Chapter 7.4 – Changes

Ivy knew that her relationship with James was over, being with Jackson had made her realise what she had been missing out on all this time.  James was still hanging around the house all the time, mooching off her and she knew she had to tell him once and for all.  She was a bit scared due to James’s mood swings, so she asked her brother Gabriel to be with her when she broke the news.

James was a little shocked at first but in the end took it pretty well.  He seemed sadder about the fact that he couldn’t come over anymore and Ivy could not help but feel that they relationship had probably been over for a long time.

Now the path was clear for her and Jackson.  It was a whirlwind romance based on going to work and rushing home to the bedroom.  Their colleagues at work hated the new relationship as Ivy and Jackson were always giggling and kissing.  They preferred it when they hated each other.

After a few weeks Ivy knew that Jackson was the man for her.  She had never felt this way before and could not imagine her life without him.  So she dug out her father’s wedding ring, got down on one knee and popped the question.

Jackson looked on in shock and a sudden feeling of dread swept over Ivy – maybe he thought it was too soon.  But then Jackson started jumping up and down and screamed “YES”.  Ivy slipped the ring on his finger and knew that she had finally found her soul mate.

Gabriel meanwhile was doing very well in the law enforcement track.  He had been promoted to Undercover Specialist and when he was not patrolling the streets, he went undercover to track down criminals.  At the moment he was investigating the owner of the bistro across town and went to work every day dressed in the same uniform as Ivy.

When he was home he tried to spend as much time as possible with his youngest son, Alfie.  Alfie was still just a toddler, but Gabriel had high hopes that he would one day become superstar athlete.

Ivy and Jackson knew no reason to have a long engagement.  They wanted to be husband and wife as soon as possible so planned a quick wedding with close friends and family.  Ivy splashed out and bought herself a Vera Wang wedding dress.

There was not much of the Shenston family still alive, only Ivy’s uncle Perry and family.  His daughters were now young adults.  Augusta had grown into a beauty with her fathers blond hair and her mother’s face.

And Sheri looked more like her dad with her mother’s fiery red hair and green eyes. 

Ivy and Jackson exchanged their rings in front of Ivy’s family and Jackson’s friends.  Jackson appeared to only have a father left from the Bradshaw family, but he did not even turn up.

Jackson moved in that night bringing with him his life savings of $2,489.  Because Ivy and Jackson had not known each other long before the married, they spent their honeymoon in the Caribbean at a Sandals Resort telling each other everything about themselves.  Ivy found out that Jackson was ambitious, a perfectionist, a hopeless romantic, a genius and had a great sense of humour!  She also discovered his lifelong wish was to become Chess Legend.  

After admitting his passion for chess and not for cooking, Ivy and Jackson agreed that Jackson should quite work (they were annoying all their colleagues too much anyway) and focus all his time on begging a chess legend. Jackson practised all day every day often beating Ivy’s nephew Romeo and Gabriel at the game.

Before long it was Candy and Gabriel’s birthdays.  They decided to celebrate just the two of them and aged gracefully into adult hood.

The very next day it was Alfie’s birthday too.  After all the excitement from the wedding, the family decided to just celebrate with each other and held a little birthday party in the kitchen for Alfie.

As he aged he grew to love the outdoors and spent every waking moment in the playground in the garden. Sometimes, he even slept in the jungle jim!

Gabriel and Candy were so worried about him spending so much time on his own outside at night, that they often had Romeo sit out there with him. Poor Romeo.

But Romeo was very happy.  Through his chess challenges with Jackson he had realised his lifelong wish to have a perfect mind and perfect body.  He had also come out the closet and found himself a boyfriend.

Jackson and Ivy had been trying to conceive a baby for months – Jackson was already 45 so was desperate for children before he got too old.  In the end they took a huge lump of money out of the family’s savings and went and had fertility treatment.  Even though the problem seemed to lie with Ivy, Jackson had the treatment too.  Well it worked a treat.  Within weeks Ivy was pregnant! Even though Ivy could not see her, her mum Roxy was standing behind her when Ivy realised she was pregnant, watching over her and protecting her and the baby.

On Ivy’s first visit to the doctor she had some very interesting news.  The fertility treatment had worked so well that Ivy was having triplets!!!  Ivy was terrified of what was to come, but even more scared by the fact she had to tell her brother that there was not enough room for him at the house any longer what with three babies on the way!

Gabriel was very understanding and knew he had probably far out stayed his welcome anyway.  He told Ivy they would move out the next day.  Ivy felt so guilty but the fact was there was just not enough room. Gabriel and his family packed up their belongings and purchased a gorgeous house across town with four bedrooms and three bathrooms.

When it came to moving day, Rhona decided that she wanted to stay behind and live with Ivy and Jackson.  Ivy was thrilled at the idea as she loved Rhona and desperately needed another pair of hands to help with the triplets.  Gabriel and Candy were not so thrilled, but they knew Rhona had never felt truly part of their family and maybe it was time for her to start leading her own life.  Gabriel also knew his sister would take good care of his little girl and they would be just across town if she needed them.

Ivy’s pregnancy flew by.  Every day she got bigger and bigger and Jackson was constantly facinated by the fact Ivy was carrying three babies in her tummy!

Both Ivy and Jackson read as many books as they could on how to raise triplets and researched every website there was. They wanted to be as prepared as possible.

Ivy went into labor on a Tuesday morning whilst preparing lobster with chocolate source for lunch.  She was three weeks early and Jackson was at work so she endured the labor all on her own. 

First to be born was Anna, who was named after Jackson’s great-grandmother.  She weighed 5lbs 9oz and was born good and loved the outdoors.  She looked just like her mum with her dark hair and blue eyes.

Next was Ava, who was named after one of Ivy’s ancestors.  She weighted 5lbs 4oz and was born easily impressed with a good sense of humor.  She was a real mixture of both her parents with her dads hair and mums eyes. 

The third baby was named Emma as Jackson and Ivy had thought this went well with Anna and Ava.  She weighed 5lbs, 5oz and was born evil and lucky.  She was almost identical to Ava with her blond hair and blue eyes.

Ivy let out a huge sigh of relief, she had done it – delivered her triplets and they were all beautiful.  Then suddenly she had the urge to push again and out popped baby number four.  Ivy was shocked, she had no idea she had been carrying quadruplets all this time!  She named baby number four Eva.  She was the smallest of the babies at 4lbs 9oz but very healthy.  She was born brave and a genius and looked a real mix of her parents with her mums dark hair and dads brown eyes.