May’s spring sunshine had been warm and inviting, giving way to June’s tiring humidity, which had been bearable. However, July’s beginning brought forth a heat wave of un-before-scene proportions. Every citizen and visitor to Harmony without a pool headed to the beach, filling the beige sand with beach blankets, umbrellas and screaming children. It seemed as though every single person in town was at the beach…

Everyone, that is, except the Lopez-Fitzgeralds. Still shaken from her premature delivery, Sheridan Lopez-Fitzgerald could hardly believe it had been seven complete weeks since she had given birth to her daughters. Seven weeks of driving to the hospital for feedings and visits. Seven weeks of weight gain and loss, struggles and triumphs. Seven weeks of crying herself to sleep as she stared at the baby monitor that had yet to be turned on. Luis had tried his best to be encouraging, using every spare moment he had to help Sheridan take care of their children. Colin had been very accepting of his little sisters, going with his mother and father to the hospital to hold them and coddle them, at least for a little while.

It had taken seven very long, tiring weeks, but Sheridan and Luis had finally seen their daughters through the darkest times and watched as the scales finally read five pounds for each child. Finally, their children were where they were supposed to be developmentally, leaving Sheridan finding a sense of irony that the date they were ready to come home was a week short of her due date. Now they could bring their children home, where the real work would begin.

Sheridan dragged herself through the hallway towards the NICU, her weariness clearly evident. She couldn’t remember the last time she slept or ate and knew that she had stopped caring about her outer appearance. Her jean shorts were too loose, sliding around beneath the brown belt she wore and her blond hair was unruly. Colin had demanded attention that morning, annoyed with all the attention his sisters were receiving. It was bad enough that he hadn’t been given a birthday party that year, but then he was forced to spend it in the NICU. Luis hadn’t been much help, needing to finish discussing a case with Sam over the phone so he could spend the day with Sheridan and help her bring the twins into their new home.

Luis remained a few paces behind his wife, giving her some breathing room. He knew that she was tense lately and that his nagging her this morning that she needed to eat had only complicated the matter. It wasn’t as if he could help how he worried about her. It didn’t take a genius to see that she wasn’t as healthy as she should be. Not that he blamed her for being a little less worried about herself, the entire house was one giant bomb waiting to go off. Colin was out of school, which meant he needed to be entertained too. Luis had work. The twins were still in NICU and to top it all off Sheridan was still worried about the confession on tape. Luis had begged her to forget it, but she refused saying that as much as she wished she could, that tape had been a very convincing piece of evidence against her innocence. So they had done the one thing they could: questioned Julian.

“Sheridan! Luis! What a pleasant surprise,” Ivy smiled, welcoming the pair into the foyer. “Whatever are you doing here? I would have thought you’d be at the hospital with the girls. In fact, Ethan and I were about to come by. It’s been so long since…”

“This isn’t a social call, Ivy,” Sheridan snapped, in no mood for her sister-in-law’s saccharine attitude. Sometimes Ivy really got on her nerves. “We have to speak to Julian and I would like to get it done and go back to my daughters.”

“What have I done this time?” Julian groaned from the top of the staircase. “I swear, I haven’t had a drop of alcohol in over a year, I’ve been pleasant enough and suddenly everyone in town wishes me harm. I was more popular drunk.”

“You were never popular,” Ivy argued, grinning at her husband. They may have a normal marriage, but it was only normal for them and not the remainder of the world. “But you are right to question what you’ve done, though I’m sure you know.”

“Isn’t there someplace more private the three of us can discuss this, Julian? Sheridan and I…” Luis started.

“Of course,” Julian led them through the living room and into his office. How he wished he still had his brandy waiting for him in the cupboard! “Ivy, be a dear and shut the door on your way back out.”

“But Julian…”

“Ivy!” he insisted.

She huffed, turning on her heels and slamming the door behind her.

“Have a seat,” Julian motioned to the leather couch as he sat on his desk, something he hadn’t done since his twenties. Then again, there were a lot of things he did now that hadn’t been done for over twenty years. “Now, mind telling me what brought you two by while my nieces lay lonely in their layettes?”

