Chapter Nineteen:

Chapter Nineteen begins on a sad day. Just a few weeks after Emerald passed away another family member was moving on to the next stage in life.

Walking past the living room, Lexi Cooper had no idea that she would be confronted with another loss so soon after the loss of her mother.

Hearing the cries of his new wife, Wilbur came running from the back of the house to comfort her.

Nora and Alvin Diehl weren't too far behind Wilbur to witness the death of their second mother Tyler. Alvin held his wife in his arms as the new loss cut deep.

Tyler was laid to rest in the family graveyard, reunitied with her wife at last.

After the funeral, just a simple gathering of the family, life returned to a normal state. Lexi, Alvin and Wilbur returned to work, and the household began to function again.

The recent losses of Emerald and Tyler soon faded and although they were missed terribly, nothing could detract from the happiness of being with the people you love. Lexi and Wilbur worked hard at their respective jobs, and enjoyed eachother's company in their downtime.

Nora and Alvin were just as happy as the hard-working couple. Even though Alvin was working hard as a freelance writer, Nora was ready to start a family. They talked briefly and soon decided it was time to begin trying. Nora was so very excited, her life was going exactly the way she had planned it in those lazy afternoons sitting on the grass out the back.

The four young adults lived pretty happily together. From four weedy little freshmen in a big highschool, to these well-rounded young adults, they had sure come a long way, and forged long lasting friendships.

Lexi was working hard at City Hall. She was recently promoted to Yes Woman, and she loved it. From the long hours to the extra work on her people skills; she loved it all. She had to get up early every morning to make it in to work early.

But lately, Lexi was spending her mornings, not practising in the mirror for any speeches she may give later in her career, but with her head in the toilet. What she thought was food poisoning turned out to be something a little different.

After a couple of mornings waking up with unexplicable nausea, Lexi finally discovered she was pregnant. It wasn't part of the plan and at first she was a little worried. But even though her career meant a lot to her, Wilbur meant more. And the thought that she was carrying her beloved husband's baby was enough to put a little smile on her face.

The first thing Lexi did was tell Wilbur. He had the same reaction as hers; a little aprehension at first, then full blown joy as it sunk in. It wasn't planned, but it was definitely welcomed with open arms.

Nora had no idea, yet, that her sister was pregnant. She and Alvin were still trying, at every chance, to get pregnant themselves. It was taking longer than Nora had thought, and she just hoped it wouldn't be too long before she was starting her family.

Lexi wanted to wait until she was showing before telling people that she was pregnant. While morning sickness was affecting her quite badly, she took to napping in the afternoons, hoping that her work friends didn't notice her sudden exhaustion at the ends of the days.

While Alvin worked hard, his hours were slowly decreasing the higher up he climbed in his career. He and Nora enjoyed their time around town.

These two were as fun-loving as ever. Despite the fact that they had been together for years they still found ways to make eachother smile and laugh.

Finally Lexi told Nora that she was pregnant. She had been worried that Nora would be disappointed that Lexi had got pregnant accidently while she had been trying so hard for weeks. But her doubts had been for nothing, as her carefree sister was over the moon for Lexi and Wilbur and the prospect of being an aunty.

Lexi told her boss that she was pregnant and they began to organise her maternity leave. Her morning sickness was pretty bad, and so she went on leave earlier than she had wanted. Ever the hard-worker Lexi still worked on her people skills as she settled in for the next few months as her baby grew.

As happy as Nora was for Lexi and Wilbur, she was still worried that she wasn't pregnant yet. On a trip to the art gallery with Alvin, the young couple talked about their worries. Luckily for Nora, Alvin was able to soothe her worries, after all they had only been trying for a few months. These things take time.

Lexi's baby grew day by day. Lexi loved her job, but she was loving her maternity leave too. She could finally relax and just let the weeks stroll on by as she focused on keeping healthy.

In her downtime Lexi began researching schools. Smugglesworth Prep school was her favouroite so far, and discussions with Wilbur lead to Lexi putting her name down in the long waiting list for any children she would have.

Meanwhile, Nora was spending her time with her chemicals. Something that she didn't really tell Alvin was that a couple of times she'd accidently drop a potion and experience a couple of odd sensations and side effects that she hoped wouldn't affect any baby she would eventually concieve.

 As the months moved on and the due date loomed, Lexi was getting restless at home. Her collegues were being promoted quickly and she felt a little left out on maternity leave. She wouldn't give up her pregnancy for anything, but some days she felt like she was a bit hard done by, being forced into taking early maternity leave.

Alvin was always comforting his wife when she would get a little upset over the lack of progress in their trying for a baby. But as Lexi's due date was getting so close, Alvin got more and more worried. Why was it taking this long?

 Lexi and Wilbur, oblivious to Nora's worries, were lost in the happy bubble of the impending birth. Wilbur even begun turning off his phone after work, so he could spend all his time with his wife and baby. It made him smile every time he felt that growing bump.

Finally the day that Nora had been waiting for. Morning sickness hit hard one day just days before Lexi was due to give birth.

Alvin wasn't home yet so Nora spent the day resting, knowing that she had a little bundle of joy growing slowly bigger and bigger.

