Topic: Sugar and Spice

Robert Mallory

Date: 2016-06-29 22:11 EST
With the harvesting season on the Brambles farm well under way, most would be forgiven for forgetting that something else rather momentous had happened in the last days of June. In a little cottage away from the main house, the Mallorys had welcomed a new life into their family ....a little girl, born earlier than expected, but no less loved for that fact. There had been visits from family, of course, and from friends, but one person in particular had not yet had a look at the new arrival. Which was why Maggie Mae Lassiter was lurking just outside the gate to her best friend's home, hoping he was going to notice her and ask her inside.

It had been an exciting month for Rob - he had just finished playing Oliver at the Shanachie, sharing the role with Rick Harker, with whom he was making friends. As if that wasn't exciting enough, he had a brand new baby sister, and he was taking the role of big brother pretty seriously. It was the Mallory's housekeeper, Elise, who noticed Maggie lingering at the gate and called for the boy to go fetch his friend to meet his new baby sister.

Excited to show off his new sister, Rob hurried outside to find Maggie right where Elise had said she'd be. "Maggie!" he called, a huge grin on his face. "Come see Baby DeeDee. Elise said it's all right now that Mama is feeling better, but we have to be quiet so we don't wake her or Papa while they're napping."

All wayward blonde hair and bright green eyes, Maggie was bouncing impatiently on her toes by the time Rob came out, reluctantly obedient to her own parents' insistence that she not burst in unless she was invited. As soon as she saw Rob, however, she pushed the gate opened and ran to meet him, just as excited as he was. "Why are they sleeping?" she asked him curiously. After all, she'd only joined her father after Caleb had turned one; she'd not been in close contact with an infant before now.

"Oh! She wakes up at all hours of the night crying because she's hungry. Mama says she's very demanding for such a tiny thing, but Elise says I was even worse when I was little," Rob explained to his friend when she caught up with him. "Papa was supposed to be working in the stables, but he said your Mama shooed him away and told him to tend to his own family first."

Maggie nodded, grinning. "With the dunging fork," she told him, offering up a new detail. "She said she would stab him in the bum if he didn't go home." A peal of giggles erupted from her as they reached the front door, both hands rising to clamp over her mouth. "Sorry."

Rob gasped in surprise before echoing Maggie's laughter. "She wouldn't, would she?" he asked, uncertainly. As far as Rob was concerned, Marin Lassiter had been nothing but kind and patient and caring. If it wasn't for her, they might not have a place to live. He couldn't imagine her stabbing anyone with anything.

Maggie's blonde head shook as she grinned. "Mama's too nice to do that," she assured her friend. "She's like your mama, all cuddly and sweet and never angry even when Cal paints on the walls."

"Cal paints on the walls?" Rob asked incredulously. He couldn't imagine what would happen if he did such a thing, though he doubted it was more than likely Elise who would be angry with him. He led the way back toward the house, resisting the urge to take her hand. He was going to be twelve years old soon, and he wasn't sure what she'd think about him trying to hold her hand.

"He's not s'posed to," Maggie shrugged. "Only sometimes he doesn't wait to ask for paper, he just does it, and Jodie makes him clean it up himself, and last time, he cried and all she did was use his tears to wet the cloth and made him scrub with that."

Rob frowned, feeling bad for her little brother. "That sounds mean," he said, though he could think of no punishment worse than those he'd suffered before his father had rescued them from Stefan. "He doesn't do it anymore, does he?"

"He hasn't since that time." Maggie shrugged again. "Mama says Jodie's a mean old bird, but she only does what she does 'cos she loves us. And she says Cal's old enough to know what he's not s'posed to do now, like me and you." She looked around the main room curiously. "Where's the baby, then" Did you put her in a drawer?"

Rob knew there were worse punishments than being forced to clean up one's own mess and he made no further comment. Jodie had always been nice enough to him when he was visiting at the Lassiter house, but he always made sure to be on his best behavior. "In the bedroom," he explained, frowning a little as he considered whether or not he should take Maggie to meet her.