“Martin Fitzgerald,” Sheridan said, watching her brother’s entire body go rigid. For a moment she thought he would die from the shock of her saying the other man’s name. “And don’t deny knowing anything, Julian,” she stopped his protest. “We found the hypnosis tape. I know I told Eve that I killed Martin Fitzgerald. She lied to us and so did you. We want the truth.”

Julian sighed, walking around his desk and sinking into his leather chair. His father would die and have that tape floating around somewhere. Only Alistair Crane could possibly have that kind of power from the cemetery. “You were a child, Sheridan, you were hardly capable of killing Martin. You couldn’t have killed a bug. Take my word on that. You did not kill Martin.”

“Then my father is dead?” Luis asked, crossing his arms and looking at his brother-in-law. “Colin mentioned you have pictures of my father and someone else hidden here in the mansion.”

“Damn,” Julian mumbled, remembering how he and Ivy helped Colin put together the photo album for Sheridan. “Look, I’ll tell you what I know, Luis, but it isn’t much. That night your father came up to the mansion was honestly the last time I saw his face. Sheridan was hysterical and I couldn’t take seeing her that way. When I left the room your father was alive, but when I returned he was gone and that’s the God’s honest truth.”

“But the letter opener!” Sheridan cried. “What about the blood on my hands?”

“I don’t believe it was Martin’s, Sheridan. When I left the room you were already shrieking about the blood and Martin was still alive and well then. The only person that knows what happened to him is Father, and he’s obviously silenced.”

Sheridan sighed. “Julian, you have to know something about Martin Fitzgerald.”

Julian shook his head. “There are a few photos of Martin from around the time of his disappearance and some that I assume are older because they are photos of him and Mother. Sheridan, I honestly don’t know anything. If I find anything about it, I swear I will show it to you and Luis.”

“That isn’t good enough,” she was near tears, standing and leaving the room. “Our family may have very well ruined the lives of my husband’s and I can’t very well live without knowing!”

Luis sighed. “Julian, if I find out you’re lying…”

“Trust me, Luis, I know better than to lie to you and my sister.”

“Hey Sheridan,” a middle-aged nurse smiled as she went by, glad to see Sheridan back for the last time. She had been Katelyn’s nurse at least four days a week during the mornings, witnessing the joys and sufferings of the family as they awaited the day their children would get better.

“Hi, Janis. Do you know if the girls are ready? Joy said she would have them dressed for us this morning.” Sheridan paused, allowing Luis a chance to catch up with her.

“I sure do. In fact, I believe she just finished dressing the little peanuts in the nursery. They were moved out of NICU this morning because they were doing so well and we were getting them ready to go home.”

“Really?” Sheridan grew excited. The staff had been reluctant to move Katie and Kathy from the NICU and put them in with the other babies. While the nursery was fairly clean, it wasn’t as sterile as the NICU. Of course, the twins had been brought to the nursery several times over the last week for longer and longer periods, but never without Sheridan or Luis present. Sheridan saw this as a good sign.

“Really. Go on and see those little angels. I’m sure they’re missing their mommy right about now.”

Sheridan smiled sincerely for the first time in days and reached for her husband’s hand. He squeezed her tiny hand gently, offering her his support. “They’re really coming home today,” Sheridan looked at him.

“They really are,” he smiled, kissing her cheek gently. “I told you they would.”

“I know,” she sighed. “But we’ve had so many disappointments recently. I’m just worried that we’ll go to take them home and have more problems. What if something happens to them at home, Luis? Are we really ready for this?”

“Are any parents ever ready for a new baby?” he asked. “It’s going to be rough, Sheridan, we both know that. We’ll be worn thin from lack of sleep and time, but these are our children. We’ll do it because they are our lasting legacy made from our love.”

Sheridan took a deep breath. Her husband always knew exactly what to say, even when she was angry. It was if he knew her deepest emotions and thoughts, always voicing them before she could. “I’m still frightened.”

“I’m not asking you to be perfectly calm, Sher. It’s not even remotely possible for you to handle this alone. I just think that the only way the two of us will be strong is if we depend on each other here.”

She nodded. “I’m sorry for being so distant lately, Luis, but I can’t control that sometimes. It’s my defense mechanism.”

