Carolina Wren

Chapter 23

Wren's POV

When the guys agreed to watch Disney movies with my younger brothers, I was expecting them to stoically suffer through it for the sake of the kids. Sure, I knew Silas had specifically requested the Little Mermaid, but in my head I thought it was because that was one he knew he could tolerate. I had not been expecting them to be nearly as into it as my brothers.

They were all legitimately paying attention, chuckling at parts and Luke, Gabe, and Silas seemed to know all of the words to every song. Luke nearly makes my heart melt whenever something scary happens on the screen and Keegan hides his face in his side. He doesn't hesitate to comfort him but doesn't go overboard, either. I don't know where he learned his skills as a big brother, since North isn't that much younger than him, but he's a natural at it.

The allure of a movie night had led me to decide to allow Keegan to stay up a bit later than usual to finish The Little Mermaid with the others. Juni, however, gave zero shits about the movie and who got to watch it. Around 6:30, she started fussing in Kota's arms.

With an apology to Nathan, I managed to uncoil myself from the couch without stepping on anybody and take her. "She needs to take a quick bath and have a bottle so she can go to bed," I explain to his raised eyebrow.

Victor stands up and reaches for the baby. "I'll hold her while you get her bottle ready and then I'll carry her up the stairs. You're supposed to be resting your arms." I can't argue with him, my shoulders and back are killing me.

He trails behind me into the kitchen while I pull the stuff out to prep her bottle. "Is this your usual nighttime routine?" he asks, casually bouncing Juni to keep her calm.

"No, not by a long shot. Normally we eat around 5:30 and then it's bath time for the two little ones, and then a really long nighttime routine. Stories, lullabies, those sorts of things while I'm feeding Juni."

Victor's frowning. "Does the nighttime routine always fall onto you?"

Do they ever miss anything? "Sheila's not maternal. It's just easier if I do it for them." It's not exactly a lie. Sheila is most definitely not maternal and if I didn't take care of them, no one would. It was easier than trying to convince her to be a mother for once in her life. It was easier than facing the reality of losing them to the child protection system. "Once I get her in the bath can you come back down here and start this? I normally do it once Keegan and Juni both get out of the bath but I'm already running behind tonight."

"I just have to press a button, right?" he asked and when I nodded, he agreed. "We're here to help in whatever way you'll let us, Princess." They were already doing more than enough but I didn't bother arguing. They'd never agree with me, anyway.

Together, we went up the stairs as quietly as we could so we didn't interrupt movie night. Keegan had moved up on the couch to sit leaning up against Nathan, one of his trucks clutched tightly in his hands. I could tell that he was fighting to stay awake. He may have slept in today, but a day of playing hard had counteracted that.

Upstairs, I turned on the water for the tub and left Victor in the hall while I rushed to grab pajamas and diapers for both of the babies. When I came back, Victor was humming lowly to Juni as he slowly rocked her around, his feet moving in a gentle circle.

"Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake," I murmur as I join them. His slow burning fire eyes meet mine with warmth. "Haven't thought to introduce that one to them yet. I'll have to put it on the list to keep an eye out for."

"Introducing them to ballet or orchestral pieces?" he asks, his hand rubbing circles onto Juni's back as he leans against the doorframe, watching me get things ready in the bathroom.