Chapter One-Hundred and Ninety-One
John laughed as he held Amelia's hands in a tight grip and twirled her in a circle so that her feet never touched the ground. "AH!" He screamed as his foot slipped off the edge of the pool, sending both he and Amelia tumbling into the water. He curled around himself as the water covered his head, taking a huge gulp of air at the last possible second.
Claire jumped up from her seat beside the pool, waiting for John to surface for a moment after Amelia had climbed out of the water. "John?" She pulled her sandals off, watching for John to appear before she dove into the water after him, she forced herself to open her eyes, noticing that John wasn't quite there when she reached him. She touched his shoulder, looping her arms around his chest as she pushed off of the bottom of the pool and propelled them to the surface. "John?" She handed him off to Vernon as she reached the edge of the pool, hauling herself out of the water before she turned John onto his side and roughly slapped his back to get any liquid out of his lungs. "Breathe for me baby." She smiled as he coughed, watching as clear water was expelled from his mouth. "There you go."
He gagged for a moment, taking the time to get his wits about him. "Amelia?" He croaked, looking around for the little girl.
Claire nodded, pushing his sopping wet hair out of his eyes. "She's fine." She took his flannel in her hands, peeling it off of his body as his fingers wadded up in her skirt. "Come on, let's get you dried off." She smiled up at Vernon as he tried to steady the boy, knowing that he was still trying to understand all of John's little quirks and habits.
Chance licked her master's cheek, grinning up at Claire as she gave John a cup of tea.
"You ham." Claire smiled, shaking her head at the dog as she settled next to John with Johanna in her arms. "Uncle John's all wet, huh?" She asked as the baby giggled at John's soaked hair.
John breathed a laugh, brushing the back of his index finger over her cheek. "Uncle John's a dummy." He kissed the baby's nose, chuckling as she grabbed his ear with her little baby hand. "The shiny isn't there." He whispered, brushing some of his hair back to show her that the diamond was no longer there. "I put it somewhere safe."
Claire yawned, leaning her head on John's shoulder to rest as he played with their godchild. "Too bad we're not Italian." She whispered, looking up as she heard Frank and Julia's car pull up in the driveway. "Then you could pretend to be The Godfather."
He shook his head, letting Johanna hold his finger. "I'm not ruthless enough to leave a horse's head in somebody's bed to send a message."
She sighed, remembering the time he'd hidden a rubber snake in Andy's bed to scare him. "No, but you do hide things to give Andy a heart attack."
He chuckled, remembering the monster mask he'd hidden under the toilet lid. "That toilet lid monster was the best one."
"You're the one who pulled that on me?" Andy asked, remembering how the entire bathroom had been covered in piss that he had to clean up. "I thought that was Dominic!"
John shook his head. "No, that one was me." He ruffled Johanna's little baby hairs, making them stick out in every direction. "Dominic's was your soap being covered in the girls' clear nail polish."
"That ripped the hair off of my chest!"
John smirked. "At least it wasn't your pubes."
"Ugh!" Claire stuck her tongue out, shaking her head in disgust. "You guys are disgusting!"
John kissed her lips, curling his fingers into her hair. "Babe, that's just part of growing up. We all have them."
"But not everyone talks about it."
Andy took Johanna from Claire's arms, bouncing her in his arms as he took a bottle of milk from Allison. "Get a room you two."