It was all settled, and quickly. To celebrate his promotion and Amos’ recruitment to the position of Payroll Manager, Charlie decided to take Muriel out for a night on the town. They headed downtown on Saturday, starting with a matinee movie, then a walk in the downtown rose-garden park, followed by a T-bone steak dinner at the best downtown restaurant. Before they went out on their date, Charlie took his very pregnant wife shopping.
It was evidently a very happy day for Muriel. As she pointed out on several occasions, she was married to a handsome, industrious and capable man; she had a beautiful, healthy daughter; she was on the verge of delivering twins; her husband had bought her a beautiful new coat and hat, which she wore to stares and compliments, on a wonderful date with a loving husband, and their future was very bright. Charlie, too, very much enjoyed his date with his radiant wife, who looked especially beautiful in her new coat, hat and gloves. Life seemed incredibly sweet.
Finally, their twins were born: a healthy boy and girl. Everyone was surprised that it wasn't two boys or two girls. According to the doctor, Muriel had a very difficult time in delivering the twins. He recommended that she follow a program of prescribed medicine and rest as much as possible, and that she abstain from love-making for six months. Charlie, Betty, and Roger pitched in to help as much as they could with taking care of the twins, whom they named Charlotte (Char) and Charles III (Charlie).
As it turned out, Muriel recovered her strength faster than the doctor thought she would, and after a month she was feeling much stronger. The only problem she seemed to have was in nursing the twins. She’d had no trouble in nursing her first born, not moving her onto the bottle and solid foods until she was a little over six-months old. With the twins, however, she tried to nurse them one at a time, both at the same time, and alternating from one breast to the other. For a while it seemed that she was not even making enough milk for the both of them, and she supplemented her milk with bottled formula which meant that Charlie and the others could feed the babies too. Gradually, by the end of the second month, her milk production increased and they were able to settle into a routine.
During the two months in which Muriel was recovering and struggling with breast-feeding the twins, Charlie did little else but work at the factory and help out at home. After that, however, he started going fishing with Johnny again, to incredibly good effect. On one trip alone he brought home three large bass, the largest over two and a half pounds; two channel catfish, weighing a total of four pounds; a yellow catfish, weighing nearly eight pounds; and seven nice sized Bluegills. Whenever he cast his baited hook into the water, he had a fish on it in less than a minute.
Never before had he had so much fun fishing, especially when Amos was able to join him for the odd trip. Over the next four or so months, the fishing remained incredibly good, and the family had fish for supper four to five times a week. His fishing experiences during these months put the hook into him so solidly that his main hobby for the rest of his life would be fishing.
As the doctor ordered, Muriel and Charlie avoided making love for a full six months, but when they finally returned to it, it was clear to Charlie that Muriel was holding back, in pain, and clearly not enjoying herself. It was totally unlike their earlier experiences. It was discovered that her uterus was still not completely healed, and that she had an infection. She began a three-week-long antibiotic program, and had to avoid love-making for several more weeks. It was months before they resumed anything like their previous pattern, and Charlie often held back for fear he might hurt Muriel.
Eventually, though, Muriel and Charlie got back to the routine of working and taking care of their three children. Detty was two-years old, and getting into everything. The twins were nearly a year old, and showing signs that they would soon be walking around like their big sister. Charlie was working hard at his new job, having learned most of the ins and outs of the operation of being a salaried assistant manager rather than a piece-worker, and was enjoying it immensely. He liked his immediate supervisor, the tool and supply rooms manager.