“I’m glad I happen to have something you like. I guess you love to read, huh?”
“Yes,” she murmurs. “I’ll put them all back. I promise.”
“Angel, I’m not worried about the books or the mess. Don’t fret. It’s fine, but wouldn’t you be more comfortable reading in bed? I don’t mind if you turn the light on. It’s hard on your eyes to read under the window.”
“I like it by the window. It makes me feel less…”
“Claustrophobic?” I supply.
She shrugs.
“Tomorrow I’ll get you a nightlight and a lamp for the nightstand. I can get you a reading light, too. Something that hooks onto your book so you can see better.”
She bites that pretty lip again.
I tip my head to the side. “You don’t like the bed, do you?”
“It’s fine. It’s so pretty.”
“But you’re not going to sleep in it, are you?”
She doesn’t answer.
I take in the nest she’s made, reminding myself that everything from the bed is on the floor. She was never going to get in bed. “Is it the window, Little one? Do you want me to move the bed to the window?” Fuck, I’ll do that right now if it’s what she wants. “That way you’ll have the lights and be comfortable.”
“No, it’s fine like this.”
I reach up and rub my beard. “Is the mattress too hard, Little one?”
She shakes her head, but she’s fidgeting now. She’s panicking. There’s something she’s not telling me, and I feel like a dolt that I can’t figure it out.
“Eloise, angel, please tell me what I can do to fix this. I want you to be comfortable. I’ll feel bad if you sleep on the floor.”
She sniffles, and I hate that I’ve made her cry. Fuck. Finally, she says, “It’s too far off the floor.”
“The bed, angel?”
She nods. “I’m fine here. I promise.”
I stare at her for long moments, processing. My girl doesn’t want to be three feet off the floor. Fucking fuck. Wherever she’s been for four years, she didn’t have a bed. I will absolutely kill whoever did this to her with my bare fucking hands, but long and slow. I want the asshole to suffer while I snuff the light out of his dark, ugly, cruel body.
Suddenly, I have an idea. “What if I move the mattress to the corner under the window?”
She sucks in a breath. “I don’t want to be any trouble.”
“It’s no trouble at all, Little one. Will you sleep on the mattress if I move it over there?”
“Yes,” she whispers.
I fully enter the room and easily lift the mattress off the frame of the daybed. As I carry it over to the corner, Eloise scrambles to move everything out of the way. A lot of it is on top of the comforter, so she drags it several feet away.
I lower the mattress to the floor and push it flush against the corner. When I’m done, I get down on my knees and help her arrange all the dolls and stuffed animals along the two walls, leaving a spot in the very corner for Eloise. I pile it with pillows next.
Kneeling on one side of the mattress, I turn to smile at her. “Better?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Were you reading to your friends, Little one?”
