"She's the Pink Tornado," Rico announced in a booming voice.
"There is a lot of truth in that," Mitch said with a loving smile.
"Do your thing, Sammy," Rico told her.
She spun around then stopped with her arms out and yelled, "Sammy!" She spun again, stopped and yelled, "The Pink!" She spun again and stopped for the big finish. "Tornado!"
"Did you rehearse that?" Mitch asked.
"Of course we did," Rico said.
"Very impressive," Mitch told Sammy.
"I'm sure the kittens are impressed too," Rico said while the kittens tumbled on the floor, ignoring the whole production.
Sammy didn't doubt it though. "They are."
To impress them even more, Sammy kept spinning around until she got dizzy, and Mitch had to catch her so she wouldn't fall over.
"My Pink Tornado needs to get ready for bed," Mitch told her. He set her down and she ran out. Then they heard her zooming all around out in the hall. "Now I'll never get her to go to sleep."
Rico laughed. "Sorry."
"Yeah, the laugh makes your apology sound really sincere. But she is the cutest superhero," Mitch said. "I would never think of something like that."
"Always happy to make your kid too hyper to go to sleep," Rico told him.
When Mitch went up with Sammy to try to get her to settle down and go to bed, Rico was getting ready to go. Then he noticed that the kittens were trying to climb up the stairs to follow Sammy.
They could kind of do it, but he couldn't stand to watch them struggle, so he picked them up and carried them upstairs. "Is it OK to bring Natalie and Veronica up here?" he asked from the top of the stairs.
"You can take them to Sammy's room," Mitch said from down the hall.
"Pink Tornado," Sammy corrected him.
"Don't dribble toothpaste everywhere, Pink Tornado," Mitch told her.
As soon as Rico set down the kittens in her room, they started roaming all over but ultimately decided that Sammy's bed was the best place to be. Once again Rico was there to give them an assist as they climbed up.
Coming in dressed for bed in pink pajamas with white and yellow butterflies on them, Sammy was delighted to see the kittens. "You're here," she said to the kittens, who perched on the edge of the bed meowing at her. "Thank you Rico. Say thank you to Rico too," she instructed them.
"They did say something," Mitch said. "Now climb into bed." He tucked her in, and they all said goodnight, including the kittens.
Leaving one light on and the door ajar, he stepped out and told Rico, "Since the kittens have been with her, she hasn't been scared at night."
"Of course not. She's fierce," Rico said as they went down the stairs together.
"She is, but this house is bigger than any place we ever lived. The best we could afford was a two room apartment. At the last place we lived, Sammy's room was no bigger than a closet," Mitch said. He paused at the bottom of the stairs and sighed. "I wish I could have done better for her, but I spent the first two years of Sammy's life fighting for custody of her. Her maternal grandmother wanted to take her away from me."
"That sucks," Rico gasped. The thought of the two of them being separated was too horrible to consider.
Mitch leaned against the railing, a grim expression on his face. "I already told you that Sammy's mom died after giving birth to her. Losing Ellie, I thought things were as bad as they could get. But then Linda, Ellie's mother, tried to take custody of Sammy."
"How could she do that?"
"First she challenged my paternity," Mitch told him. "When Sammy turned out blond like her mom, Linda questioned whether I was really the father."
"Sammy has your eyes," Rico pointed out. He couldn't see how anyone could question that she was his kid.