Her friend's frown made Maggie sober for a moment, chewing on her thumbnail. "Mama says you can come to dinner tonight, if you wanna," she offered, choosing to change the subject. Now she was here, it didn't seem as though Rob really wanted to show off his little sister yet.

Oh, he wanted to show off his little sister. He just didn't want to get scolded for waking his parents up. He considered asking Elise for permission, but then Elise was the one who'd told him to go fetch Maggie in the first place, and he thought that was probably permission enough. Besides, even if his parents did wake up, he doubted they'd scold him just for wanting to show off his baby sister. He nodded his head, "Okay, but I have to ask first," he replied to her invitation to dinner. "Come on. The baby is sleeping, but she won't wake up if we're quiet," he said, this time taking hold of her hand.

"I can be quiet," Maggie promised, her eyes wide with hopeful excitement as she took his hand trustingly. She could be as quiet as a mouse when she wanted to be, and she'd tested that against her pet mice before her Papa had released them into the wild. "Real quiet, promise."

Rob knew mice weren't always that quiet. They made squeaky sounds sometimes, and they needed to be even quieter than that if they didn't want to wake the baby or his parents. He nodded again and started toward his parents' room on tiptoe, pressing a finger to his lips to remind her to be quiet before slowly pushing the door open and peeking inside.

Sneaking along behind him, Maggie even tried to breathe more quietly than usual, holding in her impatience as she peered over his shoulder into the room beyond. She could see Rob's parents on the bed, stifling a giggle at just how asleep Mr. Mallory was, and a Moses basket a little way away from the bed, overflowing with a pink blanket.

Rob crept further into the room, as quietly as he could, almost holding his breath. He knew his parents were tired and he didn't want to disturb them if he could help it, but Elise had said he could show off his sister and that's what he intended to do. He led the way over to the basket where his baby sister lay sleeping, smiling over at Maggie to see what she thought of the little bundle that lay inside the basket. "Her name is Deirdre Marissa, but we call her DeeDee," he whispered to his friend.

Grinning at the fact that they had to sneak at all, Maggie crept in beside him, laying her hands gently on the side of the basket to look down at the newborn baby girl. "She's so small," she whispered, genuinely surprised to discover this. DeeDee wasn't asleep, either; unfocused blue eyes blinked up at the two faces looking down at her, choosing to linger on Rob's face as little legs kicked underneath the blanket. "That's a real pretty name."

Robert Mallory

Date: 2016-06-29 22:12 EST
"It's was Papa's sister's name," he whispered back an explanation. He wasn't sure what exactly had happened to her, but he knew she had died a long time ago and it made his father sad to talk about it. "She likes me," he said, reaching into the basket to let baby DeeDee grab hold of his finger. "Mama says she knows me because she recognizes my voice from before she was born."

"Course she likes you, you're her brother," Maggie countered, as though this was patently obvious. Her little smile gentled as she watched her best friend playing with his sister's tiny fingers. "My Papa says that we might not get a new baby in our family, 'cos of how hard it was when Mama had Cal."

Rob frowned at that news, but maybe he could do something to make her feel better. "If you want, you could help with DeeDee. Mama says we are almost like family, anyway. You can be DeeDee's big sister, and I'll be Caleb's big brother," Rob suggested, though it was unclear if that made him and Maggie surrogate siblings, as well.

"Really?" Maggie's eyes were wide; she knew how generous Rob was, and how he always went out of his way to include Cal in their games if he could. "That kind of sounds like fun. Does that mean your mama and papa are like my auntie and uncle, then, and mine are like yours?" The thought of having a big family was a wonderful one to Maggie, whose first years had been formed with the knowledge that death could strike at any moment, and trouble kept the people who loved her far away.

