She's really a beautiful little girl -- disregard the odd outfit she's wearing; Tangled Fan said she was hard-pressed for outfits for the young dolls -- but she seems extremely flighty.
Audrey was so excited, but Casey did not share her enthusasim. When Tangled Fan left, Casey retired to the wicker chair, not saying a word; Audrey hounded after her to come play with her. She would have nothing of it. Sooo, it ended up that Audrey, Zelia, and Eugene played teaparty with Audrey, Jordan and Pascal in tow; Casey wordlessly studied her new surroundings while I wordlessly studied her. Eugene attempted to coax her to come play, but she'd have none of it; politely shaking her head. He flashed me a concerned look, and I shrugged.
Meanwhile, Pascal was disturbed by all the changes -- the new member of the family AND the new shelf had him worked up-- and he kept leaving Jordan to pace around and check things out. He gave Casey a wide berth.
"Hey. Mind if I sit here?"
She shook her head, turning so her back wasn't a hundred percent towards me. She watched me out of the corner of her eye.
Clearing my throat, wishing I could simultaneously clear the awkwardness of the situation, I put a hand on the arm of the chair. "So...what kind of things do you like to do, Casey?"
She froze, but then slowly turned to look past me. "I don't really know. I've never really done anything,"
"Hmm...we'll have to change that!"
She flashed me a small smile, but I saw the curiosity in her eyes, so I began to list a few things we could do -- horseback riding, reading, walks, even dancing.
"That sounds fun," she said quietly, but I could see she didn't believe me.
"C'mere," I held out my arms, and to my surprise, she hesitantly moved close enough for me to scoop her up. I allowed her to stand in my lap, since she didn't want to sit. "You know...you can trust us. We're not gonna hurt you or lie to you. Whenever you're ready, let us know and we'll start doing stuff, m'kay?" I studied her face, which was unreadable.
But then she nodded silently, and for a minute, I thought she was going to sit and let me hold her, but then she squirmed away to go sit by herself again.
Hmmh..I know it's gonna take some time, but I just want nothing more than to get her to trust us right now, and it killed me to see her this distant.
But for the time being, I slid off of my perch and joined in on Audrey's game, but I kept an eye on Casey. She remained silent and on the chair for the rest of the evening.
When it was time for bed, I said goodbye to Zelia while Eugene put Jordan to bed, and then we both got the girls to go to sleep. Audrey eagerly gave both of us hugs, told us she loved both of us in return to our 'Love you, sleep tight's, and then I turned towards Casey while Eugene tucked Audrey into bed.
She tried to slip past me to just go to bed, but I managed to get ahold of her, giving her a hug and telling her I loved her. Eugene echoed me, and when I handed her over to my hubby so he could tuck her into bed too, I might have just seen the slightest of a true smile on her face.
When we were sure the kiddos were asleep, I brushed out my hair and slipped into my nightie before heading to bed myself. I flopped down on my back, wanting to talk but not wanting to wake Eugene, because as far as I could tell, he was asleep already.
I guess I was wrong about Eugene being asleep, because after a short while, he sighed and turned on his side.
"So...Casey," he whispered.
"Hmm....Casey, indeed. Do you think she'll come around? It's killing me that she's distant and doesn't necessarily trust us."
He nodded. "I'm sure she'll come around,"
"Yeah..." I sighed. "I hope she does soon."
"Don't worry -- she will. How about tomorrow, we read? We'll see how all our girls like it."
I gave him a smile. "That sounds great. I suppose we should go to sleep ourselves. Night."
So...we'll see. Fingers crossed that tomorrow goes well!
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