“She said it was so that whenever anyone found them...” He paused and swallowed, unable to unglue his eyes from the small piece of paper that his daughter had actually touched. “They would know that they were loved.” He cleared his throat and forced himself to look away from that little heart.
Annika broke out into a grin even as a tear rolled down her cheek. “What a lovely thought. She was amazing, your Sara.”
“That she was.” Daniel squeezed his eyes shut to stem the tears before turning his gaze to Annika again. “Where did you find that?”
“In one of your textbooks.” She handed him the heart. “Guess she knew you’d need love someday.”
Daniel took the small heart from Annika, his hand shaking. “Put it back in the book.” He handed it back to her.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I mean, I know it’s there, whenever I want it.”
Annika did as he asked, then sipped her wine. “Want to tell me about her?”
It had been so long since he’d talked about Sara to anyone. He relived the memories on his own, afraid of forgetting even the smallest detail. Lest he forget her altogether.
Annika looked on, her eyes wide-open, her face patient and loving. “Maybe start slow, like what her favorite toy was?”
Daniel grinned. “She loved puzzles. She could knock them out like that.” He snapped his fingers. “I was constantly trying to find new ones for her.”
Annika grinned, clearly impressed. Though whether with him or with Sara, he couldn’t tell. It didn’t matter. “She loved doing crafts, too.” He laughed. “I learned a lot about stringing beads, painting and decoupage. More than I ever thought I’d want to know.”
The timer went off for the chicken, and he stood to fill their plates.
“Ooh! You know what decoupage is?” She bit her bottom lip, a glint in her eye. “Just when I thought you couldn’t get any sexier.”
He could have said the same about her.
“Okay. So what were her quirks?”
Daniel thought about that as he placed their plates on the table and sat down next to her. “Nothing on her plate was allowed to touch.”
Annika laughed. “Oh boy, that makes Indian food tough.”
Daniel shook his head. “Tell me about it.”
She took her first bite of the dinner he had made them. “Ooh. Wow. This is really good.”
“You sound surprised.”
She bit her bottom lip again, and Daniel barely suppressed a groan as he ran his tongue over the area ofhislip she had bitten.
“I don’t mean to. I’m simply impressed.” As if she knew what he was feeling, mischief filled her eyes, and she released her lip into a small pout. “Very impressed.”
“Sara was learning to cook a bit. She was my helper.”
Annika nodded as she finished chewing. “She sounds completely amazing. And clearly you make a great dad. Decoupage is messy and time-consuming.”
Daniel nodded. Sure, he’d make a great dad. He ignored the pit forming in his stomach and started eating. Under Annika’s gentle prodding, he continued to share tidbits of Sara’s life, sometimes remembering a small detail he had forgotten, at which point Annika would prod him to remember more.
She laughed with him.
She cried with him.
Just when he didn’t think he could love this woman any more, he did.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
