The mothers’ hearts melted, and Bette managed to speak first.  "Boo, hop up here so I can get a closer look."

Angelica giggled and jumped onto the big bed from its foot and quickly crawled to its head.  While Angelica was moving, Bette also quickly slipped onto the bed.  Angelica crawled into  mother’s lap, facing her.

"Give us a closer look."

Angelica again opened her mouth and stretch her lips bearing her teeth.  This time, though, she was giggling so hard that her jaw kept unclenching.

"Very clean, Boo," Bette observed.

Her other mother had also slipped onto her side of the bed against the headboard and leaned towards her daughter.

"I’ve never seen cleaner," Tina added.

Angelica smiled.  She sensed a weak spot in the parental front and tried again, "May I stay in the big bed?"

Bette gave it to her daughter’s entreaties far too often, but her told daughter’s use of the correct "may" always thrilled her.  Bette always rationalized her surrender as positive grammar reinforcement.

Tina replied first, "No Angie.  You have your own bed.  Head over there and I’ll tuck you in."

Even as she yawned, Angelica protested.  "Not tired." 

"Alright, but I am so snuggle with me until I fall asleep."

Tina reached over Bette and slipped her hands under her daughter’s arms, lifting the little girl.  Tina had misjudged the weight of the four-year-old, and she felt just a bit of a pull in her back.  She carried the child to her mattress against the wall.  As she crossed the room, she glared at Bette.

The glare made Bette shiver, and it was not the kind of shiver her body usually generated from Tina’s stare. 

Bette was unsettled.  She wasn’t sure if she was just overtired or if she was hallucinating because of the circumstances, but she thought that Tina had snarled.

Bette heard Tina and Angelica whispering to one another.  She could make out only a few words "grandmother, cousins."  She imagined that the words included the other classifications of family relationships reflected in the visiting pack.

Angelica fell asleep quickly.  Tina stayed stretched out along Angelica’s mattress.  From years together, Bette could tell that her partner was not sleeping.  The exchange of mother and daughter had been loving and playful and Bette was relieved that the storm, whatever it had been, was over.

Her relief was in error.

Tina stood up slowly, careful to not wake the exhausted little girl.  She turned and glared at Bette.

Thinking about it later, Bette would be certain that what she saw was a snear.

"I’m going to the den."

"T?"  Bette asked, confused.

"I’m angry and just don’t want to be with you right now."

Bette just stared, "But T…"

"No ‘but T’.   I’m going to the den."  Tina left their bedroom and closed the door behind her.

Bette stared at the closed door, not certain what had happened and wondering if she should follow her partner to get clarification.  "Fuck it," she muttered as she snuggled into her bedcovers.  Even though thoughts of the strange evening filled her head, the pull of sleep was too strong and Bette soon surrendered to the rest it offered.  Just as she was succumbing, she murmured, "We don’t have a den."

She jumped awake, pulling free of the enticing arms of sleep.

Tina had gone to the den to sleep.

None of the rooms in the house were a den.

There was only one den in the house.

And Tina had gone to that den now.

Sleep’s arms had again tightly wrapped their arms around Bette’s consciousness.  Had they not, Bette would have worried about what was going on and would have formed plans to limit her in-laws’ visit.  Instead she drifted off again, murmuring, "She’d better shower in the morning."