“I’ll walk you out,” Lottie said, taking his hand and leading him to the front door.
Once they were in the yard standing beside his car, he pulled her in for a kiss. One kiss turned into three and more, but Travis found he could not let her go.
“Charlotte Isabelle Smith, get yourself into this house!” Carri shouted from the front porch as the lights on the porch and in the yard began to flash off and on.
After one last quick kiss, Travis set her away from him and climbed into his car. “Behave yourself, Lottie-love, and I’ll see you on Sunday.”
She sighed but took another step back. “I miss you already, Daddy.”
“Love you, sweet girl.”
“Love you, Daddy.”
Travis drove away from the Smith family farm slowly. Though his mind was already thinking about all he needed to do before Sunday, his heart was hurting at having to stay away from his Little for the next three days.
Chapter Fifteen
Going through the house with her sisters, each of them choosing and packing up what they would take away when they left with their men was breaking Lottie’s heart. She hid it from her sisters during the day, only letting down the wall of stoicism when she cried herself to sleep each night.
Their tight little family was about to go in three different directions and even though they would still be living in the same town, it wouldn’t be the same. There would be no more late night gigglefests while watching Disney movies and eating popcorn. No more early morning breakfasts or Saturday afternoons sitting on the porch brainstorming how to build their dreams.
She dreaded Sunday’s arrival, though she also realized it was time to release the tight hold she’d held over her sisters since their parents’ deaths. The hardest part was knowing that in a few months, the house, barn and rest of the farm that had been in the family for generations would be gone, leaving nothing of their past except the land on either side of the new highway.
After helping Carri load the last of her boxes into her Daddy’s car, Lottie hugged her sister goodbye and agreed to a sisters’ dinner that week. She then retreated to the living room so Carri didn’t see her crying.
She repeated the process an hour later with Tilly and Carter.
And then she was alone.
She watched from the living room window as Tilly’s car drove away. Though both sisters would return over the next week or so to collect anything they’d forgotten or decided they did want, this house was no longer their home.
Running upstairs to her bedroom, Lottie threw herself across her bed, pulled Violet and Molly Moo into her arms and burst into tears and sobbed into her pillow.
Though she had things to do, she could not make herself get up and actually do them. She needed to feel Little for now in order to mourn the end of knowing what to do and who to be.
When she finally cried herself out, Lottie curled into a ball in the middle of her bed, cuddled Molly Moo and Violet close and drifted off to sleep as the past days of insomnia caught up with her.
The next thing she knew a warm finger was stroking down her cheek as the bed shifted under her. Opening her eyes, she looked up into her Daddy’s bright-blue eyes.
“Daddy,” she breathed as she tilted her head to make firmer contact with his hand.
“Hi, Lottie-love. Did you have a good nap?”
She shrugged and then shifted and stretched across the bed. She still felt sleepy and wondered if she was dreaming. “I guess. I missed you. So much.”
“I missed you, too, sweet girl. Sorry I’m so late coming for you. Are you ready to move out of here and in with Daddy?”
She nodded slowly as her eyes filled once more with tears. “I think so.”
“I know, Lottie-love. It must be heard to leave the place you’ve lived your whole life.”
Lottie nodded. “It is. But I think it was harder watching my sisters leave like they couldn’t wait to get away from here. Away from me.”
She did not fight when Travis laid down beside her and pulled her into his arms. He held her while she cried, and then a strange thing happened. Though his touch soothed her, it also inflamed her need for him.
Leaning in, Lottie kissed the base of his neck, then slowly worked her way up to his chin and up to his lips. When she kissed him, everything in her demanded more than just lips on lips. Tugging on his shirt, she managed to pull it from the waistband of his jeans.
She worked her hands under the cloth and pushed it up to his armpits. She sighed as she stroked her fingers over his belly and up his chest.
