Foursomes and Moresomes Ch. 01

"Did I hear you flew to Vietnam to pick them up?" Mimi returned from the bathroom and sat down next to her husband. Her face was a little flush. They didn't touch.

"Leah and Katie did," Melinda looked over at our wives, who were horsing around with the kids.

"How are they adjusting?"

"Pretty well, I think. They were a little scared at first. After all, they were nine months old, traveling halfway around the world and going to live with a new family." Melinda gave the twins a wistful look. "They're also very different kids. Gabi is quiet and shy. Gwen is more outgoing. For the first four months, neither could stand to be out the other's sight. If we took them in different rooms, they both cried until they could see each other. They've gotten a little better lately, but they still sleep in the same room."

She took a deep breath before continuing. "Katie said the orphanage where they were living was okay as far as third world countries go. It wasn't dirty or squalid, but I think they were severely lacking for attention. It is overcrowded and understaffed. Both girls were underweight and they are very clingy, especially Gabi. She has nightmares, too. The only thing that makes them go away is when Gwen wakes up in the middle of the night and gets in bed with her sister."

"That's very sweet," Mimi said softly.

"It is," Melinda agreed. "They only both started talking recently. I'm hoping they're young enough that they don't remember any of the bad things."

I reached out, took my wife's hand and squeezed it supportively. Although we share the responsibility of raising all four of the kids, until we got "married" a couple of months ago in Georgia, Melinda and I (unconsciously) thought of Kaylee and Bryan as "our" children and Gwendollyn and Gabrielle as "their" (ie-Leah and Katie's) children. Now, they all belong to "us", even though we still have a momentary slip or two.

We sat around and talked for a little while longer, then went to get a snack. This is our signal to the kids that it's almost bed time. We had milk and pretzels, then put the little ones in their pull-up diapers and the twelve of us sat down to watch "Finding Nemo" on DVD.

By the time movie ended, the kids were all nodding off and the adults were ready to get down to business. I think the fact that five of the six adults had remote control vibrators inside them that had a habit of turning on and off seemingly at random may have had something to do with that. All I know is that Katie was driving Mimi nuts and I was doing my best to keep Leah on edge. Everyone else was on their own.

Only Bryan was still awake at the end of the movie, but even he had to be carried upstairs. Kaylee and Tiffany were sleeping in Kaylee's room, we unrolled a sleeping bag for Jeremy in Bryan's room, and Gwen and Gabi were in their own beds.

Mimi and Geoff were a little nervous about leaving their kids two stories up, but we assured them that we could keep an eye on everyone.

And with that, our next great adventure was about to begin.

*************

There's more to our story coming up! Thanks again to my editor, michchick98.