Change of Heart (Fostering Love 2)

I’d learned in the first couple of days that my girl liked to be skin to skin, so we were both stripped from the waist up as I carried her around the living room, a small blanket wrapped over her back.

“Hey, you awake?” Bram called from the front door, making me freeze.

“Uh.” I looked wildly around me, but couldn’t find anything to cover up. My hair was wild around my head, and I was in nothing but a bra and pajama shorts. Shit.

“I used my key in case you were sleep—” Bram’s eyes widened as he caught sight of Arielle and me. “I brought breakfast.”

I should have known someone would be by. Everyone had been taking turns bringing me meals since I’d brought Arielle home. But I was so tired that I’d completely forgotten.

“Whatcha doing?” Bram asked, grinning.

“She likes to be skin on skin,” I answered, starting another lap around the room when Arielle began to squawk.

“She sounds like a bird,” Bram mused.

“Yeah, a loud bird.”

“You need some help?”

“I’ve got it,” I said, rubbing my hand up and down her little back. “We’re fine.”

“You look tired.”

“Is that your way of saying I look like shit?”

“No.” Bram drew the word out as he pulled off his flannel. “It’s my way of saying you look tired.”

“She’s been up since two,” I confessed, making Bram wince.

“And she’s all fed and changed?”

“Of course,” I replied irritably. I could take care of my own daughter. I didn’t need him to help, I was doing fine on my—“What?” I asked as Bram pulled his T-shirt over his head and came toward me.

“Hand her over,” he ordered, wiggling his fingers at me.

I let him take Arielle and cradle her against his chest with one arm.

“Sit down,” he said quietly, nodding at the couch.

I stumbled over and dropped down heavily, watching him in disbelief as he came toward me and pulled my throw blanket from the back cushions over my shoulders.

“Rest.”

“You don’t have to—”

“It’s fine, Ani. I’ve got nothing going on. Lie down and rest for a little bit. We’ll be right here.”

“If you’re sure,” I replied, my eyes already drooping.

“Well, I’m already topless so it’s a little late to change my mind,” he said teasingly before turning away.

I closed my eyes as he started humming a song I didn’t recognize, and fell asleep to his steady footsteps circling the living room over and over again.

* * *

When I woke up a couple hours later, Bram and Arielle weren’t in the living room anymore, but I could hear him humming quietly in the kitchen. I tiptoed to the bathroom to pee and grimaced when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Nasty. My hair was sticking out in all directions, and I was pretty sure I hadn’t brushed my teeth in two days.

I took care of business, then wet down my hair and brushed my teeth, making myself feel slightly less like a hobo when I pulled a T-shirt over my head. I glanced down at my sleep shorts and decided against changing. They were comfortable, and I wasn’t leaving the house anyway.

When I got to the kitchen, my jaw dropped. Bram was sitting at the kitchen table working on some sort of paperwork with Arielle in a sling across his chest.

My sling.

The one with the floral print that I hated but accepted with a smile when Ellie had bought it for me on our shopping trip.

“What are you doing?” I asked incredulously, pausing Bram’s quiet humming.

“Getting some work done,” he said simply, running his gaze from my head to my toes. “You look better.”

“You look like a jackass,” I said with a snicker.

“Ah, there’s the Ani I know. I thought you were going soft on me.”

“Not likely.” I took a few steps forward. “You have to be careful with those slings,” I blurted, taking a couple steps forward. “If you don’t put her in there right, it’s hard for her to breathe and—”

“She’s fine,” he assured me, pulling back the fabric so I could see Arielle’s sleeping face. “I can feel her breathing, and I watched a couple YouTube videos before I put her in it.”

“Oh, so that makes you an expert?” I asked, fidgeting.

This was new. This overwhelming need to protect someone. I was protective of my nieces and nephews, and of the Evans and Harris families, but this feeling went so much deeper than that. It was overwhelming and almost feral in its intensity.

“I’d never do anything to hurt her,” he replied incredulously.

“Here, I’ll take her,” I said sharply, reaching my arms out. I knew I was being rude as hell, but I couldn’t seem to stop it. I needed to hold her.

“Sure,” Bram said, lifting the entire sling so that it was loose around his neck. He handed Arielle over and pulled the fabric over his head, then shuffled the papers in front of him, gathering them up into a neat pile.