David and Maddie finally made their way to Amanda’s room to see the babies. David had a pleasant look on his face and Maddie was in tears. Dad had laid down the law and there was nothing that Maddie could say about it. When they walked in, he looked around the room at his family and asked one simple question. “Where is my granddaughter?”
Jordan stood with a baby in her arms and took little Miranda to David. “Here she is, Dad.” She carefully placed her niece in her father’s arms.
David looked at his granddaughter. “Well, hello there, beautiful”, he said. “You; you’re going to be a heartbreaker. I can already see it. If you’re ANYTHING like your aunts, you’re going to pulverize a few hearts. Your Daddy’s going to have to beat the boys off with a stick and I’m just gonna sit back and laugh.” He placed a kiss on her little forehead. “By the way, little one, I’m Grandpa. I’m going to spoil you rotten. And if your Mama and Daddy have any objections to that, they can take a number and send their complaints to my complaint department. Isn’t that right, Miranda?” He looked up from the beautiful little angel in his arms. “She’s gorgeous, you two”, he said to the baby’s parents.
Malachai smiled. “Thanks, Dad.” He looked lovingly at Amanda. “She looks just like her mother.”
David laughed. “I say that about each and every one of your sisters. They all look JUST like your mother.”
“I DON’T LOOK LIKE MAMA!”, Maddie yelled. David’s eyes shot open wide.
“That’s it”, Brie said. She walked across the room to have Isaiah off to his mother. “Madison, I’ve had it with this shit.”
David stopped his wife mid motion. “Hand him here. I can hold two at a time.”
“You sure, baby?”
“Yes. Hand me my grandson.”
Brie did just that. After her arms were empty, she reached in her purse and grabbed her cell phone. “I’ll be right back, everyone. Jordan, Jacob, help your father with your younger siblings”, she said as she walked across the crowded hospital room with her phone to her ear and grabbed Maddie by the wrist. “Hi, Katie, this is Mrs. Draiman. Can you meet me at the house, please? I need you to watch Maddie for me”, she said as she walked out of the room.
All David could do was shake his head. He looked down at his newborn grandchildren. “Let that be a lesson to the both of you. Acting like a brat will get you nothing but heartache.”
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“OW, MAMA!” Maddie cried as her mother practically dragged her down the hallway to the parking lot.
“I don’t care, Madison. You don’t want to act like you have any common sense, then you go home. That’s the end of that. I’m sure your father made it clear to you that you don’t get to act like a fool in public. You want to continue, then you don’t get to be in public. You get to go home. It’s that simple.” Brie opened the car door and put Maddie in the car, pulling her seatbelt across her as she threw her fit. “Madison Jade Draiman, you are eleven years old. Act your age, young lady”, Brie snapped at her daughter. She pulled off after getting in the car. Her phone rang as she drove. “Hello?” she asked. “No, baby, I brought my keys with me just in case I needed them. I’m taking Maddie home. I’ve had it with her attitude. If she can’t act like she should be in public with the family, then she’s going home. She’s not going to embarrass us in public.” She paused. “I know, David. She’s eleven years old, she shouldn’t be acting like a spoiled little brat in public. Meagan, Makayla, Jessi- they don’t act like that.” Another pause as David spoke. “I know you did and now she’s hit my last nerve. She’s going home.” She waited as David spoke again. “Oh, hell no. I’ve got something for her spoiled little ass. And she’s going think I’m the most evil bitch on the planet.” Something David said made her laugh. “Oh, you know it. Alright, baby, I need to focus on driving and not talking. The last thing I want is to get pulled over. I’m gonna let you go. I love you. Alright, bye.” She hung up and put her phone back in her purse. Maddie was still screaming, but Brie paid her no attention. Oh, little girl, have I got your number. You are NOT going to like what I have in store for you, she thought.
When she pulled in, she was young Katie Martin sitting in her car waiting. Brie pulled to a stop and honked her horn. Katie got out and walked over to the driver’s side. “Hi, Mrs. Draiman. You needed me to watch Maddie, right?”
“That’s right.”
“What about the other kids?”
“They’re all at the hospital. Malachai and his fiancée just had their babies. Mr. Draiman is at the hospital with the other kids doting on his new grandchildren.”
“Bet he’s a big softie when he’s holding a little baby girl.”
