I finally rescued him by taking her into my arms. "Don't give your daddy such a hard time. He made us a delicious dinner."
Her little arms went around my neck. "No more slobber kisses for Daddy."
“No more,” I agreed.
"I appreciate that," he said, and leaned over to give her a kiss on her cheek.
As soon as he did, I could smell his cologne. It was subtle and spicy and made me want to smell it more. I felt a jolt travel up my spine. He glanced at me and for a moment, I wished he'd kiss my cheek too. I had the smallest desire to be part of this family. To be the one to wake up with them, be with them, play with them and grow with them.
You’re getting way too attached.
"I'll be up in a minute for story time," Christian said, but his voice sounded strangely husky.
"See you in a minute," Annie sang.
I turned on my heels quickly. Annie and I had a minimally splashy bath time which I was happy for. Usually, Annie could cover the whole floor in water at one time. Usually, when I turned around to grab a toy or a towel she would splash as much water as she could. At the moment, she seemed content to play with her mermaid and ducks. When I said it was time to leave, she happily stood up and let me swaddle her in a towel before I carried her into her bedroom. It felt good to carry her, because usually, she didn’t want to be touched by me.
"Which PJ's do you want to wear?"
I'd noticed a long time ago that she got excited when it was time to pick a pair out for herself. Of course, she'd never told me which she liked before, but tonight she talked my ear off. It was actually a surprisingly welcome change. I didn’t realize how much it had affected me that I couldn’t get her to open up to me.
Christian came up during story time and shared the reading with me. By the time the story was done, Annie was out. She was curled up around her stuffed bear, her long hair spread on the pillow as she smiled even in her sleep.
"She's so adorable…" I sighed. "I always knew we'd get along if she just gave me a chance."
"Yeah. I'm glad she decided to go easy on you. She could use a friend when I'm not around." He glanced at his watch.
"I’ll clean up the kitchen before I go," I said quickly. It had been a wonderful night so far and I didn’t want any awkwardness to start now.
“You don’t have to. The maid will do it in the morning.”
“No, it will be all crusty by the morning and much harder for her. I don’t mind and it’s only fair. You slaved over a hot stove for us.”
"I'll help you," Christian said as he kissed Annie's head and stood.
He followed me out of the room into the kitchen.
We rolled up our sleeves and smiled at each other. It felt comfortable to be doing this. Like a piece of domestic happiness, I had always dreamed about. The place wasn't overly messy because he must have done some cleaning while he cooked. I grabbed a towel when the dishwasher stopped and began to dry the contents.
Quiet reigned for a minute before he glanced at me. "Thank you," he said, turning to me.
“For what?”
"For taking such good care of Annie."
"Hmm… I let her fall down the stairs," I said, as the very thought of it made me cringe. "I still feel awful about that."
"That's how I know you care about her. Also, you thought on your feet in a crisis situation and I like that. So really, you are doing a great job with her."
"I'm trying. She's a good kid and I have a lot of patience for her."
"Cleary…" He nodded. "I wasn't totally honest before."
"About what?"
"About the amount of nannies she’s had. She's had a ton of them over the last year. She didn't like any of them and found a way to make all of them quit."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
He put the cutlery away in the drawer as he explained, "I thought if you knew that you'd get discouraged and not want to stick around. People love to take the easy route. A difficult child is more often than not looked at as if they're bad, and there's nothing else to them. I don't think a child should have to be perfect to be loved. She's going through a hard time, but she's not a bad kid."
"I think the same thing as you. I was a little worried there that we would never get along, but I'm glad she's warming up to me. She's hilarious." I grinned as I thought about us playing.