"Mama!" Danielle threw her arms around her mother.
"Oh Danielle! We missed you so much!" Christine squeezed her daughter. A moment later she let her go.
"Hey what about me?" Erik asked in a false hurt voice.
"Hehe, sorry Papa." She hugged Erik then kissed his unmasked cheek. "Papa, take your mask off." Danielle pulled at the white mask and it fell to the floor. "Much better." She kissed Erik's twisted cheek.
"Yes," Christine agreed. "Much better." Erik pulled Christine closer and kissed her. Christine kissed back.
"Eww!" Danielle cried. This made both Erik and Christine laugh. Their eldest daughter, Monique, came over and picked Danielle up.
"Come on Danielle," Monique said happily, "Let's go see what Nadia's doing."
As usual their second daughter, Nadia, was swinging on the vein outside.
"You have to try this!" She called swinging past Monique and Danielle. Nadia had borrowed one of Edmond's pants and one of Erik's old shirts.
Monique looked down at her long red dress.
"I don't think so."
"I wanna try!" Danielle called. Monique set her down and sent her over to Nadia.
Monique was average height for a girl her age, 13. Her hair was a mix of her father's dark blonde hair and her mother's dark brown hair. It came out as a red-blonde. Her personality was mostly her mother's, but she had her father's ambitious streak. If she wanted something she went for it.
Nadia, on the other hand, was Monique's exact opposite. Appearance wise they were almost identical twins, with the exception that Nadia preferred boy's cloths to her own. But personality wise Nadia was her father in ever aspect. She was shy and nervous around strangers, but with the people she knew and loved she would show just how wild she could be.
Charlene had blonde hair. Christine believed she got it from Christine's mother, having seen a portrait of her mother when she was younger. Charlene had a sense of adventure, making her very close to Nadia.
Edmond had Christine's dark hair, but it was black as opposed to her dark brown. Erik had been curious about that when he was born, but Christine said he got it from her father. Edmond was always the peacekeeper in the family.
Then there was Danielle. Danielle looked very much like her mother. She loved to listen to her father sing. And finally there was the youngest Destler. Lily. She was barley one. Like Edmond, Lily had inherited her grandfather's black hair.
Edmond and Charlene ran out to join Danielle and Nadia. Monique finally gave up and joined too. Christine picked up the baby and sat down to watch her children play. She rocked Lily gently in her arms. Erik sat next to her.
"She's so precious." Christine whispered.
"Yes she is." Erik agreed.
"Flower." Lily said.
"Erik did you hear that!?" Christine cried.
"Yes I did." Erik kissed his wife's cheek. Suddenly Christine grew pale.
"Christine, what's wrong?"
"Nothing…it's 'flower' it was…" Erik and Christine's eyes locked. Finally Erik spoke the word that they were both thinking.
"Johanna."
Johanna was the daughter that they lost. The daughter that had been stolen.