Kate was awoken by a tiny hand padding her cheek.
"Momma! Wake up , momma, please!"
When Kate opened her eyes the sight before her slightly frightened her. It was her crying daughter dressed in her favorite fluffy pajama. She was clinging to her stuffed animal "Bubbles", a purple rabbit to her chest with one hand.
"What is it Zoey? Are you ok? Did something happen?"
Zoey shook her head no and was about to answer when suddenly the room was illuminated by lightning outside the bedroom window. The three year-old's head shot to the window and she started crying even more heavily. Kate had calmed down a little when she realized that the storm was the reason for her daughter's distress. Kate picked Zoey up and laid her down between Rick and herself. She put her arms tightly around her daughter's body and started humming a lullaby. Rick subconsciously moved closer to two of his favorite girls and laid an arm on top of them without waking.
After Zoey relaxed a bit and stopped crying, Kate stopped humming.
"Better baby girl?" she asked, which was answered with a tiny nod from her daughter.
"Still scared?" Again a nod.
When she was a little girl, Kate remembered being scared of storms as well. She also remembered the stories her mother had always told her about why storms exist.
"Baby girl, you know that there are angels in heaven, right?" This time Zoey actually answered. "Yes."
"And do you also remember where Daddy and I took you last week when you were bored?" "Bowling?"
"Exactly. And you know, angels also get bored. And what they are doing, is bowling." Zoey looked at her mother skeptical. "Really?"
"Yeah. They have this huge bowling alley in heaven and sometimes when they get bored they use it, just like you did. And do you remember, when Daddy knocked down all of the white guys, all this light came on and special music was played? That's what's happening when there is a storm."
"Why so loud?" Zoey asked her mother after thinking about what she said.
"Well, angels have really bad ears, like Grandpa sometimes when he doesn't hear what you said."
"So storm not bad?"
"Yeah, storm not bad."
"Oh. Still sleep here?" The little girl asked with a hopeful look.
"Of course you can sleep here. Love you."
"Love you, too, momma."
After making sure her daughter was comfortable und tucked in right, she watched her go to sleep. The moment she did, Kate felt Rick's arm, that had still been laying on top of them, move to caress her cheek. That's when she realized that her husband had woken up, sometime during her talk with their daughter.
"You're an amazing mother, Kate. I love you, always."
"I love you, too, Rick"
That night they all fell asleep in each others arms.