“Okay,” she murmured after a sniffle.
“I am here,” I said. “This is not all on your shoulders. Let me take care of you for a change.”
She smashed her lips together, and her eyes became watery again.
Smiling, I rubbed a fallen tear off her cheek with my thumb. “Is that okay, amor?” I asked.
A small smile swept across her lips. “Yes. It’s okay.”
After the pizza arrived and we all ate, I told Octavia to relax while I washed Aleesa up and prepared her for bed. I had to fight her on this, of course. She did not like feeling useless.
But she deserved to take a moment for herself—to think about her problems and process the situation that had just happened. She would not have been able to fully do that while handling Aleesa.
Once Aleesa was dressed in her pink nightgown, she rushed to me with a butterfly hair clip in her hand.
“Daddy, look.” She raised the clip in the air. “I want to wear this ’morrow.”
“Okay.” I scooped her up. “You can wear it tomorrow. Are you ready for bed?”
“Yes. Can you lay wif me?” Her voice was so innocent. How could any sane person reject her?
“Sí, mi amor. Come.”
I turned off the light. The bed was twin size, so it was always a struggle for me to get my whole body on, but I managed anyway. I wrapped an arm around my baby girl, letting out a long, deep sigh.
I hoped Octavia would stick around for a while, but I would not have blamed her if she went to the guesthouse. I wanted to know more about that ignorant ex of hers and see what more I could do to help.
“Daddy?” Aleesa raised the butterfly clip in the air, observing it in the night-light.
“Sí,princesa?”
“I like Tava.”
The center of my chest warmed. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. She my friend.”
I lifted my head to study her profile. Her eyelids were drooping, but she held on to the butterfly clip, twirling it in the air so the yellow wings could sparkle in the light.
“Is she Mommy?”
That caused my heartbeat to stutter. “No, amor. I told you who Mommy is. She is right over there.” I pointed at the photo tacked to the wall across the room. It was an image of Eloise while she was pregnant. I had taken it a week prior to her giving birth to Aleesa. Eloise had seemed perfectly fine then.
“Oh yeah.” Aleesa giggled. And the next thing she said shocked me a bit. “I wan’ Tava to be Mommy too.”
I swallowed thickly, trying to fight the emotion burning in my throat. I did not know what to even say to that, so I remained quiet.
Eventually Aleesa yawned, lowering her arms and turning over to snuggle in mine. I held her even tighter, staring at the image of Eloise while tears threatened to fall.
Twenty-Three
Octavia
I’d never been more thankful for having access to a hot tub than at this moment.
The water bubbled around me, creating a soothing roar that eased my racing thoughts and anxieties. I was still frazzled about Luther.
I couldn’t believe he’d found me. When I’d driven toward Javier’s house and seen him through the window, I’d thought I was going crazy. My whole body went into flight mode, and every alarm rang loudly in my brain.
