Page 341 of His Blazing Witch

"Hi, my baby girl!"

We laugh and hug for a while, Liam completely left on the side. I hug my daughter and sit up, facing her. I try to brush her hair a bit while she excitedly starts talking.

"Mama, when did you come back? We had pizza last night! Uncle Benny came and the twins too! And we had fun playing tag with Spark! Oh, and Milo bit dad again, and then he cried a lot too... Oh, and I put nail polish on Gemma!"

I frown.

"Baby, I'm not sure about putting nail polish on your turtle... Also, where did my seven-year-old daughter get nail polish?" I ask, turning to Liam who shrugs.

"Have you tried keeping three girls out of their mom's nail polish drawer? Because Ben and I tried everything, I swear..."

I sigh and turn to Cynthia, only now noticing that pink nail polish on her fingers. Oh, I would never wear that one, anyway... I chuckle and show her my dark blue nails.

"Alright, how about you and Mommy go and buy some appropriate nail polish for your age, and we try to keep it off poor Gem, okay? I know your turtle is very fashionable, but this and trying to take baths with Spark is probably not a good idea, Cynthia. Alright?"

"Okay... but then can we also get makeup?"

"I'm sure there's going to be makeup for little girls," I nod. "Actually, how about you ask your cousins this afternoon? I'm sure Aurora and Lily have some they can lend you."

"Oh, yes!"

We keep chatting for a while, Cynthia being a real wordmill... Meanwhile, Liam comes to hug me from behind, leaning his head on my shoulder without a word, probably snoozing before the real trouble starts...

"Oh," Cynthia suddenly says.

Indeed, we can hear her little brother's tantrum from the other side of the apartment. She jumps out of the bed and runs to Milo's bedroom even before us. Liam sighs, and puts a quick kiss on my shoulder.

"I'm glad we waited before we had Milo," he sighs. "A five year gap should be the minimum, for any parent's mental health..."

I laugh.

"Says the husband who wouldn't stop asking for another baby as soon as we had Cynthia?"

"Cynthia slept her full nights when she was two weeks old! I didn't think her brother would make me wake up at 4:00 a.m. every day for nine months... I was the only guy at the police station who would gladly take on the early morning shifts. They still remember."

I chuckle, and give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Well, baby alarm clock still likes to wake up early... Let's go see before Cynthia decides to put something on his nails too."

He nods, and we get up, hand in hand, to go and free poor Spark.

It's a morning like any other in Silver City... and I hope it goes on for a long time.