Page 11 of Myla: The Hawthornes

Noel nodded. “Yeah, just give them a rinse. I washed their hair last night, and you know how Diana’s skin gets if you use soap too often.”

“Quick dunk,” Titus said, standing with both girls in his arms. “Got it.”

“I wanna play,” Diana squealed as he carried them upstairs. “Can I have toys?”

“He’s going to have a heck of a time giving them aquickbath,” Noel said as I followed her to the kitchen. “They’ll need time to wash every single fish, safari animal, and doll in the bath toys.”

“Better him than me,” I joked.

“I’m just glad I don’t have to do it tonight,” she said with a smile as she sat down at the kitchen table. “I’m tired.”

“You good?”

“Yeah, but if you could have a little conversation with Ruthie and convince her to sleep through the night, I’d be better.”

“Are you still wakin’ your mama up at all hours?” I asked Ruth. She slapped my cheek in response.

“It’s totally normal,” Noel added. “That’s what I tell myself at three in the morning when she’s thrashing around.”

“I don’t know how you do it,” I replied, rubbing Ruth’s back. I loved the girls, they were one of the best parts of my day—but I didn’t have to parent them. I could hang out and play with them as long as I wanted and then escape when I was done.

“I actually love it,” Noel confessed with a grin. “But it is a lot of work.”

A loud thump came from upstairs, followed by Titus calling out that everyone was fine.

“There’s four of us kids and I don’t know how the hell Mam—Aoife,” I corrected, “stayed on top of all of it.”

“Your sister raised you guys, right?”

“Pretty much.” I nodded. “From the time I was nine. Aisling was only four.”

“Wasn’t Aoife only like fifteen?”

“Fourteen,” I corrected. “Yeah.”

“I can’t even imagine.”

“You weren’t much older when you had Ariel,” I pointed out.

“Yeah, but that was just one baby. Not four of them at once.”

“Fair point,” I mumbled. I looked up at Noel. “I was actually kind of surprised when she told me she was havin’ Sean. I figured she’d be done with raisin’ kids now that Aisling’s grown.”

Noel shrugged as she got up from the table. “Titus and I want a big family. Even as tired as I am most days, we still talk about adding a couple more.”

“Acouple?” I asked in surprise.

“Yep.” She laughed.

“Jesus,” I mumbled.

“Not anytime soon,” she said dryly as she carried a big pot of something that smelled incredible over to the table. “But once Ruthie’s a little older.”

“You two are nuts.”

“We’ve always wanted a big family,” she replied. “Even when we were kids, we talked about it.”

“I’d be good with two,” I said, letting Ruth bounce on my thighs, her little toes digging in for traction.

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