The Shep Ferguson Family Ch 4 Family First Pt 1

It seemed to Margo Ferguson Candeloro that she would never have this baby, just keep on being pregnant forever. She couldn’t remember ever not wanting to have children, but still had not planned to become a mother this soon after she married Kevin. She wondered if she’d ever see her hipbones again.

Margo had been working on the garden and fruit trees from the moment they were wed and she moved into the house. She wanted the whole house, outside and inside, to reflect her happiness. 

When she found out she was expecting a baby and told Kevin that, guess what, their plans to have a baby in two years were moved up a little, he actually took it quite well. Kevin was as quiet as Margo was outgoing, but he let her know he was happy to be a father. He even stayed calm when she later told him the doctor said it was going to be twins.

Now she was at full term and her garden was looking unkempt because she simply couldn’t get around all that well. She was weary and ready to just get the birth over with and hold her children in her arms as soon as possible.

It was early morning and the phone call came that the Ferguson Family had been waiting for—Margo had delivered her babies!

“Both children are doing well!” Shep called to Madeleine, as he hung up the phone. “A boy AND a girl!”

Standing guard over his children...

Shep and Madeleine waltzed around the dining room a bit. Harvey, Holly and Debbie were at school, but Madeleine would text the twins in a bit.

“Shep, twins! One for each of us!” she laughed.

“They named the girl after both the grandmothers,” Shep told her, “And the boy is named after the grandfathers.”

The full names were James Sheppard Candeloro and Madeleine Rose Candeloro (Rose was Bonnie’s middle name).  But Margo and Kevin were going to use Jamie and Maddie.

As soon as Margo felt up to it, Madeleine, Shep and Holly came to see the babies.

“Oh, Margo, they’re just too adorable,” breathed Holly as she carefully picked up Jamie. 

As Shep picked Maddie up for the first time Madeleine observed with a laugh, “Look at that ‘WHO ARE YOU!?’ look on her little face!"

"Now Maddie, I've handled a lot of babies and I haven't dropped one yet," Shep said in his quiet voice.

At dinner Margo told them she had for some reason assumed she would have twin girls so the whole room was done in pink. When Jamie and Maddie came; she put the cribs in the master bedroom temporarily and made Kevin paint the room blue immediately and replace the carpet. She left one of the pink cribs for Maddie and put in a blue crib for Jamie.

“I wasn’t going to argue with a woman who had just delivered twins,” Kevin joked.

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The next day was Saturday and Melanie Flynn came by to see Holly. Madeleine invited her to stay for supper where they had a friend over, Dr. Jody Broke. Harvey was there of course, but he hardly spoke to Melanie, not even about Lori Lassiter. Mainly he just played SSX on Atari.

Melanie liked their little sister, Debbie; she was so well-mannered and friendly. She had always wished she had a baby sister, but now she had her niece, Simone, so Melanie wasn’t jealous.

Nicky was back in town and came over to see his family. He had bought a house but was still sorting it out. Little Debbie was astounded to find she had a brother she did not know at all and was a little nervous as they visited in the living room. Harvey noticed Debbie’s wide eyes and moved a little closer to her to give her confidence. Madeleine looked so happy to Debbie that she was a little jealous of this “new” brother who garnered such attention. Then her mother smiled at her fondly and she felt a little better. 

Harvey had really missed his big brother, Nicky, maybe the most of all of them except his mother, and couldn’t wait to get some time alone with him to joke around and play rock-paper-scissors or Red Hands or, frankly, anything Nicky wanted to do.

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Gillian and Jeremy were busy and didn’t get to visit that day. In fact, they had company of their own. Jeremy’s brother, Jesse, and his wife, Jenna, came over for dinner. They both made a big fuss over their new nephew, Robby. They had eight year old twin girls, Janice and Jessamyn, who were home with a babysitter.

Janice and Jessamyn as toddlers.

The twins now...

Jesse and Jeremy played pool like they'd done as boys when they lived at home. Jeremy had always been the winner in those days so when Jesse won he seemed to be very surprised, jumping high enough to be considered airborne.

 

Gillian played chess with her sister-in-law and they knocked off a game of pool after that.

After dinner Gillian served everyone Cherry Cheesecake for dessert. Jenna said, “This is delicious, can I get your recipe?” Gillian told her she got the recipe out of a cookbook by Melora Lassiter published when she had her own cooking show, she’d be glad to write it out for her.

When Jenna was feeding Robby, Gillian remarked,

“Do you think you’ll have another child?”

“Don’t go there,” Jenna laughed, “I’m just now getting some time to myself with the girls in grade school. Jesse would like to try for a boy, but I just don’t know. One more child would not be so hard to handle, but what if we had twins again? I don’t think I have the strength.”

Just then Jesse walked in cuddling Robby and talking to him. Jenna looked over at Gillian and shrugged as if to say, “See what I mean?”

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Since Gillian and Jeremy couldn’t make it over to Shep and Madeleine's house when Nicky visited there, he came by himself one afternoon to see them.

“He went right to the crib and picked up Robby as if he knew what he was doing,” Gillian later told Madeleine, “He was just a natural.”

Seeing the baby was in good hands, Gillian decided to get in a little time on the exercise machine while she could. She didn’t take long and then came to get the baby to put him down for his nap while Jeremy and Nicky went fishing.

 Nicky wasn’t as lucky fishing that day as Jeremy was who kept pulling in huge fish every time he cast it seemed. At one point, Nicky began to wonder if the lure had fallen off or something.

Gillian cooked ribs and corn on the cob on the grill and added coleslaw and hush-puppies for a delicious dinner. Afterward, Nicky begged to be allowed to give Robby his bath.

“Sure,” Gillian told him, somewhat amazed, "Remember he can't swim yet!" A few minutes later she and Jeremy heard him in the baby's bathroom, talking to Robby who was laughing and splashing and having a great time.

“I’ll be darned,” Gillian said to her husband, “I never would have taken him for a baby-lover.”

“He’s just a Robby-lover,” Jeremy grinned.

“Can you blame him? I mean is our son not adorable?”

“Oh, man, I gotta get me a couple of these!” Nicky joked and indicated Robby as he carried him to the kitchen to feed him his bottle.

Gillian laughed,

“Oh, you don’t say? You want to be a father, Nicky? And have you got someone in mind for the mother?”

“Hadn’t thought of it until now, I guess I’ll have to check out the eligible women around town.”

“Er, being a father isn’t quite as easy as being an uncle,” Jeremy smiled, “You do realize that?”

Nicky just grinned, “Oh, that’s okay; I’m a fast learner, have been all my life.”

"Well that's good then, Nicky, because Mom's lifelong dream has always been to have six grandchildren or more before she dies and I can tell you right now I'M not having all of them for her!"

Next installment of the Ferguson Clan HERE