of her world, she reminded herself. In fact, men in general weren’t really a part of her life. Raising twins as a single mother was…time consuming, to say the least!
“Got everything?” she asked, plunking a hat on Halley’s head, then Harrison’s.
“Yeah,” Harrison replied, looking into his book bag by stuffing his entire head inside, as if he could inventory the bag’s contents that way. “I think so.”
Stevie laughed, and handed him a lunch bag. “Don’t smoosh it this time,” she warned her son.
Harrison’s only response was to put his football into his book bag first, then his lunch.
“He’s going to smoosh it, Momma,” Halley warned. But she grabbed her soccer ball and did the same thing.
Stevie sighed. She’d grown up taking ballet lessons and piano lessons. She’d been the most uncoordinated person on any sports team. One year, her father had convinced Stevie to play soccer. She’d scored five times. For the other team. On a different field. Another time, he’d tried to teach her to play tennis. But Stevie kept smacking the ball outside of the tennis area. There had been a few other attempts at sports before her father accepted that Stevie just wasn’t athletically inclined.
So Stevie knew that their affinity for playing games that included balls hadn’t come from her side of the family. That had obviously come from their father.
Even after all these years, Stevie still felt a pang of loss over Janus. He hadn’t returned her phone calls when she’d tried to tell him about her pregnancy. And all of the letters she’d sent after the twins’ birth had been returned unopened.
Such was life, she thought as she grabbed her keys. “Stay!” she ordered Herbie. The enormous dog sat down on his butt, but looked as if she’d just slapped him. “Don’t even try it, you big goof,” Stevie warned, bending down to kiss his giant head and scratch behind his ears. “We took you out for a long walk just fifteen minutes ago.”
Herbie sighed soulfully. But Herbie didn’t want another walk. Stevie knew that the big lug would lumber into the family room and jump up onto the couch for his morning nap as soon as she closed the door. Herbie was an enormous dog, not quite as big as a Great Dane, but pretty darn close. And he loved breaking the rules…as long as he wasn’t caught.
Stevie did a visual inventory of boy, girl, and dog, then nodded with satisfaction. Being a single mother of twins meant being organized to the nth degree. Every moment of her day was planned out. Otherwise, chaos reigned supreme.
“Okay, let’s hit the road or we’re going to be late.”
Halley and Harrison trudged out the door, their book bags full and family tree projects held carefully. Each had made a poster, tracing their ancestry as far back as Stevie could remember. She’d even done a DNA test on her babies, wanting to give them a bit of background on where they were from further back. Since they had no other relatives, besides their absent father, Stevie had wanted to give them a better sense of who they were.
Now was the day of The Big Reveal! Halley and Harrison were excited to show off their projects to the class. The DNA test had discovered that her family had come from Ireland. So, Stevie had helped her twins research Irish history…well, as much Irish history as four year olds could absorb. Which meant that they’d stopped at the “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow” legend, devouring stories of leprechauns.
Stevie pulled the front door open and…froze. A copper haired woman with the most amazing green eyes was on the front porch, her hand lifted to knock.
“Oh!” she gasped, stepping backwards. “I’m sorry,” the beautiful woman yelped.
“Who are you?” Harrison demanded, pushing his hat back so that it didn’t cover his eyes.
“Are you a leprechaun?” Halley asked, obviously focusing on the copper curls.
The woman blinked, eyeing the little girl curiously. “Um…no. At least,” she tilted her head thoughtfully, her smile widening playfully. “I don’t think so. But it would be super cool if I was, wouldn’t it?’
“Can I help you?” Stevie asked, pulling the heavy front door closed, then wiggling the knob to make sure it was locked. And also to let the strange woman know that the door was locked. She didn’t look dangerous, but Stevie wasn’t about to take chances. Not with her children’s safety.
“I’m sorry to catch you at a bad time.” The woman reached into