Authors Note: Hey guys, Im so sorry it took so long to get this update up, but Ive had a hard time generating ideas the last couple weeks. I hope this is okay for now, I will make sure to get the next update up faster! Thanks for reading, feel free to leave me a review, I love reading them! xx
After presents were slowly opened, Rachel was seated on the ground with one of the toys that she had gotten, a robotic kitten that meowed and walked around. When Rachel saw it, the tiredness she had felt was gone in an instant and she just wanted to play with her new toy. Emily and the two older girls sat watching a movie as Rachel played on the ground, the adults were in the kitchen cleaning and having a few drinks.
Emily rolled her eyes every time Rachel's new kitten meowed or purred and every time Rachel got excited over the thing. She sat on her hip and hissed as her sister flicked her bottom, giving her a glare to stop being a brat about it.
Around 8, Shelby stood and quickly said goodnight to her leaving brother, he had things to pick up for his sons and his wife, plus the two youngsters were heading to bed soon followed by everyone else. All four adults said their goodbyes and headed out to the living room where Emily laid on her stomach, now awake baby Kaiden sat in between his oldest sisters chewing on a teething ring and Rachel still sat on the floor, holding the electronic kitty and her pink kitty in her arms.
When she saw her mommy, she got up and ran over, grinning at her mother as she lifted the small six year old into her arms. The two kittens were long forgotten when the six year old's large, curious eyes met her mothers and she curled up against her mom's warm body with a yawn. The little girl was beyond tired and Shelby knew that, they had a long day, but she didn't know what to put a six year old to bed.
When babysitting Emily, the other little girl was sent to bed at 10, or 11 if Shelby is feeling extra nice, but the girl is usually getting ready to get under the covers by now. Soon enough, by the time Shelby was comfortable with her daughter on the couch, Ellie returned with her husband and the called Emily upstairs. The girl complained and whined, but one raise of an eyebrow from her mom got her going.
"Mommy? I have a bath?" Shelby smiled down at her daughter when the little girl asked and she nodded. After telling her sister of Rachel's night with her the other day, Ellie freaked that she had let a six year old in a shower by herself, without constant supervision. Shelby knew that had been a stupid move on her part, but she wasn't thinking like a mother or an adult at that point.
"C'mon then, cutie." Shelby got up and put her daughter down, waving to her older nieces and nephew then followed the girl to the stairs, where she was beginning to crawl up.
Minutes later, after waiting for Emily to finish brushing her teeth and such, Shelby started the warm water in her niece's bathroom of the house. Rachel wiggled out of the clothing she had been wearing since that morning and giggled when her mommy tickled her stomach quickly. Shelby helped her daughter into the warm water and took a cup from the side of the bathroom, slowly dumping the water onto the girls back. After she got the girls hair wet, Shelby oured some shampoo of her youngest nieces onto her hands and started to work it into her daughters brown locks.
She couldn't help but grin when Rachel relaxed onto the side of the tub as she rubbed the strawberry smelling shampoo into her hair. Shelby began to hum quietly, continuing to wash her daughters hair for the first time. All of the moments that Shelby had dreamed of doing with her daughter were now coming true and it was making her beyond happy.
"Im going to wash it out now, baby." Rachel nodded and Shelby soon had her baby's long hair washed and grabbed a face cloth from under the sink, wetting it in the soapy water before pouring some body wash onto it. She rubbed the cloth together and got the little girl in the tub to stand up. She washed the pale body of her daughter quickly, the girl was rubbing her eyes and struggling to keep them open as she sat in the warm water.
She lifted the tired preschooler out of the tub with a soft white towel, wrapping it around the child before moving into the guest room that Shelby had called her own since she was fourteen. Ellie and Steven had moved from their small apartment, which was getting too small for four year old Leah, Shelby and the two of them, to the house when she was pregnant with Kelsey.
Shelby quickly dried off the girl, slipping a pair of panties over the girls slender hips and then slipping her daughter into a pair of black and white striped PJ's that were beyond adorable. She grabbed a comb from the suitcase and gets the girl to sit down on the double size bed. Shelby brushed down the girls thin hair, gently tugging threw the knotted bits of hair and humming quietly. Nothing was said, but Shelby's mind was racing.
She remembered her sister brushing out her hair all the nights that she spent at her apartment or house, her mother never did that past the age of three and usually told Shelby to do it herself when she asked.
When she was done, she picked up the little girl, laid on the bed with her and kissed her head, smiling as Rachel curled into her mothers side with a soft sigh. The girls thumb was pulled up to her mouth just as there was a soft knock at the door. Shelby turned just to see her sisters head popped in and she grinned as her sisters face lit up seeing Rachel and Shelby tucked together on the bed.
"Emily's in bed, once the two others go to bed and I get Kaiden back in his crib, Steven and I are going to run out to the store and grab some stuff if you don't mind?" Shelby nodded at her sister and smiled, agreeing to listen in on the five children that would be asleep in her sister and brother-in-laws house.
Soon, Rachel was asleep after a few songs and her mothers hand rubbing up and down her back. Shelby put the girl under the blankets and slipped from the room, leaving the door cracked. She said goodnight to her nieces as Leah went into her room and Kelsey slipped into the room she shared with Emily. Kaiden's bed was in his parents room, as Steven was working on the basement and sectioning it off into three rooms. They were going to move the girls downstairs, use the room that was right now Leah's into the babies room and have the extra room as maybe a future babies room. Shelby's room growing up was always going to be her room, they never wanted or would do anything to that room, that was hers, even if she lived in NY.
