“Caught you!”
“I know you got caught on purpose, m’kay? Are you that excited for Daddy to carry you?”
“N-No!” Myuke went bright red in response to Bram’s teasing. “I mean, there are days I want Daddy to hug me, but this time I wanted to get caught to make you feel better! I didn’t want you to start crying ’cause you’re the only one who got caught, understand? S-So, get down, I’m next.”
“Jeez... You should open up more, m’kay?”
Bram climbed down, and Anima, abiding by the rules, picked Myuke up. As soon as he did, Ena jogged up to him on her own and tugged at his sleeve.
“Amima! Up!”
“All right, come on up here! I caught you!”
“So tall! I love up!”
A bit farther away from them, Marie jealously watched as Anima lifted the happy girl high up into the air. Their eyes met, and she immediately made her way over to them.
“I want up too!”
“Well then, come here and I’ll— Sorry, Marie. You’ll have to wait a minute.” Anima swallowed his words as Luina and the doctor returned to the garden. He rushed straight over to them. “That was fast. How did it go?”
“There’s no need to worry, dearie. They’re both perfectly fine.”
“Thank goodness.”
He let out a sigh of relief, but the doctor wasn’t quite finished.
“However! She must take it easy. You mustn’t let her stand around for long periods or carry anything heavy. Make sure she has enough support to allow her to relax.”
“I will. Luina, you just focus on taking care of yourself. I enjoy doing the housework, so you can leave it all to me.”
“I know. Thank you.”
After his cooking lesson with Camilla, Anima had promised himself that he would never make Luina feel alone again. She was aware of his resolve, and that allowed her to trust him with anything and everything. He would do all the difficult chores by himself, only letting her help with the easy ones so that she didn’t put too much strain on her body.
“We’ll visit again next month. Ena, we’re going home.”
“Okieee! Bye-bye, Marie!”
“Bye-bye! Come ’gain soon!”
Even though they didn’t get to play for very long, both of them seemed to have been satisfied with all the running they’d gotten in, and said goodbye to each other with beaming smiles.
“All right.”
Anima switched gears. He looked around to find the deserted picnic blanket flapping in the wind, and the empty plates on top of it on the brink of flipping over. He had to put some weight on the blanket to stop it from flying away, and take the empty plates inside.
“Daddy, up! And piddybag! And tag! I wanna run!” Marie pleaded, looking up at him with puppy dog eyes. He picked her up, raised her up high, then promptly put her down.
“I’ll give you a piggyback ride later, okay? Go play with your sisters while I start cleaning up.”
“I’ll pick you up as much as you want!”
“My back was made for giving piggyback rides, m’kay?!”
Anima got to work while keeping an eye out on the girls. Myuke lifted Marie up as high as she could, then Bram gave her a piggyback ride. Once he’d secured the blanket to the ground, he brought the plates to the well, and he and Luina washed the dishes together.
Later, that evening, Anima was in the dressing room with Luina and Marie. Marie, in an attempt to impress her daddy, took her clothes off as fast as she could. She definitely deserved praise for her incredible display.
“When did you learn to take your clothes off so fast?! I’m amazed!”
“Watch! I do this too!”
Marie put her clothes on the floor, neatly folded them up, and set them in the clothes basket. Once done, she proudly looked up at Anima.
“Wow! You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?! Well done!”
“I help Daddy?”
Marie had secretly practiced folding clothes as a way of helping Anima, a gesture that was sure to put a smile on any father’s face. Anima pet her head, which prompted a cute giggle from the ticklish little girl.
“Of course! We’ll do the laundry together tomorrow, okay?”
“Yaaaaay!” Marie cheered, her hands thrown high in the air.
While watching Marie’s joyful smile, Anima took his clothes off, then waited for Luina to finish doing the same. She took her dress off, but started glancing around bashfully instead of removing her underwear.
“It’s hard to take my clothes off when I’m being stared at so intently...” she pointed out with flushed cheeks. They saw each other naked on a daily basis, but something was apparently different.
“I’m worried you might trip on your underwear.”
She looked Anima in the eyes and pouted her lips.
“I learned a long time ago how to take my clothes off! I’m twenty-one already! Bring Marie inside; we don’t want her to catch a cold. I’ll be with you in a moment.”
She was absolutely right—Marie was standing in the chilly dressing room buck naked. He took Marie’s hand, they stepped inside, and he immediately proceeded to check the water temperature with his hand. It was only lukewarm, but that was already much better than standing outside, so they got into the tub. Just as they submerged themselves, they heard voices coming through the window.
“I hope it’s not too cold.”
“They didn’t scream, so I’d call that a win, m’kay? It definitely isn’t boiling hot, at least.”