Telling Alvin that she was finally pregnant was one of the happiest moments of Nora's life. Followed quickly by doubts. She confided in her husband that on or around the day she would have got pregnant she had accidently dropped a dubious potion at her chemical table. She wasn't sure exactly what the effects were as she had continued to work on another potion. Alvin assured his wife that the baby would be ok, and whatever may come would come.

Nora hadn't told Lexi right away, wanting to be sure before she shared the good news. Lexi was resting most days now, her due date was so close.

Wilbur wanted to spend the last few days of Lexi's pregnancy with her. But he was working on a tough project at work, and was needed to pull extra hours. Lexi was a little upset that he chose to work late, but she knew how important his job was to him.

Alvin went to work with a secret smile, just for Nora and their baby. They had decided to start telling people about the pregnancy, and forget about any effects from Nora's chemicals.

Lexi knew how depressed her sister had been getting about the lack of pregnancy and was so very happy to hear that Nora was finally having a baby.

Like her sister before her, morning sickness affected Nora quite badly. She slept it off in her bedroom while Lexi and Alvin watched telly in the living room, waiting for Wilbur to return from another late night at the office.

It was pretty bad timing that Lexi went into labour when her husband was working late.

Luckily for Lexi she had time to call her hubby before she rushed herself off to the hospital. Wilbur told his bosses that he had to leave to help his wife give birth, and he was lucky enough to be allowed to leave. He headed straight to the hospital.

Lexi looked calm and confident as she strolled from the taxi into the hospital, but inside she was a bundle of nerves. Wilbur was a long way away and she wasn't sure he'd make it to the birth.

Wilbur was speeding there as quickly as he could. He wasn't as good at hiding his nerves as his young wife was, so the taxi ride over from Bridgeport was quicker than normal, thanks to a nice cabbie who knew the rush that Wilbur was feeling.

His heart was drumming in his ears as he raced into the hospital calling his wife's name. It wasn't too long before he found her and was just in time for the birth.

Back at the house construction was just finishing on an extension to the front of the house. A nursery was a welcome addition.

Speaking of welcome addition, that very moment Lexi was walking out of the hospital with her little bundle of joy; Niki Cooper.

And the surprise that they weren't expecting; Wilbur carried Mia Cooper home after his wife. It seemed twins were genetic in this family.

Alvin and the newly pregnant Nora congratulated Lexi and Wilbur on the birth of their little girls.

Laying her beautiful little girl down in the new cribs was one of the happiest moments of Lexi's life. Knowing that her beloved husband was holding their other beautiful bundle of joy only added to Lexi's happiness that day.

The happy couple were tired from the difficult birth of the young twins, but their joy was evident. The new nursery was bare, but a cosy place for Mia and Niki to settle in.

While the babies settled in, Nora's little baby began to show. Joy spread through Nora as she felt her baby kick for the first time. She still had doubts about what effects her experiments at the chemisrty table would have on her baby, but she knew that no matter what happened this baby would be loved more than anything.

Lexi had a few months of maternity leave and she enjoyed her time in this new role of mother to her daughters. Instead of rising early to get ready for a tough day of work, she rose early to spend the day caring for her growing little girls.

Discovering that she was suited to this role of mother, was a bit of a surprise for Lexi. She just always assumed that her maternal instinct was a little bit smaller than her sister's, and she was fine with that. But as she went about doing the household jobs of paying bills, cleaning the kitchen and raising her daughters, Lexi was filled with a sense of calm. She was where she was supposed to be.

And Nora had the same feeling. She didn't have a job, and so didn't need maternity leave. Since she married Alvin she ahd been preparing for the long relaxing days of pregnancy was enjoying every moment of them.

While their husbands were at work Nora and Lexi enjoyed spending time with the little twins. It was a lot of work for Lexi to take care of the babies while Wilbur was spending so much time at work and she knew just how lucky she was to have her sister to help.

Nora worried sometimes about Lexi and Wilbur. It seemed that her brother in law was spending a fair amount of time at the office, and less and less time with his wife and daughters. Nora just hoped that he would come to his senses soon, before it all got too much for Lexi.

Nora didn't raise her concerns with her sister. And Lexi appreciated that Nora was atleast pretending that she didn't notice how upset Lexi got every time Wilbur called to say he'd be late home again.

The months were flying past and the twins were growing every day. While Nora was spending more and more time resting as her due date got ever nearer, the other adults reminisced about days gone by. It seemed a long time ago that they were just four carefree young teens heading off to prom.

Nora loved her time with her little nieces. Knowing that soon she would be holding her own little baby, she spent as much time as she could with the happy little girls.

Lexi finally brought up Wilbur's long work hours. It didn't go down well. They argued that night, and although they went to bed together, Lexi was aware that they hadn't actually come to a conclusion.

Although he knew he was working too much Wilbur wasn't sure what else to do. He loved his job and he wanted to provide for his girls. He couldn't understand why Lexi didn't see that.


Thanks for reading Chapter Nineteen! Chapter Twenty won't be too far away, here's a sneak peek for you until then!

Can Lexi and Wilbur settle their dispute? Or will their fighting bring down the family as we know them?

As Nora heads to the hospital, will her baby be born healthy? Will there be any odd effects from her mixing of the abnormal chemicals?

And will the family survive a simple cooking accident? Or will this long standing family go up in flames?