Grace sighed. Chloe had a small toddler bed, which wouldn’t be suitable for much longer. She needed a regular twin-sized bed soon. “I’ve told you before, baby girl, we’ll get you a new bed as soon as we can afford one.”
“Yeah, but when will that be? I’m too big to sleep in a little bed anymore.”
“I know you are, honey,” Grace mumbled.
The only other beds in the house were upstairs. Grace had lived at home while she went to college, so she had a double bed in her bedroom, and the bed in Petra and Niko’s old room was a queen. Not only were those too big for Chloe, but they wouldn’t fit in the children’s downstairs bedroom. Maybe she could trade Chloe’s toddler bed to somebody for a twin-sized one. Petra’s friend Katherine ran a daycare. Katherine might know of someone who needed a toddler bed and was interested in a trade.
Grace put an arm around Chloe and hugged her while she looked at the window. The lace curtains still hung in a knot from Khalil’s furious entrance last night. Outside, the morning brightened past dawn, and birds were yelling at the top of their lungs. In Grace’s experience, early morning birds never sang. Instead, they bellowed. Grace had gotten perhaps five hours’ sleep. It was going to be another long day.
She asked, “Is Max awake?”
“Uh-huh,” Chloe said. “Can we have pancakes for breakfast?”
“If we do, will you eat the other half of Max’s banana?” Grace asked. Getting Chloe to eat fruits and vegetables was a constant challenge.
Chloe tilted her delicate jaw. “Bananas disturb me,” she said.
Grace burst out laughing. “Where on earth did you learn that?”
Clearly pleased with herself, Chloe grinned. “Pancakes, one bite of banana,” she offered, with a bargaining wiliness worthy of a Djinn.
“No, Chloe.”
“Fine! Ugh! You never let me have anything I want!” Chloe turned to stomp out of the office.
Grace called after her, “You’re getting pancakes, aren’t you?”
“Just wait until I’m big enough to push the grocery cart around!” Chloe shouted from the living room. “We’re never going to buy bananas again!”
Grace burst into a fresh peal of laughter. Chloe in a temper was a sight to behold.
Max was as sunny natured as his sister was tempestuous. Grace found him humming and burbling in his crib. “Eeeee!” he said happily when he saw her.
“Good morning to you too, sunshine,” she said. She changed his diaper then picked him up to kiss him all over his soft, round face. He giggled and threw his arms around her neck. She held him tight for a moment. Sometimes she felt like she couldn’t breathe for worrying about how she would take care of these kids. She felt too young and far too inadequate, but gods, she loved them with all of her heart.
In the kitchen, she settled Max into his high chair while Chloe climbed into her booster seat, the Lala Whoopsie doll dangling from one hand. Chloe set the doll on her lap and looked expectant. Grace peeled a banana, and Max’s eyes lit up. He had developed enough dexterity to pick up bites of food with his thumb and forefinger, so she cut up part of a banana and set it in a bowl in front of him. “Mmm,” he said delightedly and set to work.
When she set the other half of banana in front of Chloe, the little girl scowled. “Why can’t we have pancakes first?”
Grace said, “Because I haven’t cooked them yet. Besides, you need to eat your banana first.”
Chloe said, “You’re bad.”
That was going too far. Grace said sternly, “That’s enough, young lady. You have two choices. You can choose to eat your banana and be nice and get pancakes, or you can choose to get cereal and go to your room after breakfast.”
In Grace’s mind, the coin from last night tossed into the air. Smart. Dumb. Poor Chloe was going to be living in the confessional booth beside Grace’s if she didn’t watch out. Grace understood her niece probably a lot better than Chloe thought.
“But you promised!” Chloe wailed.
“I never promised to cook pancakes for girls who try to get out of eating their banana like they said they would and who say mean things to me,” Grace said. She looked at Max. His cheeks were full, and he already had fruit smeared in his wispy hair. Okay. Another bath after breakfast for that one. Chloe turned red and started to cry as she ate her half of the banana in fast, furious bites. And a meltdown for the eldest one, and it wasn’t even seven o’clock yet.
Grace headed in desperation for the coffeemaker. Apparently it was going to be one of those mornings. Funny how often those happened after a short night’s sleep.
She set the machine to brew an extra-strong pot, because these days caffeine was her best friend. The coffeemaker sat on the worn countertop beside the kitchen window. As she switched on the machine, the sunny morning darkened. She leaned over the counter to look at the sky.
The sky was blue, dotted with fluffy cumulous clouds, and directly overhead a huge portion of it rippled. Wow, was that wrong.