All Grown Up: The Story of Jacob and Renesmee Part I

Dreams

Jacob

After leaving the cottage the evening of Mothers Day, we came home and let the kids paint at the kitchen table. Anthony painted his favorite subject, Pizza, as he waved at him through the sliding glass door. He was becoming quite the little artist, our fridge was very colorful. Swan didn't really paint anything, she just stabbed the paper with the brush but she was thrilled to be included.

They had so much fun painting, they were in desperate need of a bath afterward. Even though I'd told Nessie she wouldn't have to lift a finger today, I didn't think I could bathe both of them at once without somebody escaping. Better to ask for help, than end up with paint smears on the bottom 2 feet of our hallway wall. Anthony had painted so enthusiastically that he was covered in little splatters, Swan was green from the elbows down. It certainly made the bath water an interesting color.

We hadn't realized until after we got them in the tub and were washing them, that having a girl and a boy could make for an interesting bath-time. They'd never taken a bath together before. For a minute Swan forgot all about her water toy as she eyeballed Anthony. Anthony was looking at her like she was missing something, which in his mind, she was.

He pointed at her and asked, "Where's...?"

Ness answered him hastily. "She doesn't have one. Because you are a boy and she is a girl. I think that's all we need to say about that." She turned Swan so that she was facing away from him and motioned with her head for me to turn Anthony around too. "It's fine to ask questions, but there's no need to stare," she muttered. He kept twisting his head around though as I scrubbed an orange blob of paint off his arm. He was looking at her little butt, then trying to look at his own. I could almost hear him thinking, "Well, she looks the same as I do from the back..." He looked at me though when I started to snicker. Ness shot me a look.

"What? It's funny!" I said quietly. She shook her head while scrubbing Swan, but there was a hint of a smile on her lips. I stopped snickering when Anthony put his hands on the edge of the tub and leaned out, looking into my lap.

Nessie was picking up laughing where I left off, she knew what he was about to say.

"Daddy?" he said.

"Um, yes?"

"You have one?" I looked over at Ness and she nodded, still slightly laughing.

"Yes, yes I do," I said not looking him in the eye, instead turning him around to wash his back. He twisted the upper half of his body around to look at Ness.

"Mommy have one?"

"No honey, because I'm a girl."

"A girl?"

"Yes. Swan and I are girls, you and Daddy are boys. Here, why don't you make a picture for your sister on the wall with your bath crayons," she said handing him a few.

"I make flowers," he said getting started on a thick green stem.

"Good, she likes those," Ness said.

I washed Anthony's long hair, and Ness waited to wash Swan's until I got Anthony out of the tub.

"You know how she screams, I doubt Anthony would appreciate her doing so in his ear," Ness said. She didn't ever get upset about standing in the shallow water, she wouldn't sit in it though. And when you dared to commit such a trespass on that child as to wash her hair, she made your eardrums pay dearly for it. Ness was the only one who could stand to wash her hair. Even Bella didn't like to. Ness's hearing was less sensitive than ours. Or maybe it was like that saying, a face only a mother could love. Except this was a scream only a mother could bear.