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“Daddy, what do angels look like?” the three year old squeaked as her father ushered her into the sky colored bedroom. Jimmy was no fool. He knew this was just another ploy in the tiny tyrants crusade against either of them getting any sleep.
Amelia was with her sister in the hospital witnessing the birth of her first nephew. Jimmy had done his best to warn the newly wed couple against bringing the offspring home, but they seemed pretty set on it. They’d learn.
The pious man had never truly appreciated the endurance of this wife until this day. Withstanding the little monster all day every day was a possibility Jimmy couldn’t even fathom. From the moment she opened her eyes in the morning, Claire had made it her number one priority to drive her father completely insane. Throwing her cheerios at his turned back, coloring on the new living room television, refusing to take any sort of bath that didn’t include mud, stealing the dog’s food, and breaking every item withing her miniature hand’s reach. The house was a mess, Jimmy was a mess, Claire was a mess… Jimmy could only imagine the rage he would witness when Amelia returned home in the morning.
Lifting the makeshift princess into her bed (pajamas had earlier been vetoed and it had been decided that last years Cinderella Halloween costume would be more suitable for bed time) Jimmy approached the child’s question cautiously. “You know what angels look like Claire.” He tapped the girls mobile gently, the little cupids swayed at his touch.
The child sighed deeply before proceeding. “No daddy. Those are baby angels. What do grown up angels look like?” She looked at him as though her question was the most obvious thing in the world and she was suffering from her father’s ignorance physically.
“Well… they look pretty.” He started quietly. Claire stretched her arms out above her and yawned loudly. Jimmy grinned broadly sensing victory was near. “And they’re warm and full of love.” He lowered his tone to a whisper pulling the blankets up over the girl.
Her eyes fluttered as her mind tried to rebel against sleep. “So they look like you Daddy?”
“Yes Princess they look like me.” He sighed in relief seeing her eyes shut finally. Carefully he removed the plastic tiara from her forehead and kissed the mark in the skin it had made. He straightened up and tossed the headband with the other toys littering the floor.
He hit the lights and stared into the room for a moment. It had been one of the most tiring days of Jimmy Novak’s life… but he knew he would never trade her for anything. Even if she was a tyrant.