Hildy studies me for a second, then she squeezes my hand. “Good.”
I grip her hips and pull her closer, loving that her belly bumps me first, “Shall we call it a night or head to Boston, get a room, and be lazy all day tomorrow until it’s time for the game?”
She immediately yawns, and I can’t help but laugh. She rests her forehead on my chest. “Can I sleep while we drive?”
“Of course.”
The highway is quiet once we leave the city behind, and the sun is putting on a spectacular show of pinks and oranges, blues and reds. Lucy points out every color. The excitement she gains from learning brings me so much joy.
Hildy is curled into the passenger seat beside me, already pulling the blanket we brought from the bag and setting it over her legs. The twins make her tired in ways she still tries to pretend they don’t. She’s truly remarkable,truly.
Lucy sits behind us, buckled into her seat with the kind of serious concentration only small children can give something as simple as arranging their treasures.
I glance at her in the rearview mirror. She’s holding both of them. Oma’s rabbit tucked under one arm, Axel the axolotl under the other.
The rabbit is the new favorite. I can’t even be annoyed.
Grossmutter had placed it in Lucy’s hands this morning before she left, pointing to the tiny metal button stitched carefully into its ear like it was a secret. From Germany, she had said.
Lucy had taken that very seriously.
“I got a new bunny,” she announces from the backseat.
“Yes, you did,” Hildy says softly.
“And a new grandma.”
Hildy laughs quietly, turning slightly in her seat so she can see her. “You did.”
Lucy nods, as if this is a perfectly reasonable development. “She lives in the castle with the horses.”
“Estate,” I correct automatically.
Lucy ignores me, which makes me chuckle a little.
“I’m gonna bring Bunny when we go there.”
“You probably should,” Hildy says.
Lucy considers this, hugging the rabbit tighter. “And Axel.”
“Axel too.” Hildy agrees.
Satisfied, Lucy settles deeper into her seat.
The quiet hum of the tires on the pavement seems to rock her asleep almost immediately.
I glance back again. The rabbit’s ear is sticking out from under Lucy’s chin. The axolotl is halfway under her arm.
Hildy watches her for a moment before leaning back against the seat.
“She really did love Lucy,” she says softly.
“My Grossmutter has excellent taste.”
Hildy smiles faintly and pulls the blanket a little higher.
“Sleep, Schatz.”
