Chapter Two
Over the next couple of days, after Brian returned to the tour, Shannon was kept busy with visits from Drew, Jessica Dorough, and Aileen Richardson. Both Jessica and Aileen had heard about her trip to the hospital from their husbands, Howie and Kevin. Kevin was Brian’s cousin, so Aileen and Shannon always fondly said that they were “cousins-in-law.”
“I know what you’re going through.” Aileen said sympathetically over a tall slice of cheesecake. She had brought the dessert over to cheer Shannon up, and now they were both enjoying it. “I was practically forbidden to breathe during my last month.”
Shannon laughed. “Yeah, but that was because you were expecting quadruplets, and Kevin was being extremely overprotective.”
Aileen looked at Shannon for a moment, then shrugged. “Still, I do know how it feels to not be allowed to do anything. The trick is to have something to do so you don’t go stark raving mad.”
“Like what?” Shannon took a bite of the strawberry cheesecake.
“Well, I wrote.” Aileen answered. She was a published author, and had been writing stories since high school. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out. Do you knit?” Shannon lowered her fork and raised one eyebrow at Aileen, who laughed. “Sorry! Forget I asked. You could…” she thought for a moment.
“Well, I can do some needlepoint.” Shannon said. “I’ll get Anne to pick me up a pattern.”
“I can do it for you.” Aileen offered. “There’s a craft store between your place and mine. I’ll drop it by tomorrow.”
“That’d be great, thanks hon.” Shannon smiled.
The next day, as promised, Aileen dropped off a large embroidery pattern of a beautiful pasture. Shannon was thrilled with it, and began it immediately. Even though she had trouble occasionally, she worked on it diligently for the next week.
On the Thursday after Brian had brought her home, Shannon was in the living room with the TV on and her embroidery in her hands. She was all alone in the house because her mother had flown back to Nova Scotia (where she and her husband had retired to), and all three of the triplets were out for various reasons. It was summer vacation, so they didn’t have school. Anne was over at Shay-Lynne’s house, Thomas was playing a pick-up game of basketball with some friends and one of Aileen’s kids, and Joseph was a the movies with his friends.
Shannon was concentrating on the white rail fence on the pattern, ignoring the soap opera on the television. She took a stitch, and her thread knotted. She patiently unraveled it and continued to stitch. A few stitches later, the thread knotted again. She sighed, but undid the tangle and kept on. A couple of minutes later, the thread tangled again. This time, when she tried to fix it, the thread broke.
When the two halves of the thread separated, so did her patience. Tears started coursing down her cheeks and the embroidery dropped to her lap. Shannon’s hands came up to cover her face as she sobbed hopelessly.
At the same time, Scott Lee Richardson was approaching the back door. He had been in the neighborhood so he decided to stop by and see how “Auntie Shannon” was doing. Since the back door was open to allow for a draft, he walked right in. He was about to call out when he heard sobs from the living room.
“Hello? Auntie Shannon?” he called. “Are you alright?” When he received no answer, he walked quickly toward the sound. He got to the doorway and looked in to see Shannon hunched over, her shoulders shaking. “Omigod!” he exclaimed and hurried to her side. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
Shannon looked up with puffy red eyes and drew a shaky breath. “I’m fine.”
Scott, one of Aileen and Kevin’s quadruplets was a month or two older than Anne, Joseph, and Thomas, took one of her hands. “No, you’re not. Is it the baby?”
Shannon shook her head. “The baby’s fine. I just… my thread broke.” She finished lamely.
Scott nodded, knowing not to say anything to convey his doubt. “Do you want me to get you anything?”
She wiped her tears from her cheeks. “No, but thank you dear. I just feel so… useless. I’m not allowed to do anything!” she cried.
Scott looked at her helplessly. He tentatively reached out and rubbed her back comfortingly. A moment later, he murmured, “I’ll be right back.” He quickly went into the kitchen and made her a cup of tea. When he brought it to her, she wrapped her hands around the hot porcelain gratefully, inhaling the steam.
After a few minutes, and about half of the tea, Shannon smiles at Scott. “Thank you. I’m okay now.”
