“Oh no! She’s nakey!” Beau teased. “Where’s her diaper?”
When they’d seen the doll in the Ranch giftshop, her eyes lit up like the Vegas strip and he couldn’t help but buy it for her. He knew toys in foster homes were few and far between.
“It’s hard,” Palmer said, frowning as she struggled with the doll-sized diaper.
Her little brow furrowed and she looked every bit like a disgruntled toddler. Beau took the baby from her and fastened the diaper into place.
“Good job,” she praised him before taking the doll back.
Damn him if her praise didn’t make him feel lighter than he had in months.
“Well, Iama Daddy after all. Putting on diapers is one of the requirements.”
She laughed softly at him and he winked at her, a warmth he usually only felt from whiskey settled deep in his chest.
“What kinds of things does Little Palmer like?” he asked, wanting to know everything he could about her.
“I like”—she hesitated, thinking—“I like coloring.”
“Yeah? With markers or crayons?” He knew asking questions she could answer easily would eventually help her grow more confident in her answers.
“Crayons. I don’t like when the marker ink gets on my hands.”
“Ah, you don’t like to be messy.”
“Nu. Yucky.”
Beau chuckled. “You’re adorable.”
“I like to read.”
“Big books or Little books?”
“Both! All the books!”
“Do you have a favorite?”
“Can I Be Your Dog? It’s a book about a doggie who is looking for his furever home so he writes letters to people in his neighborhood asking if he can be their pet.”
Beau wasn’t stupid. He knew firsthand how deeply she must identify with the dog in the story book.
“Does he find his furever home?”
She smiled, bright and sparkling. “Yes. He does. And he gets his happy ending.”
Beau reached over and tugged a curl. “You will too, Palmer.”
Her eyes reflected her uncertainty, but she nodded anyway.
“So you like to color and read. What else?”
Dressing her babydoll back, she sat quietly before answering softly, “I don’t know, Master Beau.”
She sounded so dejected that Beau shifted closer to her. “It’s okay that you don’t know, pretty baby. We can figure it out together.”
“Together,” she agreed. “I l-like doing things together with you.”
“You like babies,” he pointed out.