He kissed her sweetly. “And I’m sorry that I become so forceful, I just worry about you. Now come on,” he tugged on her arm gently. “Let’s go get our girls and bring them home.”

“There’s nothing I want more,” she smiled, taking his hand and walking into the nursery.

“Home sweet home,” Luis smiled at his wife, stopping the SUV in the driveway. Sheridan turned in her seat to look at the twins, who were sleeping peacefully in their little pink and purple car seats. It had been decided that the theme for the nursery would be Precious Moments because each moment they had with their daughters was precious and a gift from God. While some parents took for granted that their children were coming home and everything would be fine, after the first weight loss Sheridan knew that nothing would be ever guaranteed with the twins.

Once the theme was decided, they needed a way to make telling the twins apart easy for Colin and the rest of the family. So Sheridan decided to do pink and purple: Katelyn Rose in pink and Kathryn Pilar in purple. Now all they had to do was make sure the family kept the colors straight and everything would work well.

Sliding out of the car, Sheridan opened the back door and removed Kathy, including her car seat, and headed towards the house. Luis took Katie, following suit and opened the front door. The second the door open, Colin and some small chocolate colored pup, its paws too large for the rest of its body, ran for the door from the living room. Sheridan shrieked, nearly climbing on Luis.

“What is that?” she looked at the tiny creature with disdain. She still clung to Kathy’s car seat and was thankful she hadn’t woken the baby.

“It’s Snowball!” Colin laughed, rubbing the head of his dog affectionately.

“Snowball, huh?” Luis asked, watching as the tiny pup started to chew on Colin’s untied shoelace. “Where did Snowball come from?”

“His mommy,” Colin smiled proudly, remembering the talk he had shared with his parents before the twins arrived. Of course, Uncle Julian’s over graphic description was more than any child needed.

“Very funny,” Luis gave him a look.

“I bought him the dog, Luis,” Theresa laughed, kneeling down and opening her arms to the tiny black fur ball. “Colin always wanted a dog and I hadn’t bought him a birthday present this year and I had to rectify that.”

“So you bought him a dog?” Sheridan asked, looking at her sister-in-law like she was insane. “Don’t you think you should have asked first, Theresa?”

“How could anyone say no to something so cute?” Theresa giggled, the puppy licking her face repeatedly. “I just knew you’d love him!”

Pilar, who had been standing behind her daughter, rolled her eyes. “I tried to tell her no, mija, she just refused to listen. She swore every boy needed a dog. I pointed out that Luis never had one…”

“But look at what a bossy brat he became,” Theresa laughed again, scratching Snowball’s head. “And of course I let Colin name him.”

“And pick him out of the puppies from the breeder,” Ethan added, watching his wife bath the dog with affection.

“He’s going back,” Sheridan shot Luis a look. “The pet dander could be hazardous to the girls and we hardly have time to train him.”

“Sheridan, it’s a puppy…” Ethan defended.

“It’s a flea bag!” Sheridan argued, moving the car seat away from the nosy puppy. “If he stays, he goes out into the yard and stays there!”

“Sheridan!” Theresa gasped, hugging the pup close. The dog squirmed and whimpered, trying to remove itself from her grasp. Obviously it was more intelligent that it was being given credit for.

“No! I will not put the girls at risk because of that little…thing,” she gave Luis her sad puppy look. “Tell them, Luis. Tell them that we don’t know how the twins will react and that the puppy either leaves with them or sleeps in the yard.”

Luis sighed. She had him there. They didn’t know how the twins would react to the puppy. “I’m afraid Sheridan is right, Theresa. We don’t know if the twins will be allergic and right now is not exactly the time to find out. The dog will have to either sleep in the yard or go home with you and Ethan.”

“But it’s my puppy!” Colin cried, crossing his arms against his chest. “It was my birthday present! You can’t take it back!”

“I understand that, sweetheart,” Sheridan offered him a gentle smile. “But the twins have been in the hospital for so long and it is going to take them some time to get used to being home. Right now just isn’t the time for us to have a pet that sheds a lot. I’m sorry, sweetie.”

“No!” he huffed. “It’s always about them! I hate them!” he cried, running to his room.

