I looked over at Miles who was staring blankly at a wall. "Please Miles." Flora pushed again. "Fine! Okay... Flor, we'll go caroling around the house with you."
"Yay!" Flora jumped up and ran away. Miles sighed and slouched in his chair. I walked over to him and sat down on the arm of his chair. Miles looked up at me with a scowl on his face. "Come on love. It's fun." I ruffled his hair. "It's not! It's embarrassing."
"It's embarrassing that you love your little sister?"
"In this case, absolutely."
. . .
Flora gave us both some old caroling books from god knows where and made us starts in the kitchen. Flora and I sang "Here comes Santa Clause" while Miles stood there and pouted. The staff in the kitchen clapped when we finished and Flora did a bow. We quickly moved on to the laundry room. Flora wanted to sing "It's the most wonderful time of the year" but Quint hushed her.
"Miles, come on. Let's go ride."
Miles kissed my cheeks and left. Flora frowned and I picked her up. "That's okay. We don't need boys. Let's go sing for Ms. Jessel!"
Flora brightened up and I carried her to Ms. Jessel's room. I knocked and there was a moment before the door opened. "We're putting on a Christas singing show! Come to the parlor in a few minutes!" Ms. Jessel nodded and Flora asked me to help her change into her Santa dress. She'd asked Ms. Jessel to make it for her.
I nodded and we walked into her room.
"Arms up." I pulled her current dress off and left her undershirt on. I went into her closet and grabbed the dress. "There's a hat too!" She shouted. I found the hat on one of her shelves and grabbed that. I walked back over to her and tickled her for a second before telling her to put her hands back up. I slipped the new dress on her and buttoned up the back.
"Wow! It's so pretty!"
Flora took the hat and put it on. "Alright! Let's go!" We ran out of the room and into Ms. Grose. "Ms. Grose! We're putting on a Christmas singing show! Come watch!" Ms. Grose smiled and nodded.
"I thought Miles was with you lot..." Ms. Grose whispered to me. I sighed and looked over at her. "Quint." She rolled her eyes and I nodded. We entered the parlor where Ms. Jessel was waiting. Flora ran into the middle of the room and motioned for Ms. Grose and I to walk faster. We did and I stood next to her.
"Ahem..."
. . .
After the show we were downstairs eating cookies and drinking cocoa when Miles and Quint barged in. "Good day ladies." Quint grabbed a cookie. "These are good." He said with his mouth full. Miles sat down and I glared at him. 'What?' He mouthed. I rolled my eyes and grabbed another cookie.
Flora dipped her cookie into her cocoa and took a bite. She sighed and slouched back in her chair. Quint left the room so it was now a little less tense. "Miles, what did you do?" Ms. Jessel asked.
"We hunted." He muttered, eating a cookie. "Oh... How lovely..." Ms. Jessel muttered.
. . .
Miles and I were getting ready for bed when Flora came in. "Hey Flor." She came and sat on my lap. "I want to do one more show."
"For who?" I asked.
"Mommy and Daddy!"
I nodded and looked back at Miles. "And he can make it up to us by coming to this one, right?" Flora nodded and I kissed her head. "Fine." Miles said, standing up.
. . .
So here we are, in our pajamas, singing Christmas songs to two headstones while it snowed.
We finished and I picked Flora up so she wouldn't have to walk back through the snow. She held her tongue out and tried to catch a snowflake. "Okay Flor, when we get back inside you have to be very quiet." Miles said. She nodded and he opened the door that led to the kitchen. We slunk in and back up to Flora's room.
I set her bed and pulled her covers up to her chin. "Goodnight." I kissed her forehead and sat with her for a moment. Miles and I walked back to our room, hand in hand.
"You sucked today but I'll forgive you because I know you're tired and you did that for her."
Miles nodded and collapsed into bed. I laid down next to him, wrapping my arms around his waist.
"I love you Miles."
There was nothing from him except a few snores. I guess caroling really drains his energy...
