“I can’t believe that I’m going to be a dad at age three-and-a-half,” Jamie lamented. “How am I to raise a kid when I don’t even have a job yet.”
“Don’t worry, Jamie, I’ll give you a hand with that,” Robbie said as he patted his brother reassuringly on the shoulder. “I’m going to be the kid’s uncle, after all.”
“Yeah. I’ll share my snacks and toys with them, and my skirt too,” Ellie chimed in as she regarded her brother with seriousness.
“Them?” The boy’s eyes widened in horror. “Is Ms. Wiklund going to bear me triplets?”
“She might,” Robbie analyzed with a poker face. “According to the study of genetics, there’s a hereditary component to multiple births. Since we are triplets, we are also likely to conceive triplets ourselves in the future.”
“Good grief…” Jamie was shell-shocked. “What am I going to do?”
“Three lineal kin. Would I have enough pocket money to go around?” Ellie said as she counted on her fingers. “Oh no, I’m short.”
“Me too.” The situation seemed quite dire the more Robbie thought about it. “It looks like we might need to ask Mommy and Mrs. Berry for help.”
“Ugh, I’m never kissing another girl again.” His brother was distraught. “No more girlfriends for me either.”
“That’s good to know.” Robbie patted him on the shoulder. “I’m afraid Uncle Zack’s villa might run out of room if you were to keep this up.”
“Yeah. Even the limousine couldn’t fit all of them.” Ellie pouted as she solemnly reminded him. “If they were to attend kindergarten with us, I think we’ll have enough numbers to form one class between your kids and ourselves.”
“Ugh…” Jamie had his head in his hands. The thought of that scene made him want to cry in despair.
“What’s the matter?” Charlotte and Zachary asked as they came down the steps.
Zachary was dressed in something more comfortable, and he had an arm around her.
They were a little worried when they saw the children so gravely immersed in a discussion.
“I messed up, Mommy!” Jamie choked up. “I won’t casually kiss girls or make them my girlfriends anymore.”
“Huh? What’s going on?” Charlotte asked.
“Jamie went and kissed Ms. Wiklund.” Ellie complained as she trotted over on her stumpy legs. “The teacher’s going to be pregnant. His kids are going to become our classmates, and he’s afraid he won’t be able to afford them…”
“Pfft!” Charlotte coughed.
“Hahaha…” Zachary burst into laughter. “Who told you that one kiss would make anyone a father?”
“Robbie did.” Ellie looked to her older brother, all wide-eyed.
“I’ve inferred it from a book I read.” Robbie began to gesticulate as he broke it down for them. “When the male and female behave intimately, pregnancy can occur. That’s what the source material said.”
“…” Charlotte was nonplussed and was at a loss as to how to explain this.
“That’s kind of true, except that it only applies to adults. All of you are too young to conceive,” Zachary patiently explained as he carried Robbie and Ellie to the couch.
“Really?” Jamie’s brows perked up. “Does that mean that Ms. Wiklund’s going to be fine?”
“Of course she will be,” Zachary answered in earnest. “Intimacy means something different when a child and an adult kiss. However, you shouldn’t start kissing girls wantonly. It’ll be hard to change when you grow up should you ever make a habit of that.”
“Understood.” Jamie nodded profusely. “I’ll stop randomly kissing girls and getting girlfriends.”
“That’s the spirit.” Zachary then ruffled his mild curls. “It’s good to share things with grownups, so we could encourage you if you did something positive, and should you make a mistake, we can all try to work together to set things right.”
