With the harvesting season on the Brambles farm well under way, most would be forgiven for forgetting that something else rather momentous had happened in the last days of June. In a little cottage away from the main house, the Mallorys had welcomed a new life into their family ....a little girl, born earlier than expected, but no less loved for that fact. There had been visits from family, of course, and from friends, but one person in particular had not yet had a look at the new arrival. Which was why Maggie Mae Lassiter was lurking just outside the gate to her best friend's home, hoping he was going to notice her and ask her inside.

It had been an exciting month for Rob - he had just finished playing Oliver at the Shanachie, sharing the role with Rick Harker, with whom he was making friends. As if that wasn't exciting enough, he had a brand new baby sister, and he was taking the role of big brother pretty seriously. It was the Mallory's housekeeper, Elise, who noticed Maggie lingering at the gate and called for the boy to go fetch his friend to meet his new baby sister.

Excited to show off his new sister, Rob hurried outside to find Maggie right where Elise had said she'd be. "Maggie!" he called, a huge grin on his face. "Come see Baby DeeDee. Elise said it's all right now that Mama is feeling better, but we have to be quiet so we don't wake her or Papa while they're napping."

All wayward blonde hair and bright green eyes, Maggie was bouncing impatiently on her toes by the time Rob came out, reluctantly obedient to her own parents' insistence that she not burst in unless she was invited. As soon as she saw Rob, however, she pushed the gate opened and ran to meet him, just as excited as he was. "Why are they sleeping?" she asked him curiously. After all, she'd only joined her father after Caleb had turned one; she'd not been in close contact with an infant before now.

"Oh! She wakes up at all hours of the night crying because she's hungry. Mama says she's very demanding for such a tiny thing, but Elise says I was even worse when I was little," Rob explained to his friend when she caught up with him. "Papa was supposed to be working in the stables, but he said your Mama shooed him away and told him to tend to his own family first."

Maggie nodded, grinning. "With the dunging fork," she told him, offering up a new detail. "She said she would stab him in the bum if he didn't go home." A peal of giggles erupted from her as they reached the front door, both hands rising to clamp over her mouth. "Sorry."

Rob gasped in surprise before echoing Maggie's laughter. "She wouldn't, would she?" he asked, uncertainly. As far as Rob was concerned, Marin Lassiter had been nothing but kind and patient and caring. If it wasn't for her, they might not have a place to live. He couldn't imagine her stabbing anyone with anything.

Maggie's blonde head shook as she grinned. "Mama's too nice to do that," she assured her friend. "She's like your mama, all cuddly and sweet and never angry even when Cal paints on the walls."

"Cal paints on the walls?" Rob asked incredulously. He couldn't imagine what would happen if he did such a thing, though he doubted it was more than likely Elise who would be angry with him. He led the way back toward the house, resisting the urge to take her hand. He was going to be twelve years old soon, and he wasn't sure what she'd think about him trying to hold her hand.

"He's not s'posed to," Maggie shrugged. "Only sometimes he doesn't wait to ask for paper, he just does it, and Jodie makes him clean it up himself, and last time, he cried and all she did was use his tears to wet the cloth and made him scrub with that."

Rob frowned, feeling bad for her little brother. "That sounds mean," he said, though he could think of no punishment worse than those he'd suffered before his father had rescued them from Stefan. "He doesn't do it anymore, does he?"

"He hasn't since that time." Maggie shrugged again. "Mama says Jodie's a mean old bird, but she only does what she does 'cos she loves us. And she says Cal's old enough to know what he's not s'posed to do now, like me and you." She looked around the main room curiously. "Where's the baby, then" Did you put her in a drawer?"

Rob knew there were worse punishments than being forced to clean up one's own mess and he made no further comment. Jodie had always been nice enough to him when he was visiting at the Lassiter house, but he always made sure to be on his best behavior. "In the bedroom," he explained, frowning a little as he considered whether or not he should take Maggie to meet her.

