Fortunately, we were at a red light when I said this because he threw his head back and burst out laughing. “Fort Knox is secure, baby.”
“Exactly. Fort Knox is a big safe that’s uber secure, so I’m right.”
This answer got him laughing again, but this time he had to tame it down slightly because the lights had just changed back to green so we were moving away from them. “I don’t mean to offend you when I say this, but it’s…” he stopped and searched for a word, but I had one to hand.
“Ugly?”
“Well, yeah, but that wasn’t what I was looking for.”
“Gross?”
“True, but no.”
“Cheap?”
On that one he sighed and shot me a glance, telling me I’d hit the nail on the head. Looking back at the road he mumbled, “Ever since I saw her with it, I’ve wanted to replace it. My grandparents bought us Steiff bears from Germany when we were born, so I had a look at their site to see what they had available. I’ll understand if you don’t want to give it to her, but I just wanted her to have something…” he paused and shifted uncomfortably, “better.”
When I didn’t answer him and just kept staring at him, he carefully reached behind him into the footwell and pulled out a bag. Placing it on my lap, he explained, “I don’t want to take something her mom gave her away from her, so it can be an extra bear for her if you want. It’s just the one she has doesn’t look like it would last long either and with it being the only thing she has from Effie, maybe y’all should look at keeping it safe for her so she always has it.”
Slowly, I opened the bag in my lap and saw a pretty box inside it with the word Steiff on it. Lifting the lid on it, I saw a beautiful bear that was the same color as the one Elodie had now. The difference was, as I ran my fingers over its face, it had eyes that you knew definitely wouldn’t come off and choke her, and it was so soft even I wanted to cuddle it forever. The one she had now felt almost like industrial carpeting when you touched it, and if Leo hadn’t had the eyes secured, one definitely would have fallen off and it just wasn’t worth the risk.
What I had in my lap now was a thing of beauty fit for a special princess baby, and Jarrod had bought that for my niece.
When I didn’t say anything, he said, “It was a stupid idea, you don’t have to…”
“It’s beautiful,” I choked out, interrupting him. “It’s the most beautiful bear I’ve ever seen, and it’s perfect for her.”
“Do you think she’ll like it? You can always put the bear Effie gave her in the box or on a shelf, just so that it doesn’t fall apart.”
The thought that had gone into this from this man was mind blowing. Not only was he buying Elodie a bear like his grandparents had bought him (a German bear which to me linked to half of what made Jarrod Kline the man he was), and not only had he looked for something that was just like what she had, but he was looking at preserving what her mom – who’d abandoned her – had given her so that she had it for life because it was so cheaply made.
It all blew my mind.
“She’s going to love it. I’ll speak to Leo to see how we should do it, but I know he’d be onboard with the original purple bear disappearing. Maybe if we arrange it so that you’re the one who gives it to her so she understands how special it is?”
“I can do that,” he replied gruffly, clearing his throat afterward.
Reaching for the hand I’d been holding before, I was the one who squeezed this time. “Thank you so much for this, Jarrod. It’s the most thoughtful gift I think I’ve ever come across. Well, aside from taking me to a gaming and comic convention. And letting me sit on your head.”
“You were on my shoulders, honey,” he chuckled, and then glanced over at me. “And trust me, none of it has been a hardship. Far from it.”
That’s when all of my energy left me at once, and my back hit the door with a thud. “Well, this sucks.”
“What sucks?” he asked cautiously.
“Well, if I ever want to do anything for you, I have to think of something that’s going to kick all of this’s ass. I also want to kiss you and you’re driving so I can’t. See? It sucks!”
It was just as well my back was already against the door, because he flicked a glance at his rearview mirror, swerved off the road onto the gravel, and then undid our seatbelts and pulled me into his lap, kissing me before my ass hit his thighs.