Humanity of the Broken [ Band of Brothers ] 2

EPILOGUE [1]

December 9, 1956

Nixon, New Jersey, United States

"Psst. Wake up, mommy."

Alice groaned into her pillow. She tried to hide her face from whatever tried to disturb her, but small hands found their way onto her face anyways. One of them patted her cheek.

"Come on, mommy!" 

With a dramatic sigh, Alice opened her eyes. Brown eyes stared back at her. They were big in the little face of her younger daughter, full of the mischief she'd come to realize came from her husband's side of the family. "Noëlle. What have I told you about waking me up when my door's closed?"

"Not to do it, 'less it's an emergency."

"So why are you in here?"

"It's an emergency, mommy."

Alice frowned but sat up in bed. Throwing the sheets off, she looked at her five year old daughter. The girl hardly looked frightened, which she would've expected from an emergency. To her right, Nix's side of the bed was empty, and cold based on her hand. He must've been up for awhile. 

"Alright, ma vie, what's the emergency?" She patted the bed and let Noë climb up. "Where's Ettie?"

"She's with Daddy. They're making pancakes," Noë explained. Her dark hair whipped around her face as she turned towards the door. "Daddy dropped a plate and it broke."

It took every ounce of her strength not to roll her eyes. Of course he had. "Did Daddy send you to tell me?"

The grin on Noë's face grew and she giggled. "No. He told me not to. But I wanted to."

Alice couldn't help but smile. Noëlle never settled. She'd expected the response. "Ok, ma vie. Pick out a dress for me and we can go get Daddy in trouble."

The girl squealed with laughter as she scrambled down from the bed. Her feet pounded against the wood floor as she ran to find Alice a dress. Alice moved a bit more slowly.

"Here. This one's pretty." Noëlle laid a black winter dress on her bed and giggled again. "Are they really coming today!"

At her daughter's excitement, Alice couldn't help but grin along with her. "Yes." She laughed as her daughter nodded with a grin. The dress pulled on easily, and soon she'd slipped her feet into shoes and turned to Noë. "Ready?"

They left the room side by side. Noë's red jumper bounced a bit around her as she sped down the hall to the stairs. Once on the first floor, the girl sped towards the kitchen, leaving Alice to follow. When she walked in after her daughter, she found a disaster. Flour was all over the laminate countertops. The pastel blue cabinets had flour on them as well, some still half open.

But most alarming of all, the wallpaper on the far side of the room had a sugary-powder spot the size of a miniature donut. In the midst of all of it, Ettie, blonde hair frizzy from either labor or syrup, Alice didn't know, stood next to Nix. He at least had the decency to look sheepish as she glared at him. 

"Noë!" Ettie groaned. "You're such a traitor!" But the younger girl just laughed, cackling as Ettie tried to wipe her hands on her apron. 

"Lewis Nixon," Alice began. "What are you doing to this kitchen!"

"Cooking?" he ventured. "Ettie thought we should make pancakes-"

"Do not try to blame this on Bernadette," Alice snapped. "Ettie, go get cleaned up please. It's almost noon."