Dipping my eyebrows, I put on a frown when she glances my way and shake my head.
“You really need to learn how to share, kid,” Nylah tells her with a pointed look. “Now, don’t you have something you want to say to your sister?”
Portia’s blue eyes get bright with resistance, and then that sadness washes through them again.
Turning back to Harley, she sniffs and mumbles, “I’m sorry. I do want you to be my sister.”
Harley doesn’t say anything for a second, then softly whispers, “I want you to be my sister too.”
My little blueberry’s lips twitch, and I give in, beckoning her with my hand and making room on my other leg.
The girls both lean against my chest, staring at each other.
“You know what would be great?” I ask.
“What, Daddy?” Portia glances up at me.
“It’d be so great if you two could stop arguing about stuff and be nice to each other. You just said you wanted to be sisters. And when your little brother comes along, we really need you working as a team. Mommy and I are gonna be outnumbered, and we’re gonna need your help to raise this little guy.”
“We can help.” Portia sits up straight. “I wanna help. I wanna feed him and play with him.”
“Me too.” Harley’s voice is much softer, but she sits up the same way her sister is. “I want to hold him.”
“Me too. Me too.” Portia shoots her hand into the air. “I wanna hold him.”
“You’ll both get to.” Nylah grins. “But you’llhaveto take turns. We can’t have you fighting over your brother. He’s not a toy you can rip apart.”
Portia lets out a guilty giggle while Harley curls into my chest again.
“There’s enough love for everyone. It’s not a competition.” Nylah moves off her chair so she can kneel in front of them. Taking one hand each, she looks between our daughters. “Nothing you two do has to be a competition. Look at Cole and Logan. They’re besties. They don’t bicker and fight all the time. They do stuff together. And I know that you two are opposites and it’s hard to understand each other sometimes. Your brains work differently, and you don’t get why the other person acts the way they do or says the things they say.”
I glance down in time to see both girls are a little confused by what Nylah’s trying to say.
They’re only four, I guess.
“But it’s something you have to learn to do. You have to give each other space to be yourselves. It’s okay to be different, but it’s not okay to make the other person feel bad about it.” She closes her eyes. “And you have to share your stuff. Unless it’s been specifically given to you, it belongs to youboth.”
“Just like your little brother,” I say. “He belongs to both of you, and you can’t fight over him.”
“And no one’s allowed to go running away again either.” Nylah brushes her hand over Harley’s head. “Daddy and I need you to be our helpers. We don’t have time and space for unnecessary drama.”
“What does uncecesary mean?” Portia’s voice is so cute, my heart feels like it’s folding in half.
Nylah’s lips twitch with amusement as she softly explains, “It means not needed. You two love each other, and you have to remember that when you’re feeling confused by what the other person says or does, that’s okay. But you still love them anyway. Love covers all.”
“What?” Harley rubs her eyes. “What does that mean?”
“It means that love is like a superpower, and if you use it properly, it can forgive anything and heal anything.”
Holy shit, I love this woman.
She is a walking testament to that. I owe her so fucking much. She found me, loved me, saved my fucking soul.
And now she’s teaching our girls to be just like her.
It makes me want to keep them close and protect them from every asshole who might try and damage them.
I hurt Nylah back when we were first in love. I hurt her in a bid to protect her, and I nearly lost her for good. But she was strong enough to love me through it all.
