"Three," Leia counted, unfolding another finger from her daughter's fist. "Four." She paused, smiling at the little girl. Her daughter smiled back, then flicked her gaze back to her fist, waiting for her to finish. Leia unfolded her thumb and squeezed her hand. "Five. Well. Would you look at that? A whole fist."
Samé's smile transformed into a wide beam and she sat back, leaning into her mother's hold. "How many fists are you?"
"Me? . . . At least six fists."
Samé gaped jokingly, laughing at Leia. "That's a lot of fists."
Leia poked her daughter in the side, sending her into a fit of giggles. "Hey! Memily is more fists than me! Sabé is even more fists that both of us!"
"I'm going to tell her you called her old."
"Hmph! Yeah, you tell her that. You just called me old. I'm not old. In fact, I'm kind of young."
"Kind of?"
"Well, am I young like you?"
Samé scrunched up her nose, almost laughing, and shook her head.
"And do you think I'm old like Sabé?"
Samé considered this. "Mmm . . . nope."
"Then, I guess we can say I'm in between. Now, enough about my age." She took her daughter's hand into her own again, fawning over it and her baby-soft skin. "I don't know if Daddy's going to be okay with this. You know, he has a hard time with his little princesses getting older." Leia stopped for a second to really look at her daughter; her big, round eyes, little lips, button nose. Oh, where had the last five years gone? "Especially when it comes to his baby." Leia stroked her hair back, then kissed the crown of her head.
Samé sat on her knees and hugged her. "Just Daddy?"
"What?"
"Is it just Daddy that has a hard time? You look like you're having a hard time, too."
Leia chuckled, pulling Samé into her lap. "You caught me, Sammy. I am having a hard time. You're getting so big, but Daddy and I forget that you're not a baby anymore."
"Maybe you forget all the time because you and Daddy call me a baby."
"Sammy, honey, we don't mean anything bad by that. When we call you baby, we just mean that . . . you're our last little one. This is the last time we're going to have a five-year-old-"
"It's okay, Mommy. Sabé told me that I'm always going to be the baby."
"And are you okay with that?"
"Does that mean I get to be the youngest forever and you and Daddy aren't going to have any more babies?"
Leia nodded.
"Then, I guess that's okay with me."
Leia laughed again, hugging her. "Good because that's what you are to me and Daddy; you're our baby. Happy birthday, baby."