"I guess so," Rob replied after pausing momentarily to think about it. "Maybe we should ask if it's okay," he suggested. After all, if she started referring to his parents as aunt and uncle, they might start wondering why, but he wanted Maggie and Caleb to be more than just friends.

"I don't see why not," a soft voice said from the bed behind them.

Maggie spun about with a gasp, instant guilt on her face for waking someone up, but Mara was smiling at them. She hadn't moved, still pinned to the bed by one of Duncan's arms, but it looked as though she might have been awake since they'd come in.

"I'm sorry, Mama," Rob was quick to apologize. "Elise said it was okay to show Maggie the baby," he explained, though he wasn't too worried about being scolded, especially when his mother was smiling and his father was snoring.

"Oh, there's nothing to be sorry about," Mara assured them both warmly. "You didn't make her start crying, that's the main thing. She has a voice that breaks glass."

Maggie giggled at this description of the tiny girl in the basket, looking back down at DeeDee, who was still holding tightly to her big brother's finger. "She's real pretty, missus."

Rob beamed at Maggie's praise, relieved his mother wasn't angry, but wondering just how much she'd overheard. "She cries so loud sometimes I can even hear her in my room!" Rob said, forgetting to keep his voice down.

Beside Mara, Duncan was starting to stir, not only from the conversation nearby, but just because he wasn't accustomed to sleeping during the day.

"Do you want to take her downstairs?" Mara asked her son with an encouraging smile. "She must be awake, so cuddles are always welcome." Her own green eyes sparkled as she patted her husband's arm, feeling him stir behind her.

Maggie's wide-eyed gaze turned to Rob with something approaching hero-worship. He was allowed to carry his baby sister around"

"Can I?" he asked, puffing with pride that his mother was putting this much trust in him, but then he was almost twelve years old - certainly old enough to be responsible for his baby sister. He had held her before, but always with his parents' supervision, never on his own before.

"Of course," Mara told him fondly. "We trust you, you know" And you know what to do if she starts fussing, anyway. You and Maggie can go and lie down on the blanket in the family room with her."

"Thank you, Mama!" Rob said, beaming a grin back at Maggie before very carefully reaching into the basket to cradle his baby sister in his arms. He'd been taught the proper way to lift her and carry her and hold her and took his job of being a big brother very seriously.

Wobbly head and all, DeeDee barely gurgled as Rob lifted her up into his arms, making Mara grin as she watched, proud of her little boy for being such a good big brother. Maggie watched enviously for a moment, before remembering that she should help. She scurried to the door to hold it open for her best friend, glancing over at his parents briefly in her excitement.

Rob waited for Maggie to get the door before the two of them left the room leaving Mara alone to deal with her waking husband.

"What was that all about?" Duncan asked, rolling onto his back to stretch and yawn.

Mara rolled with him, chuckling softly to herself as she looked over at her husband. "Rob wanted to show DeeDee off to Maggie," she told him. "They were being so quiet until I started to talk, too."

"Did they take her downstairs?" he asked sleepily, still waking up from his afternoon nap. He glanced over at the basket where they'd put their daughter to sleep, but all was quiet.

"Mmhmm." Mara nodded, rolling over to prop herself up and look down at him. "I suggested they all go and lie on the floor downstairs until she starts fussing." She smiled at her husband, teasingly tweaking the end of his nose. "What did Marin do to you, dose your tea?"

He laughed, swatting playfully at her hand. "She said I've been working too hard and my family needs to come first," he told her, though he'd thought that by working hard he was putting his family first. It was Mara the baby wanted in the middle of the night, but he did his fair share of burping and changing and rocking and soothing.

"She's right," Mara agreed with their redheaded landlady, catching his hand to kiss his fingers. "If Marissa finds out you've been trying to work a full day and be a father to an excitable little boy and his newborn sister, she'll set Emrys on you."

"I just want to help," he told her with a small frown. "I wasn't there for you when you had Rob. I need to be here for you now," he said, watching while she kissed his fingers.

