A Family for Alice
Disclaimer: Twilight and its characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. I'm just playing with them.
I watch Alice closely on Friday just in case the counseling session causes any setbacks. She seemed fine yesterday after her nap, laughing and chatting through dinner and playing until bedtime. It was a normal night for us, but after the strong emotions she experienced, I don't think I can be too careful today.
The morning passes without any issues, though. We're getting ready for Thanksgiving and all the projects involved, including the little kindergarten play we do every year. Alice, Bella, and Leah are the pilgrim girls of my class, and I can tell they're excited. Thanks to the books we've been reading, they know all about the pilgrims and Native Americans involved in the first Thanksgiving. Most of the boys in my class are a bit too excited about wearing feathered headbands and making noise, but boys will be boys.
Since it's Friday, Alice and Bella stay back in the classroom while everyone else goes to the crowded gym for recess. They help me organize some of the blocks that weren't put away during playtime, and I read a few books to them, only stopping when they decide to read to me instead. The two of them are my best readers and enjoy it the most out of the whole class. I know the fact that we read to Alice all the time at home – as do Renee and Charlie to Bella – only helps.
When Bella leaves the room to go potty, I pull Alice into my lap.
"Are you having a good day, precious?" I ask, kissing her cheek.
She nods and snuggles closer. "Uh huh. I wike reading with you and Bewa when it's Miss Cuwen time and when it's Esme time."
I chuckle, loving how she works this out in her mind. "Well, I'll be just Esme again soon. Are you excited about tonight?"
A sleepover with Bella and Leah has been planned for weeks now, but after yesterday, Carlisle and I weren't sure what to do. When we talked about it after Alice went to bed, we decided not to change any plans. She deserves the play time with her friends, and since she seems to be fine today, I know we made the right decision.
Alice bounces in my lap as she answers. "I'm so excited! And Carwile said we get pizza. I wuv pizza and so does Bewa and Weah. And we can pway with my coowal toys, right?"
"You sure can," I agree. "And if it's not too cold and wet tomorrow, we'll go to the park. Does that sound good?"
She bounces some more as she nods, and when Bella returns, she's just as excited.
The rest of the day goes by fairly quickly, even with three very excited little girls waiting anxiously for me to announce that it's time to go home. When the time does come, they receive a disappointment when Leah has to go home for a little while before coming over, but I distract them with the promise of a snack and piggy back rides from Carlisle. I'm sure he won't mind being volunteered.
Walking into the house, I realize that promise might have to wait a few hours. Carlisle is nowhere to be found, but right before I start worrying, I remember to check my phone.
"Sorry, girls," I say as I read through a message from Carlisle. Emergency surgery – albeit a short one – that's delaying him. "Carlisle won't be home for another two hours or so, but he'll get the pizza on his way home."
They're disappointed that their piggy back rides will have to wait, but I easily distract them with some juice and goldfish crackers. Finding Nemodoesn't hurt anything either.
After I change into more comfortable attire and get Bella's bag situated in Alice's room, I join them on the couch to watch the movie. Sue drops Leah off just as Marlin and Dory make it to Sydney, and the girls watch the end of the movie as we chat.
Sue and Renee have much more confidence in our ability to host a sleepover than I do. I tried to get Renee give me a quick tutorial when we first invited the girls over, but she only laughed at me and said it would be just like a night with Alice with more relaxed rules.
Now that I'm in charge of three little girls for twenty-four hours, the challenge seems much more daunting.
I don't know why I'm so nervous. I keep up with ten kids for seven hours a day without batting an eye, but somehow this is more important. This sleepover is like a challenge for myself – a mommy challenge. And with it being Alice's first sleepover, I want it to be a success for all involved.
The girls sit still through the end of the movie, but then their attention spans seem to disappear. All of the toys in the living room get spread around, not leaving a foot of space unlittered. I want to be bothered by the mess, but it's impossible. Seeing Alice's happy smile and hearing her giggle completely erases any negative feelings, and I sit in the floor and play too.
Through all of our noise, I barely hear a car door close, but when our door opens, I know that Carlisle is home.
"I hear my house is full of beautiful ladies," he calls. "Where are my hugs?"
"Carwile!" Alice squeals as she jumps up from the floor and runs to find him. Bella, Leah, and I follow, and all greet Carlisle with a hug.
"Allie cat and Bellaroo and Leah bear, and Wifey…this is perfect!" he says as he hugs me, holding on to me longer than the girls. I get several kisses too, bordering on inappropriate. His hands gravitate to my ass as well, but with the girls distracted by the delicious smelling pizza, I let him indulge. Who says the weekend fun is only for the kids?
We eat together at the table, scarfing down the pizza but only drinking water. They have enough energy without the added caffeine and sugar. Bedtime can be extended a bit, but I don't want to be up all night.
Carlisle and I spend the rest of the night playing with the girls while more Disney movies play in the background. When I need to rest on the couch, Carlisle takes over and gives out the piggy back rides I promised and does anything else he can think of to wear them out.
