“Oh my God, where are we?” Jillian asked.
“Home,” I replied with a grin.
A few minutes later, we were walking into the house, and Jillian was looking around at the interior decor with wide eyes.
“Mr. Anderson left half an hour ago, sir,” the doorman said behind me. “Said he had a meeting he was late for, and your return couldn’t have been more timely.”
“Thanks, Darren,” I said with a thumbs-up to my doorman.
“Bruin, this place is stunning,” Jillian gushed as she looked around at the place. “Who did your interior design?”
“I hired a team of professionals from Milan.” I smiled appreciatively as I walked down the entry hall with her. “They’ve got an eye for design that’s hard to find on this side of the world. But you haven’t seen the best part yet.”
She raised an eyebrow at me, and as if on cue, I heard the sound of tiny feet running on the tile floors.
“Daddy!” came a high-pitched child’s voice from one of the side-hallways, and I instinctively knelt down to see Emma come running clumsily around the corner, her bright eyes shining and her face smiling as she opened her arms for me to catch her.
“There she is,” I said with a laugh, scooping her up in my arms and standing up, immediately launching her into the air and catching her. The sound of her delighted laughter was music to my ears. “How’d you like your time with Uncle Rhett, sweetie?”
“He has big silly arms,” she said, and I laughed, ruffling her hair as I turned to face Jillian with my girl.
“Emma’s at that age where she has a lot of interesting things to say,” I explained, watching Jillian’s face shining in adoration. “She calls the valet ‘Mr. Horseman,’ and I can’t figure out why for the life of me.”
Emma was watching Jillian with a curious expression, and she looked to me for help. I beamed at her. “Emma, this is Jillian, a special friend of Daddy’s.”
She turned and hesitated before giving Jillian a little wave, which Jillian returned, trying not to cry at the sight of me with my tiny little girl in my arms.
“Hi Emma,” she said.
“Why are you crying?” Emma asked.
“Because you’re cute,” Jillian said with a laugh.
“Why?” she asked. I rolled my eyes. Ah yes, the infinite ‘why’ chain.
“Because you have Daddy’s eyes,” she said, and I raised my eyebrows, catching her glance at me.
“Why?”
“I’ll explain that later, sweetie,” I said quietly to Emma. Emma bit her lips a moment, then leaned in to whisper something into my ear. I beamed at Jillian, who was raising an eyebrow at us.
“She says you have ‘nice hairs,’” I translated.
“Daddy, that was a secret,” Emma protested, and I laughed as nodded for Jillian to follow me.
“Oops, sorry, honey. How about I make it up to you by taking us to the park?”
Emma’s eyes widened as if I’d just promised her, well, the best thing in the entire world.
“I think that’s a yes,” Jillian said, and I winked at her.
“Come on, I’ll show you our favorite place.” We headed was back out the doors, plus one Emma.
About half an hour later, we were making our way across the perfectly cut grass fields to the playset at the local park, Emma holding both our hands as she tottered along. Every now and then, she elected to jump up and swing on our hands, giggling wildly, and I was thankful that Jillian seemed delighted to no end by it.
“Jillian, is this your favorite park?” Emma asked, looking up at her with wide eyes.
“I think it might just be,” she said with a judicious nod. “At least, it’s getting there.”