He shot her a stern look.
“However, I suppose I should be getting to bed,” she said reluctantly as he stood with her in his arms.
“Did you get all your work done today, my precious girl?” he asked.
Maeve sighed and snuggled into him. Her eyes were drifting shut. Seemed she was more tired than she’d thought.
“Uh-huh,” she said sleepily. “I got it all done. Dahlia came and helped me. Oh, she gave us a Christmas gift each.”
Gray groaned as he set her down on the bed. He placed his hands on his hips as he stared down at her. “Do I want to know what it is?”
Maeve bit her lip to stop herself from laughing. “Probably not.”
“Great,” he grumbled. “It’s a sweater, isn’t it? She knitted me another sweater.”
“Um, maybe.”
He rolled his eyes heavenward. “This is obviously punishment for all of the bad things I’ve done in my life.”
“It’s not that bad.” She couldn’t hold in her giggle.
Oops. She really needed to pee now.
“The way you just let out an evil laugh tells me otherwise,” he said to her with a frown.
“That was not an evil laugh!” she protested. “That was my normal laugh.”
“Nope, that was an evil laugh. Do you need to pee?” he asked.
“Umm,” she replied.
Shoot. He knew all too well that she had a nervous bladder. And it didn’t help that she’d been holding on for a while. “Yep! Gotta go!” She attempted to run to the toilet, but he simply picked her up and cradled her against his chest as he carried her to the toilet.
After she’d used the bathroom – and boy was that a relief – he helped her clean up before turning her to him with a stern look on his face.
Uh-oh.
“Did you lie to me before when I asked you if you needed to go to the bathroom?” he asked.
Double uh-oh.
“I just needed to pee a little bit back then,” she told him.
It wasn’t a full lie, right?
“Then you should have told me you needed to go a little bit,” he repeated her own words back to her.
She bit her lip. “Am I in trouble, Daddy?”
He eyed her for a long moment. “You’ll need to write twenty-five lines in the morning before we leave saying that you will tell Daddy when you need to pee.”
Bummer. But it wasn’t as bad as it could be.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Now, show me the sweater. I need to prepare myself.”
“I already packed it,” she told him. “Probably for the best that it’s a surprise.”
She also didn’t want him to conveniently lose it or leave it behind.
