“Dawn?” I called as I entered the kitchen. I found her leaning against the counter with her head in her hands. Her shoulders were shaking, but she wasn’t making any sound. “Hey, what’s going on?” I gently laid my hands on her thinshoulders.
“I’m sorry, Sir,” she gasped as she took in short, shakybreaths.
I pulled her to me, wrapping my arms around her shaking form, trying to give her comfort. I tried to wrack my brain as to why she was upset, but came upempty.
It took Dawn a few minutes to calm down. Slowly, she regained even breathing. I allowed her a few more minutes so she could hopefully sort out her thoughts. Once she appeared calmer, I lifted her face with both of my hands cupping her jawline so I could meet hereyes.
“Do you mind telling me what’s going on in that head of yours?” I asked, staring into her panicked browneyes.
“I’m sorry,” she breathed out, closing hereyes.
“Answer me, please, Dawn,” I coaxed. Her green eyes were outlined in red from her crying and panic. I was trying extremely hard to not sound demanding when I asked her to do something. She could easily just tell me go to hell, and I’d behappy.
“When . . . he invited people, it was never a good thing for me. And . . . I just thought I’d have todo. . .”
“You will never be with anyone in this house like that,” I said sternly. “If, and that’s a big ‘if’, we are ever in a relationship later on down the road, I don’t share. You have no reason to worry about issues like that here, allright?”
“I’m sorry,” she replied, leaning her forehead against mychest.
“No worries,” I said. “You can always come to me with any concerns or questions. There will not be any sort of punishment. Now, how about we go see ourguests?”
“Okay, Sir,” she said, taking a deep breath. When she met my eyes, I could see she was calmer, but also locked down with her emotions. Deciding to let that slide for now, even though I enjoyed being able to see how she felt at certain times, I wrapped my arm loosely around her waist and led her to the livingroom.
Kaleb and Kelly were sitting on the couch and smiled when weentered.
“Dawn, you remember Kaleb,” I introduced. “And this is Kelly, hiswife.”
“Hey, Sug,” she greeted in a soft voice that was heavily accented. “And this little thing is Lilly.” She indicated to the baby lying in her lap, wrapped in a light pinkblanket.
I sat down on the loveseat, where Dawn perched as close to me as she possiblycould.
“Lilly is four weeks old now,” Kaleb said proudly, with a widegrin.
“She’s a fighter,” Kelly said, still just as softly. “There were so many times I thought she wouldn’t make it, but she did. And she’s as healthy as canbe.”
“I’m glad everything worked out. How are you doing? Kaleb said the birth was hard on you,” I said as Dawn wrapped an arm around myelbow.
“Yes—a very long labor. At first, I refused the idea of a C-section. The epidural slowed my progress and made my blood pressure unstable. I can’t remember some things. Plus, having low iron on top of everything didn’t help matters.” Kelly answered. “But she came out with a tiny cry and all pink. I had to stay in the hospital for three nights, to get my iron levels up, along with getting the hang of moving around with stitches and staples. I’m still tired, but doing so much better everyday.”
“Glad to hear it,” I answered. I knew from my mom’s recounts that having a baby, and the first few weeks after, were the hardest. “I wanted to come see you, but I had important matters to attendto.”
“No worries, Elijah,” she replied. “Kaleb briefly explained the protectiondetail.”
“Wanna hold Lilly?” Kaleb asked my girl, whose eyes were glued to the baby. She shook her head before pressing herself into myshoulder.
“I’d like to,” I stated. My mother had brought small children over from the said shelter when there wasn’t enough room. She’d sometimes bring kids of all ages into our home, where, no matter what the age they were, they seemed to look up at me like anidol.
Kaleb took the baby from Kelly and brought her to me. Her eyes slowly blinked opened as she was moved from her napping place. I held her with her head in my right arm. Lilly was small and adorable, and she looked like hermama.
“I’m surprised you don’t have any kids yet,” Kalebjoked.
“I hadn’t found the perfect mother,” I shrugged. I tended to be a child magnet, but I didn’t mind. I saw Dawn peek at the bundle, even though she was trying to be sneaky aboutit.
“Do you want kids, Dawn?” Kaleb asked, making herjump.
“I don’t know, Sir,” she answered quietly, briefly looking athim.
“You have time to figure it out, Sug. No one expects you to answer right now, anyway,” Kelly stated, shooting Kaleb aglare.