Nothing seems to deplete their energy, but at nine forty-five, I force them into pajamas and convince them to lie down. It's almost two hours past all of their bedtimes, plus I really just want some snuggle time with Carlisle. I don't care if they don't fall asleep right away, but we need a break.
After we clean up the majority of the mess, I go to change into my pajamas as Carlisle – fabulous and loving husband that he is – makes us some hot chocolate. As I walk toward our bedroom, quiet talking in Alice's room makes me pause. I stop to listen, just to make sure they're okay, but then I can't seem to move.
"It's so cool that Mrs. Esme Cullen is your mommy now," Bella confesses to Alice. "I want the teacher to be my mommy."
"Me too," Leah agrees. "I told you she was, Allie. When we played at the mall."
"Yeah, but I had another mommy before," Alice says, so softly that I can barely hear her. "But I wuv Esme and Carwile wots more, and they're gonna 'dopt me."
"What's that mean?" Bella asks.
"It means they keep me forever, and Esme's my mommy, and Carwile's my daddy."
"So why don't you call them Mommy and Daddy?" Leah asks. "That's what I call my mommy and daddy."
"They didn't tewel me I could do that."
The longing in her voice kills me, and I cover my mouth to hold in a sob as their conversation switches to princesses. I can't believe it's been that simple all along, but it makes sense. Alice still has her moments of being afraid of making mistakes. Those moments occur less and less as time passes, but calling us mommy and daddy is a big step. A step that she's actually been hoping for right along with us.
I rush to the kitchen, surprising Carlisle as he stirs our hot chocolate. He looks up with a smile that drops as soon as he sees me.
"Carlisle, she wants it," I explain, feeling a tear trail down my cheek. "Alice wants to call us mommy and daddy, but we haven't told her she could do that. We need to tell her."
He moves to wrap his arms around me, kissing the top of my head. "We will," he promises. "After the sleepover, we'll tell her that she can call us whatever she wants. Now, how did you go about this information? Do a little eavesdropping, hmm?"
I snort through a few giggles and nod. "I guess it's good practice for when she's older."
We carry our hot chocolate to the living room and sit together in the recliner as I tell him everything I heard. We try to figure out how to broach the topic tomorrow, but finally decide a direct approach would be best.
By the time we finish our sugary drinks and head to bed, Alice's room is quiet. The relief of knowing that we survived the evening is enough to make sleep come easy. Waking up comes easily as well when three little girls decide to jump on our bed.
Carlisle takes them to help him make breakfast as I freshen up and recover from the shock. Thankfully, the weather cooperates after breakfast and makes our visit to the park a perfect way to spend the late morning.
Sue and Renee come to get Leah and Bella before I have the chance to feed them lunch, and they're both impressed by how well Carlisle and I handled their girls. Both of them can't stop talking about everything they did and how much fun they had. We all seem to have permanent smiles on our faces.
With her friends gone, Alice's mood does seem to dip a bit, but Carlisle and I know how to cheer her up – at least we hope it'll cheer her up.
"Hey, Allie cat. Wanna sit with us outside?" Carlisle asks, lifting her into his arms when she nods.
We sit outside on the gliding loveseat with Alice sitting in the middle of our laps. It's the perfect place for this discussion considering this is where we were sitting when we made the decision to adopt Alice. There's no rain to accompany this conversation, but that's okay. I don't need the rain's soothing this time. We're ready for this.
"Did you have fun last night, sweetheart?" I ask to start off, and she grins and nods.
"Esme, it was so awesome! Can Bewa and Weah come over again?"
"Sure, baby. We'll definitely have more sleepovers in the future. Because you'll be with us in the future. You know that, right?"
"Mmhmm. Maggie said you 'dopting me. Right?"
"That's right," Carlisle confirms. "We're adopting you, and that'll make us your mommy and daddy."
I grab Carlisle's hand, squeezing it for support because I know he set it up perfectly for me to get to the point.
"And you can call us Mommy and Daddy," I say as I lean over to kiss her forehead. "We love you, Alice, and if you want to call us Mommy and Daddy, we'd love it. But if you want to call us Carlisle and Esme forever, we'd love that too."
I really don't need the second statement because as soon as I mention calling us mommy and daddy, Alice sits forward and looks back and forth between us. Her grin is even wider now, so I know we did something right.
"Reawy? I can do that?"
Carlisle pulls her completely into his lap, hugging her tightly. "Baby, you can call us whatever you want, and if Mommy and Daddy make you happy like this, you go for it!"
She giggles, and I can see her nod. When it's my turn for a hug, I don't want to let her go. I can't wait to hear the first mommy, though I'm not sure my heart can take it.
A/N: Sorry this is so late and for the lack of replies. I'll go back and answer any questions later tonight, but I wanted to get this posted asap.
Thanks to MelissaMargaret for making this pretty and to anhanninen for prereading.
And thanks to all of you for reading!
See you on Wednesday!