Chapter 115 Who Taught Them That Spiders Say Quack

Chapter 115 Who Taught Them That Spiders Say Quack
After the breakfast plates were cleared and the shock of the morning's pregnancy revelation had settled into pure excitement, the Stark family mobilized. They had a massive, grand zoo trip planned for Olive's birthday, and the entire extended family was coming along.
Upstairs in the guest suite, it was time to wash the sticky syrup off the girls. 
Leona decided the most efficient method was to just get in the large walk-in shower with them. Ten minutes later, the glass enclosure was filled with warm steam, strawberry-scented bubbles, and the echoing giggles of two very slippery toddlers. 
Owen stood right outside the glass door, fully prepared for his designated role in the assembly line. He held up a fluffy, pink bunny-hoodie towel. 
"Alright, hand the first one over," Owen called out over the sound of the running water. 
Leona cracked the door and successfully wrangled a clean, squirming Olive into her dad's waiting arms. Owen quickly bundled her up, popping the bunny hood over her wet curls. But before he could even secure the towel, Leona was already passing the second clean toddler through the door. 
Owen caught Hazel in a matching bear-hoodie towel, leaving Leona in the warm shower to finally wash her own hair in peace. 
Through the cracked bathroom door, Leona could hear the absolute, hilarious chaos unfolding in the bedroom. Owen, the formidable billionaire CEO, was currently losing a footrace to two giggling, wet toddlers who were actively trying to escape their towels. 
"Get back here, you little heathens!" Owen laughed, the sound of his heavy footsteps chasing the rapid pitter-patter of tiny, damp feet across the hardwood floor. 
By the time Leona turned off the water and wrapped herself in a robe, Owen had successfully wrangled the girls and was stepping into the shower himself to get ready. 
Leona took over, getting the girls dressed in their fresh outfits for the zoo. She sat on the edge of the bed, pulling tiny sneakers onto kicking feet and brushing out their wild, damp curls. She watched the two of them babble to each other, a matching set of beautiful, chaotic perfection. 
Leona took a deep breath, resting her hands on her knees, and offered herself a quiet little pep talk. Okay. I handled these two. I can handle another... I think.
Fifteen minutes later, Leona was fully dressed and ready to go. She balanced Hazel securely on her hip and tightly held Olive's little hand, carefully making her way down the staircase to join the rest of the waiting family. 
Down in the foyer, Claire was already standing by the front door with David, casually zipping up her light jacket. She looked up, watching Leona expertly manage the two toddlers on the stairs. 
Claire smirked, her eyes dropping playfully to Leona's stomach. "Well. How you feel now?"
Leona stepped off the bottom stair with her girls and let out a bright, ringing laugh. "Fertile."
Claire snorted, nudging David's shoulder. "Told you she'd take it well." She reached for Olive's free hand, bending slightly to match the toddler's height. "You ready to see elephants today, sweetheart?"
The front door swung open as Owen descended the stairs two at a time, still adjusting his watch. The scent of expensive cologne mingled oddly with lingering strawberry shampoo as he swooped in to pluck Hazel from Leona's arms. "Got your sunglasses?" he asked, looking down as he took Olive's hand. She looked up at him with a big smile, wearing her favorite sunglasses.
Outside, waiting for them in the circular driveway sat two of the Stark town cars.
Leona glanced back at the house once more, as if double-checking they didn't forget anything. Owen, noticing her hesitation, squeezed her waist gently. "Relax," he murmured against her temple, "We've got everything. Including the spare diapers in my coat pocket."
The first car pulled away with Claire dramatically miming an elephant trunk through the rear window, making Olive burst into giggles as Hazel tried to copy the motion with pudgy fingers.
Leona settled into the leather seat, Owen looked over just in time to catch Hazel attempting to lick her sneaker like an enthusiastic puppy. "We're raising feral children," he muttered, but the way his thumb brushed over Leona's knee betrayed his amusement.
Hazel was in her car seat where she was currently trying to lick her shoe, betwen Diane and Thomas while Olive sat between Owen and Leona still trying and failing and yet still singing the itsy bitsy spider in toddler, off key fashion but to the parents and grandparents it was just a happy ride to the zoo.
The car ride was a whirlwind of toddler energy, with Hazel now attempting to remove her socks while Diane gently intervened and Olive tapping Owen's knee like a drum. Leona watched the city blur past the window, the morning sunlight catching on passing storefronts, momentarily distracted by a flash of pink balloons outside a bakery.
Just as Olive launched into a particularly enthusiastic (and entirely incorrect) verse about spiders climbing up waterspouts, Thomas looked across the car at his son and daughter in law with a mischievous grin. "Alright, who taught them spiders say 'quack'?" The car erupted into laughter—even Hazel paused her sock assault to giggle wildly at nothing.
The bakery with its pink balloons disappeared behind them as Owen tapped the divider, signaling the driver to take the scenic route past the harbor. "Thought they might like the boats before the zoo," he murmured to Leona, his fingers threading through hers. The sun glinted off the water, casting shifting patterns across the ceiling that made both toddlers gasp in delight.
Hazel abruptly stopped trying to peel off her socks and pointed at a massive container ship, her tiny mouth forming a perfect 'O'. "Big!" she announced with solemn authority, as if she'd just solved the mysteries of the universe. Olive, ever the contrarian, wrinkled her nose. "No, bigger," she insisted, stretching her arms as wide as they'd go—which happened to smack Owen directly in the nose.
Owen laughed at his daughter. "Alright, we had better head to the zoo. Your aunties and uncles behind us are probably wondered why we took this route." He smiled and told Marcus, their driver, to continue on to the zoo.