She was in her playroom at their new house. Okay, they’d been here for several months now. But it still felt so new and wonderful. It was a bit different living separate from Sampson, Abe, and Isaiah. But it also meant she had some privacy with her men.
Immy was over the moon that she got to spend Christmas with all of her family. Sadness flooded her as she remembered there wouldn’t be one person there this year.
Where was Isaiah?
Was he all right?
“Immy, why is this door locked?” Tobias said through the door. “Are you out of bed?”
Cupcakes!
Immy suddenly remembered what she was supposed to be doing. And it wasn’t packing all her gifts.
Unicorn poop!
She was meant to be taking a nap. They wouldn’t get into Southampton until later tonight because Jenner, Sampson, and Abe were all working today. So Tobias had put her down for a nap.
What was she going to do?
Ohhh, she was going to be in so much trouble. She shoved her suitcase into the closet and then pointed a finger at Miss Pippa Porker. “Don’t you tell on me.” Then she glanced up at her elf. He’d appeared on the first of December and she’d squealed in happiness. She’d been so loud that Sampson had heard her from outside and come rushing into the house to check on her.
But she had to say that she was starting to have her suspicions about this elf.
She thought that he and Miss Pippa Porker might just be spies.
Naughty spies.
Because Tobias had left her fifteen minutes ago after putting her down for a nap. So how did he know she was awake, huh?
Yes, she had her suspicions all right.
Or it could just be that you were dancing around the room and making enough noise to wake a herd of elephants.
That was also a possibility.
“Cherry, open this door right now,” Tobias demanded.
Unicorn poop!
She rushed over to the door and unlocked it, stepping back rapidly. Then she stared at him with a big smile on her face.
“Papa! How nice of you to visit. Would you like to sit? How about a cup of tea? Maybe a cookie?”
“Cherry,” he growled at her as he crossed his arms over his massive chest. “What are you doing?”
“Who me? Nothing, Papa. What are you doing?”
“I’m staring at my naughty girl who I put down for a nap earlier and who I heard moving around and when I came up to see her, she had locked the door.”
“Oh, right. Well . . . um, I was doing something and I needed privacy.”
“And why would you need privacy from your Papa?” he demanded. “I knew that I should have taken the lock off this door.”
“The lock is in the door handle!” she protested. It was the same throughout pretty much all of the house and had come that way.
“So? I could have just removed the door handle.” He prowled toward her and she backed up until she banged into the wall.
Tobias placed his hands on the wall on either side of her head and leaned in until they were face-to-face. “Why aren’t you in bed, sweetness?”
