No one would have thought I’d one day be capable of this kind of life, that I’d be able to put the abused boy back in his corner and move forward as someone ready to live for real.
No one…except Tinkerbell.
I would always be grateful to her for that.
After taking a shower (and using up an entire bottle of body wash), I dressed and went downstairs.
We’d gone back to New York after our trip. Selene finished her degree and graduated with honors while I launched my career.
I was now an established architect, but even when it came to that, she was special. She was the one who believed in me and encouraged me back when I was scribbling designs in a notebook that I hid on my bookshelf.
It felt like an eternity since those days.
I shook the memories off as I descended the large marble staircase thatled to our main floor. I had designed our home myself. I wanted a one-of-a-kind place that would make my girls feel like real princesses.
I found my woman on the big leather sofa in the living room, nursing our little one. I leaned against the doorway and watched them in awe, like always.
Selene delicately cradled Nicole against her and murmured tender things to her like, “Mama and Daddy love you. You’re everything to us. You’re our Little Pearl …”
They were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
To say they were merely a part of me would be reductive. They were the two halves that made up my soul. Without either one of them, I would have been nothing.
I stepped into the room, unable to resist the urge to go to them. Selene spotted me immediately and gave me a brilliant smile. I crouched down to plant a kiss on it. Then I turned to our little one and kissed her gently on her forehead, taking the opportunity to breathe in her baby-powder scent.
“Good morning to my girls. I knew I’d find you both here.” I leaned back, watching as Nicole turned her attention from her mother to me.
It was incredible how she immediately recognized my voice and incredible how all it took was one look from those ocean eyes flecked with honey to reduce to me to a puddle of goo.
“Yeah, you know you’re Daddy’s Little Pearl, don’t you?” I whispered, and she batted her long brown eyelashes at me before giving me a tender little smile that made her chubby cheeks look even plumper.
She was adorable, and I was already so possessive of her.
I could barely stand it when other people held her or kissed her or gave her cuddles.
I could deal with Judith babysitting, but only because I would never entrust my daughter to a stranger. Still, I missed her so much every time I had to go to work and wanted nothing more than to get back to her.
“Good morning to you. We were waiting for you, like always.” Selene kissed the tiny tip of Nicole’s nose while I continued to gaze at our little one, enamored.
She was a true masterpiece, a wonder of nature.
Her lips were very pink and had the same shape as mine; she had a mass of chestnut hair, and her nose was small and delicate.
Nicole was a living symbol of our victory over evil, over the dark side of the world that Tinkerbell and I had defeated together. She was a perfect combination of Selene and me and a more beautiful gift we could not have asked for.
“Here, take her,” Selene said, giving me a long look. As usual, my face shuttered, and I felt a stab of fear in my stomach. The Boy’s voice still echoed in my head, warning that one day everything that happened to me might spill out onto Nicole. The damned part of my soul piped up to remind me that I was, deep down, still the same disturbed man, and I had only managed to create the appearance of normalcy around me.
“Neil, stop whatever dark thoughts you’re thinking right now and take her,” Selene insisted, her face sorrowful yet determined, like she was ready to go to war. She knew about the things that were broken inside me, about the monsters who constantly tried to invade my life.
We had won many battles but never the war.
I took a deep breath before hesitantly stretching out my arms as Selene passed Nicole to me. I clasped my daughter to my chest and stood up. I always felt so helpless when that tiny being looked right into my eyes.
I stood in awe of her.
I bent down, grazing the tip of her nose with mine before dropping a small kiss on it, and she grinned. I automatically smiled back. She loved nose kisses, just like her mother. Nicole wriggled her plump arms and legs, expressing her delight at being with me.
“Happy to be with Daddy?” I asked her.
