Sunday:

'Daddy, look!' Charlie barely suppressed a groan when Bella came running downstairs. He turned away from the TV to look at his daughter. Her hair was piled messily on top of her head.

'Rach did my hair.'

'Its…pretty.' Charlie lied.

'She did Leah's hair too.'

'Uh-huh.'

Rachel appeared at the top of the stairs. Her hair was in the same messy pile as Bella's. 'We all have matching hair.' She giggled.

If Charlie wasn't so tired, he would have laughed. Rebecca and Leah had appeared behind Rachel. All four girls looked ridiculous. 'Get down here all of you. Let me take a picture of my pretty girls.'

He looked out of the bedroom window when he went to fetch his camera. It was still raining cats and dogs. He had planned a fun weekend with all the girls while Sue and Harry went on their little trip. But it was impossible to venture outside in this heavy downpour. So instead of a picnic on the beach, an animated Barbie movie, a small hike, teaching the girls which fishing supplies were the best and introducing Bella to her first fine dining restaurant, he had played board games. The girls were absolutely unbothered that they were stuck inside. They loved having an adult build a card house with them. Charlie had taught them a few card games and had agreed to be the voice of the Ken doll. That had lasted 5 minutes before he gave up and Rebecca took his place. Yesterday, he had made them vegetarian sandwiches for dinner and the girls had been delighted. Leah had dubbed the sandwiches "Unca Charlie's cheesies". He was rather smug of how many vegetables the sandwiches had contained. Walking back to the living room, he asked Rachel and Rebecca to sit on the opposite ends of the old brown sofa and placed Leah and Bella between them.

CLICK.

Feeling inspired, he balanced the camera on the showcase and set the timer to 10 seconds. Hurrying to the sofa, he picked up Leah and Bella and placed them on his lap, throwing his arms around Rachel and Rebecca's shoulders just as the flash went off.

Sunday afternoon:

Leah had a sweet tooth. So she was pleased as punch when Charlie announced that he was going to bake chocolate cupcakes for dessert. While Rach and Becca taught Bella to draw a cat, she followed Charlie into the kitchen and plopped herself on a chair, watching him cut vegetables.

'Unca Charlie?'

'Yes, sweetheart?'

'Are you going to put vegetables in the cupcakes?'

Charlie chortled. 'Nah, these are for the lasagna. Your mom and dad and the Blacks are staying for dinner when they come to pick you up.'

'Oh.' She watched as he started grating the cheese. 'Can I stay here, Unca Charlie?' she blurted out suddenly.

Charlie stopped grating. He could see why she wanted to stay here instead of going back home. Unsure how to respond, he fiddled with the cheese for a moment.

'Your mom and dad would miss you very much, Leah.'

'No.' she shouted. Then tearfully, she added 'They only love the new baby.'

Charlie dropped the block of cheese. Wiping his hands on a yellow dish towel, he hurried to Leah's chair and knelt in front of her. She immediately put her tiny hands around his huge frame and began sobbing. 'They never play with me. Last week -hic- I got a -hic- star on my math worksheet and they didn't even notice. HIC.'

Charlie let her cry herself out for a good fifteen minutes, while he stroked her back soothingly. He got up and poured her a tall glass of water. 'Leah, I promise you Mom and Dad love you. Very, very much. And so do I. So do Aunt Sarah and Uncle Billy. You're Bella's best friend. Did she tell you she got into a fight at school because one of her friends wanted to tear the silver fish cut out she made for you? You're Rach and Becca's favorite cousin. Jake is always toddling after you, wanting to be included in your games. We all love you, sweetheart. And you know who else is going to love you?'

Leah sniffed. 'Who?'

'The baby. He will look at you and see the coolest elder sister ever. He will copy everything you do and will follow you around everywhere.'

'Really?'

'Of course. Now help Uncle Charlie grate the cheese.'

For the next hour, Leah watched Charlie cook and occasionally helped. She tasted the sauce and then ladled big spoonfuls of it on the lasagna sheets. She handed Charlie the spatula he wanted. And then while the lasagna was baking, she and Charlie made cupcakes. She counted out and handed him sticks of butter and slowly mixed the cocoa powder and flour. She watched as he stirred in the rest of the ingredients and then gave the final batter 2 stirs in the clockwise direction.

Dinner was a chaotic and happy and loud. Sue and Harry had crushed their daughter into huge hugs as soon as they had arrived. 'We missed you so much baby!' Sue had exclaimed. Now Leah sat on her Dad's lap, telling her Mom about the new card game Charlie had taught her while Harry stroked her hair. (With great difficulty, Charlie had untangled all four girls' hair before their parents had arrived.) Tiny Jake had wiggled out of his Mom's arms excitedly when he spotted his sisters. He now sat on Rachel's lap while Rebecca attempted to feed him tiny bits of lasagna when their parents weren't looking. Sarah was telling Charlie about her plans for the daycare, and Billy was listening to a new nursery rhyme Bella had learnt in school. When she was done, he applauded and asked her to sing it again, this time singing along with her.

When he and Billy had cleared the plates, Charlie brought out the cupcakes. 'Leah helped me bake these.' Handing one to everyone, he said 'Notice that the frosting on each cupcake has exactly 14 chocolate chips in it. Do you know why, Leah?'

Leah shook her head. She wanted to eat the chocolate chips, not count them.

'Because that's how many letters are there in your name. L-E-A-H-C-L-E-A-R-W-A-T-E-R. These are no ordinary cupcakes. They're "Leah's Cupcakes."'

Leah ran around the table and hugged him, her tight hold expressing everything she was unable to put into words. Sarah picked up Charlie's camera and clicked a picture of them hugging, the cupcake in front of Charlie making its way into the frame.