Except for me.
She’d just spoon-fed me like she tried to do her little brother.
Me.
A grown-ass man.
I tried to ignore it, but my wife’s laughter rose above the rest.
A second later, Connolly came back with another spoonful, and this time, when she stuck it in my mouth, I bit down, not letting it go. I growled at her and she growled back. Pie was flying in all different directions, and it was a fucking sugary mess, but the kid was laughing so hard, I worried for her lungs.
In short, though, she was finally enjoying her life. She was comfortable in this house, with us.
I looked up before she came in with another spoonful and met Keely’s stare. She was still smiling, but her eyes had changed. They were at war with the rest of her face. She couldn’t hide the internal war that raged.
“Okay!” she said when she realized that I’d noticed it. She scooped Ryan up, making him laugh, and stuck him on her hip like he was made to sit there. “Bath time!”
Connolly gave me one more bite and then stuck a finger on each side of my lips, where my mouth dimpled from grinning at her. “Ha-ppy,” she said again before she ran behind Keely, following her up the steps.
Maureen appeared beside me, going for my empty plate. “It’s not that hard,” she said, patting me on the head. Yeah, I was a fucking pet that needed to be domesticated. “If you want to understand our language, you just have to pay attention. Now go get some rest. Because I pay attention, too. It’s not only ghosts that walk these halls at night.”
I followed the sounds of laughter coming from upstairs. Keely and Connolly were getting Ryan ready for his bath. Keely was helping the little girl hold Ryan.
“That’s it, CeeCee,” she said, helping her steady him on her hip. “He’s heavy, but you can do it, baby girl.”
Connolly stuck her hip out, trying to distribute some of his weight, a big smile on her face. While Keely ran his bath water, the entire bathroom smelling flowery, Keely started to sing. Maybe she could hear. Maybe she couldn’t. But the little girl hummed along with her.
The change in Connolly was shocking.
Life. She had life in her.
Keely turned around to take Ryan from his sister and caught me standing there. “Need something, Kelly?” Her voice was flat, but she kept kissing his fingers while he tried to stick them in her mouth.
“Nothing but a good night’s sleep, darlin’.”
“You know which way the bed is,” she said, turning around, giving me her back. “And it’s not in here.”
There was that touch again. I looked down. Connolly looked up. She had set her hand in mine. She pulled me in the direction of the master bedroom and nodded toward the bed. I took a seat, wondering what she was going to do after she left me alone. A minute later, she came back with a couple of books from the library.
“Are you going to read to me, lil’ darlin’?” I said.
She shook her head and pointed at her chest.
“I’m going to read to you.”
She gave me a sharp nod.
I sighed, staring at her for a minute. Resigned, I took the books from her and nodded to the sitting area in the corner of the room. Keely had set it up with two chairs.
“Pick a seat,” I said.
She took the left one, her legs too short to reach the floor. But she settled in, getting comfortable. I read four short books to her … and then I realized that my eyes had closed, and I had fallen asleep. It was dark outside when I woke up, insomnia hitting me hard in that spot where it usually did. But I had slept, if only for an hour or two.
A blanket covered me that wasn’t there before.
* * *
The next day,I checked the clock on my dash. Twelve o’clock—lunch—sharp. I was meeting a retired judge who had been friends with my old man.