Her friend's frown made Maggie sober for a moment, chewing on her thumbnail. "Mama says you can come to dinner tonight, if you wanna," she offered, choosing to change the subject. Now she was here, it didn't seem as though Rob really wanted to show off his little sister yet.

Oh, he wanted to show off his little sister. He just didn't want to get scolded for waking his parents up. He considered asking Elise for permission, but then Elise was the one who'd told him to go fetch Maggie in the first place, and he thought that was probably permission enough. Besides, even if his parents did wake up, he doubted they'd scold him just for wanting to show off his baby sister. He nodded his head, "Okay, but I have to ask first," he replied to her invitation to dinner. "Come on. The baby is sleeping, but she won't wake up if we're quiet," he said, this time taking hold of her hand.

"I can be quiet," Maggie promised, her eyes wide with hopeful excitement as she took his hand trustingly. She could be as quiet as a mouse when she wanted to be, and she'd tested that against her pet mice before her Papa had released them into the wild. "Real quiet, promise."

Rob knew mice weren't always that quiet. They made squeaky sounds sometimes, and they needed to be even quieter than that if they didn't want to wake the baby or his parents. He nodded again and started toward his parents' room on tiptoe, pressing a finger to his lips to remind her to be quiet before slowly pushing the door open and peeking inside.

Sneaking along behind him, Maggie even tried to breathe more quietly than usual, holding in her impatience as she peered over his shoulder into the room beyond. She could see Rob's parents on the bed, stifling a giggle at just how asleep Mr. Mallory was, and a Moses basket a little way away from the bed, overflowing with a pink blanket.

Rob crept further into the room, as quietly as he could, almost holding his breath. He knew his parents were tired and he didn't want to disturb them if he could help it, but Elise had said he could show off his sister and that's what he intended to do. He led the way over to the basket where his baby sister lay sleeping, smiling over at Maggie to see what she thought of the little bundle that lay inside the basket. "Her name is Deirdre Marissa, but we call her DeeDee," he whispered to his friend.

Grinning at the fact that they had to sneak at all, Maggie crept in beside him, laying her hands gently on the side of the basket to look down at the newborn baby girl. "She's so small," she whispered, genuinely surprised to discover this. DeeDee wasn't asleep, either; unfocused blue eyes blinked up at the two faces looking down at her, choosing to linger on Rob's face as little legs kicked underneath the blanket. "That's a real pretty name."

"So take some time off from working the farm," she told him gently. "Essential chores around the house only for a few weeks. Enjoy us, and let us enjoy you." She refused to touch on the dark days that had surrounded Rob's birth; that was all in the past and never to be repeated. The future was here and now, and it had brought them a daughter to love.

"I'll talk to Evan," Duncan said. Even if Marin had already practically given him permission, it was Evan who he answered to when it came to the stables. So long as none of the mares were in foal, one of the stable hands should be able to handle things for a few weeks without him.

"Good." She smiled, leaning over to kiss him tenderly. "Want to come downstairs and lurk while the children are cooing over the baby' I think I've worked out how to use that camera Marin gave us now."

"We could, or we could take advantage of the quiet," he replied with a smile once she was done kissing him. Of course, he knew she wasn't ready for lovemaking yet, but now that they were juggling two children, there was a lot less time for just them - and yet, Duncan wouldn't have it any other way.

Mara laughed, nestling down into his arms once again. "Don't blame me if I fall asleep again," she warned him in a playful tone. To be fair, she had recovered faster from the birth than either of them had been expecting - Elise had declared it a minor miracle, given how long Mara had been bed-bound after Rob's birth. But then, Mara had reason to want to recover this time, and it showed.

They wouldn't be long, but a few minutes of pillow talk weren't going to hurt anyone, and Elise was nearby if their daughter got fussy. In the meantime, Rob and Maggie had laid baby Deirdre on a blanket on the floor and were giggling as they watched her kicked her legs happily and bat at their fingers.

