Under the First Mistletoe

The Windows of the Soul

"Will Sally be mad at me?" Lily asked anxiously.

Lizzie was sitting behind Lily, combing and fixing the little girl's hair. She peered past Lily's shoulders, into the mirror, and saw the concerned look on Lily's face.

"Relax," she said with a reassuring smile. "She's not mad and if she is, she's mad at me, not you," she replied focusing her attention on doing the French braid. It was almost 7:30 in the morning. The two girls had woken up an hour before. Lily hadn't noticed that Lizzie had already washed her hair the night before.

She merely thought Lizzie had woken up earlier than she had (which for some reason, dampened Lily's spirits, because according to her, she was used to being the one who woke up first) and already washed her hair.

Upon seeing Lizzie emerge from the bathroom with her original black hair, except it was now layered, and not just straight, Lily had smiled brightly. "You look so beautiful, Lizzie!" she crooned, clapping her hands in delight. She jumped off the bed and ran to Lizzie, and clasped her hands, "Just like Snow White!"

Lizzie was very taken aback. No one before had told her she looked like Snow White, and only her parents (and sometimes her siblings) told her she was beautiful. Elle once mentioned Lizzie's ebony black hair and how she envied Lizzie, but Lizzie merely brushed the compliment off.

But when Lily had suddenly showered Lizzie with compliments, she didn't know what to say. She merely stammered, "Thank you," before she had told Lily to shower.

And now, their hair was both dry and back to its original color.

Lily watched Lizzie through the mirror. "Do you think she's mad?"

"I'm not sure. I think maybe she took it all too seriously," Lizzie replied honestly. Sometimes she couldn't read her sister. She didn't know what Sally's reaction would be this morning, or if she was really mad at Lizzie or what.

"Then she's mad, isn't she?"

Lizzie straightened up. "There. It's done," she said, looking at Lily's reflection on the mirror. "How do you like it?"

Lily tilted her head to the right and then to the left. She turned around, and threw her arms around Lizzie. When she pulled back, there was a big smile on her face. "I've never had anyone braid my hair before."

"Really?" Lizzie asked, concerned.

Lily nodded. "Uh-huh," then she paused, and her eyebrows came together as she thought of something. Then she nodded once more, and smiled (her eyebrows separating), "My mommy would. But sometimes she's too busy with work, and daddy is too busy too, and Ethan's busy too, with work andwith Dana, and Dana's busy with work and Ethan. So all I have is Jordan and all the braids he does are messy, and I don't like it."

Lizzie stifled a laugh. The image of Jordan braiding Lily's hair, and following her orders was too much, and just too cute!

"And he doesn't even understand how do it right even when I show it to him," Lily said, pouting. "I keep doing it on Bunny, you know, his ears, but Jordan just doesn't do it right," she paused and sighed. Then she looked at Lizzie in the eye and flashed her white teeth. "Do you think you could teach Jordan to braid my hair?"

"I don't think Jordan's interested in taking lessons from me," Lizzie admonished with a laugh. "He's too busy."

"He's not busy," Lily argued. "He doesn't work and he doesn't have a girlfriend."

He doesn't have a girlfriend.

Lizzie tried to look nonchalant in front of Lily as she brushed her hair. Now that she knew, her heart couldn't stop beating at the thought that Jordan wasavailable.