Sheridan sighed. “Luis, can you take the twins to the nursery? I guess I should go talk to him,” she handed her husband the extra car seat. “And when I get back I want that dog out of my house, Theresa. You really should have asked,” she disappeared down the hall and knocked on Colin’s door.

“Go away,” he grumbled into his pillow.

“Colin, please let me come in,” Sheridan begged, peeking in through the door. “I really want to talk to you, sweetie.”

He sighed, sitting up on the bed. “What?”

Sheridan entered the room, shutting the door silently behind her and then moved over to the bed. “I’m sorry about the puppy, Colin. You know I want to give you things and I would love to let you keep your puppy, but the babies are too little.”

Colin made a face. “I hate them.”

“Sweetie, I know you don’t hate your sisters. You’re just upset that you can’t keep the puppy. I promise, we’ll get you one as soon as the twins are old enough.”

“I want Snowball!” Colin argued. “He’s my dog! Aunt Theresa gave him to me! I’ll take care of him, I promise!”

Sheridan closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Colin wasn’t really asking for a lot, just a puppy that had already been purchased. She still didn’t have time to take care of the furry little monster; it would need to be trained and it meant twice as much cleaning when the thing shed. Her sister-in-law couldn’t have bought fish! She had to go and get him a mongrel of a dog. Sighing, Sheridan looked at her little boy. The pout on his face was making it near impossible to make a decision. As much as she hated having another dependant in the house, she couldn’t make her son cry. “We’ll make a deal, Colin. You have got to take some responsibility for the dog, meaning you feed him and walk him with Daddy and give him water and help with baths. I’ll let him sleep in a pen in the kitchen so that if he makes a mess we just wipe up the tile floor. But if the girls get sick or if you don’t help take care of him, Aunt Theresa will have to find a home for him. Deal?”

“Deal!” Colin launched into her arms. “I love you Mama!”

Sheridan rubbed his back. She was such a sucker. “I love you too, Colin. Now why don’t you go tell Aunt Theresa the good news while I check on the twins, hmm?”

“Okay!” he ran out of the room in a flash.

Sheridan watched him go and looked at the ceiling. “Dear Lord,” she prayed. “What have I gotten myself into?”

The amazing thing about children’s promises is just how easily they are forgotten. It wasn’t a week later that the house started to fall apart around a very bored Sheridan. She already had her lesson plans prepared for the following school year, bed rest had that added benefit, and of course there were the usual chores, but still life was boring at home. Colin tended to spend most days down the street playing with a little girl named Courtney, whom he was quickly developing a crush on even if he refused to admit it. At first, he was remembering to feed the dog, to give him water and walk him each day and then to put away his toys every night. But slowly, the responsible Colin disappeared into a summer vacation party animal that let all his little responsibilities rest in someone else’s hands…

Namely his mother’s.

Sheridan awoke one very sticky July morning to find a note on the pillow beside her. Luis had left for work at six with Colin and Sheridan still fast asleep. He had fed the Kathy before he left, as was her schedule, and changed Katie. As if she had a built in alarm clock, the latter twin started wailing.

Sheridan groaned, crumpling the note in one hand before slowly pushing herself up. She loved her daughters more than life itself but she really wished they didn’t cry so loudly. It didn’t help that the blasted sound was magnified about a thousand times through the insane invention of a baby monitor. It was as if each cry was the squeal of an electric guitar at a heavy metal concert.

Inch by painful inch, Sheridan made her way to the twin’s room, the screaming from Katie not ceasing even slightly. “Mommy’s coming,” Sheridan mumbled as she pushed open the door to the twins room. “She’s almost there,” she tried again to be as soothing as possible but at eight am after four hours of sleep it was very hard to be soothing.

“Mama can’t we take out her batteries?” Colin begged from the hallway, his hands over his ears. “She’s so loud. My toys don’t make that much noise!”

“Yes, she’s a Lopez-Fitzgerald, of course she’s loud,” Sheridan said in a saccharine voice as she picked up Katelyn. “Colin, go and play while I feed Katie.”

“But I’m hungry!” Colin pouted.

“So is Katie,” Sheridan argued, tired of facing this same disagreement every morning. “Just give me twenty minutes and I’ll pour your cereal.”

“I want pancakes,” Colin told her as he left the room to play.