“Are you sure?” he asked and she nodded. They chatted for a bit, then Scott had to leave. He said goodbye, telling her to call him if she needed anything.
As he walked out the door, he saw Anne and Shay coming up the path. “Hey Scott!” Anne exclaimed. “Long time no see!”
“Yeah.” He grinned. “Hey Shay. How’s it going?”
“Good.” The two answered.
“Watcha doin’s here?” Shay asked.
Scott looked serious again. “I just thought I’d drop by and see Auntie Shannon. It turned out it was a good thing I did.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” Anne asked, worried.
“She’s just feeling very useless.” Scott said after explaining what had happened. “She needs to feel needed.”
The two girls looked at each other then back at Scott. “What can we do about it, though?” Shay asked.
He shrugged. “I dunno. I’ve been trying to think of something.”
Just then, Thomas and Scott’s sister Kevlee came walking up the street from their game of basketball. “Hey guys! Whaddup?” Thomas called.
Scott quickly explained how he had found Shannon, and their dilemma. “What do you guys think?”
Thomas and Kevlee were silent for a moment, then Thomas spoke. “Well… since we’re the only ones who know about this since Da’s still on tour, I think we have to help Mum out.” He concluded.
“Yeah, but how?” Kevlee asked.
Thomas thought for a moment. “Why don’t we get all of everybody together and see what we can come up with?”
The others agreed immediately, knowing what he meant. Growing up, Asia Carter had coined the phrase “all of everybody” to describe all of the “Backstreet Babies.”
Soon, all twelve of “all of everybody” were gathered in the Littrell back yard. They chose to meet there so that if Shannon needed anything they were close.
“So…” Thomas looked around at the group. He saw his two siblings as well as Shay and older sister, Asia. Scott sat with his sisters and brother – Kevlee, Kealea, and Keanett were the other three quadruplets, and their younger sister, Casey Richardson. Beside them sat Dakota and Jeff Dorough. Dakota was the same age as the triplets, while Jeff was three years younger, the same age as Casey. Asia was the oldest by two years.
“Does anybody have any ideas?” Thomas continued.
“Well, I think we should narrow down what we’re talking about.” Asia said. “Are we thinking up things w we can do to keep her occupied, or things Auntie Shannon can do to feel less useless.” She tucked a stray lock of her blonde hair behind her ear.
They all looked puzzled. “Maybe some of both?” Dakota said, lying on her stomach and toying with her long, dirty blonde hair.
“Sounds good.” Kealea said, shrugging. She and the other three quadruplets nodded identical black-haired heads.
Everyone sat in silence for a while, thinking. Occasionally, someone would suggest something, then the silence would reign again. Suddenly, Shay’s brown eyes went wide and she leaned over to whisper in Anne’s ear.
“Yeah!” Anne agreed enthusiastically.
“What?” Casey asked, brushing her brown bangs out of her eyes.
“I think we’ve got it!” Shay said.
“Okay, so let’s hear it.” Joseph said.
“Well, last week, when the Evil One was still here,” Anne began, smiling at the giggles for her grandmother’s nickname. “She told Shay and I to clean up the attic. We found some awesome stuff up there from when our parents were younger. Why don’t we bring it all downstairs?”
“And do what with it?” Jeff inquired, leaning forward.
“We could help Auntie Shannon organize it, and get her to tell us the stories behind everything.” Shay answered.
All ten of the others looked at each other as the plan took hold in their heads. “That actually sounds like fun!” Dakota said.
“Yeah!” Casey, Asia, and Kealea agreed.
“I dunno…” Keanett said doubtfully.
“Oh, come on, don’t be such a loser.” Anne poked at her cousin. “It won’t be that bad. You’ll probably even have fun.” He looked at her with narrowed eyes, then reluctantly agreed.
“Any other objections?” Shay asked, looking around. Everyone shook their heads.
“Okay, so how do we bring this up, exactly?” Thomas asked. “We don’t want to be at all patronizing.”
“Umm…” they all thought about it for a few moments.
“I’ve got it!” Kealea said, and proceeded to outline her plan to the rest of them.