Three For A Girl || manxman

Three For A Girl

Yet nothing is so radiant and so fair

As for souls childless, with desire sore-smitten,

To see the light of babes about the house.

- Euripides

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An ear-splitting shriek startled Alex into hunching his shoulders. He reached up to cover one of his poor, abused ears with the hand that wasn't holding his glass of lemonade.

Perhaps he should have asked for something stronger.

He grimaced as his eyes followed the whirlwind of blonde hair when it whizzed passed him, narrowly missing him before continuing on.

Caspar was running around the house at breakneck speed, cutting passed his guests in tight corners and sharp turns, all in tune to the shrill screams of utter elation from his three year old nephew, who sat perched on his uncle's shoulders, tightly gripping his hair.

Vigilant eyes followed their dare-devil race with reasonable concern; there'd already been a moment of collectively drawn breath when Caspar's considerable height had had his nephew just barely missing the top of the doorframe by half an inch as they'd swept through into the kitchen, merrily unaware of how close they'd come to giving their game a tragic ending, while the ones who watched began weighing the pros of adult diapers.

"Watch it, Caspar!" the blonde girl beside Alex shouted after the whirlwind, rocking an infant in her arms. "He's perfectly okay with playing on ground level too!"

Theodora - or Theo, as she insisted on being called - was in L.A. with her family to visit her brother and to scout out some of the suburban, more family friendly neighborhoods. Her fiancé Andrew was a fairly successful entrepreneur who was used to travelling, and they had warmed to the States during shorter visits. Now, they were considering the potential of doing like Caspar and trying on life in California for a while, at least while the children were young and hadn't had time to become rooted yet in friends and school.

Besides Henry - who was currently sat astride his uncle's neck - the latest addition to the Lee clan was barely seven week old June, now resting in her mother's arms after her latest meal. Alex struggled to remember a time when he'd seen Caspar any prouder than when he got to talk about, let alone introduce everyone to his niece and nephew.

When Alex and Adam had arrived to the Sunday dinner get-together, Caspar had flung open the door a split second after their knock, as if he'd been waiting just on the other side. Grinning widely, he'd then practically shoved them through to the living room so they could meet his sister's children, all but ignoring the sister in question, her partner, and the rest of the great unwashed that were gathered in the room.

Alex had waved at Sawyer, his girlfriend, and Joe where they were sat on the couch, before politely shaking hands with Theo and Andrew. He'd shared a knowing smile with them at Caspar's behavior, wordlessly communicating through a long look.

Adam, however, had grinned along with Caspar and quickly knelt on the floor next to Henry, him too ignoring the others. Interrupting the rather violent outcome of a game of chicken between two toy cars, Adam had ceremoniously greeted the boy as if he were royalty. Henry had giggled at the funny man who was making his arm jiggle up and down, and reached for Adam's hand once he'd started to withdraw it, laughingly hiccupping "Again!", to which Adam had responded with an even more rigorous shake and a repeat of the grandeur greeting.