Chapter Text
Buster Pov:
I was glaring at the newspaper clenched in my fist. It read: Thomas and Lilian Brown, on 1955 Park Avenue, introduced three new little girls into their household on February 11th, 1901. The new parents were thrilled with the surprise of two extra babies.
I crumpled the paper into a ball and just threw it across the room.
"That bad, huh?" Peg asks sarcastically while playing poker with Ruby, Bull, and Mooch.
"Three baby girls," I gripe, and no one can hide their shock, with heads snapping in my direction and jaws hitting the ground.
"TRIPLETS!?!?" I nod in confirmation, "Well, I'll be damnd." Bull says in astonishment.
"Three babies? That's a lot of mouths to feed." Before folding his cards, Mooch comments, "I guess it's a good thing he's got that new job." Ruby hits him.
"Bull, this is serious," Peg tells him, lowering her cards to reveal a royal flush and taking all the chips. "He is right, though, Buster. It probably worked out for the best. We're already caring for Tommy, and that's no easy task; imagine caring for three newborn babies if Tramp stayed."
"Maybe he shouldn't have been involved in their lives then. Their mom's got enough money to take care of them." I grumble.
"You don't mean that, Buster!" Ruby snaps, "No, all kids deserve to have both parents in their lives, and I would think worse of Tramp if he knowingly got a girl pregnant and left her high and dry."
"What about Trixie then?"
"That's not fair, Buster. He doesn't know about the kid. We all agree that he should, but Trix put her foot down. Threatened to skip town if we told him."
What do they know? They don't see how serious the situation is. "I need a drink!" I go to a storage barrel and pull out a bottle of old Brandy and some shot glasses. "Don't we all?" Peg mutters.
This could be some sort of karma for him, having to take care of three little brats for the rest of his life. I pour the Brandy into the glasses and hand them to everyone, downing mine before refilling my cup.
"I just can't believe Tramp is actually a father now," Francois mutters.
"He's been a father for the past four years," I mutter, downing another glass.
"Spreading your seed doesn't count. He's actually going to be part of these girls' lives."
Before we can delve more into the topic of Tramp's fatherhood, Trixie walks in with Tommy, and we all shut up. She walks toward me, grabs the bottle of Brandy, and walks away; it looks like she is still upset about me spilling the beans to Tommy. But she has slowly been talking to me more. Yeah, it was for jobs she could pull, but she's no longer sending Peg to play telephone. After a few moments of awkward silence, she finally breaks.
"So you all read the paper?" We all nod sheepishly, "Well, good for them then!!!" Trixie shrieks, "You know what? They really deserve each other!!! Little Miss Park Avenue and her Tramp." She starts to chug the bottle; damn, I liked the brand. "But you know what I have on her: I gave him a son on the first try, too. Looks like she wasn't even able to do that, and she had three tries. Looks like she missed her chance."
"Really, don't think they'll try again?" Ruby asks.
"Tramp may be doing better in life without us, but he doesn't have all the money in the world. I don't think they can afford another baby and risk it being another girl."
"Well, I don't see why we're still talking about him! He doesn't deserve our breath." I complain.
"You are the one who decided to read the paper buster," I throw a shot glass at Mooch, hitting the wall next to him and causing him to yelp. I stomp out of the room.
***
Tramp Pov:
"La la lu, la la lu
Oh, my little star sweeper.
I'll sweep the stardust for you."
Lady is in her rocking chair with baby Dani wrapped up in her arms. The little baby's hands reached up, trying to grab her hair.
"La la lu, la la lu
Little soft, fluffy sleeper
Here comes a pink cloud for you."
I am sitting on the bay window in the nursery, with baby Annie looking up at me with her big brown eyes, full of curiosity and wonder, and slowly rocking the bassinet in which little baby Lettie was sleeping peacefully in.
"La la lu, la la lu
Little wandering angel fold up your wings
Close your eyes."
Annie yawned, fighting to keep her eyes open, but with the comfort of the swaddle and me gently humming, it was not a winning battle.
"La la lu, la la lu.
And may love be your keeper .
La la lu, la la lu, la la lu"
At the end of Lady's lullaby, all three babies were asleep. We tucked all of them in their bassinets.
"What was it, Mama said? Sleep when the babies sleep."
"Yeah, why don't you go to sleep? I'll make sure everything is ready for when Dan, Alice, and Jenny come over later?" I say, kissing her on the forehead.
"You're the best." I help her up, and while she goes to our room, I head downstairs to prepare for our guests.
After making sure all of the food had been made and the parlor was ready, I went upstairs to relax with my wife for the next few hours.
Three hours later:
Alice and Dan came over with baby Jenny, the little 2-month-old sleeping peacefully in her mother's arms.