Sheridan’s eyes flashed. “People in hell want ice water,” she mouthed angrily as she undid her blouse to feed Katie. It was magnetic how this child immediately started feeding with the power of a Hoover vacuum. She slurped as she fed on her mother’s milk and Sheridan turned crimson from the thought of someone hearing the noise her daughter was making. She paused in her rocking of Katie and listened for a moment at the silence in the house. Colin was never silent. Even in his sleep he made enough noise to wake the dead. She closed her eyes, imaging that her son was behaving. That he had turned on the television and left it quiet so as not to wake Kathy and then took out a toy car or two and silently drove them around the living room.

The silence continued the entire time she fed Katie and finally Sheridan realized her daughter had eaten enough. Raising her to her shoulder, Sheridan burped Katie as she had every other day. The little girl released a small burp and Sheridan smiled, getting up to tuck her back in. Just as she held her daughter in her arms to give her a kiss, the baby spit up her previously eaten milk and let out a coo.

Sheridan let out a squeak of disgust. Her daughter had not only covered the front of her blouse in undigested milk, but part of her face as well.

“Oh Katie! That wasn’t nice,” she placed the baby on the changing table and quickly did away with her soiled pajamas. She then returned the baby to her crib. “Now I’m going to need a shower,” she grunted, thinking about leaving the twins asleep with Colin in the living room. This had disaster written all over it.

But she did need a shower. The smell of breast milk permeated her skin and she couldn’t bear to smell that way all day. Nearly running back to her bedroom, Sheridan grabbed the monitor and went into the bathroom. Five minutes was all she needed. What could possibly happen in five minutes?

Too much, as luck would have it.

Sheridan finished showering and changing in no time, even leaving her hair damp so she wouldn’t waste time with the blow dryer. She quickly scurried into the kitchen and gasped at the sight. Two open cereal boxes and a bag of dog food lay on the table, most of their contents spilled onto the table and floor. The open milk contain was on its side, still leaking the liquid all over the kitchen. The dog’s dishes were overturned, the gate that penned him into the corner of the room on its side with the animal nowhere to be seen. She would have screamed, if she could have found her voice.

Instead, she went off in search of her son, finding him in the living room sharing his bowl of cereal with the dog. She shuddered and took another step, hearing a squishing noise. She made a face. The dog had used their living room as his bathroom and she had just found the evidence.

“COLIN LUIS LOPEZ-FITZGERALD!” she shrieked. “What do you think you are doing?”

Colin looked down at the cereal bowl, then at the television and finally at his mother. “Watching television and eating breakfast,” he replied honestly. The situation would have been funny if it had happened to anyone other than herself.

Sheridan’s eyes grew dark with anger. “Didn’t I tell you I would feed you when I finished feeding Katie?”

“Yea, but I was hungry, Mama,” he petted Snowball. “And so was Snow.”

“And shouldn’t snow be in his cage?” Sheridan asked, looking down at her soggy bare foot. That dog shouldn’t even be in her house as far as she was concerned!

“Umm,” Colin looked guilty. “Yea.”

“I thought so,” she tried to stay calm, remembering that yelling at Colin was not going to solve anything. “So guess who gets to help me clean up.”

“Daddy?” Colin looked hopeful.

“Nice try. Get in that kitchen and get the paper towels. You’re going to help me make these rooms spotless.”

“Yes Mama,” Colin got up.

It was going to be a long day.

Luis returned home at six o’clock, opening the front door to hear Colin singing along with his Blue’s Clues video. That kid was too cute beyond words to his father even if he was starting to sing the songs from that blasted tape in his sleep. Laughing, Luis closed the front door and started across the living room to the kitchen to find his wife. He was surprised to hear her grumbling in the hallway instead. The sound of a scrub brush filled the air as he moved closer and he found Sheridan on her hands and knees, leaning over a brown spot in their carpet.

“Sher?” he moved a step closer, but backed off the second she swung around to face him. He couldn’t remember the last time her blue eyes glowed with such venom. Rabid dogs looked safer than Sheridan did at that moment.

“Don’t say a word, Lopez-Fitzgerald. Don’t even make a sound,” she growled, returning to her task of scrubbing the stain from her precious carpet.

