For what was supposed to be a holiday, it had already been quite a busy day in Moon Lake.
The secrets and schemes of Kenya Adaeze and her husband Jack Crawford had been exposed before the town at the Labor Day picnic, scuttling any chance Kenya might have to be elected Mayor.
Freddie "The Shark" Parker and his men had been arrested during their attempted siege on the Sheriff's department to break Daniel Parker out after he was arrested for shooting Peter Talbot during a carjacking, not knowing that the mobster's son had been secretly transported to the Seattle office of the FBI the night before.
Helen Thompkins and Peter Talbot, as well as Sheriff Douglas Cooper and Joan Morning Cloud, had joined Jean Talbot and Nate Anderson in natural were-wedding bliss...
...but all of that didn't matter to Martin and Melissa Stovall, as they brought home their newborn twins Joshua and Dawn from the hospital.
His wife had given birth to the twins in the wee hours of Saturday morning, hence the appropriate name for the baby girl.
Having known about the impending arrivals for months, the only "fly in the ointment" was the need to remodel their house. The Stovalls had done it once before, converting the entire upstairs into just two bedrooms so each had a full size Jacuzzi-spa tub to accommodate the were-mers. One in the master bedroom and the other in what was their oldest daughter Julie's room.
But now Julie was on the verge of completing the first year of her 150 year prison term for violating Statute 1A when she tried to turn Eric Anderson into a were-mer against his will.
In the end, after putting all of Julie's stuff in storage; they decided to remodel her bedroom by splitting it in two and adding another full bath with accompanying special tub. Granted, each individual room wasn't as big as the original and the twins wouldn't be using the tubs, supervised or otherwise* for a few years yet, but at least the Stovalls were ready to be parents again.
And that was something both adults were looking forward too, especially Martin.
His years of unfaithfulness cheating on Melissa was something he feared contributed to Julie's moral downfall and eventual arrest.
Although he was already trying to get help from Doctor Frances Twist, the fact that his wife was not only pregnant, but the eventual discovery that she was having twins seemed to be the catalyst that helped Martin completely change his life around.
All the previous months of helping out around the house, tending to his wife's maternity needs, and taking care of everything else that needed to be done when he wasn't serving as the were-mer representative on the Elders' Council impressed Melissa beyond belief.
There were a couple of times she was sorely tempted to ask, "Who are you and what have you done with the real Martin Stovall?", but never did.
This is the man I fell in love with, she happily realized, as Martin brought up a lunch tray for her as she breast fed both babies.
Later, after even helping to change their diapers, once the babies were asleep, Martin drew up a nice warm bath for his wife to soak in as he babysat.
Martin sat on the foot of the bed, watching both cribs with a smile on his face.
I was such a fool! he chastised himself once again. How could I risk my marriage to Melissa, let alone this, for some stray tail every once in a while?
There was no realistic answer to that question, so Martin just remained content to sit and stare at his newborn children when he felt the cellphone vibrate (no ringer to not risk waking the children) in his shirt pocket.
Pulling it out, he read the message from Tachibana no Akane.
COUNCIL MEETING. 10AM TUESDAY. CHARGES PENDING AGAINST JACK CRAWFORD AND HIS WIFE. PRESENCE REQUIRED. CONGRATULATIONS ON THE NEW ARRIVALS. HOPE MELISSA AND BABIES ARE FINE.
Although he knew who Jack Crawford was, Martin had absolutely no idea what could be so serious that the Crawfords had been summoned to appear before the Elders' Council. In any event, he sent his acknowledgement and vow to be there tomorrow morning, as well as a brief comment about his family.
After seeing the message had been sent, Martin was about to put his phone away when it received another text.
Martin became more gravely concerned when he saw the sender was Warden Creighton, of the were prison where Julie was being held.
Worried, he opened the message.
FYI: JULIE STOVALL HAS SUDDENLY DECIDED TO START TRYING FOR HER GED! UNDER STRICT SUPERVISION, SHE WILL BEGIN FRESHMAN CLASSES TOMORROW MORNING.
Wow! I wonder what brought that on? Martin asked himself, before replying.
Although some might call it a slight abuse of his power as a Council Representative, Martin and the warden were old friends. So while Julie would receive absolutely no special treatment whatsoever, Creighton did promise to keep Martin informed as to his daughter's state of well being in prison.
When Melissa Stovall came out of the bathroom, she was surprised to see the bed turned down and Martin waiting with towels and a bottle of lotion.
"A soothing massage for those sore muscles honey?" he whispered.
While her husband was still fully dressed, she dropped her robe and walked to the bed without a care in the world that she was nude.
Seeing her form, even with what was visible of the recent child birth scars, reminded Martin of one of the many reasons why he fell in love, let alone married her in the first place as Melissa laid on the towel covered bed stomach first.
Although she never brought up the issue, both knew that even if Melissa hadn't resumed taking her were-mer birth control pills after giving birth, it would be quite a while before she was in any shape or mood to engage in sex again.
As Martin tended to his wife's needs, he told her about the texts.
Melissa only knew Jack Crawford by name, but was happy to hear about Julie. "Perhaps now she might try to get her life together," was her only comment, as she felt her back aches and pains at least temporarily disappear.
Just like me, realized Martin, who continued to massage his wife long after she fell asleep.
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*Regardless of which Moon Lake story line you're reading, were-mers consider themselves "the quiet weres", already born with their natural abilities to see, hear, speak, and breathe as well underwater as they can on dry land. They just don't gain or are able to display their scales and tails until after their first official transformation after the onset of puberty.—tmw.