the boat for months, but things kept getting in the way.
She supposed she could understand that. After all, Janette was a new mother now, and Annalise remembered how chaotic that time of life was.
She was holding her sister’s son, Carter, in her arms so that Janette could climb aboard the yacht. At six months old, Carter was old enough to look around curiously at the world, and to react to the things he saw. Annalise had loved this age in her own children. It had been so exciting to watch them learn and discover.
The triplets were celebrating their second birthday today, and though they were still the light of Annalise’s life, she had to acknowledge that two was a much more difficult age. She and Curt had been thrilled when they’d started walking, but they’d quickly discovered that the degree of autonomy their children had was terrifying.
Right now, for example, Will had made his way to the front of the boat and was climbing up the railing.
“Hey!” Raúl caught Will by the back of his lifejacket and pulled him down. “No climbing on the boat. You know that.”
Will squirmed out of his uncle’s arms and took off running toward the refrigerator to find a snack.
Annalise laughed. “Thanks,” she said to Raúl. “He’s incorrigible.”
“I don’t know how you manage with three two-year-olds,” Raúl said. “You and Curt are my heroes.”
“It’s not as hard as you think it’s going to be,” Annalise said. “I mean, some of the time it’s much harder, but you come to realize that you know instinctively what to do. I assume you’re already having some of that experience with Carter.”
“Yeah.” Raúl reached out and took Carter from her. “I feel like I was meant to be his father. Like I know exactly what he needs.”
“You’re a good dad,” Annalise said. “He’s lucky to have you.”
The boat set sail away from the dock, heading toward Catalina Island. The two families planned to eat a picnic lunch on the beach and let the kids play in the water in honor of the triplets’ birthday.
The ride to the island went without incident. Will spent most of the time trying to break into the coolers his parents had packed to steal string cheese. Finally, Annalise was forced to sit on top of the coolers to stop him from opening them, at which point he promptly lost interest and went outside with Janette to look for dolphins swimming alongside the boat.
Natalie went to the front of the boat and stood between Curt’s arms as he steered with her hands on the controls, pretending to drive. Curt had a special bond with his youngest daughter, and Annalise always loved watching the two of them together.
Stephanie, meanwhile, had climbed up into her mother’s arms and was watching her cousin. Stephanie had become the most interested among the triplets in Carter. Whenever Annalise and Janette got their families together, Stephanie tended to spend the whole time playing with Carter.
“They look alike, don’t they?” Raúl said, looking from his own child to Annalise’s.
She nodded. “Stephanie looked just like Carter when she was a little younger,” she said. “I guess she looks like me, and Carter looks like Janette.”
She saw the contentment on her brother-in-law’s face, and a warm glow spread within her. She knew how badly Raúl and Janette had wanted a child that looked like the two of them. Carter was that child. And it was thanks to Annalise that he had been born.
I’m so glad I was able to do that for them. Nobody deserves it more than Janette.
They reached the island of Catalina and docked. With four adults and four children, they were perfectly equipped for supervision by means of the buddy system. Raúl held on to Carter, and Janette took Will by the hand. He had been fascinated with her lately. Annalise wasn’t sure whether he was taken with the novelty of a woman who looked exactly like his mother but wasn’t, or if his interest was simply due to exploring the freedom of being in the care of someone other than a parent. Either way, she liked seeing her son and her sister bond.
Natalie and Stephanie wanted to walk. They went hand in hand down the beach. Curt and Annalise hung back a few yards, letting them go ahead. It was a quiet beach, and as long as they were out of the water, Annalise was comfortable letting them run and play.
“Remember the first time I brought you here?” Curt asked,