitchen finally looks like a kitchen again. I’m standing at the sink rinsing egg off a plate when I hear Mason upstairs.
Not talking. Not the usual grumbling either. Full-on cursing.
“MADISON—give—”
A thump.
Then a very colorful string of words that absolutely should not be shouted in a house with three small children. I freeze with the sponge in my hand.
For a moment I just stare at the sink. The twins are upstairs with him. Mason rarely yells like that unless something has gone spectacularly wrong.
My heart gives a small jump of panic.
“Mason?”I shout towards the stairs.
“Everything’s fine!” Mason calls down a second later.
That does not sound convincing.
I turn off the faucet slowly. The house suddenly feels very quiet. Too quiet. Then I hear the twins giggle.
Not little happy baby giggles either. The kind of giggles that say we just did something we definitely shouldn’t have done.
Oh no.
I wipe my hands on the dish towel and head toward the stairs.
As I walk through the house I pass the living room, still littered with toys from before the breakfast chaos.
Johnny’s dinosaur sits in the middle of the floor like it’s guarding the room.
The morning sunlight pours through the front windows, turning the dust in the air into floating golden specks.
Another burst of laughter comes from upstairs and I hear Mason mutter something else under his breath that I can’t make out.
Yeah. Something definitely happened.
I start climbing the stairs, already trying to imagine what I’m about to walk into. Possibilities flash through my head.
Did one of them crawl off the changing table again? Did Mason forget wipes? Did someone have a diaper blowout? But none of those explain the twins laughing like tiny villains.
By the time I reach the hallway I can see the nursery door standing half opened. A faint white cloud drifts out into the hallway.
I stop.
What… is that? Powder?
“Mason…?”
I step closer and push the door all the way open. And immediately freeze. The nursery looks like someone detonated a bag of flour. Baby powder coats everything.
The changing table. The floor. The dresser. The air itself is still swirling with it, drifting lazily through the sunlight coming through the window.
And in the middle of the chaos…Is Mason. Completely covered.
His dark hair is dusted white. His beard looks like he stuck his face in a bag of flour. His black shirt is now more white than black. And on the changing table sit Maddy and Madison, both of them giggling hysterically.
For a second I just stare. Then Mason turns to look at me. His expression is halfway between annoyed and defeated.
And that’s it. I completely lose it. I slap a hand over my mouth as laughter bursts out of me before I can stop it. My stomach actually hurts from trying to contain it.
“Oh my God,” I manage between laughs.
Mason gestures helplessly toward Madison.
“Your daughter.”
I lean against the doorframe because my legs feel weak from laughing.
“What happened to you?”
“I turned my back for two seconds,” he says.
The twins clap their hands again, sending another little puff of powder floating into the air. That only makes me laugh harder.
“You look like you wrestled a bag of flour and lost.”
Mason narrows his eyes at me.
“Glad you’re enjoying this.”
I wipe tears from the corners of my eyes as I step into the room. The scent of baby powder is so thick in the air I can practically taste it.
Madison reaches toward Mason’s shirt and pats the powder there enthusiastically, creating another tiny cloud. Maddy squeals like this is the greatest game she’s ever discovered.
“They got the powder?” I ask, still laughing.
“They weaponized it,” Mason mutters.
I look down at the floor. The bottle of baby powder is lying on its side like evidence at a crime scene.
The girls are absolutely covered. Their hair. Their arms. Their tiny pajamas. They look like two mischievous little snowmen.
“They’re so proud of themselves,” I say.
“They should be,” Mason replies dryly. “They won.”
At that moment Johnny appears in the hallway behind me. He peers around my leg into the nursery. His eyes go wide.
“DAD!”
Mason sighs.
“What.”
Johnny points at him dramatically.
“You look like a powdered donut!”
That does it. I double over laughing again and Mason groans.
“Glad the whole house thinks this is hilarious.”
Madison leans forward and pats Mason’s chest again. More powder floats into the air and Johnny starts laughing too. Maddy claps her hands.
The entire nursery now looks like a baby powder blizzard. I finally manage to pull myself together enough to step forward and pick Madison up.
When I lift her from the changing table a puff of powder explodes from her pajamas.
“Well,” I say, brushing some off her cheek.“At least the girls are clean.”
Mason gives me a look and I grin sweetly.
He gestures around the room.
“Clean?”
I glance at the changing table, the floor, the dresser, and then at my husband who looks like he fell into a bakery mixer.
