Beginning of Summer
Mack is an adorable baby, but a very demanding one. It’s a good thing both of his parents work from home as that means someone is always nearby to give him a good cuddle. Mostly it ends up being Pranav, because Alice is usually focused on her woodcarving.
If she isn’t she’s out in the garden or with her bees. Pranav was cautious about the purchase of the bee box, but it really has helped the garden immensely and there haven’t been any mishaps yet.
Pranav and Alice are still very close. They’ve agreed that this second child will be their last though-no more! It would take a great deal of work to fit another child into their house anyways.
Besides, they get little enough time together as it is, with just Mack requiring their attention and love. While they love living on the island (especially now that they have contact with the outside world and several more comforts), it does have it’s downsides. Chores take up a large part of the day.
Which is maybe why Pranav decided the time was right to ask for Alice’s hand in marriage again. After all, she knew for sure his previous wife was just that-previous. And they had one child and were having another. They loved each other. It seemed like the perfect time.
Alice just couldn’t say yes though. She couldn’t put into words why, but it just didn’t feel right to get married. Why did they need to anyways? Things were fine the way they were.
For a little while things were tense. Alice tried to act like nothing had happened, but Pranav had a hard time doing that. He just couldn’t understand why she kept refusing to marry him. What would really change if they did? He just wanted the feeling of marriage, something he couldn’t explain to Alice no matter how hard he tried.
Middle of Summer
Things did eventually return to normal. Pranav decided he wouldn’t ask Alice for her hand in marriage again-it was obviously not going to happen. After a little while he was able to feel happy in their arrangement again. After all, they did love each other, they just had different ideas about how to express it.
It helped that Mack had grown into a toddler. The silly little boy was always bringing a smile to his parent’s faces. When he wasn’t getting into trouble, anyways.
Pranav was the one who spent the most time with his son. Sometimes he felt like Alice ignored the boy too much, but she did spend a lot of time working to provide simoleons for their family.
That just meant he was able to spend quality time with his son anyways. Pranav rarely went fishing now, finding himself instead being a father twenty-four/seven.
It beat standing out on the porch in a thunderstorm working to finish a large order. Especially while heavily pregnant. While Pranav sometimes thought Alice should spend more time with their son, Alice herself wished she could and that Pranav would do something more productive than an hour or two of fishing a day. Then she’d be able to afford to spend time with Mack.
A Little Later
On one of the weekly ships there had been a stowaway puppy. The adults had been laughing when Pranav got the idea to keep the puppy instead of sending it back to the mainland. Mack was old enough now to know how to treat a little furry companion after all.
So Merlin joined the family. Alice had been a little bit annoyed at the addition without any input from her, but seeing Mack’s face light up around the puppy quickly had her forgetting. Besides, she had to admit that it was cute watching Pranav with the puppy.
Mack was just as adorable. Mack and Merlin were quickly inseparable, romping over the house together. The only problem was that Merlin was so little, somebody had to carry him outside to potty and it certainly wasn’t Mack doing that!
In fact, Alice was beginning to thing that the Terrible Twos would never end! If he wasn’t splashing in the toilet he was dumping paints all over the floors, or digging into the cabinets, or tearing pages out of his books! It didn’t help that it seemed like Pranav never scolded him for his misbehaving either.
At least he had started to try something more productive and worked on some flower arrangements for a few hours every day. He wasn’t terribly good but he was improving and she was sure that the quality of the flowers could cover any mistakes he made.
Time passes…
Alice was much better prepared this time around when it was time for her baby to make an appearance. The doctor was actually on the island, so after Pranav got a hold of himself she sent him over to Neeshem’s-where the doctor was staying-while she made her way inside.
It wasn’t easy keeping from scaring Mack while she had contractions, and it seemed like what should have been a ten minutes trip was taking an hour.
Eventually she heard Pranav and the doctor outside. She had to grin a little despite the situation, as the doctor was firmly telling Pranav to get inside and mind the little one so that he could tend to Alice.
So that’s what Pranav did and sweet little Mack had no idea that in the next room over his little sibling was coming into the world.
In an even less amount of time than Mack, Alice and Pranav welcomed a second son into the world, little Wesley Driftwood.
Perhaps it was just because they had some practice, but Wesley did seem to be an easier baby to care for than Mack.
Mack was still demanding as a toddler. He had to have breakfast with Pranav every morning or his entire day would be messed up.
During Pranav’s chores he would watch Alice woodwork, while babbling to her. She wasn’t ever sure what he was saying but he was happy enough with random noises from her.
End of Summer
The season was coming to a close. Pranav was trying to get some extra fishing done to make some extra money for the last few boats to the island before they were isolated for the fall and winter. They had quite a stockpile but it never hurt to have more.
Merlin grew into an adult dog, removing one chore from Alice and Pranav since he could now make it down the stairs on his own. Perhaps now they could make sure Mack actually slept in his bed and not on the floor.
Merlin and Mack were still just as attached to each other. The dog was good at corralling his little toddler human away from the steps and keeping him inside, especially on thundering days.
Alice was taking advantage of the last few summery days to get in some long yoga workouts. It was nicer than jogging around the island, especially since the bathtub was so near to clean off after a good exercise session.
She was able to work out so much because Alex was always willing to come over and help clean up and mind the children. Neeshem would help out Pranav during this times with the heavy lifting around the island, making sure everyone was fully furnished and stocked for the coming hard seasons.
Little Wesley grew into an inquisitive toddler before the chilly weather moved in and was quickly close to his older brother. Merlin tolerated the younger sibling but was obviously Mack’s dog.
Wesley wasn’t too jealous-his big brother always had time for him and the two were able to keep each other entertained for the most part. There were pros and cons to two toddlers over a toddler and a baby. Alice hadn’t expected her life to take this route, obviously, but she really couldn’t imagine any other way.
They were lucky enough to arrange for a special shipment on the last set of boats to the island. Little Honey joined the family and was a perfect match for Wesley. Now there wouldn’t be any jealous between the boys over pets, since they both had their own.
The Driftwoods 