Thank you sweetheart.
* * *
They werethe most precious things in the world.
“Grrr, I’m going to get you,” I roared, chasing them as they ran into their room and dived into the bunk beds that were there when we moved in. Peyton scrambled up the ladder to the top and Piper took the bottom.
Their giggles and squeals of laughter shot a burst of love straight to my heart.
“Daddy, daddy, you can’t get us, we’re safe now!” Peyton yelled as they both grabbed their plush pink and purple comforters and threw them over their heads.
The guys and their lovely ladies had outdone themselves getting the room ready for my daughters. When we arrived the girls were thrilled and I was speechless. I’d expected to be running around later buying necessities and yet when we walked in, the rooms were designed just for us and the kitchen was stocked full of food.
That had been the first indication that the move we had just made and the people we’d brought into our lives was one of the best decisions I’d made in a long time.
“Safe you say? Then what do you suppose we do now?” They had asked about Brinley a million times so hopefully they wouldn’t worry and need to go over that again. It broke my heart that they were scared for the woman. Hell, it scared me too after what we’d been through. But I’d heard things were going fine and hopefully we’d have good news soon.
Two little heads peeked out of the blankets and I gazed into a set of crystal blue eyes that were just like their mothers, while the other set of milky brown eyes were like looking in the mirror at myself. My twin angels were like night and day in looks and personality. They were the best part of both me and Isabelle.
“Can you tell us the story of when you met Mommy?” Piper asked softly as Peyton scrambled down the ladder and onto the bottom bed with her sister where I’d sat down.
It was a story they’d heard thousands of times but they never got tired of listening to it. My breath hitched a bit as I prepared myself once again to jump back to the past and get lost in not only the fond, happy memories of my late wife and me, but also the grief when I thought about losing her.
But I would never deny the request and chance to tell my darling girls about their beautiful, loving mother. I swallowed the lump in my throat and began.
“I’d been standing at my locker when I heard chatter around me and one of my buddies slapped me on the shoulder. I turned to see a girl I’d never laid eyes on before in our high school walking through the hall, straight toward me.”
It was a day I’d never forget.
“And she was the most beautiful girl you had ever seen,” Peyton said.
Isabelle had been beautiful, but I quickly learned how sweet she was, and the heart of gold she carried in her chest too. From that day forward she was it for me.
An image popped into my head but it didn’t belong to Isabelle and more guilt gathered in my gut. I was betraying my late wife thinking of the black-haired beauty that had captured my attention recently.
“Daddy, keep going.” Peyton pleaded, pulling me back to the story at hand and the only thing I should be thinking about.
“Yes, she was so beautiful just like the two of you.”
I looked down at my girls who’d snuggled up on each side of me and laid their heads down, one on each thigh as they listened.
Their smiles lit up my life and I was thankful every single day that I had them.
The words poured out of me and before I even finished my baby girls were fast asleep. I slowly moved Piper onto her pillow, tucking her under her covers, then picked up Peyton and got her settled in her bed, snuggled beneath her blankets as well.
After kissing each of them on the forehead I moved to leave. I turned on their nightlight and flipped the light switch next to the door, sending the room into almost darkness.
With one last look at my baby girls, I exited the room.
I wandered into the living room and looked around. A sense of emptiness settled inside me. The place wasn’t free of material things, but loneliness fell over the space, nonetheless. I’d been so busy grieving and raising my girls that it was a feeling I hadn’t noticed until now.
Not until someone ran into my life, fell at my feet to address my girls, and then looked up with those soulful brown eyes that were filled with both worry and fear, rocking my world.
Gemma made me want something I shouldn’t.
She made me want to feel again.
And that scared the shit out of me.
