“Nope. When you take a nap in your crib, you’ll stay there until Daddy lets you out to play again. Let’s get your shoes off, and you can climb inside and test themattress out.”
Zander dropped to one knee next to her and slipped off her sandals. As soon as she was shoeless, Essie scrambled into the bed with Zander’s help. Looking over the side, she discovered it was higher than she had thought.
“That’s why the railing goes up for naps, Little girl. To keep you safely inside.”
Essie nodded and moved farther from the edge. Dangling toys tickled the back of her head. She stretched out to study the mobile made of orange tabby cats in all poses. “Those look like Marmalade. That one has him making biscuits like he does on the couch. I wonder if Ferguson’s Folly has always had orange tabbies.”
“I saw the resemblance to Marmalade when I cleaned them. That one over there has him lying belly-up in the sunshine. Each of the cats is still a vivid orange color. None of the images has aged at all”
“Maybe it’s magic,” she whispered.
“You must be right. Littles are very special.”
“Thank you, Daddy,” she said and laughed at how skillfully she’d taken that as a compliment. Zander praised her often. Essie treasured each one and had worked hard to not automatically deny his sweet words.
“You’re welcome, sweetheart. Want to explore the rest of the room?”
“Yes!” Essie scooted to the edge and hesitated before lifting her arms up to Zander.
Immediately, he scooped her out and set her toes on the polished wood floor. “I’m having the rugs professionally cleaned, so I thought you might want to wear these in here until they’re back.”
Zander lifted a pair of orange slippers with cat ears off the nearby dresser. He helped her slide them on and leaned against the wall as she took several tentative steps.
“I love these. They’re squishy inside.” Essie walked around in a big circle to try them out.
“Perfect.” Zander leaned against the dresser, watching her with a fond smile. She loved being Little with him. Zander made everything feel right. Not that she was weird or silly. He truly enjoyed seeing her happy.
Essie darted back to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her cheek to his chest. “I love it in here.”
“Just wait. You haven’t seen the toy box yet. Inside, you’ll find a combination of old toys and new things I selected especially for my Little girl. Maybe you can find something in there we can play with together?”
“Toys?”
“And games, coloring books, even a stuffie or two.”
“I should bring Tux in here to play.”
“Go get him. I think he’d love to see this place,” Zander said. “Walk!” he called after her as she ran toward the door.
“Sorry!” Walking as fast as she could, Essie returned quickly with Tux in her arms. She gave him a guided tour straight to the toy chest. “Let’s pick out a game to play with Daddy.”
After opening the lid, Essie quickly gave up trying to make the best choice. She closed her eyes and ran her fingers over the games neatly stacked on one side. “Say stop, Daddy.”
“Stop, Daddy?” he repeated with a smile in his voice.
“Daddy!” she scolded him as she continued to run her fingers across the boxes. “Just say stop.”
“Mmm, stop!”
Essie glanced down to see what he had chosen and crowed, “I love this board game!”
Soon, they were embroiled in a battle over who could make it to the finish line on the board before the other. Her Daddy’s car had so many kids inside, they were piled on top of each other in the back seat. She hadn’t laughed so hard in years.
“We’ll have to come back and play later, Little girl. Sara messaged me that dinner’s ready.”
“Oh, no.We can finish?”
“Of course. I have to support all those children with my winnings.”
