Chapter 5
Snow cleaned up the UNO cards and set out Candy Land. "Okay, which color gingerbread men do you girls want to be?"
"Red!" Emma called out.
"I want blue," Hanna said.
Snow looked over at her husband.
"I'll be green," he said.
"And that leaves me with yellow."
"I want to go first this time," Emma said.
"No me!" Hanna insisted.
"But I'm older!"
"But you got to go before I did at UNO."
Emma sighed. "Fine you go."
"We can go the other way this time, so you can go second, Em." Snow said.
"Okay."
Hanna reached out to get a card from the pile. She tried to pick up the card that was on top, but her stupid toddler fingers weren't working, and she picked up three cards instead. She put the bottom two back and flipped over the first one. She got two oranges, and moved ahead to her spot.
Emma went to pick up her card, and bumped the other playing pieces with her elbow, knocking them over. "Damn it."
"Emma…" Snow said.
Emma rolled her eyes. "Sorry." She picked the pieces back up, then got her card. She got a green, which meant she got to go across the rainbow trail and skip the first part of the path.
David and Snow took their turns, and then it was Hanna's again.
Hanna scanned the board. She was second behind Emma, but her sister was so far ahead of her…stupid rainbow trail. Hanna reached out for a card. She concentrated really hard this time, so she would only pick up the top card. She let out a sigh of relief when she only picked up one. "Oh the lollipops!" Hanna got to zoom her gingerbread man really far. "Look, I'm almost to the end!"
"You could still get the candy hearts and have to go all the way back," Emma reminded her.
"I won't get that card," Hanna told her.
"I guess we'll see…" Emma picked up her card and got two reds. She moved her piece to the correct spot.
David and Snow took their turns. David picked the Peanut Brittle card, which put him ahead of Emma. While Snow was still stuck on the first part of the path.
It was Hanna's turn again. She reached out for a card, but as soon as she touched it the top half of the pile slid across the board. "Ugh!" Hanna covered her face with her hands. "I don't want to play this anymore!"
"Come here." Snow reached over and picked Hanna up from her seat and placed her on her lap. "I'll help you get the cards, okay?"
Hanna removed her hands from her face and nodded.
Snow fixed the pile of cards, then picked up the top one and gave it to Hanna.
"One purple. Will you move me, Mommy?"
"Of course." Snow moved Hanna's piece, then looked over at Emma. "You're turn, sweetie."
Emma picked up her card. "Two greens!"
Emma moved her gingerbread man, then David and Snow took their turns.
Hanna was happy because she was still in the lead. She took her card that her mommy picked up for her and saw that she got two blues. She wanted to move her piece this time, so she leaned forward and picked up her gingerbread man, moving it to the right spot. She was getting so close to the end!
"Oh yay two reds! I like getting two colors." Emma's excitement quickly faded when she looked at the board and saw where that second red square was…she was going to be stuck in the cherry pitfall. "I don't want to move there."
"Sorry, kiddo," David said. "Those are the rules."
Emma picked up her piece and slammed it down on the red square with the black dot. She sat back and folded her arms. She could only move again if she got another red.
The next few rounds went fairly smoothly. Hanna was inching closer to the finish, but her dad wasn't too far behind. Emma hadn't picked up a red yet, so she was still stuck, and her mom was starting to catch up to her.
It was Hanna's turn again. If she got any card with two squares, that would put her in the gingerbread house at the end and that meant she would win! Hanna took the card her mommy got for her and turned it over. Hanna's eyes went wide when she saw what it was. "I don't want this one, Momma." Hanna threw it back to the table. "I want another one." Hanna leaned forward to get another card from the pile.
Snow put her arms around her middle and held her back. "Hanna, that's not fair. You take the card you get." Snow reached out for Hanna's proper card and saw that she drew the red hearts, which meant Hanna had to go all the way back towards the beginning of the board.
Emma took a peek at the card after her mom put it in the discard pile. "Ha! I told you you were gonna get the hearts!"
"Stop it!" Hanna shouted.
Emma just started to laugh.
"Emma, that's enough," David told her.
Emma had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing.
David turned to Hanna. "Move your guy, Hanna."
"No!"
"Come on sweetie," Snow encouraged.
Hanna shook her head.
"Okay, then Mommy will do it for you." Snow reached her hand out towards Hanna's gingerbread man.
"No Momma!"
Snow pulled her hand back. "Okay. Then you do it."
Hanna was not going to go all the way back to the hearts. She leaned forward and reached out her hand. Then she quickly swiped her arm across the entire board, sending all the pieces and cards flying onto the floor. She reached out to throw the board next, but felt her mommy hold down her arms.
"Hanna…" Snow said.
Hanna wiggled against her mom's hold. "Let go of me!"
Snow held her tighter. "You stop this right now."
"No!" Hanna moved around some more and started kicking her legs.
Snow stood up from the table with Hanna still thrashing around in her arms. "Do not clean any of this up," Snow told David and Emma before carrying Hanna into the bedroom.
Emma's eyes went wide, and she looked up at her dad. "Geez…who knew someone so little could get that mad."
David sighed. "How about we go into the living room and play with Neal?"
Emma nodded and hopped down from the chair. She went into the living room with her dad and could still hear her sister throwing a fit in the other room.