“Okay,” he looked around. “Where are the twins?”

“In their room, asleep, where they are no longer able to throw up on me,” she whined, looking at the third shirt she had put on that day. It too was stained with the remnants of a breast-feeding and the spaghetti she had reheated for Colin’s lunch.

Luis smirked. “And Snowball?”

“Barely surviving in his cage. Twice I told your son not to take the dog out of the cage without walking him. Twice, Luis! What does he do? He waits until I have to feed the twins and takes that blasted beast out to play with him! This,” she pointed to the spot, “is how I found out! I stepped in dog shit, Luis!”

Luis was aghast. Sheridan hadn’t cursed in…well ever. “Sher, baby…”

“Don’t call me baby,” she threatened. “Unless you’re going to tell me we won a trip to Hawaii or something or that maybe I was elected Queen for a day and I’m receiving an all expense paid trip to an asylum, I don’t want to hear it!”

“Look, just because you’ve had a bad day, that doesn’t mean you have to take it out on me, Sheridan.”

“Oh no, because you’re such a prince and I would hate to have you get angry with me too,” she spat back, throwing the useless scrub brushed at the wall. “All day I work my ass off to be the best wife I can be and today has been hell! You promised to come home at lunch and help me!” she stood.

“I was busy,” he shrugged.

“Oh I’m sure, because there’s such a terrible crime spree in Harmony!” she crossed her arms over her chest. “Did you have to find out which big bad kid put the poor kitty in the tree?”

Luis’ brown eyes grew dark with rage. “Why are you being such a bitch, Sheridan? I help out as much as I can when I’m home! I feed the twins at night, I change diapers, I put Colin to bed! I do whatever I can whenever I can!”

“Like you said, whenever you’re home! Lately is seems as if you intentionally work long hours so you aren’t home! Does anyone else at the office work twelve hour days, Luis?”

“Are you trying to say I’m avoiding my responsibilities?”

“If the shoe fits,” she grabbed the bucket of water and started for the kitchen.

He grabbed her arm. “I work my ass off too, Sheridan. Someone has to support the family while you’re on summer vacation! It doesn’t help that you were on maternity leave for the better part of the school year either.”

“I was paid!”

“Yea and most of it went towards taking care of the twins! We still have part of the hospital bills to pay off!”

“I’m sorry our family is such an inconvenience to you!” she started to cry.

“Sher,” he sighed.

She jerked her arm away from him. “I don’t want to hear it. If we’re such a thorn in your side why don’t you just get the hell out! I can do this without you!”

“Fine!” he released her and stormed back out. “If you can do this alone, then go ahead and try,” he slammed the front door and climbed back into his car, if she didn’t want him there he would leave.

The radio started as she pulled out of the driveway and the music that filled the car made his anger start to dissipate. He was really starting to hate this stupid station! Sometimes he thought they bugged hi house and played the song they knew he needed the exact moment he needed it! It was just freaky that way.

It couldn’t have predicted the situation more if it tried. The man and woman arguing, his storming out and leaving his wife to cry: it was Luis’ life all over again. He couldn’t believe his rotten luck! She had thrown him out, told him she didn’t need him over something so stupid and here he was the one considering going back and apologizing. Of course he shouldn’t go back! Sheridan hadn’t wanted him there anyway!

He hit the breaks. Damn country music writers!

Luis sighed, pulling off to the side of the road and pulling out his cell phone. He really had to at least call his mother and make her go check on Sheridan. Leaving her alone with the twins and Colin after her day was probably not the ideal thing to do. She had so much to learn about being a parent and she loved her children so much. He had been working over time to help pay for the medical expenses and part of the reason he was so willing to was the amount of work that tended to be at home. He knew parenting wasn’t easy, but it had been a long time since he had to feed babies and change diapers.

A very long time.

Looking around, he noticed that he had parked in front of a travel agent, who was still open for the evening. Climbing out of the car and walking inside, Luis looked over the posters on the wall. What had Sheridan said, don’t say anything to her unless they were going to get a break from reality for a while? A break was really what she needed and he had just the place in mind and just the weekend for them to go. He was going to save his and Sheridan’s sanity before it was too late!