Days later, everything was going great and there hadn't been a problem since. Emily and Rachel pretty much ignored each other, but Rachel got along with all her cousins, aunt and uncle. Shelby's brother and wife hadn't been around yet, the boys were still sick and they didn't want to expose the other kids to it.
Rachel had been really getting into the family life, she went alone to another part of the store with her oldest cousin when they went out to the grocery store to get some things for dinner earlier and even helped her uncle carry some tools downstairs, helping him organize them.
Shelby had noticed Rachel mimicking things her cousins did, at first it was simple things like eating habits and playing habits but she soon noticed the little girl was becoming slightly harder to directed and an attitude started to form. She didn't say anything as the little girl wasn't pushing anything, but promised her sister that if she pushed it too far, she needed to step in.
Three days after they had arrived, Shelby was in the living room with her eldest niece and nephew while her sister was upstairs with the other two girls and Rachel. She enjoyed the time with her niece and nephew, it was something she really didn't get since moving back to New York after her break, before the baby was born. She heard a stomp of a foot and a low whine, watching her niece out of the corner of her eye shake her head, she assumed it was her baby sister arguing with her mother. When Ellie came downstairs, she waved at Shelby and she got up, following her sister out into the kitchen.
"Shel, you're going to have to step in soon and I will if you wont, I asked her to pick up a toy she had left in the hallway and she stomped her foot at me. She's picking things up from the kids, especially Emily." Shelby bit onto her lip and nodded, not wanting to step in and scold her daughter that she hadn't even had for a week, but she knew the honeymoon stage would eventually end and she would need to discipline her daughter at some point.
"I know, but I don't think I could do it.." She realised that her nieces would be seeing a different side of Shelby, she would go from cool Aunt Shelly to another version of a mother around the house.
"I know, honey, but you can, and you are her mother, so you know what's right and what's wrong. Just know that Im here if you need help." Ellie kissed her younger sister's head and then headed out into the laundry room, calling for Leah to come get her clothes to put them away.
Later on in the day, after lunch was finished and everyone had found something to do outside of the house, Emily went to a friends house, Leah went to the movies with some friends and Steven took the two other kids to the hardware store to get paint for the almost finished downstairs. This left Shelby, Rachel and Ellie alone in the house. While Ellie cleaned, Rachel and Shelby played in the living room with some toys from her birthday.
It was very close to Christmas, but Ellie and her family were going away in January for the last part of the girl's christmas break so they all agreed to have a small chirstmas of very few presents and to just enjoy the company of each other, and Shelby with Rachel.
Rachel had gotten bored of playing with these toys and got up, walking over to the couch and sitting down. She had seen her two youngest girl cousins do this, they didn't clean up their toys all the time so Rachel believed that she didn't need too. Shelby, growing up, knew that whether she was at her mothers house or her sisters, toys didn't get left around if you werent playing with them and intended to teach Rachel this as well, slowly but surely.
"Rach, can you pick up the toys and put them back in the bins please?" Shelby asked when her daughter got up and walked to the couch. She watched as her daughter's face formed a pout at being asked to move the toys all of five feet into the buckets under the TV.
"Do I haft to?" Rachel asked, pushed her bottom lip out and curled up against the side of the couch. Shelby nodded and got up from the floor, fixing her jeans and then sat next to the girl. She pointed out the toys and encouraged the girl to pick them up, but Rachel didn't move.
"No, I dont wanna." Rachel replied when her mom asked her again to pick them up. Shelby was surprised when the word came out of her daughter's mouth, but sighed, continuing to calmly tell her daughter to pick them up.
Shelby's tone never moved, but Rachel's did. The little girl was getting more upset every time she was asked to pick up the few toys and finally she kicked her legs against the couch, her hand flying over and slapping her mother's thigh.
"I dont wanna pick up them stupid toys! If you want 'em picked up so much, you pickem up!" The small child screamed and Shelby sat in shock.
Neither of the girls in the living room knew that Ellie was standing behind the wall in the kitchen, listening to the conversation go on and her eyes widened when she heard the way the six year old talked to her mouth as well as the sound of her smack to her mothers leg echo through the room. Ellie, after realising her sister wasn't going to do anything, stepped into the room and put her hands on her hips.
"Rachel! That was not nice, say sorry to your mommy." She scolded the six year old and watched as Rachel gave her a glare. She could see the little girl was angry, looking over at Shelby with a stern look she had grown up knowing wasn't a good sign and watched as her sister stumbled to find something to say. Rachel got up, running from the living room before Shelby or Ellie could do anything.
"Shelby! You need to do something." Ellie explained, wondering what came over her sister. Shelby knew how to discipline, she had disciplined her girls before and she knew that the little girl she had pretty much raised knew what to do when a child acted out, Ellie made sure she would grow up knowing what loving discipline was.
"I can't Ellie! I cant do it, I can't do it, I don't know why, but my mind goes blank when I need to say something, I know what to say but I can't say it!" Shelby spoke, covering her eyes with her hands, letting out a distressed sigh.