“Hmm, that is a good question,” she says. I can tell that she is thinking about the guys. “On one hand you have the Torch and Captain America and on the other hand you have Thor, the Norse god.”
I sit down on the couch and look at the girls. Ryanne and Emma are staring intently at Natalie, waiting for her response. “I think I’m going to have to go with the Aussie. Chris Hemsworth.”
Ryanne starts laughing and high fives Natalie. Emma starts shaking her head and stares at Ryanne. “You cheated.”
“How could I have cheated?”
“I don’t know, but you did. Ok, Hugh Jackman or Christian Bale?” Emma asks Natalie.
“Hmm, Hugh Jackman. No doubt.”
“Oh, Natalie,” Ryanne starts shaking her head while Emma begins laughing this time.
“Ha, told you!” Emma says while pointing toward Ryanne.
“You cheated,” Ryanne accuses, throwing back what Emma had just told her.
“Whatever, Wolverine is better than Batman. I win,” Emma says while standing up and walking over toward David.
“I don’t think so. Christian Bale as Batman, especially in The Dark Knight…it doesn’t get much better than that,” Ryanne says to Emma as she moves toward me.
“It does get better than that. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.”
Ryanne sits down on the couch next to me. “That girl is delusional,” she whispers.
“I heard that.”
“I know. I meant for you to. I’m glad your hearing works.”
“Thank you for testing it,” Emma says with a smile.
“You girls are crazy,” I tell them as Ryanne curls up beside me. Wrapping my arm around her, I turn toward Natalie, who made a noise at my comment. “You’re crazy by association.”
“Eh, I’ll probably end up crazy because of them anyway,” Natalie says with a shrug.
“You got that right,” Emma says. Ryanne laughs and smiles over at Natalie. I’m glad they are all getting along so well. I was worried that Ryanne and Natalie wouldn’t get along because of how similar Natalie and Natasha look. But Natalie is nothing like her sister. Nothing. Ryanne and Emma have taken to her.
“So what are we watching tonight?” Logan asks.
“X-men!” Emma squeals excitedly.
Logan shakes his head. “We just watched that.”
“X-men First Class!” For some reason, Emma loves the X-Men movies. Though Ryanne would never admit it aloud, I know that she does too. She loves all that comic book and superhero stuff.
A little into the movie, Ryanne says, “Let’s just say I’m Frankenstein’s monster and I’m looking for my creator.” A couple seconds later Erik Lehnsherr says that exact line in the movie.
“Oh my gosh guys, it’s like I’m psychic or something.”
“X-Men First Class. Ha, got that one. You lose,” David says.
“I lose?” I look down and see Ryanne smiling. Turning towards David with a familiar gleam in her eyes, she continues, “A loser? How ‘bout I pop one of your antennas off, and throw it across the yard. Then who’s the loser, me or you?” David stops smiling. Based on the blank expression on his face, I can tell that he is thinking hard about where this quote is from. Ryanne starts laughing and leans back against me. “Someone needs to catch up on their Disney movies.”
“Oh, I know. It’s Mulan,” Natalie says. Ryanne nods and giggles. I tighten my arm around her. I seriously love that sound from her.
“One of these days, you’re going to run out of quotes, oh little one, and I’ll be there with an awesome quote comeback that will render you speechless.”
“When that happens, I hope Hell also freezes over and all pigs start to fly.” Ryanne’s eyes get really wide. “Oh, what if the sky turns to fire and your nose falls off?”
Natalie and Emma start laughing. “Pocahontas II,” they say simultaneously.
David looks over toward me, “How does she do it?”
“I’m awesome,” Ryanne mumbles and returns her attention back to the movie. David laughs and gives me another look that says good luck before also turning back toward the TV.
An hour later, the credits begin rolling. Emma and Natalie have both fallen asleep sometime during the movie. David lifts Emma easily and carries her upstairs. Natalie has fallen asleep with her head on Liam’s shoulder. He has a little more trouble trying to move her without waking her, but he is able to pick her up and carry her upstairs. Ryanne slowly stands up and looks down at me. Holding her hand out, she waits for me to take it and head upstairs.
Grabbing onto her hand, I pull her up the stairs and into our room. She stops a couple of feet into the room. With a yawn, she looks at me over her shoulder. I still can’t get over how cute she is when she is tired. Chuckling, I walk toward her, place my hands on the small of her back, and push her to the bathroom, so she can brush her teeth. I literally have to push her because she drags her feet the entire way. Once in the bathroom, she stops in front of the sink and stares down at her toothbrush and toothpaste. Without reaching for it, she looks back over to me.