Prompt 24 -- Secret

Title: This House Is Vegas
Genre: Drama
Characters: Carmena, Melody, Sienna, Chloe, Arrigo
Prompt: 24 ~ Secret
Word Count: Approx. 561
Rating: PG (just in case)
Type: Series
Summary: Carmena meets somebody new.
Warnings: Hasty transition post

"Carmena!" squealed four-year-old Melody as she bounded through the front door and into Carmena's arms. "Carmena, guess what we did in art camp? We made boxes out of popsicle sticks, and finger paintings, and cotton ball bunnies, and..."

Behind her, Sienna rolled her eyes as she made her way into the house, another girl at her heels--she must have been a friend the pair had brought back from art camp. "It wasn't that great; you only liked it because you're still four." Sienna was five. It was charming, really, how children thought a year was such a significant age difference. "Chloe's four too, but she's cooler than you, Mel."

Melody's eyes widened; Carmena gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, then locked eyes with Sienna. "That wasn't very nice, Sienna--there's no reason why all three of you can't be 'cool', as you put it. Please apologize."

"Sorry, Melody," Sienna grumbled, crossing the room to the fridge and pulling the door open, only to moan loudly. "Carmena! We're out of food!"

Carmena shook her head; she thought Sienna was a good kid at heart, but she was definitely more than a little boisterous. Perhaps she would grow out of it in a few years. "No, there's still some in there."

"Since when do veggies count as food?"

Kids. Sighing, she turned to the guest and smiled. "Welcome. I'm Carmena."

"I'm Chloe," the girl introduced herself, "and you have a very nice house. My Aunt Leslie would never paint our walls purple, but her tastes are boring. I like yours much better."

She hoped that Chloe wouldn't go home and say the same thing to her aunt; nevertheless, she indulged herself in a brief laugh. "Thank you. I'm glad you like it. Your aunt knows you're here, right?"

Chloe nodded. She had Vinicio's very eyes, Carmena couldn't help but notice; maybe he'd been even busier than she had been inclined to believe. He'd certainly get an earful when they met again. "I called her from Mrs. Boyd's cell phone before we left. She can come pick me up later."

"If it's more convenient for her, I could have one of my sons drive you," Carmena offered, "but we'll work that out later. Just have fun playing with the girls for now, all right? I'll send one of the boys out for snacks."

No sooner had the sentence left her mouth than a gleeful Sienna bellowed, "Philippé! Carmena wants you to go get us some snacks!"

Carmena glanced toward the stairs to the see that it was Arrigo who responded instead. "He's out right now. What do you need?"

Sienna began to count on her fingers. "Chips, and popcorn, and M&Ms, and..."

"Okay, okay, anything that'll rot your teeth, I get it," he teased the girl, his eyes then falling on the back of Chloe's head. "Who's your frien--"

He fell speechless as Chloe turned around, his eyes wide as they were his first Christmas, and with none of the excitement. They flickered rapidly between Chloe and Carmena while his feet shuffled backward, as though preparing to run clear through the door and all the way to the state border. "Chloe?"

Seemingly oblivious of his body language, Chloe rocked back and forth on the soles of her feet. "Daddy? What are you doing here?"

Carmena raised an eyebrow. "...'Daddy'?"

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