“…Okay,” I admit. “Maybe not that clean.”
Johnny is still laughing in the doorway.
“Dad’s a donut!”
Mason rubs a hand across his face. “This day hasn’t even started yet,” he mutters.
I bounce Madison gently on my hip while Maddy giggles at her sister. Then I glance at Mason standing there covered in powders and shake my head, smiling.
“Alright,” he mutters. “That’s enough.”
He reaches forward and scoops Maddy off the changing table while I step closer still holding Madison into my arms. Both girls immediately grab handfuls of his shirt and start patting at the powder.
Mason sighs but his expression softens. Despite the mess, despite the chaos, there’s a warmth in his eyes when he looks at them that makes my chest tighten.
“Happy birthday, troublemakers,” he murmurs.
He leans down and presses a gentle kiss to Madison’s powder-covered head, then another to Maddy’s cheek. Both girls squeal in delight, their tiny hands grabbing at his beard again.
Then he steps closer and kisses me.
The baby powder makes his beard smell faintly sweet, and when he pulls back I notice he left a little white smudge on my cheek.
“Sorry,” he says with a crooked grin.
I wipe it away with a laugh.
“You’re the one who looks like you fell into a bag of flour.”
He glances down at himself.
“Yeah… I’m gonna go take a shower before the club sees me like this.”
“Good plan,” I say.
He kisses the girls one more time before heading to our room. The moment he disappears around the corner, I look at Johnny. He’s still standing in the doorway grinning.
“Alright, mister,” I say. “Go pick up the toys in the living room.”
Johnny groans dramatically.
“But I just cleaned them yesterday.”
“And you made the mess again this morning.”
He sighs like the world has personally wronged him.
“Fine.”
Then he runs down the hallway anyway, his small footsteps echoing down the stairs. Once he’s gone, I carry the girls into the bathroom. They’re still giggling, little powder-covered hands grabbing at everything they can reach.
“Let’s get you two cleaned up before the party,” I tell them.
I start the bath and fill the tub with warm water. When I lower Madison in first she immediately splashes the water with both hands. Maddy follows right after and joins in. Within seconds water is sloshing over the side of the tub.
“Hey!” I laugh. “Calm down, you two.”
The girls don’t listen. They never do.
They splash and squeal, their laughter echoing around the small bathroom while the last of the baby powder washes away in the warm water. When they’re finally clean, I wrap each of them in soft towels and carry them back down the hallway toward their room.
Inside, Mason is kneeling on the floor wiping down the changing table with a cloth. Most of the powder is gone now, though a faint white dust still clings to the corners of the dresser and the edge of the crib.
He glances up as we walk in.
“You got them cleaned up?”
“Mostly,” I say.
He stands and tosses the cloth into the laundry basket.
“Sorry about the mess.”
I smile softly.
“It’s their first birthday. A little chaos is expected.”
He chuckles.
“Just a little?”
I set the girls in their crib and open the dresser drawer. Inside are the outfits I bought for them a few days ago. Two identical little dresses. Red and white with tiny Minnie Mouse prints across the fabric and matching bows stitched along the waist.
“Look what you get to wear today,” I say.
Maddy grabs the fabric immediately while Madison tries to chew on the bow. Mason leans against the wall watching us.
“You really went all out,” he says.
“They only turn one once.”
I slide the dresses carefully over their heads, smoothing the skirts down over their little legs. When they’re dressed, I sit them both in front of me and gently brush their soft hair.
Maddy’s curls bounce as I pull them into two tiny pigtails. Madison’s hair is a little thinner, but I still manage to fasten a small red bow near the top of her head. When I’m finished they look like tiny matching dolls.
Mason whistles quietly.
“Well don’t they look fancy.”
Madison claps her hands. Maddy tries to grab her sister’s bow. I scoop one girl up in each arm.
“Come on,” I say. “Let’s go see what your brother’s doing.”
Downstairs, Johnny has actually picked up most of the toys.
Most.
A few dinosaurs still lie scattered across the floor, but the living room looks a lot better than it did earlier.
“Hey!” he says when he sees the girls. “They look pretty!”
“Thank you,” I tell him.
I carry the twins over to the playpen in the corner of the room and set them inside. They immediately start exploring the toys waiting for them. Maddy grabs a pink stuffed bear on a motorcycle and Madison goes straight for the rattles.
Johnny crouches beside the playpen watching them.
“They’re gonna have the best birthday ever,” he says confidently.