"Alice!!!" Lady, excited to see her friend, runs up to hug her. Dan and I shake hands. Maria is upstairs in the nursery with the triplets with Maria watching them, so Jenny and her Nanny go upstairs. At the same time, we eat a light lunch, smoked fish, and some salad.
"I can't believe how big Jenny has gotten these past few months." Lady gushes.
"I know time really does fly," Alice says wistfully.
"Make sure you enjoy these first few weeks with your baby girls. They'll be walking all over the house before you know it." Dan adds humorously.
"I know. These past few days have gone by so fast; they just keep getting bigger and bigger." I add, and we all laugh.
"Now that we finished this delicious lunch, we didn't come over to see you," Alice says, standing up and clapping her hands together. She excitedly adds, "Where are the babies?"
We went upstairs to the nursery to meet the babies in their bassinets, cooing at us.
"Oh, there, just so tiny." Alice is gushing over the bassinet in the middle, "May I carry her?" She asks. We nod, and she picks up the little baby, "She is so precious; which one is she?" She asks, bouncing the baby.
"That one is Lettie," I tell her, picking Annie up to show her off.
"She is so sweet! Lady, I have no idea how you were able to give birth to three girls at once; Lord knows I was having a hard time with Jenny."
"You did fantastic. Love." Dan tells his wife encouragingly, kissing her.
It was just the four of us fussing over the four babies, "Well, we have to plan playdates between our girls at least once a week," Alice tells Lady.
"Of course, and we can go on walks together on the weekends, and they'll be best friends at school."
"Yes, it'll be good for Jenny to have some friends her age, at least until she gets a sibling of her own."
"You're already thinking about having more?"
"Yes, we want about maybe two or three, and for them all to be around the same age."
"That seems fair. I love Jr, but there is no denying our age gap; he might get along more with the girls." She chuckles, bouncing Dani a bit.
"If I had a boy, wouldn't it just be perfect if he married one of your girls!" Alice squealed in excitement.
"Let's hold off on the marriage part. They're only a few days old." I butt in with a chuckle, causing everyone to laugh as well.
"Ah, Thomas, already an overprotective father," Dan snorts, "Can't say I blame you, though; I can't imagine any young boys trying to court Jenny here without ending you on the other end of my shotgun."
"Danny would risk jail before letting some boy court Jenny." Alice pokes fun at her husband, causing him to get flustered.
"Speaking of arrest though, Tommy, have you gotten any more information about that ruffian from the park."
"No." I should have known Dan would bring this up again. He SAW Buster knows his face, and if he tries to keep digging to find out more, he will find out how our pasts intertwine. I have to nip this in the bud. "Honestly, it's been the last thing on my mind recently with everything that has been happening."
"Yeah, I thought so; that's why I have been talking to the police to try and get some information." Damn, Alice and Lady seem to be getting worried, but for different reasons. "It turns out he is part of a local gang called 'The Wild Dogs.' he was in that park to scam some poor innocent people out of their money before making us his next target."
"Oh, how horrible." Alice chimes in.
"Wouldn't it be better to just let this all slide? I mean, better not to make a big deal of it all, right?"
"I don't know how you deal with gangs back in the city, Tom, but here in New Heaven, we have a low tolerance for such low lives." Alice says, "Out of all the things they could do, they choose a life of crime and make the lives of hard-working people like us so much more difficult."
There we go again with their small-town thinking, never seeing beyond their little world. It's not from any malicious intent or evil plan; they just don't know. Know how hard it is to make an honest living when you are turned away because you 'aren't the right kind of person.' They don't know how when you are hungry or sick, you get desperate, and with very few options, crime seems like the easiest option. Not a lot of people can get out of that cycle. Hell, I just got fortunate, if we were being honest. Lady can see how uncomfortable I am getting with this conversation and quickly changes the subject.
"Now, none of this talk during what is supposed to be a happy day; let the police take care of this nasty business."
"Lady is right," Alice supports her, "Let the police take care of it. It's out of our hands now. Best not to worry about it."
Hours passed, and we said goodbye as Alice, Dan, and Jenny took their leave. Once the babies were settled for the night, we got ready for bed ourselves.
"I'm sorry about Dan and Alice; that was out of line."
"It's fine. I'm used to it by now." I reassure her.
"You shouldn't be; it's not right."
" Come on, they don't mean any harm by it. They're just ignorant; nothing will come of it, really. Hawthorne is so far away from this little town, nobody will ever really know it."
"Even if the cops keep digging?"
"Your father is best friends with the police chief, who has already said he would keep things on the down low for us. We just need to let things blow over. We'll be fine, Pidge." I kiss her. A baby starts crying.
"Sounds like Dani is hungry."
"Well, that sounds like my job." She kisses me one more time before going to the nursery to feed Dani.