Chapter 5

Even though they had limited loads to pack into the limited spaced trunk of the car, Georgia spent over seventy percent of the time shouting on the triplets as they ran up and down the house, sometimes scattering what she had arranged.

She caught Keira snooping a heavy bag that had taken her more than two hours to arrange with the excuse that she was playing hide and seek from her brothers. Hide and seek? It was the audacity that she just had that infuriated Georgia.

With frustration and tears in her eyes, she called out to Anna, her friend.

“Anna!!” she shouted, her voice reverberating down the duplex apartment.

Anna, alarmed by the way her friend had called her voice ran to the direction of the shout, only to find Georgia sitting on a heap of clothes, almost crying.

“Hey friend, what’s going on? I was scared when you screamed out my name like that.”

“Do you, by any chance, know anyplace around here when I can trade my kids, maybe for toothpaste, or socks, or even a matchbox? Yes, the three of them for one lighter and a stick of cigar will just be enough.”

Her friend, sensing the root of her frustration, burst out laughing, much to Georgia’s amazement, rubbing her back and trying to console her, “how about a tuber of yam instead? Or some potatoes on the farmer’s market? I know how much you love potatoes.”

Georgia held her hand to her chin, “brilliant idea. One of them should be worth a basket of potatoes, right? Take the girl first, a girl should be worth one and a half basket.”

“I thought you liked the girl more.”

“That miniaturized five year old version of Annabelle?”

“Should I be hurt?,” Anna teased.

“I didn’t mean your Anna, haven’t you watched the horror doll movie?”

Anna’s brain recollected and she looked at her friend in surprise, “Don’t tell me you are referring your only daughter as a miniaturized version of that demonic entity?”

“Oh, my daughter is the demon powering the entity. Look at this,” she pointed to the scattered clothes and the overturned box. “That took you and I a whooping two hours to arrange and guess how long it took the demon to overturn it?”

Anna stared in disbelief and hanging suspense expecting Georgia to announce the anticipated answer.

“It took Keira three minutes! Three short minutes!” she exclaimed, sending Anna through another burst of laughter.

They laughed over Georgia’s predicaments when they suddenly heard the clattering of pots and spoons on the tiled floor in the kitchen downstairs.

“Oh no,” Georgia exclaimed. “I am going to tie these children up and shove them down the chimney. Just wait till I lay my hands on them,” she threatened.

Anna got up speedily and headed towards the noise, a naughty smile dancing on her face. As she rounded the stairs, she saw Keira come out of her mum’s room adorning her precious little neck with her mum’s oversized necklace and dragging the newly bought Hermes handbag, one of the most expensive accessories in Georgia’s closet.

Anna saw it and flashed a smile, heading downstairs and expecting another outrageous reaction from Georgia. She had to enjoy her own kids, isn’t it?

Just as expected, there was another scream that shook the house from the room and Georgia could be heard almost swearing on her own daughter. At the end, she resorted to locking her outside the room and laid on the heap of clothes, tears rolling down her face as she stared at the ceiling.

“Oh Luna, what have I done to deserve this? You gave me the best form of happiness in the world, more than anyone could ever wish for, then you installed demonism in it? Are girls supposed to be like this when they are five years old?” she lamented to no one, eventually standing up and laughing at her own complaints.

At the end of the day, they had successfully packed the essential materials and had them stashed where the triplets wouldn’t get to it. Their noise had stopped in their room, indicating that they had probably fallen asleep while their mothers used that opportunity to go through the list, making sure everything was marked.

After checking the list, Anna suggested that Georgia should go check on the triplets, that sometimes their silence meant they were up to something nastier.

Thinking about it, she got on her feet and headed to their room. Standing in the doorway to the room, her heart overflowed with love and gratitude. Despite the painful circumstances of their conception, these three little miracles have brought joy to her at an immeasurable value.

In their cozy room, filled with soft toys and gentle hues, they slumber peacefully, their tiny chests rising and falling in unison. Their small hands, so delicate and pure, lie curled beside their faces, as if protecting their dreams.

Her eyes lingered on each of their sweet faces, etched with innocence and trust. She recalled the first time she held them in her arms; how she felt a love so fierce it healed the wounds of her past. They are her light, her redemption, her everything.

As she watched them sleep, she is reminded of the strength and resilience that lies within her. Despite the darkness that once threatened to consume her, her triplets have illuminated her world, filling it with laughter, smiles and purpose.

In the moment, she is filled with thankfulness for these tiny humans who had brought her the most profound happiness she has ever known. They are her testament to the power of love and the human spirit, a reminder that even in the darkest of times, beauty and joy can still be born.

