“Mama, are you gonna stay here again tonight?”
Chelsea looked up, busy extracting Crackle from the third floor of the dollhouse yet again. Jordan loved the fact the kittens could fit inside. The girl didn’t seem to realize the animals could get hurt if they tumbled out, no matter how many times she’d been told, and the kittens didn’t quite get the message to stay inside.
“Um…I’m not sure, sweetheart. It depends on how your father is feeling. We’ll see if he still needs help tonight.”
Truthfully, she’d loved to spend another night in Theo’s bed, although it would be far more satisfying if he was in it with her. Even without him, his lingering scent had set her senses on high alert and given her the most luscious dreams.
“Hannah’s mama and daddy sleep in the same bed.”
Glancing at her daughter, Chelsea wondered where she’d gotten this information.
“But Holden’s daddy doesn’t. He lives in a different house like you live in a different house.”
“How do you know this, Jordan?”
“Hannah said she gets to sleep in her mama’s bed if her daddy goes away for work. My daddy sometimes lets me if I have a bad dream.”
“That’s because he’s a good daddy, and he loves you.”
“Can I sleep in your bed if I have a bad dream?”
Chelsea sighed. How to answer this question? “If we’re in the same house, of course you can. Bad dreams always go away quicker when you’re with someone you love.”
“But you and Daddy don’t live in the same house. Like Holden’s mama and daddy. Holden’s daddy has a girlfriend. They gettin’ married. Are you getting married to someone, too, Mama?”
“I’m already married to your father, sweetheart. I can’t marry anyone else.”
Jordan gathered all three kittens into her lap. “Good. I don’t want another daddy.”
“Yours is a pretty good one.”
As Chelsea tucked furniture back into the dollhouse, Jordan turned and tilted her head, allowing all three kittens to squirm off her lap. “Mama, how come, if you and Daddy are married, you don’t live in the same house?”
That was an excellent question, and she wished she knew the answer.
“We did live in the same house—this house—when we first got married. But then I got sick, and I had to live somewhere else. I didn’t get better for a long time.”
“But you’re better now. So you can come live here, wight?”
Glancing toward the door, she made sure Theo wasn’t nearby. Twenty minutes ago, he’d hobbled up the stairs to take a shower. Hopefully, he wouldn’t pop back down in the middle of her explanation.
“I have to clean up and get my grandmother’s house in good shape.”
Jordan bounced up and down. “Can we live in that house? When it’s weady?”
“Would you like to live there?”
“Yeah, ‘cause you live wight by the ocean.”
“The ocean is nice, but I’m not sure if your father would want to move there. He’s lived in this house for a long time.”
“Daddy loves the ocean. I bet he’d want to.”
“Want to what?” Theo asked from the doorway. How had she not heard him come down the stairs?
“Live at Mama’s house. You like the ocean, wight, Daddy? Mama gets to look at the ocean every single day.”
The girl’s eyes were wide, and her expression excited. Theo’s was closed. Chelsea wished she could read what he was thinking.
