Janet Steenburg says her middle son Axel was never good at keeping surprises.When he and his wife, Amy, came over for dinner three weeks ago, he told Janet excitedly that he'd rented a party bus to go to a Cooperstown brewery for Amy's 30th birthday. Axel had done the same thing for his bachelor party in June. This time, he'd invited his older brother and best friend Rich, Rich's wife, Kim, Amy's three sisters and their husbands, and a dozen other friends.The day before the party, Rich took his stepson out of school to watch the latest Marvel comic movie — a tradition. That night, Janet stopped by Rich and Kim's house in Mayfield to pick up a carton of cigarettes he'd bought for her, but found two packs missing."You snooze, you lose," Rich said with a laugh. Like every Friday, he was at home playing the board game Dungeons and Dragons with his best friends.That same night, the party bus canceled. Axel scrambled the next morning and found Prestige limousine company, based in Gansevoort, to transport the group.Rich offered to stay home with his wife, Kim, who was recovering from a headache, but she told him to go have fun with his brother. When he left, Kim remembers with unsettling hindsight, she kept hugging and kissing him, unable to let go.Kim was waiting for Rich to come home at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 6, when she heard a knock at the door. She thought the detective from the State Police was joking when he told her there had been a limousine crash with only one female survivor — who also died later. Rich was a joker who always kept gullible Kim guessing, and she screamed at the detective to call Rich and stop the prank. Only when she tried to reach Axel and Amy, with no response, did the nightmare turn into reality.The limousine had crashed into the parking lot of Apple Barrel Country Store in Schoharie, killing two bystanders and 18 people inside the limo. Police found the rental receipt in Axel's name inside the limo and followed the registration plates of the cars parked at Axel and Amy's house to find Kim. She was the first family member of the 20 victims to learn about the deadliest transportation disaster in the U.S. since 2009."I feel horrible and I feel lucky," said Kim, who originally planned to be in the limo with her husband Rich. "He was so full of life. He could turn the crappiest day into the best day of your life. We had all these plans. It doesn't seem right."The cause of the crash is still unknown. Police are conducting a criminal investigation into the incident, the limo company, which had state violations, and the owner, who had a checkered past."I have so many questions," Kim said. "I don't understand why it was so important to make a dollar that they felt they needed to put all these people in jeopardy. I can't understand how anybody would be so selfish. I'm so mad.""God made a mistake"Family members remember Rich and Axel, 34 and 29, respectively, as gentle giants. Hilarious Rich always let his daughter put makeup on him. Tender-hearted Axel decided not to join the military as a weapons specialist because he said he didn't want to hurt anyone.The pair were pranksters and best men in each others' weddings. They worked at desks side by side at GlobalFoundries and lived together in an Amsterdam apartment before they both got married.Nearly three weeks after the crash that killed them, everyone is struggling to deal with grief in their own ways. Janet has been keeping herself busy, but has trouble sleeping. She finds herself waking up with her face wet, not even realizing she was crying in her sleep.Kim misses good morning texts from her husband and still finds herself watching for signs he's with her. Rich's 14-year-old stepson, Owen, sometimes stares at Rich's picture then withdraws to his room, but is stepping up to support his mom and stepsister. Rich's 10-year-old daughter, Aubrie, has been having meltdowns."She understands he's gone," Kim said. "She doesn't understand why. She says, 'Everybody talks about God, but if he's such a good person, why would he do this to Daddy?'""He would have never left her if he had a choice," Janet said. "They say it was God's choice, but God made a mistake. If God had asked them, there's not one of them kids that would have left. They all had plans."Axel and Amy had recently purchased a house in Amsterdam; Rich and Kim were scheduled to close on one in Gloversville next month. Axel and Amy were hoping to start a family next year."They talked about growing old together, but what's growing old, three months?" Janet said, referring to the couple's recent wedding. "To me that's the worst part, the end of what they had to offer.""The original love couple"Kim and Rich met through mutual friends 14 years ago. A year later, they had their daughter, Aubrie, but then split up. They reconnected when they started working together and carpooling. This time, Kim said, everything felt right.Two months later, Rich proposed on her birthday. In June 2016, they were married in a rose garden — the way Kim wanted — and had a barbecue in an outdoor tent for their reception — the way Rich wanted.Rich towered at six feet tall and weighed more than 200 pounds, his burly body covered in tattoos, but he would lie on the floor and play Barbies with Aubrie. He let her braid his beard and put makeup on him. Sometimes when Janet showed up at the house, he would open the door with lipstick on. Once he went to the beach with his weightlifting buddies, his toes adorned with purple nail polish.The couple planned a honeymoon cruise to the Bahamas in January and were closing on a house in November. Now, Kim will go on the cruise with her sisters and is figuring out how she can afford the house on her own. She said she's received offers from at least 72 people to help her move next month.The week after Rich's death, Kim invited his best friends to come over and play Dungeons and Dragons, like they always did on Friday nights. Kim moved the urn with Rich's ashes on a stand closer to them and joked that "Rich was watching, you got a lot of pressure" — to which they all laughed.Axel and Amy met at a friend's party. Axel thought Amy was cute, but she was the one who messaged him on Facebook later to meet up. They were together ever since their first date.They lived together in an apartment in Amsterdam for a year before buying a house. The couple got married at a winery in June on what Janet called the "hottest day of the year" and the wedding party ran through sprinklers during the reception. Axel and Amy went on their honeymoon to Ireland and vacationed in Hawaii last year."They were the original love couple. They were so much alike it was scary. You could see the love pour out of them for each other, just by the way they looked at each other," Janet said.Amy called Axel her bear and he called her his bee. When GlobalFoundries brought Axel's belongings from his desk at work to Janet, there were around 200 sticky notes among his things. They were all from Amy, put in his lunch each day, and in different ways said "I love you."But before the brothers were best men in each others' weddings, they were best friends growing up in Gloversville."A wicked team"The brothers' bond started at birth: Janet said five-year-old Rich, who she called Richie, was thrilled when Axel arrived. The two were later joined by a younger brother Eric, now 25."Together they were a wicked team," Janet said. "They were just so funny together. They would feed off each other."When they were young, the pair pretended Rich was beating Axel up on the road until cars stopped to intervene — then they made a run for the house. Rich sometimes picked Janet up and carried her into different rooms or even locked her outside as a joke."He was always bubbly, always smiling and laughing," Janet said. "If he thought he hurt your feelings he would be the first one to apologize."Janet said Axel, who was sweet, followed in Rich's footsteps. The brothers got into weightlifting and set up a home gym in the basement. They both attended Gloversville schools then Fulton-Montgomery Community College, worked as direct support specialists at disability advocacy organization Liberty Arc, and as process integration technicians at GlobalFoundries.On weekends, the brothers worked for a moving company together. After their deaths, their boss sent a message to Janet praising them for how they turned around his business and treated customers."I hope my kids grow up to be like them," the message read.The day after the fatal crash, Janet reached into her purse for the last pack of cigarettes she'd gotten from Rich. It was half-empty. She said it was a poignant reminder of her sons who always made her laugh — "the last way of getting me."