She walked over to their beds and kissed them on the foreheads, Kelsey stirring when the kiss impacted. She dimmed the lights of the room and snuck out of the room, careful not to disturb their sleep.

****

After hours and hours of arguments, Georgia had finally agreed to a road trip against the air form of travel which she had proposed with Anna opposing it, with the fact that she wanted the triplets to take in the scenery.

Of course, the city was just a seven hours drive away and would be an hour’s flight but Anna still objected, wanting the kids to take in the city. They still had a full day before the trip and Georgia figured she could still bring up the matter to Anna, if she had more defensive points.

They had just settled to a breakfast of cereals and dried fruits, washed down with a lot of milk; the remaining in the refrigerator. Anna figured they might take longer than expected and it could go sour in the refrigerator so she filled the triplets’ cup to the brim, much to their wonder.

The triplets, even the female, had been amazingly quiet at breakfast but Anna and Georgia knew quite well what was happening; it was just the quiet before the storm. Immediately after they got away from the table, all hell was break loose and they started running around the house again, just as their mother and aunt had expected.

“So, Anna, I hope you remember what I requested of you?”

She looked up in bewilderment, “you asked me a lot of things. Which one in particular are you saying?”

“That, whenever I feel that space is inappropriate for me and my kids, we move. We are moving out of there that same day, not the second one. In fact, we are not going to spend an extra minute as soon as I realize it.”

“Of course, I also wouldn’t like the children to grow in a toxic environment or atmosphere especially nowhere near that proud, pompous alpha or even your rejecting parents.”

“I don’t know which of the individuals to hate more right now. If they had not ousted me at the party after that man had rejected me, I might not have been like this, but then,” she took a photograph of her triplets and ran her hands over it, “I wouldn’t have found this new happiness.”

“I guess, some mistakes come with the most perfect and beautiful results,” Anna added.

Georgia nodded her head in approval and suddenly looked up from the photo she was staring at, a naughty smile dancing on her lips.

Anna instantly knew what was about to happen, “No, I know that face. Don’t give me that face.”

“Well, it’s the only one I got,” Georgia replied, the naughty smile becoming wider and deeper, “when are you going to face your fears and pick up your pen? You got all this smashing quotes that just comes out of nowhere and they fit right into the situation.”

“Okay, okay, as soon as we get to our destination, I will review some of my abandoned projects.”

“Promise?” Georgia held up her pinky finger, hoping that Anna would take it.

Even though they had limited loads to pack into the limited spaced trunk of the car, Georgia spent over seventy percent of the time shouting on the triplets as they ran up and down the house, sometimes scattering what she had arranged.

She caught Keira snooping a heavy bag that had taken her more than two hours to arrange with the excuse that she was playing hide and seek from her brothers. Hide and seek? It was the audacity that she just had that infuriated Georgia.

With frustration and tears in her eyes, she called out to Anna, her friend.

“Anna!!” she shouted, her voice reverberating down the duplex apartment.

Anna, alarmed by the way her friend had called her voice ran to the direction of the shout, only to find Georgia sitting on a heap of clothes, almost crying.

“Hey friend, what’s going on? I was scared when you screamed out my name like that.”

“Do you, by any chance, know anyplace around here when I can trade my kids, maybe for toothpaste, or socks, or even a matchbox? Yes, the three of them for one lighter and a stick of cigar will just be enough.”

Her friend, sensing the root of her frustration, burst out laughing, much to Georgia’s amazement, rubbing her back and trying to console her, “how about a tuber of yam instead? Or some potatoes on the farmer’s market? I know how much you love potatoes.”

Georgia held her hand to her chin, “brilliant idea. One of them should be worth a basket of potatoes, right? Take the girl first, a girl should be worth one and a half basket.”

“I thought you liked the girl more.”

“That miniaturized five year old version of Annabelle?”

“Should I be hurt?,” Anna teased.

“I didn’t mean your Anna, haven’t you watched the horror doll movie?”

Anna’s brain recollected and she looked at her friend in surprise, “Don’t tell me you are referring your only daughter as a miniaturized version of that demonic entity?”

“Oh, my daughter is the demon powering the entity. Look at this,” she pointed to the scattered clothes and the overturned box. “That took you and I a whooping two hours to arrange and guess how long it took the demon to overturn it?”

Anna stared in disbelief and hanging suspense expecting Georgia to announce the anticipated answer.

“It took Keira three minutes! Three short minutes!” she exclaimed, sending Anna through another burst of laughter.

They laughed over Georgia’s predicaments when they suddenly heard the clattering of pots and spoons on the tiled floor in the kitchen downstairs.

“Oh no,” Georgia exclaimed. “I am going to tie these children up and shove them down the chimney. Just wait till I lay my hands on them,” she threatened.

