Chapter 36

"Hannah, do you know how to dive?" Christopher asks this because she has a scared look on her face as she is standing up on the dive platform contemplating on whether or not she wants to be in the swim league this bad.

As Hannah is shaking her head no, Christopher walks over and lifts her down. The girls have on the competition dark blue one-piece swimsuits. Christopher likes these swimsuits because they are designed in a way that keeps it form hugging all over. Some of the swimsuits bulged out cutting across curves like between the tush and the upper back. Fit little girls are the most beautiful creations in this universe. They should be left alone to feel that they can express that as their beautiful hearts so desire.

"Sarah, come down her babe. We are going to practice diving from the side of the pool at first. Sarah, show Hannah how it is done." Sarah bends at her knees and springs free. She stretches beautifully and has her hands pointing nicely and her head tucked. "Did you see?"

Hannah nods her head with a smile. She squats and flings herself into the water with her head held high doing more of a belly flop than a dive. Sarah swims over to her. "You okay?"

Hannah nods her head, just happy to know she has the courage to even try it. "How was that?"

Christopher tries to hide his smile. He jumps in the water with them and starts working on her form. After a few minutes of that Hannah tries it again and it is a thousand percent better. Between Hannah having the courage and drive to want to succeed at it and Sarah's unselfish desire to see her best friend do well, Hannah improves quickly. Again these little girls have him in a state of wonder and grace.

By the time lunchtime comes around Hannah has it mastered from the edge of the pool. "So, after we eat and rest, are you ready to try the diving platform?"

Hannah looks at him and then Sarah. Sarah gives her a smile of encouragement. Hannah turns back to Christopher and says, "Yes."

After their break and rest and while Hannah is in the bathroom, Christopher grabs up Sarah. With his right arm wrapped around her hips and his left hand moving hair out of her face he says, "You, young lady, are the sweetest most caring babygirl I have ever met. I am so proud of how you are helping Hannah. I love you."

"I love you, too," Sarah says from his embrace.

As he hears Hannah coming out of the bathroom Christopher pats Sarah's bottom and says, "And this is one very special brave young lady, too." Sarah nods her head emphatically. "You ready, Hannah?"

"Yep." she says, courageously and determinedly.

After Christopher puts Hannah up on the dive platform he stands there rubbing her back and caressing her hair until he sees her take a deep breath and steel herself. Christopher jumps in the pool. "Sarah, show her how it's done."

Sarah does it textbook. If it weren't for the fact that he is already in the water, his palms would be sweating because he is so nervous for Hannah. Christopher can barely watch as she coils downward and then springs up while pushing outward with her legs. Christopher fists his hands and clamps them tight as he brings them up in anxiety. Hannah hits the water beautifully and goes in like an arrow and doesn't go too deep. When she comes up the smile on her face is radiant.

"Oh my god, Hannah, you did it!" Sarah screams. She swims over to Hannah and they are exploding with excitement.

Then Hannah turns to Christopher and all she sees is love and pride. She hurriedly swims over to him and Christopher hugs her. "That was amazing. I am so proud of you. Wow! I can't even begin to tell you how impressed I am with your heart, mind and courage. You are one of the most special little girls I have ever met, and I am just so proud that you are letting me be a part of your life. I love you so so much and I am so so proud of you." They hug for two minutes.

Quickly Sarah comes over and joins them hanging from Christopher. "Hannah, that was perfect. I am so proud of you, too." Christopher can't see it because her head is resting on his shoulder, but Hannah is glowing and her pretty face is an angelic masterpiece that could hang in any gallery in the world. All it takes is love, acceptance and a safe non-judging environment of pride and strength.

Christopher pulls back and attacks her with a million little kisses. "Okay, now, let's do that a hundred more times."

Hannah doesn't even hesitate. She climbs out of the pool, runs over to the platform, climbs the steps, steadies herself and goes. She goes a little deeper than you probably want, but again her form is as spectacular as her form is. "Thank the world for little girls." Christopher yells out loud. Sarah and Hannah are beaming brighter than any star could ever hope to do.

After an hour of that Christopher has them work on their turns. After an hour of that he has the girls do the whole thing for the rest of the day. They dive from the platform, swim across the pool, do their turns underwater and then swim back. Christopher has his stopwatch out, and when he sees the times dropping he tells them to take a break. They groan because they want to keep going, but he insists.

They go into the house and get apple juice to drink and a healthy fruit bar to snack on. You have to mix exercise and diet to reach your pinnacle. The girls take their stuff out onto the patio and they sit on the recliners and talk about their progress. No matter whether they are sitting up or lying on their tummies stretched out, they are chattering away.

"Has it been long enough, yet?"

"Go!" says Christopher, smiling proudly.

Eventually even their endless energy wanes and they stop for the night. After their baths they put on their favorite Harley shirts and still chatter away as Christopher brushes their hair one at a time.

Slowly Christopher is figuring out how to cook healthy. A little Shake and Bake on the boneless skinless chicken breast and some rice or mashed potatoes with limited butter. Knowing that both Sarah and Hannah love mac and cheese, it of course finds its way onto the menu from time to time. The days of pizza, soda and candy are getting fewer and fewer. Even though the truth of it is, Christopher did more of that stuff than the girls.

As they are watching their nightly movie, Christopher is leaning back against the armrest while scooted as far over as he can get. Sarah is in his lap and Hannah has turned herself around and is lying on her tummy watching the movie. She has her feet in the air moving them to the rhythm of the movie.

Amazingly they all make it through the movie still awake. Christopher kisses Sarah on the cheek and ear and pats Hannah's bottom. "Time for bed, girls. You have another hard day tomorrow." Nobody moves. They are in Heaven and it is going to take a lot to get them to leave it.

Christopher laughs and extricates himself from them without knocking Hannah off the couch. He stands up and puts his arms out to them. They stand up on the couch and he picks them both up. "You're strong!" says Hannah.

"You think?" Christopher balances them on his biceps and tells them, "Hang on." Then he starts half curling them half shoulder pressing them. They giggle prettily.

After he gets them tucked in Sarah asks, "Sleep with us tonight, Christopher."

"No, not tonight. I got a bunch of notes to make for my new novel."

"Oh, we forgot to work on our novel tonight, Sarah."

"Oh yeah."

"With any luck you girls will have plenty of time to write together."

"Can all three of us write a novel together?" wonders Hannah.

"Eventually. Absolutely." The girls go to bed excited.

As is often the problem with going to bed excited, they don't actually go to sleep, so an hour later Christopher can still hear them chattering away.

He goes up to the room and clears his throat. "You girls really should get some sleep."

"Christopher?"

"What, baby?" he answers Sarah.

"Hannah doesn't want to go home. She wants to stay here with you."

Christopher cringes a little and walks over to the bed and sits down facing them. "I am afraid for now we are going to have to play it like this. I have my lawyer looking into the process of adopting Hannah away from her grandma. I am an unmarried man and she is her grandma. We don't want to let her know what we are doing until it is too late. She might get meaner towards Hannah.

"Hannah, if she hurts you, tell me or Sarah right away and then we can do something to get you away from her, even if you don't come to me right away." Hannah doesn't like the sound of that at all. "For this to work, we are going to have to show people how she mistreats you. Hannah, when the time comes, are you willing to tell people the truth about your grandma and the way she treats you?" She has fear in her eyes, but she nods her head yes.