-20-

Because Mathew had pretty much moved into Snowie's bedroom, Egypt had taken to sleeping in her grandmother's bed. She wasn't angry with Mathew for causing her to have to move out though, in fact, she was fascinated by the man. She adored Mathew and could usually be found hanging onto one of his arms.

Egypt wasn't Mathew's only fan though, all of the Winter children fell in love with him. One day Jaylee pulled him into the nursery roughly, she picked up Cupid who was chewing on the horn of the toy unicorn that rested between the cribs. 

She motioned to the toddler, "You seem to like mine very much, are you ready for one of these?" Before Mathew could answer though, Jaylee continued. "Ready or not it's coming, she has to be about two or three months along, I heard the heartbeat this morning."

Mathew was stunned into silence, Jaylee smirked, pleased with his reaction. She shoved Cupid into his arms and strode out of the nursery triumphantly. 

Hank, who had been missing in action for some time, appeared in the kitchen one morning. Agnes was thrilled that the gnome was back. "I bet Egypt had you in that stuffy tree house."

Snowie had done well with hiding her morning sickness from her family, she knew that Jaylee and Agnes would be quick to give her a lecture on responsibility if they found out. This morning though was the worst she'd ever had, she poked at her food the the fork but the mere thought of putting it in her mouth made her stomach turn.

Egypt was finally having a normal childhood, at twelve years old she had finally grown out of her awkward stage. Jaylee had her enrolled in ballet and she made sure that her father saw all of the new moves she learnt.

Before the sun rose the next morning Snowie had her head inside the toilet of Claus' and Jaylee's adjoining bathroom. Jaylee hovered over her, rubbing her back and keeping her hair out of the way.

"Okay, go on and say it." Snowie told her sister-in-law.

"Say what?"

"I told you so."

Jaylee chuckled. "Your bio teacher told you, and so did the doctors and everyone around you, unprotected sex leads to pregnancy. But I'm not worried about you, judging from the way he is with my kids, Mathew will make a wonderful mother."

Snowie managed a weak laugh. "Wow, a compliment for Mathew, I bet that took some effort...you still managed to insult him though."

"None at all, I always give credit where credit is due, and the insult made you smile which is what  I was aiming for."

"Jay," Snowie said with a small grin, "Just admit it, Mathew isn't what you thought and you like him just as much as the kids do."

"I'm not admitting anything."

Sahara grew up into a unique looking girl. Her grandmother says that she has enough energy to keep Sunset Valley up and running, and more than enough to drive her family crazy.

The only person she tried to drive crazy though was her older sister. She wanted to be around Egypt all the time and she was constantly challenging her sister, much to Egypt's annoyance. 

It was shortly after Egypt's thirteenth birthday that she developed a taste for blood. Claus stood for a long time watching his daughter consume the red liquid. "You can't be enjoying that." He said in disgust.

"I am." Egypt told him. 

Claus was at a loss, he just hoped that Jaylee caught on to their daughter's newly acquired taste.

"Why did you buy those shoes for her?" Egypt was giving her father grief lately, she constantly complained about everything, especially where her little sister was concerned. Claus cursed puberty and all that it stood for. "She only wanted them because I have some."

"So what Egypt? Quit being selfish, Sahara just wants to be like her big sister."

"But I don't want her to follow me."

Claus sighed, he had one more teenage girl to look forward to in the near future and he just prayed that Cupid's teenage years would be nothing like his own.

Across town Mathew was stepping up to the plate. He proposed to Snowie, he had already made up his mind that his child would not be born to parents with two different last names. Two weeks later with Jamie and Snowie's family for witnesses, he and Snowie were wed at Town Hall.