My heart stuttered. I did not see that coming.
She left in a rush to go to her family that abandoned her, to see her sister. Did that mean she was here?
Looking around, I didn’t see anything out of place, including a ten-year-old girl.
“She’s in my bedroom. Obviously, it came as a shock to her that she had a sister she didn’t know about. Even more so when she found out why they left me. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything, I just—I just don’t know how to do any of this, and now I’m essentially her parent. I’m freaking out right now, and I know if I have a meltdown it’s probably going to scare her, which makes me freak out more.”
I tucked her in a bit more tightly against my chest. This was a big deal. A very big deal. I wasn’t even sure what I could do to help the situation except be here for her.
“What do you need me to do?” I pulled back and cradled her cheeks between my hands softly, wanting to look her in her blue eyes.
“I called Lynn, who’s on the way to help me. I know she can do the most. But I just need you here; I can’t do this alone.”
She’d never be alone in this. Hell, if she asked me to move in tonight with her, I would.
New sister, new complications and all.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Arthur
Honestly, it was like looking at a younger version of Gwendolyn, only with brown eyes. From her father, as Gwendolyn told me.
Emily was the young girl’s name. She was ten years old, like I already knew, and was having a lot of problems with the situation at hand.
Lynn pulled us to the side and told us the truth. Emily was feeling conflicted. She loved her parents and felt their loss, but also had anger swimming inside her finding out about Gwendolyn. They never mentioned her, and she was upset that she had a sister she never knew about. Her parents’ image in her little head was being distorted and at an emotionally charged time.
She didn’t want to speak to anyone after talking with Lynn, and I could tell Gwendolyn was getting close to losing it.
Lynn and Gwendolyn did the best they could to explain Asperger’s to Emily, how it affects Gwendolyn and the challenges she faced, hoping it would make their new arrangement being in the same house together a bit smoother. She nodded and remained quiet.
Her face looked much like Gwendolyn’s when she pulled that ice mask of hers over.
The poor girl—I felt bad for her. Everything she knew was gone.
Lynn did everything she could to help the girls get better acquainted and promised she would be back tomorrow to help further.
She’d taken a fancy to Cora, who sat next to her leg, working as a therapy dragon. It was what she was programmed to be, essentially.
“Are you tired, Emily? Or hungry? I can make you something.” Gwendolyn looked so out of sorts with herself, but I could tell she was trying.
“I’m just going to go to sleep.” She gave us both a nod and went into Gwendolyn’s bedroom to sleep.
“I’m sleeping on the couch until I can convert my office to a bedroom. Maybe we should move and get a bigger apartment. Or a house.” The wheels in Gwendolyn’s head were rolling, so I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her cheek.
Her body started shaking, and then little gasps for air rumbled against my chest.
“Oh, goddess. It’s going to be okay. We just have to take it one heartbeat at a time.”
She was crying.
Pulling her over to the couch, I held her against my body and rubbed her back in comfort.
“I’m trying to be strong and brave. This is just not me.”
My fingers wiped the tears that were streaming down her face then slid underneath her jaw, lifting her head to look at me.
“This is you now. You have no other choice, goddess. You are ready, and you can be anything you need to be. Including a guardian to your little sister. The fact that you even went there to go see her and brought her here shows how brave and strong you are. You could have ignored the calls, and she would have been put in foster care. It’s cold, but you could have. Instead you brought her home. You’ve done the hard part. One heartbeat at a time, that’s it.”