Luis returned to the house to find Colin and Sheridan eating dinner at the kitchen table, the mess from earlier completely cleaned up. Colin was pushing around a piece of elbow macaroni that was smothered in cheese while Sheridan controlled her tears and picked at a piece of lettuce with her fork. He could tell that his leaving earlier had not helped the situation between them and only hoped that he could make it up to her with his plan.

Clearing his throat, Luis took a step further into the kitchen.

“Papa!” Colin cheered, smiling brightly. “Mama made macaroni and cheese for us!”

“I see that,” Luis laughed, joining them at the table and serving himself. One of Colin’s favorite foods, besides Cocoa Puffs, was macaroni and cheese. “Your Mama makes the best macaroni and cheese on earth.”

Sheridan rolled her eyes, but continued to pick at the green vegetable on her dish. Her husband could be such a kiss up when he knew he was in the doghouse.

Colin finished eating his dinner and looked over at his mother. “Mama, may I please be excused?” he asked as he was taught.

“Yes, Colin, you may be excused, but don’t forget that you promised to behave tonight and not to wake the twins.”

“All right,” he smiled and scampered from the room excitedly.

Sheridan looked over at her husband. “I’m sorry about earlier, Luis. I’ve had a rough day and I took it out on you. I never should have done that.”

“You had a right to explode, I have been working over time and I can see how that would give you the idea I was trying to avoid my responsibilities. I’m sorry, Sheridan. I love you and our children and I would never do anything to hurt you.”

She smiled slightly. “I’m just so tired lately, Luis. There always seems to be someone needing something from me and I’m really not quite used to that. I could handle when you and Colin fought for my attention, but now there are two more people that need me and it isn’t easy. And that mutt! I can’t believe how much that damn dog needs!”

Luis laughed. “I know and that’s why I came up with a brilliant idea.”

“Oh no,” Sheridan grimaced. “Why do I have this odd feeling that this isn’t going to be lacking in disaster?”

Luis smiled. “Because almost everything in our life ends in disaster, Sherry angel, but we have a lot of fun doing it anyway.”

“All right, what’s your great idea?” Sheridan asked, sipping from her glass of water.

“We’re going to go on vacation,” he stated evenly.

Sheridan spit her water out, bathing Luis in the clear liquid. The look on his face was priceless and she started laughing. “I’m sorry,” she apologized between fits of giggles. “But I thought you said we were going to go on vacation.”

“We are,” he replied, wiping off his face and pulling out a brochure. “I planned a trip for the two of us to Rockland, home of the lobster festival. It’s next weekend and I figured my mother and sister could stay here and watch the twins and Colin. Mama’s raised five kids, I think she can handle ours. The twins have been healthy and strong and there’s nothing stopping us.”

“The lobster festival,” Sheridan repeated, grabbing the brochure and flipping through it. Inside were pictures of people smiling as they ate lobsters and a “queen” riding on a seashell float. Sheridan smirked. Her husband had to be kidding! Three days of lobster games and crustaceans for dinner?

“Yes, a lobster festival, is there something wrong with it?”

She shook her head, thinking about a weekend away with her husband. When was the last time they had two minutes alone forget two whole days? It had to be as far back as their honeymoon; that was certain. Rockland wasn’t far, forty minutes by car, so anything that went wrong at home could easily be rectified within an hour. And despite the cheesiness of the event they were going to, it was a chance to get away. “All right, Luis,” she smiled, closing the little brochure. “I think it sounds like a wonderful idea.”

“Really?” he asked excitedly.

“Really,” she kissed his lips sweetly. “So when do we leave?”

“Friday,” he smiled. “At noon. Mama is taking the entire weekend off just for us.”

“I can hardly wait,” Sheridan replied, standing and putting her dish in the sink. “Now eat before it gets cold, I’m going to give Colin his bath,” she left the kitchen.

Luis looked at the picture of the sunset over Rockland’s bay. It was beautiful. In a few days he and Sheridan would be forty minutes away from home with no one to ruin their weekend. They would finally have a chance to be alone and relax without Colin screaming, the twins crying or the dog begging to go out. It would be like heaven on earth for them and nothing was going to ruin it…

Nothing, that is, except the reappearance of a ghost.

Chapter Nine