Epilogue

"Nooo Cookie is training for the Olympics! She can't have cake for breakfast!"

Immy puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. "But I made a whole cake!"

"Well, we gotta have breakfast, then cake for breakfast dessert."

"Ohh... what about pancakes, then cake? So they are both cake?"

"Yes, uh huh, that's better."

Frannie shook her head with a sigh and went back to stacking her blocks. The tower she had been working on for the better part of an hour was almost as tall as she was. I kinda wanted to knock it down, but last time I did that Daddy gave me twenty spankings. The memory sent a shiver up my spine and I blushed.

"Issit ready yet?" the boy asked, toddling to his feet with a monkey stuffie in his hand.

Frannie rolled her eyes. "Not yet, Sannie, I wanna make it taller!"

"But monkeys gotta climb buildings, it's in the rules!”

"Girls don't have to follow rules, Sannie. Rules is just for boys." Immy contributed, and Frannie crossed her arms.

"Hush up! You're gonna scare it..." Yes. Scare the block building. That was baby logic at its finest.

"Um... Nattie?" Immy asked curiously. "Whass'a diff'rence between pancakes and hotcakes if pancakes are also hot..."

"...umm..." But even big-girl brain couldn't figure that one out. I thought they were the same thing? So I answered it in a little-girl way. "Pancakes are made in a pan but hot cakes are made on hot sidewalks in the summer." I nodded. Yes, that made sense...

"Nattie," a voice called from the doorway. Mommy's voice. I sprang to my feet and ran over to her, waddling from the wetness of my diaper.

"How is everyone doing? Do you need juice boxes? Remember - part of being a good hostess is asking if people need anything."

"Umm, I'll ask!" I wasn't used to being a hostess. This was the first time I had a playdate at my house, in my new playroom. It wasn't as big as Frannie's but I had at least as many toys for sure. And everyone seemed to be enjoying it.

"Does anybody wan' juice boxes!" I shouted into the room. And my question was met with a resounding "YES PLEASE" from all three Littles. I turned back to Mommy. "Four juice boxes, please."

"Oh that's very good counting, honey!" Cora beamed and a voice in the distance asked if four was the number, to which the answer was shouted again by Natalie as 'four please!' like an overexcited child. Which she was.

Cora admired her work on the playroom, on her little girl, on everything: the way the paint looked, the choice of toys, and other things, too, like Sam - who arrived with four juice boxes on a fancy platter because she loved to ham up being a maid sometimes.

It wasn't all good, though - Eddie still struggled to become Little Etta ever since that day, despite Cora trying to talk things through, despite how well things turned out.

I passed out the juice boxes one by one to my friends and went back to playing Breakfasts with Immy. I watched Frannie add a block to her tower taller than her head, which meant she had to lift her arms and show off her diaper. I giggled to myself; it was always so funny to me how Frannie was even more self-conscious about her diapers than I was. And Hana would put her in short dresses some days just to tease her.

I wondered idly if Frannie had a job. Or Immy, for that matter. I had never asked, and they never asked me. I didn't work as an office manager anymore, but I spent two afternoons at the office as Daddy's assistant. Mostly, he liked to boss me around his office and give me impossible chores. And he had a way of saying stuff in ways that would make me blush, even the most innocuous things! I wasn't sure I even got paid for the position, to be honest... I hadn't thought about money in forever.

I sipped my juice box and my tummy gurgled uncomfortably. I'd been dealing with cramps all morning, and I was finally through fighting it. I bent forward, on my hands and knees, and took a deep breath. With a push, the seat of my diaper bulged outward and filled the space between my legs. Frannie and Sannie watched dumbfounded, but Immy didn't have a care in the world. And when I was done, my bangs were damp with sweat and the diaper was heavy on my hips. I smiled at Frannie and she shook her head in disbelief. That was the first time I'd done something like that in front of them...

I wondered if I should go find Mommy, but... well, she'd check on me sooner or later. She'd call me over, turn me around, and pull back the waist band of my diaper like she did every few hours. And when she did, she would take me away for a proper changing.

Until then, I didn't mind so much. After all, each use of a diaper was another event, another experience. And even if it was gross and weird, it was a million times more interesting than using the toilet! So I sat down on my messy butt, prompting Immy to hold her nose, and went back to playing.

"You don't deserve her, you know,” Sam reminded Cora.

Cora smiled from her seat in the living room, still in eye-line of the playroom but out of earshot. "I know, Sammie, and I'll always know that - she's a gift that I don't deserve. But... she deserves to be happy, and I make her happy, so she deserves me. I'll just count my lucky stars and be grateful every single night I get to put her to bed. What happened is in the past, and I'll make sure it stays a distant memory; just kept as a secret."

Sam thought for a second, and then nodded. "You really do love her." She didn't sound venomous, not anymore, she seemed content enough to know that nobody had ever worked harder to make up for a mistake than Cora, and that had to count for something.

Cora nodded in agreement and smiled, before asking:

"What about you, Sammie? Are you ready to tell Nattie your new secret?"

[End]

Names & Colors:

Natalie Anderson

Cora Gladstone

Ando Gladstone- leader of Grand National

Samantha ‘Sam’

Prin

Maid

Maisie

Toni

Santory

Hana

Fliss

Matron

Mabel

Immy

Frannie

Etta