(I am very excited to release the second version! So, instead of dragging out the remaining plots in multiple chapters, this one will cover the rest. This part is told by Sky and takes place a year later.)
"Hurry up, Dylan!" My mother called out, her voice echoing through the hallway. "You're going to make us late!"
Dylan ran down the stairs, a toothpaste-smeared grin on his face. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"You always make us late," Liana complained, her own backpack already on her back and her shoes on her feet. She wore a pink dress; her blond hair tied back in a bow that matched the color.
Summer, who was already dressed and eating at the kitchen table, giggled. "Boys always make us late," she said, poking her cousin Sam with a spoon.
Sam, with a mouthful of cereal, mumbled a protest. "Not always," He said, his eyes never leaving the cartoons playing on the TV.
"Come on, Kyler, stop this," I sighed, trying shove shoes on my four-year-old's feet. He hated shoes and always made it a fight. "Do you want sore feet?" I asked.
"No," Kyler squeaked.
"Then put your shoes on."
At last, he stuck out his feet and allowed me to put his shoes on them. Then I stood up, my keys jingling in my hand. "Alright, kids, shoes on. We're leaving in five!"
Dylan and Liana already stood at the door, fidgeting with the straps of their bags. Summer was able to put her shoes on herself which was a big help when there were five children to get out the door on time. Samuel, tugged at the zipper of his Spider-Man backpack, his chubby fingers struggling to get it started.
"Come one, Sammy," I said crouching down to help him. "We don't want to keep the girls waiting or they'll get grumpy."
Before we left, the fathers gathered to see them off. Looking at the sadness in Ty's eyes, I felt sorry for him. We had decided as a family it was best if only us mothers dropped the children off to avoid suspicion, but that didn't make it any easier. But if nearly all the uncles came from the drop off, it would seem weird and people would notice. So, we had decided the mothers would get the first day of school, and the fathers would do the second morning, pretending us mothers went to work early and couldn't do drop off or something like that.
Ty scoped up his three children, making them laugh as he lifted all three. Billy wrapped his arms around Summer, telling her he'd miss her and to have a great first day. And Samuel clung to Andy, he was the most hesitant about starting kindergarten. So, Andy ensured him he'd be fine and that he'd have a lot of fun. Samuel really liked hearing that the younger children would be stuck at home with the boring adults while he got to go play with all the other kids at school.
Dylan and Liana were already five years old, the age requirement to start kindergarten in North Carolina, but the other three were still four. Even though all five were born in the same year, the younger three weren't eligible to start kindergarten this year because their birthdate was after August 31st. Therefore, we had decided to send those three to pre-k.
Mom and I drove Dylan and Liana to school while Millie brought the other three to pre-k. Before we let them out of the car, it was very important to remind them of our family rules.
"Okay guys, what's the rule about your daddies?" I asked.
"We only have daddies in the house," Liana replied confidently.
"That's right, and if someone asks you who your daddy is, what do you say?"
"I don't have a daddy," Dylan answered.
"That's right. Do we talk about daddy when we are not in our house?"
"No," Liana said, shaking her little head.
"Perfect. What do we call daddy outside the house?"
"Uncle Ty," Liana said.
"Why?"
"Because outside he's my uncle, not my daddy."
"That's right. Dylan, what do you call daddy outside?"
"Just Ty, because he's my brother outside, my daddy in the house."
"Do you think you can remember that?" I asked.
The children both nodded.
It was a long shot, but we did not want to isolate the children from the world. It was important for them to go to school and mix with other children to build relationships and communication skills.
They did remember, and the school year went smoothly. Never once were we brought in to talk about incestuous things the children said. Even as the years passed, the children kept quiet about the truth of our family.
Until one year when Liana was nine.
"No, Liana! Absolutely not!" I put my foot down.
"It's not fair," she argued back. "No one else has to lie about their families!"
"I know its not fair, and I'm sorry. But you know that our family does things that are not allowed, and we will get in a lot of trouble if anyone finds out."
Did I want to have to tell my nine-year-old this, no. But we had told the children very early on about our family because we felt that it was important for them to know and be aware of just how important it was to keep it a secret. Especially now that were 21 children in this family, all under 18 as Victoria was only 16.
Ty came into the room looking quite defeated.
"Wanna switch?" He asked. I could hear our newborn twin girls screaming upstairs.
"Yes, I do." I said.
"What's the situation?" Ty asked.