I looked down to see Lizzie smiling up at me.
“Are you a friend of Daddy’s?” she asked.
I looked at Graham before I drew in a deep breath.
“I am, yes. Is it okay that I’m here?” I asked.
“Yeah. I like it. Daddy doesn’t have friends, so it’s nice to know he has one,” Lizzie said.
“I have plenty of friends,” Graham protested.
“But none that come over and play. We get to have friends over all the time, but you don’t bring any over,” Lizzie said.
“That’s because I’m too busy cleaning up after you guys,” Graham teased.
“No. It’s because you work too much,” Lizzie said.
“I think she’s calling you out on that one,” I said.
“Well, how about we focus on getting ice cream to celebrate your wonderful performance,” Graham said.
“Really?” Lizzie asked.
“I could get behind ice cream,” I said. “But will the boys be okay?”
Graham’s eyes connected with mine again as that unreadable expression crossed his face.
“They sleep anywhere,” Lizzie said. “Come on. We can go to my favorite place.”
“Why’s it your favorite?” I asked.
“Because they have oatmeal raisin cookie dough ice cream,” Lizzie said.
“That… actually doesn’t sound half bad,” I said.
“It’s the best. Now come on!”
Lizzie tugged my body and I relented with a giggle. I cradled Deacon against my body, trying not to jostle him too much as Graham followed quickly behind me. Lizzie dragged us all to the car and I helped get the boys situated in their car seats, then I shut the door and looked up at Graham.
“Follow you guys there?” I asked.
“I figured you wouldn’t have a problem with that,” he said with a wink.
Seventeen
Graham
I leaned against the doorjamb as I watched Libby sit on the edge of my daughter’s bed. She was reading a book to her and Lizzie was enjoying every second of it. The light in my daughter’s eyes as Libby turned each and every page was unmistakable, and I enjoyed the way they were always bonding when Libby came over. The boys had taken to her already, but they were pretty friendly toddlers. They’d take to just about anyone if they spent enough time around them. But Lizzie was a different story. She was skeptical of anyone that came around. She was the child that always clung to my pant leg if she was ever meeting someone new.
But she never did that with Libby.
Not once.
The way the two of them had bonded warmed my heart. Lizzie would go running across the marble floors of our home to rip open the door whenever Libby arrived for dinner. She’d catapult herself into Libby’s arms and hug her tightly, the two of them smiling until it hurt. Lizzie would talk her ear off and Libby took it in stride, answering all of her questions as if they were the most important thing in the world.
And her bond with the boys was priceless. She never hesitated to take them and change them if I was busy with something. She learned her way around the house quickly and would do things like get them sippy cups full of milk and put them in their playpens. When they cried, she would jump to figure out what was wrong. When they yawned, she wouldn’t hesitate to take them both upstairs and bed them down early. She was the first to volunteer herself for bath time an
d even bought these tablets that made the water the boys were in change colors.