“He’s a big softie when he’s holding a baby, period.” She took her house key off of her key chain. “I have to go back to the hospital. Here’s my house key. Take Miss Maddie back there into the house and put her in her room. Make sure she doesn’t play with her toys, or watch her TV. She gets no privileges. She is to sit on her bed and think about how she’s supposed to act in public.”
“No TV, no dolls, nothing?”
“That’s right.”
“You got it, Mrs. D.” Katie walked around to the passenger side where Maddie was sitting as Brie unlocked the door. Maddie fought getting out of the car every step.
“Madison Jade Draiman, do you want Dad to come home and take care of that attitude? I’m sure he’ll be plenty pissed that he had to leave the hospital to come home and deal with you giving Katie problems.”
Maddie got out of the car without any further problems. “I think I’ve got her from here, Mrs. D.”
“Ok, Katie. If she gives you any problems give Mr. Draiman or me a call. We’ll be here in no time.”
“You got it, Mrs. D. I’ll call if I need you.” She started heading to the house and stopped short. “Oh, Mrs. D, how long is Maddie supposed to stay in her room?”
“Until the rest of us get home. We’ll pay you when we get back. I’m sure Mr. D will write you a check or give you some cash or something.”
“That will be fine. Thanks for calling me, Mrs. D. I’ll see you guys when you get home.” She turned and started usher Maddie into the house as Brie turned the SUV around and pulled away.
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“Dad, what is Maddie’s problem?” Jake asked his father as he held his new niece.
“I spent the first few years spoiling her. I really don’t have a reason, but she was my little princess, then the quads came along and Mom made me realize that I was creating a monster. I stopped treating her like a princess and like she was a normal child and she apparently hasn’t taken well to that.”
“So, you starting treating her like a normal kid and not like ‘Daddy’s little princess’ and she never got the memo?”
“Pretty much.”
Jordan spoke from the rocking chair next to Amanda’s bed as the new mother slept. “You don’t let me act like that. Why are you suddenly cracking down on Maddie?” She was holding Isaiah as she spoke.
“Because she needs to learn that Mom and I aren’t playing her game anymore. She’s been trying to go around your mother when she tells her no and come to me to get a yes. I learned really quick that’s what she was doing so, Mom and I decided to start saying, ‘Well, what did Mom say?’ or ‘Did Dad say you could?’”
“Good game plan, Dad.”
David laughed. “Glad you like it, Jordan.” He walked over and took Isaiah from her. “Move your ass, young lady. I want to sit down.”
Jordan laughed and stood up. “Here you go, Dad.”
David sat down and started rocking. He said nothing until the baby boy in his arms started fussing. “Oops, sounds like someone needs a diaper change.” He looked at Jordan. “Hand me a diaper for your nephew, please.”
“Can I change him, Dad?”
“If you want to get sprayed, then why not?” He laid the little boy down on the end of his mother’s bed.
“What do you mean sprayed?”
“When the cold air hits his little..” David trailed off for a moment trying to find the right word, “circumcision, then he’ll shoot a stream about five and a half to six feet in the air in an arch. He has no perception of aim. It will hit whom it will hit.”
“And you have a way to counter act that?”
“A tried and true method that has been tested on four boys.”
“I’m going to have to learn this method so that I can change his diaper.” She handed her father the diaper and watched the magic.
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Finally, Brie was back at the hospital. She walked just as Miranda started crying. Jacob was trying to figure out what was wrong with his little niece. “Gosh, what’s wrong, ‘Randa?”
David was just laughing. “Jacob, have you check her diaper?”
“Yeah, she’s dry.”
“And she JUST ate, right?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Didn’t Mandy just whip out a tit and pop it in her mouth?”
“Yeah.”
“Ok, common sense here, Jake. She’s not wet and she just ate; she needs burped.”
Jake panicked. “I don’t know who to do that.”
David laughed harder. “Calm down, Jacob. Hand her here and I’ll show you how.”
Brie propped herself against the wall nearest the door and smiled. She loved seeing what she was seeing. David sharing his vast knowledge of how to care for a baby with his older children as the babies’ parents slept. She glanced at the rocking chair and watched as Jordan rocked back and forth with Isaiah in her arms and sang a soft song to him. It sounded like she was singing “Devour”. She and David had sang that to all of their children when they were babies. It only seemed fitting that their children would sing it to the next generation.
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