The voices belonged to Myuke and Bram. Ever since Myuke had gotten her fire rabbit stone, she’d taken every chance she could get to use it. She’d taken over the lighting of the fireplace and stove, and even adjusted the temperature of the bathwater.
Ever since the resolution of their fight, Bram was closer to her sister than ever before. She loved watching her work tirelessly to help the family.
“Make sure you don’t burn yourself, m’kay?”
“Don’t worry; I’m an expert at this!”
However, she was also too afraid to leave her alone.
“Warm!”
“Give it two, maybe three more minutes!”
“Gotcha! Two, maybe three minutes!”
Myuke went completely silent after that. She was probably too focused on the flame to talk.
“Sorry for the wait.”
Just as Marie held on to the edge of the bath and started splashing around, Luina entered the bathroom. Even though she was pregnant, she still retained her slender arms and legs. Due to how far along she was, though, her breasts had started to get larger, and her stomach was clearly inflated.
“Can I pet?” Marie stopped her splashing and asked.
“Yes, you can. Pet it all you want.”
Marie gently stroked Luina’s stomach and whispered sweet nothings to the baby growing inside. She was going to be a great sister once the baby was born.
“Can I rub it too?”
“Of course.”
Anima touched her stomach. It felt very soft, but it wasn’t squishy. In fact, while it wasn’t about to burst, there was clearly some tension under her skin, as if she were flexing her muscles. The doctor had said that that could be dangerous if it went on for a long period of time, but it usually subsided rather quickly. The tension had only been temporary the day before, and the day before that too.
“Your stomach has gotten pretty big.”
“It’s only going to get bigger.”
“My tummy big too!”
Marie stood up and smacked her stomach. Anima rubbed her full, round tummy, which prompted a ticklish giggle.
“Your tummy is big too. And it’s not just your tummy—you’ve grown a lot. Are your clothes still comfortable?”
“Uh-huh! I love the clofes you buyed me!”
“I’m glad to hear that. How about you, Luina? Do you feel your clothes have gotten too tight lately?”
“Hmm... Not yet, but I’ll definitely grow out of them soon.”
“Right. Then we should—” Anima cut himself off when he realized that Luina wasn’t in the warm water yet. “Come in first, then we’ll talk.”
“Thank you. Excuse me.”
She carefully lowered herself into the water and let out a comfortable moan.
“How’s the water?”
“It’s perfect. We should call the girls in soon.”
“Hear that, girls? Come on in!”
“Loud and clear, m’kay?!”
“We’re coming!”
The soothing crackle of the fire faded, and their lively conversation got quieter and quieter.
“What did you want to say before?”
“We should go out and buy you maternity clothes.”
Luina’s wardrobe was nothing to scoff at, but all the clothes she had were from before she’d gotten pregnant. All she had that was still loose enough around the waist was the blue dress she’d worn the day she and Anima had met, but that had become too tight around her chest a couple of months prior. She definitely couldn’t wear it with the pregnancy making her even bigger; they had to get her some new clothes that didn’t suffocate her.
“What do pregnant women usually wear?”
“Clothes that hide—or at least don’t emphasize—your form. Loose dresses are quite common.”
“Dresses, huh? I fear you would be cold in a simple dress; is it okay if you put something on over it?”
“Of course. The coat you got me is very nice and warm. I could wear that over a dress.”
“I’m happy you like it, but that would be too hot.”
Even Bram, the most squeamish about the cold, had given up her winter clothes in recent weeks. If Luina were to wear that coat over a dress, she would likely boil alive. It was tucked away in their closet for a reason.
“Let’s go to the tailor tomorrow. Maybe we’ll find something nice.”
“We go out? I wanna go out!”
“Don’t worry; we won’t leave you behind. I didn’t get to give you a piggyback ride today, so I’ll carry you around all day tomorrow!”
“Yaaay! I love piddybag!”
Marie’s cheer resounded in the acoustic bathroom.
“Sorry we took so long!”
“We’re here, m’kay?!”
Myuke’s and Bram’s arrival was welcomed with another, even livelier cheer from Marie. They rinsed themselves down and entered the tub, causing the water to overflow. By normal standards, their bathtub was quite large, but having five people in it at the same time certainly pushed its limits. Their days of full family baths were soon to be over, just like their nights of snuggling up together.
It was a bittersweet realization for Anima, because though it made him sad, it also proved that the girls were growing up nice and healthy. Seeing them grow and develop day by day, week by week, and month by month made him the happiest man in the whole wide world.
“We’re going out to buy Luina new clothes tomorrow. Do you girls want to join us?”
His proposal was met with two excited nods.