Have I said "Thank you for all the reviews" recently? No? I've been kind of slack about that (I've been slack about everything!) but seriously: Thank you for all of the reviews. They inspire and encourage more writing.
"Are you ready for the craziness that is my sister's house?"
"I can handle anything, my dear."
"Yeah? We'll see about that when it's time to play Pictionary."
Danielle was leaving town for the weekend, and Annie had volunteered to take care of the girls. Auggie had offered to help, and was following her to the kitchen entrance of the house Danielle was trying to sell. He pulled his cane close when he heard the chorus of "Annie!" coming his way. Danielle gave them a mile long list of instructions, including bedtimes, feeding, television restrictions, and tooth brushing rituals. Eventually, Annie and Auggie found themselves settled in the middle of the living room floor playing with the girls.
"Let me know if you need to escape." Annie whispered in his ear.
"You keep tickling my ear like that, we'll have to put the girls to bed before dinner." Auggie whispered back, making her skin tingle.
"It's not nice to whisper!" Chloe informed the two adults.
"Oh. Busted!" Annie exclaimed, giving Auggie a playful punch in the arm.
"You aren't supposed to hit people, either." Katia added.
"That's right." Auggie said to Annie, with a grin. "How should your aunt be punished?" Auggie asked.
"Um..." The girls were seriously giving the question some thought.
"I should be punished by eating chocolate." Annie suggested.
"No! That's not punishment!" Katia said.
"Then maybe we should make her give me a kiss!" Auggie suggested.
"I thought you liked kissing?" Chloe responded, confused.
"We do." Annie replied. She gave Auggie a quick peck on the cheek.
"Why would that be punishment?" Chloe asked.
"I think it's time to wash up for dinner." Annie changed the subject. "Let's put the toys away."
Auggie heard various plastic pieces being collected and got up with Annie. "Want me to set the table?" He asked.
"Don't you remember the protocol? We have a pile of paper plates ready to go. Why don't you get us some beer?"
"Auggie, how do you know what's on your pizza?" Chloe asked as they sat around the dinner table. She and Katia had been asking him questions like this ever since he told them it was okay to ask anything earlier in the evening.
"Well, I can smell it." He replied, giving an exaggerated sniff. "Or, I can just assume that since your aunt's favorite pizza is Hawaiian, that's what she got."
"How do you know her favorite pizza? Do you two eat pizza a lot?" Not all of the girl's questions were related to his blindness.
"More than we should." Auggie replied.
"Mom only lets us have pizza on special occasions. She likes to cook. Do you cook, Auggie?"
"Not much," He replied. "And neither does your aunt."
The girls giggled. "We know that. That's why she lives with us!"
"I have other talents." Annie stated. "Like..." Annie tried to think of a special skill that was appropriate for telling the girls.
"Did you girls know your aunt can speak more than six different languages?" Auggie filled in.
"Mommy can speak three." Katia replied.
"Really?" Auggie asked, genuinely surprised.
"She lived in the same places as a kid that I did." Annie explained. "You know, Auggie has lived in some pretty cool places, too." Annie said to the girls.
"Have you lived in Sweden?" Chloe asked.
"No. Where is Sweden?" Auggie asked.
"Um..." Chloe was stumped.
"It's across the ocean. But you can't see it from Virginia." Katia explained.
"Hm." Auggie thought. "Have you girls ever been to Chicago?"
"No." They responded in unison.
"Hm." He said. "It's closer than Sweden."
"What country is it in?" Katia asked.
Auggie faked shock. "USA!"
The girls giggled.
"Are you and Annie going to get married?" Chloe asked, out of the blue.
Auggie did a good job not looking shocked when the question came up. He didn't answer for a moment, in case Annie wanted to jump in and save him. She didn't. "Why do you ask?"
"Because mommy says you two are in love, and when people are in love, they get married and make babies."
"They do." Auggie replied slowly. "But these things take time. Marriage is a big deal."
"But you love her, right?" Katia asked.
Auggie was starting to look nervous. Declaring your love with an audience was difficult even if you could look the other person in the eye. "Very much." Auggie said, quiet but casually. "Help me out here, Walker."
Annie giggled. "How about dessert?" She changed the subject quickly.
Danielle had left some cut fruit to make up for the pizza dinner. Annie jumped up to get it for the girls, leaving Auggie to be interrogated.
"If you love her you should marry her." Katia said, quietly.
Auggie leaned close to the little girl and whispered "It's more complicated than that."
"She doesn't care that your eyes don't work." The little girl whispered back. "And she's very pretty. Do you know how pretty she is?"
"I do." Auggie said with confidence.
"Weren't you the one lecturing us about whispering earlier?" Annie interrupted.
"I was just asking Auggie a question about being blind." Katia explained.
"Okay. Here's your dessert. Eat up, and then we'll play a game."
Auggie could hear her sitting bowls in front of the girls.
"Your evasive techniques are rusty Anderson." Annie whispered in his ear as she sat a bowl in front of him.
Auggie just smiled and put a strawberry in his mouth.
...
Later, they finally got the girls to sleep and were sitting on the couch. Annie was as close to Auggie as she could get. "You are good with them." She stated.
Auggie huffed. "They terrify and amuse me all at the same time."
"Yeah."
Annie could tell Auggie was deep in thought. She ran her fingers over his leg. "So you love me very much?" She asked, quietly.
Auggie gripped her tightly. "Yeah." He said quietly. "You know that, right?"
"Yeah." She responded. She readjusted to give him a kiss. "I love you, too."
"Your niece says that means we have to get married and make babies." Auggie said between kisses, jokingly.
Annie was quiet a moment, but the way she was gently moving her finger in his hair told him that it wasn't because she was upset. "Do you think that sort of future is possible for us?"
Auggie looked toward her with a bit of shock. "Of course it is." He stated gently. "I know my history with reading our relationship isn't the best, but I thought things were going well so far."
Annie stopped twirling her finger and placed her whole hand on the back of Auggie's head. "I didn't mean it that way. This is the best relationship I've ever been a part of, and I want it to last. I just wonder if our lives are on the path for domestic bliss. I mean, if anybody was on that path, it was Danielle, and look how that turned out."
"Two wonderful little girls and running her own company?"
Annie went back to twirling his hair while she considered things. "Do you see yourself with kids one day?" She asked.
Finally it was Auggie's turn to be pensive. He swallowed. "Yeah." He grinned, "As much as I see anything in my future."
Annie gave him a soft punch in the arm for his attempt at lightheartedness.
Auggie continued. "There was a time where I saw that future. Marriage, children, a house in the suburbs that I returned to after exotic missions with lame cover stories. If you haven't noticed, I'm pretty good at coming up with plans."
They sat in silence a moment.
"I've also learned that plans change. You adapt to what life gives you, and that doesn't always mean that you are settling for something less exciting."
"So you don't mind if the thought of having kids scares me more than a Russian Prison?"
Auggie smiled. "I love you, Annie. I don't love you because of any of the traditional reasons, and I don't expect anything about our relationship to be typical. I'm in this for whatever comes next, whether it is changing diapers or a week in the Nicaraguan jungle collecting intel and catching malaria. I've gone into too many relationships with expectations before, and I hope that I've learned from those mistakes."
As he finished, Annie leaned in and kissed him passionately. "I love you, too." She said as she briefly pulled away.
... and she sincerely hoped that the events that followed didn't lead to diapers in the near future.