"Does she really wake up all night and scream and cry?" Maggie was asking in fascination. If she'd thought about it earlier, she would have brought Caleb down with her, but perhaps it was just as well. Her little brother was not known for his patience just yet.

"Not all night," Rob replied. "Only when she gets hungry, but Mama says she won't do that forever, just while she's little." He leaned close to tickle Deirdre's tummy, obviously enamored of his baby sister. "Do you like having a little brother?" he asked, curiously, knowing Caleb could be a pain sometimes, but he and Maggie seemed to get along pretty well.

Looking up from her appreciation of the newborn baby girl lying between them, Maggie's cheeky smile made its appearance. "Course I do," she assured her friend. "He's kind of a pain sometimes, but I like him being around. I used to get all kinds of lonely when I was with Aunt Emma, 'cos there weren't no other kids she would let me play with, 'cos she thought it weren't safe. But with Cal, I got this little person around all the time, and if I get lonely or scared in the night, he lets me get into bed with him and pretend I'm making him feel better, and then I'm not so scared anymore."

"I get scared at night sometimes, too," Rob admitted with a frown. He didn't know all of Maggie's history, nor did she know his. It wasn't really something either of them lingered on or talked about much, but it seemed to be something they had in common. When Rob was scared, he used to climb into bed with his parents, but now that he was turning twelve, he thought he was too old for that anymore.

"Now you got DeeDee, you can do what I do," Maggie nodded confidently. "She's gonna love her big brother so much. I wanted a big brother when I was littler, but I like being the big sister, too. It's weird, huh?"

"But she's too little for me to get into bed with," he pointed out, and by the time she was big enough to climb into bed with him, he'd be a teenager. He wished she was a little closer in age to him, but then, maybe it was a good thing he was so much older because he'd be better able to look out for her then.

"Why can't you climb in with your mama and papa?" Maggie asked him curiously. "Or with 'Lise" Seems silly to be scared just 'cos you're on your own when there's people around to be not scared with."

Rob shrugged. "Mama and Papa are always tired from taking care of DeeDee, and I'm too old to sleep with 'Lise," he explained. "I could be like a big brother to you, if you want," Rob said, though his feelings were a little confused when it came to Maggie. She was his best friend, and he told her almost everything, but sometimes he wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to feel about her.

"You're my best friend," Maggie objected. "I don't want you to be my big brother, because then we couldn't have fun the way we do. And, and if you were my big brother, then we'd both get in trouble when I do stupid stuff, and that's just not fair."

Rob quieted a moment, almost afraid to share what he was thinking. "Mama said when she was my age, Papa was her best friend," he told her, though they were both far too young to worry too much about their future.

True to form, Maggie followed his thoughts, but didn't respond in an entirely appropriate manner. Well, she was only ten. "You gonna marry me and make babies when we're old enough?" she asked her best friend with a bright smile, pausing just long enough to show him that smile before she lowered her head and blew a raspberry onto Deirdre's tummy, making the tiny girl squeal and kick out excitedly.

Rob blushed with embarrassment. What did he know about making babies" "Do you want me to?" he asked, not saying no. He had a few dreams of his own for the future, but he hadn't really thought much about having a family.

"I thought you wanted to be an act-it," Maggie pointed out curiously. "Can you do that and have a sweetie and a family and all that, too?" She was genuinely curious - she knew that you could run a farm and have a family, but she didn't really know anything about actors and families, despite having shared the stage with him in a minor role in Oliver.

"An act-or," Rob corrected, knowing enough about the theater from his classes and the few roles he'd played to know at least that much. "Lots of actors are married and have families," he replied further with a shrug and he tickled Deirdre's toes. He wasn't going to drop any names, but most of the teachers in the Shanachie STARS program were married with children of their own, as far as he knew.

"If they can do it, why can't you?" Maggie shrugged back at him. She was a little young to be saying yes or no to the question he had asked her, and a little too old to be swept up in the fairy tale of saying yes to her handsome prince, but there was no denying that this little girl loved her best friend. They'd been virtually inseparable since Rob had first moved to the Brambles.