Anna got up speedily and headed towards the noise, a naughty smile dancing on her face. As she rounded the stairs, she saw Keira come out of her mum’s room adorning her precious little neck with her mum’s oversized necklace and dragging the newly bought Hermes handbag, one of the most expensive accessories in Georgia’s closet.

Anna saw it and flashed a smile, heading downstairs and expecting another outrageous reaction from Georgia. She had to enjoy her own kids, isn’t it?

Just as expected, there was another scream that shook the house from the room and Georgia could be heard almost swearing on her own daughter. At the end, she resorted to locking her outside the room and laid on the heap of clothes, tears rolling down her face as she stared at the ceiling.

“Oh Luna, what have I done to deserve this? You gave me the best form of happiness in the world, more than anyone could ever wish for, then you installed demonism in it? Are girls supposed to be like this when they are five years old?” she lamented to no one, eventually standing up and laughing at her own complaints.

At the end of the day, they had successfully packed the essential materials and had them stashed where the triplets wouldn’t get to it. Their noise had stopped in their room, indicating that they had probably fallen asleep while their mothers used that opportunity to go through the list, making sure everything was marked.

After checking the list, Anna suggested that Georgia should go check on the triplets, that sometimes their silence meant they were up to something nastier.

Thinking about it, she got on her feet and headed to their room. Standing in the doorway to the room, her heart overflowed with love and gratitude. Despite the painful circumstances of their conception, these three little miracles have brought joy to her at an immeasurable value.

In their cozy room, filled with soft toys and gentle hues, they slumber peacefully, their tiny chests rising and falling in unison. Their small hands, so delicate and pure, lie curled beside their faces, as if protecting their dreams.

Her eyes lingered on each of their sweet faces, etched with innocence and trust. She recalled the first time she held them in her arms; how she felt a love so fierce it healed the wounds of her past. They are her light, her redemption, her everything.

As she watched them sleep, she is reminded of the strength and resilience that lies within her. Despite the darkness that once threatened to consume her, her triplets have illuminated her world, filling it with laughter, smiles and purpose.

In the moment, she is filled with thankfulness for these tiny humans who had brought her the most profound happiness she has ever known. They are her testament to the power of love and the human spirit, a reminder that even in the darkest of times, beauty and joy can still be born.

She walked over to their beds and kissed them on the foreheads, Kelsey stirring when the kiss impacted. She dimmed the lights of the room and snuck out of the room, careful not to disturb their sleep.

****

After hours and hours of arguments, Georgia had finally agreed to a road trip against the air form of travel which she had proposed with Anna opposing it, with the fact that she wanted the triplets to take in the scenery.

Of course, the city was just a seven hours drive away and would be an hour’s flight but Anna still objected, wanting the kids to take in the city. They still had a full day before the trip and Georgia figured she could still bring up the matter to Anna, if she had more defensive points.

They had just settled to a breakfast of cereals and dried fruits, washed down with a lot of milk; the remaining in the refrigerator. Anna figured they might take longer than expected and it could go sour in the refrigerator so she filled the triplets’ cup to the brim, much to their wonder.

The triplets, even the female, had been amazingly quiet at breakfast but Anna and Georgia knew quite well what was happening; it was just the quiet before the storm. Immediately after they got away from the table, all hell was break loose and they started running around the house again, just as their mother and aunt had expected.

“So, Anna, I hope you remember what I requested of you?”

She looked up in bewilderment, “you asked me a lot of things. Which one in particular are you saying?”

“That, whenever I feel that space is inappropriate for me and my kids, we move. We are moving out of there that same day, not the second one. In fact, we are not going to spend an extra minute as soon as I realize it.”

“Of course, I also wouldn’t like the children to grow in a toxic environment or atmosphere especially nowhere near that proud, pompous alpha or even your rejecting parents.”

“I don’t know which of the individuals to hate more right now. If they had not ousted me at the party after that man had rejected me, I might not have been like this, but then,” she took a photograph of her triplets and ran her hands over it, “I wouldn’t have found this new happiness.”

“I guess, some mistakes come with the most perfect and beautiful results,” Anna added.

Georgia nodded her head in approval and suddenly looked up from the photo she was staring at, a naughty smile dancing on her lips.

Anna instantly knew what was about to happen, “No, I know that face. Don’t give me that face.”

“Well, it’s the only one I got,” Georgia replied, the naughty smile becoming wider and deeper, “when are you going to face your fears and pick up your pen? You got all this smashing quotes that just comes out of nowhere and they fit right into the situation.”

“Okay, okay, as soon as we get to our destination, I will review some of my abandoned projects.”

“Promise?” Georgia held up her pinky finger, hoping that Anna would take it.