Robert Mallory

Date: 2016-06-29 22:13 EST
"So take some time off from working the farm," she told him gently. "Essential chores around the house only for a few weeks. Enjoy us, and let us enjoy you." She refused to touch on the dark days that had surrounded Rob's birth; that was all in the past and never to be repeated. The future was here and now, and it had brought them a daughter to love.

"I'll talk to Evan," Duncan said. Even if Marin had already practically given him permission, it was Evan who he answered to when it came to the stables. So long as none of the mares were in foal, one of the stable hands should be able to handle things for a few weeks without him.

"Good." She smiled, leaning over to kiss him tenderly. "Want to come downstairs and lurk while the children are cooing over the baby' I think I've worked out how to use that camera Marin gave us now."

"We could, or we could take advantage of the quiet," he replied with a smile once she was done kissing him. Of course, he knew she wasn't ready for lovemaking yet, but now that they were juggling two children, there was a lot less time for just them - and yet, Duncan wouldn't have it any other way.

Mara laughed, nestling down into his arms once again. "Don't blame me if I fall asleep again," she warned him in a playful tone. To be fair, she had recovered faster from the birth than either of them had been expecting - Elise had declared it a minor miracle, given how long Mara had been bed-bound after Rob's birth. But then, Mara had reason to want to recover this time, and it showed.

They wouldn't be long, but a few minutes of pillow talk weren't going to hurt anyone, and Elise was nearby if their daughter got fussy. In the meantime, Rob and Maggie had laid baby Deirdre on a blanket on the floor and were giggling as they watched her kicked her legs happily and bat at their fingers.

"Does she really wake up all night and scream and cry?" Maggie was asking in fascination. If she'd thought about it earlier, she would have brought Caleb down with her, but perhaps it was just as well. Her little brother was not known for his patience just yet.

"Not all night," Rob replied. "Only when she gets hungry, but Mama says she won't do that forever, just while she's little." He leaned close to tickle Deirdre's tummy, obviously enamored of his baby sister. "Do you like having a little brother?" he asked, curiously, knowing Caleb could be a pain sometimes, but he and Maggie seemed to get along pretty well.

Looking up from her appreciation of the newborn baby girl lying between them, Maggie's cheeky smile made its appearance. "Course I do," she assured her friend. "He's kind of a pain sometimes, but I like him being around. I used to get all kinds of lonely when I was with Aunt Emma, 'cos there weren't no other kids she would let me play with, 'cos she thought it weren't safe. But with Cal, I got this little person around all the time, and if I get lonely or scared in the night, he lets me get into bed with him and pretend I'm making him feel better, and then I'm not so scared anymore."

"I get scared at night sometimes, too," Rob admitted with a frown. He didn't know all of Maggie's history, nor did she know his. It wasn't really something either of them lingered on or talked about much, but it seemed to be something they had in common. When Rob was scared, he used to climb into bed with his parents, but now that he was turning twelve, he thought he was too old for that anymore.

"Now you got DeeDee, you can do what I do," Maggie nodded confidently. "She's gonna love her big brother so much. I wanted a big brother when I was littler, but I like being the big sister, too. It's weird, huh?"

"But she's too little for me to get into bed with," he pointed out, and by the time she was big enough to climb into bed with him, he'd be a teenager. He wished she was a little closer in age to him, but then, maybe it was a good thing he was so much older because he'd be better able to look out for her then.

"Why can't you climb in with your mama and papa?" Maggie asked him curiously. "Or with 'Lise" Seems silly to be scared just 'cos you're on your own when there's people around to be not scared with."

Rob shrugged. "Mama and Papa are always tired from taking care of DeeDee, and I'm too old to sleep with 'Lise," he explained. "I could be like a big brother to you, if you want," Rob said, though his feelings were a little confused when it came to Maggie. She was his best friend, and he told her almost everything, but sometimes he wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to feel about her.

