The Love We Choose

Chapter 32

"Yay!! I won!" Hannah signed and squealed as her little Wii avatar danced in triumph on the screen after Hannah rolled a strike to end their bowling game. Since Huan came in and walloped Javi Jr. at Mario Kart, they had progressed through several board games, a break for dinner, and were now playing Wii sports.

'Way to go Hannah!' Her older sister, Josefina, congratulated her before sweeping her up into a hug.

Javi Jr. followed suit before turning to Huan and signing over Hannah's head, 'dude, you suck at this. You just got walloped by an eight year-old. That's just sad,' he finished, shaking his head.

'Thanks for the vote of confidence,' Huan signed back with a deadpan look on his face. He high-fived Hannah before looking at the clock on the wall. 'Alright munchkins, this was a lot of fun, but it is pajammy-jam time. Go get ready for bed.'

Three equally upset, yet tired faces turned to him to start to plead their case for fifteen more minutes, but he cocked an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest, exuding authority. They deflated, turned off the gaming system, and placed their controllers in the bin next to the tv.

While they scampered in the direction of their bedrooms, Huan turned his attention to the couch. A picture of serenity met him in the form of Lynne holding two and a half year-old Micha to her chest, both deep asleep. Resting snuggly against his aunt, Micha had the pudgy caramel-toned thumb of one hand in his mouth and a handful of Lynne's braids wrapped around his other hand. He wore footie pajamas covered in ducks wearing Santa hats with the words "Duck the Halls" on the front of it that made him look adorable. His head of dark brown curls was tucked into the junction of her shoulder. Lynne was comfortably laying back with her head propped against the back of the couch.

Huan was debating on whether or not to leave them there while he oversaw bedtime when Lynne's eyes fluttered open. "Hey sleepyhead. Give me Micha, so I can put him to bed," he told her, holding his arms out.

"No, I can do it," she protested, tightening her hold on her nephew's body.

"Lynne, you're tired, just give him here and go get ready for bed yourself."

"Naw, I'm good. Let me do it. I'm gonna need the practice anyway. I'll oversee bedtime. You relax. You've been keeping them occupied for the past few hours while I dozed off. Some babysitter I am."

"Well, you've seemed to have handled things pretty well for the past two days on your own with them. It never hurts to have a little help," he told her as he inched closer to her, deftly untangling Micha's hold on her braids. "Now, give me the little man and you take care of the munchkins. If you won't let me put them all to bed, you can at least take my offer to divide and conquer."

Begrudgingly, Lynne let go of her hold on Micha as Huan plucked him from her arms and rested him against his shoulder. The little boy roused momentarily at the change in altitude, but simply nestled his head against Huan's body and grabbed a handful of Huan's shirt in his fist before settling back to sleep.

"Come on," Huan told her, holding his hand out to help her up.

"You know, I'm not in beached whale territory yet. You don't have to fuss over me like a freaking mother hen," she tiredly said to him as she batted his hand away and got up on her own.

"There's our loveable cranky-pants," he murmured behind her as she led the way toward the kid's bedrooms.

XXX

"Is Hannah feeling ok?" Huan asked Lynne as he plopped down next to her on the couch once all the kids were tucked in for the night. With both of them tag-teaming the job, bedtime went rather smoothly. It only took two chapters of the fantasy realm novels the girls were reading before bed (both read aloud and signed by both adults in tandem) and a promise that Huan return soon for a Mario Kart rematch with Javi Jr. After they had finished with that, they made quick work of cleaning up before relaxing on the couch.