Dinner conversation was more questions about herself. Erik's mom had plenty to ask her as she dutifully ate the meager meal before her. Although it wasn't a lot of food, she had done her best to help Julie make something that was tasty. While she ate, she could feel the burning eyes of Julie on her, watching her for what she could only assume was a grimace of distaste. She didn't have to worry as she readily ate what was on her plate, scraping it clean in no time. Although she hadn't hurried through her meal, she was a little surprised to see that both Erik and his sister, Nikki, were still eating theirs.
"So, Liona. What are your plans for college?" Julie asked her.
"Oh, well, I haven't actually decided yet. I will probably go to the local university, though." It was a partial truth.
She would probably take a class or two there, but not fully enroll. She wasn't cut out for college and she couldn't imagine the hell of trying to get a four-year degree with her grades as bad as they were now. College was no place for slouches. She knew that much from the stories her grandparents told of their teaching days.
"What will you major in?" Julie kept probing her as Erik finished his dinner.
"Mom, cut it out. Lia only came to meet you, not be interrogated by you." Erik stood up, offering to take her plate to the kitchen for her.
"Fine. But I do want to get to know you more, Liona. I reserve the right to know just who is going to be joining our family and what kind of person you are. While what you did today was a good indicator, I am not naïve enough to think that will suffice in getting to know your character and values."
"That's fine, Julie. I really don't mind answering most of your questions, but I also reserve the right as well to refuse to answer if I feel like the question is too private. I should be able to keep some things to myself." Liona answered firmly.
Julie gave her son a side-eyed glance, to see what his reaction to his girlfriend's desire to keep secrets was. She still had reservations about the girl, despite being mollified by her actions tonight. One night and meal could not truly show a person's colors. She had found out the hard way with her husband. She only wanted to see her son happy and to not make the same mistakes that she had. Erik's reaction was that of curiosity, but he showed no signs of voicing it. It was a start. At least he wasn't blindly just accepting her statement. She sighed and got up to start the process of the kids' bedtime routine.
Now that dinner was over, Erik watched his mom and Nikki get the younger kids ready for bed. He didn't want to leave Liona alone, so he let them do their thing.
"I can help if you want," Liona offered.
"No. It's okay. All we have to do is get the girls bathed and their teeth brushed. We have a system down, so it won't take more than a few minutes." Erik replied as his mom came back from the bathroom after getting the tub running.
"Kylee, Sarah, go get in the tub, please." Julie ordered as she picked up a sleepy Emily from Nikki's lap.
"I can help with Emily, Mom," Heather offered.
"Heather, how about helping Kirsten brush her teeth while the older girls are in the tub." Nikki called over her shoulder as she headed to the bathroom with her sisters after her mom took Emily from her.
In no time at all, it seemed one after another of Erik's siblings were bathed and dressed in their pajamas. It was barely after seven in the evening, yet the younger girls were all rubbing their eyes as they came up to give their older brother a hug goodnight.
Erik bid his littlest sisters goodnight while the older girls finished their slightly longer bedtime routine since they didn't go to bed for another hour. It didn't surprise him that the littlest ones each demanded a hug from Liona, which apparently surprised her, though.
"You want hugs?" Liona asked as she was practically clambered over by Emily and Kirsten.
"Night-night hugs!" The girls demanded as they both attempted to crawl into their big sissy's lap.
Laughing a bit, Liona obliged and gave them each an earnest, if slightly over-exaggerated, hug.
"Alright girls. Bedtime." Julie encouraged her two youngest girls from the hallway.
The girls reluctantly got down from Liona's lap with Kirsten leading her baby sister by the hand to their mom, who was waiting with a well-worn blanket and a stuffed animal that had seen better days.
Erik watched as the only two items that had survived since his own infancy were used as a method to encourage his littlest sisters to head to bed. He had ceased thinking of the baby blanket and the stuffed animal as his long ago. Throwing tantrums as a young boy when he had to share them with Nikki had gotten him nowhere. By the time Kylee had been born, he had learned that sharing was necessary and tantrums didn't work. Slowly, over time, he had watched the fraying blanket and the threadbare teddy bear get more and more worn as each of his sisters used and loved them as much as he had.
He wondered if they would survive if his mom had another baby after Tyler. He really hoped not. His mom's health had really taken a turn during her pregnancy with his baby brother and seriously thought that another baby would end up with his mom or the baby not surviving. That would leave him and Nikki to try their best to look after their siblings and out of the state's grasp.
"What's on your mind?" Liona asked Erik as she noticed the slight change in his pheromones and the melancholy look that momentarily crossed his face.
Surprised, Erik turned to Liona, forgetting for a moment that he had pheromones that she was probably cluing into. "I'm fine. I was just thinking about my mom's health."
"Hmm? Is she sick?" Liona inquired.
"Not at the moment, but she is tired and really needs a break, but that's not going to happen any time soon. But if she has another baby, she might be in really big trouble." Erik sighed.
Before Liona could respond, it seemed the middle girls were done with their bath and were coming back to the living room. They were pink faced and their hair was dripping wet but they looked happy and only a little sleepy.
Heather came into the living room and plopped down next to Liona. It seemed that her brother and Liona had been absorbed in a serious conversation, but she didn't care at the moment. They could talk anytime and she only had an hour before she and Sarah had to go to bed.
Sarah made her way to the living room with a towel in her hands, trying to prevent the chill of her wet hair dripping down her back by rubbing it furiously between her hands.
"Hey! If you do that, your hair will tangle!" Liona exclaimed as she saw the way Sarah was manhandling her hair.
"So? I'm just gonna brush it before bed anyway." Sarah didn't see the problem, it was the way she always dried her hair. Not that it was long or anything, but it did rest just above her shoulders. It was actually almost time to cut it all off again so that it didn't need a lot of shampoo to wash. When she was done rubbing her hair into a massive rats nest, she handed the towel to her sister.
Observing the way that Heather also toweled her hair, made Liona cringe at all the knots they were creating. Finally unable to take it anymore, she spoke up, "Hey, can I show you a secret that won't tangle your hair when you dry it?"
"Really? There's a secret?" Heather asked, eager to know.
"Here, let me show you." Liona then took the more than damp towel that had been shared with Sarah and proceeded to gently dry small sections of hair at a time and worked from the scalp down so as to not create a back brushed nightmare of tangles.
"Wow! It doesn't even hurt when you dry my hair!" Heather exclaimed.
"Does it normally hurt when you dry your hair like your sister did with hers?" Liona was a bit concerned.
"Yeah?" Heather responded questioningly.
Liona sighed, maybe she hadn't been taught how to properly dry her hair with just a towel. It didn't take long to figure out that all the girls dried their hair the same way. After that she spent the next hour teaching the girls about the importance of proper hair care while an exhausted looking Julie just silently stood at the beginning of the hallway observing her interaction with her children.