"You're my best friend," Maggie objected. "I don't want you to be my big brother, because then we couldn't have fun the way we do. And, and if you were my big brother, then we'd both get in trouble when I do stupid stuff, and that's just not fair."

Rob quieted a moment, almost afraid to share what he was thinking. "Mama said when she was my age, Papa was her best friend," he told her, though they were both far too young to worry too much about their future.

True to form, Maggie followed his thoughts, but didn't respond in an entirely appropriate manner. Well, she was only ten. "You gonna marry me and make babies when we're old enough?" she asked her best friend with a bright smile, pausing just long enough to show him that smile before she lowered her head and blew a raspberry onto Deirdre's tummy, making the tiny girl squeal and kick out excitedly.

Rob blushed with embarrassment. What did he know about making babies" "Do you want me to?" he asked, not saying no. He had a few dreams of his own for the future, but he hadn't really thought much about having a family.

"I thought you wanted to be an act-it," Maggie pointed out curiously. "Can you do that and have a sweetie and a family and all that, too?" She was genuinely curious - she knew that you could run a farm and have a family, but she didn't really know anything about actors and families, despite having shared the stage with him in a minor role in Oliver.

"An act-or," Rob corrected, knowing enough about the theater from his classes and the few roles he'd played to know at least that much. "Lots of actors are married and have families," he replied further with a shrug and he tickled Deirdre's toes. He wasn't going to drop any names, but most of the teachers in the Shanachie STARS program were married with children of their own, as far as he knew.

"If they can do it, why can't you?" Maggie shrugged back at him. She was a little young to be saying yes or no to the question he had asked her, and a little too old to be swept up in the fairy tale of saying yes to her handsome prince, but there was no denying that this little girl loved her best friend. They'd been virtually inseparable since Rob had first moved to the Brambles.

Robert Mallory

Date: 2016-06-29 22:14 EST
"I didn't say I couldn't," Rob replied, his cheeks turning a bright shade of pink. "Papa says girls are confusing," he remarked, turning his attention to his baby sister to hide his embarrassment. She was confusing him with her questions, and he wasn't sure what she wanted him to say.

"My Papa says boys are easy to confuse," Maggie countered cheekily, glancing up as Elise came bustling through. The smells from the kitchen were inviting, suggesting that dinner was already being cooked in this house. "Ain't they, Miss 'Lise?" "Aren't who, Miss Maggie?" "Boys," Maggie said cheerfully. "Easy to confuse." Elise glanced between the pair with a faint smile. "Only if you're doing it on purpose, little woman," she told the little girl. "Rob, lovey, where did you leave your parents?"

Rob furrowed his brows, even more confused by Maggie's statement than he already was. Was she taunting him, and if so, why' But before he was able to say anything, Elise had joined them and seemed to be making his point for him. "In the bedroom," he replied obediently. Where else would they be?

"Well, then, you have a decision to make, young man," Elise then said. "I hear tell that you've been invited up to the main house for dinner, and since your parents are still in bed at nearly dinner time, I'm making the decisions around here." Her smile was warm and comical as she looked down at them. "Where'd you want to eat tonight, little love?"

As much as he loved his family, it wasn't often he was invited to the main house for dinner. He might have asked Maggie to stay for dinner there, if she hadn't beaten him to it. "Would it be all right if I eat dinner at Maggie's tonight?" he asked, unsure what Elise had planned for dinner. He didn't want to leave his baby sister alone either, but he was sure Elise would take care of that.

"Of course it is, little love," Elise assured him, bending to brush her fingers over his hair. "Just make sure you're back in plenty of time for your Mama and Papa. They get grumpy when they don't get their Rob time." She winked down at him, glad that had been sorted out, at least, and turned to head up the stairs to shoo Duncan and Mara out of bed for a few hours. Maggie giggled merrily. "She's like Jodie."

