The Family Man

Ashley had only been gone for five days on the last leg of the tour and I was already going crazy. Three days ago the twins came home from school feeling sick. I put them to bed and gave them some chicken soup to eat. They told me that it was too hot and burned their tongues. So I made them PB&J sandwiches instead. I took their temperatures. They both had a fever of 101F. They weren’t coughing or sneezing, and they didn’t throw up; so that eliminated the flu. By the next morning they had rashes everywhere. Both of them had chicken pox.
I felt like I was in over my head, despite what you might think, they had never been sick at the same time before. I called the girls to see if they could help me. Ella said that she would, so she dropped off Anna and Tara with Juliet for a couple of days.
I remembered having chicken pox as a child and immediately went out and bought the things I needed for an oatmeal bath.
“Here we go, both of you, into the tub.” I said.
“Okay.” Samantha said quietly as they climbed in.
I had the water luke warm as I gently gave them a bath. “You haven’t been scratching? Right?”
They both nodded.
“Good.” I finished up their baths, put them into their pajamas and put them to bed. Then I went downstairs to join Ella in the living room.
“They asleep now?” She asked.
“Yes.” I sighed. Then the phone rang. “Hello?” I picked it up.
“Belle?”
“Ashley, hi.” I said.
“Long day?”
“You have no idea.” I still had to tell him. He hadn’t called since the night before this all started.
“What happened?” He asked, sounding concerned.
“The twins have had the chicken pox for the last three days.” I answered.
“What?”
“Chicken pox. You know, the one where you get itchy rashes all over your body?”
“How are they doing?”
“They’re tired a lot and of course really itchy, but so far they’ve been good at not scratching.”
“How are you doing? I’m sorry I can’t be there to help with them.”
“That’s sweet. Going a little crazy, but Ella’s here helping me out.”
“Good. Well, I gotta go. I’ll try and call you tomorrow. Bye, love you.”
“Love you too Ashley.” I hung up the phone.
“Hey, why don’t we head up to bed too? You look like you could use the rest.” Ella suggested.
“That sounds wonderful.” I said, already heading for the stairs.

I checked their temperatures the next morning and they were the same as the night before. I made them cereal for breakfast and set them up comfortably on the couch. I asked them what movie they would like to see and put it in for them. They weren’t tired enough to sleep, so I figured if they stayed in their room, they’d probably just get really bored.

By the end of the day they had watched through The Lion King, Mulan, Rapunzel, The Little Mermaid and Brave. After another oatmeal bath they went to bed eagerly.
“Mommy?” Samantha said as I was tucking her in.
“Yes?”
“When can we go back to school? I miss all my friends.”
“Me too.” Jack added.
“Hopefully very soon.” I turned out the light and headed to my own room to get some sleep.

Four days later and they were well enough to go back to school. They still had a couple of scabs here and there, but they were no longer contagious. They were both over the moon when I told them over breakfast. Their fevers were gone and they had most of their energy back. After I drove them to school I came home to say good-bye to Ella. She had helped with cooking for them and looking after the both of them all week.
“Thank you so much. I don’t know how I would have handled both of them without you.” I said as I hugged her.
“No problem. That’s what we’re all here for right? Help each other when the men are gone?” She gave me a smile.
“Well thank you anyway.” I waved as she left in her car.
The next thing I did was go upstairs and run myself a relaxing hot bath. I guess if I needed a silver lining, it was that this wasn’t going to happen again. Well, the chicken pox part at least.

Notes

Sorry if it's a bit short, but I need a few filler chapters to get to the next main part of the story. Please comment!