Rob didn't know Jodie well enough to know if he'd compare her to Elise. He'd known Elise all his life, it seemed. She had always been there, even when they'd lived with Stefan. She was, in fact, the closest person Rob had to a grandmother. "She's known my Mama a long time," he admitted.

"She's family," Maggie nodded, agreeing with him. Jodie was nowhere near as comfortable with her family as Elise was with Rob's, despite ruling the kitchen at the Brambles with an iron fist. But despite her sometimes acerbic tendencies, Jodie would be the first to defend the Lassiters, and they all knew it. Maggie beamed at Rob. "We're having baked taters and cheese and tuna and beans and salad, and Mama and Cal made a cake."

"Cake?" Rob echoed, knowing from experience that Jodie's cooking never disappointed, and there was the promise of cake. "I already said yes, Maggie!" he reminded her with a grin, wondering if she was trying to bribe him.

"I was jus' sayin'!" she giggled back at him, rearing back as Deirdre let rip with an amazingly wet-sounding fart. Maggie stared at the baby girl in shock. "Did she just blow off?"

Rob laughed, both at the very un-girlish sound his baby sister had just made, as well as the look on Maggie's face. "I think she pooped!" he declared, not so serious or old that he still didn't find certain bodily functions funny.

"Eww!" Maggie sat back with a grimace, giggling through her disgust. "That's just yucky, DeeDee. You gotta learn how to use a toilet, or do it so's no one can hear you." The baby girl, oblivious to the reason for this scolding, just gurgled, enjoying the warmth around her backside for a little while before it cooled and made her scream.

"That's what babies do, Maggie!" Rob informed her helpfully, unsure how old Cal was when Maggie arrived in Rhy'Din. He could have changed DeeDee's diaper, but there was rarely a need when his parents and Elise were always so ready and willing.

"It's still yucky," his friend informed him, looking up at the clock. "We gotta go if we're gonna be in time for dinner. Should I yell for someone to come and do the icky thing with your baby sister's bum?"

"No need," a male voice replied as Duncan joined them, his hair mussed from his nap, the only clue he'd been sleeping. "I hear you've been invited to dinner," he said, as he crouched down to sweep baby Deirdre into his arms, stinky or not.

"Yes, Papa. May I go to Maggie's for dinner?" Rob asked hopefully as his father rescued them from the baby's dirty diaper. "Aye, but be back before dark. Your mother will want to say goodnight."

"Yay!" Maggie clapped her hands exuberantly, always pleased when they were given permission to go gamboling about by one or the other's parents. "Long before dark, please," Mara added as she came into sight, still walking a little awkwardly but dressed and clean, unlike a few days before. "Seeing as sunset happens around nine at the moment." She tapped Rob's nose affectionately as Maggie seized his hand.

"Yes, Mama," Rob replied obediently, with an adoring smile for his mother. It was a different kind of smile than the one he shared with Maggie or anyone else, but then, his mother had been his first love. "Oh, DeeDee," Duncan murmured. "You left your Papa a stinky present!" he said, wrinkling his nose as he caught a whiff of her diaper.

"Only because she loves you, Mal," Mara teased him fondly, stroking her hand gently against Rob's cheek. "Go on then, you two. Run away before Papa fills the house with an awful smell."

"Mayhap she should love me less," Duncan murmured further, adding with a laugh, "It's not my fault!" Rob threw his arms around his mother's neck and kissed her cheek before ducking away to grab hold of Maggie's hand to make their escape, calling back, "Thank you!"

"Have fun!" Mara called after them, watching the two figures as they ran out through the gate and up the dirt road toward the main house. She smiled, leaning in the doorway, wondering if that was what she and Duncan had looked like to Elise all those years ago - one blonde head and one dark, disappearing into the distance with promises to return when the fun was over for the day.

With any luck, Rob and Maggie wouldn't suffer the same hardships and heartache their parents had, eventually pursuing their own dreams and achieving their own happily-ever-after, but there was a lot of fun to be had before they grew into the adults they would one day become.