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The roof was on hinges, as were two sides, for ease of making the bed, and so she couldn’t get trapped in it somehow (if anybody could figure out how, it was Tildy). It was badass, and she loved it.
Was she spoiled? No. She was loved.
Duncan got her tucked in with her chosen stuffies for the night. Her parents allowed her three and only three, otherwise she’d cram the house full and probably smother herself. Tonight she chose a lion she’d gotten for Christmas, a ratty bunny she’d had since before she was born, and a little purple alien-looking thing that probably came out of a fast-food kids’ meal.
“Okay,” he said as he smoothed her blankets over her. “Gimme smooches.” He wedged his shoulders in and got a round of sloppy kisses from his favorite girl. “Love you, Tildy Wildy. Good sleeps, okay?”
She nodded and rolled to her side.
On Duncan’s way to the door, he picked up some toys and put them away. This room had been Dex’s office, and before he’d been a husband and father he’d built the closet out to store whatever he’d needed to store in his office. The whole thing was shelves and cubbies. Dex said he was going to turn it back into a clothes closet eventually, but Duncan thought they could put it off for a while. Tildy’s clothes were tiny, and the cubbies worked great for toys.
“UncaDunc?” Tildy called, her voice already fuzzy with coming sleep, as Duncan reached the door.
He turned back. She was leaning out her little door, the ratty rabbit choked in her fist.
“Yeah, angel?”
“Efan go wif you, okay?”
The transition from only child to big sister wasn’t going so well yet. Tildy was used to being the center of attention, and babies took up most of the real estate there. She had some notes.
“No, Tildy. Ethan’s yours. Yours and your Mommy and Daddy’s. He belongs here.”
She bunched up her face and thought for a second. “I go wif you, okay?”
Duncan walked back and crouched before her. “You belong here, too, angel. This is your home and your family. It’s Ethan’s home and his family, too. And Mommy and Daddy’s. You are all family together.”
“And you! You’re famby togever.”
Not having planned to deliver a lesson on the different tiers of family construction, Duncan was at a loss. How was he supposed to explain to a toddler that yes, he was family, but no, this wasn’t his home?
He had no clue. So he made a right turn and hoped she’d go with him. “Pretty soon, Ethan will be big enough to play with. Then you’ll be glad you both live here.”
That hadn’t been his experience; Kelsey was about six years older than him, and he was about that much older than Hannah. To him, Kelsey had been more of a mini-mom, and Hannah had been more of an annoyance to ignore. Neither had been a playmate. They’d never even been in the same school at the same time. But Tildy and Ethan were just more than two years apart. He’d seen that span among his many cousins, and most of them turned out to be friends. Or at least frenemies.
Her eyes starting to cross with fatigue, Tildy let the matter drop. “Piddy soon,” she muttered as Duncan settled her back on her pillow.
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~oOo~
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When Kelsey and Dex got home a little after midnight, Duncan was in the living room, watching ESPN and feeding Ethan a bottle of Kelsey’s breast milk. When Tildy was little like this, the idea of holding a bottle of milk that had come out of his sister’s tits had freaked him out well and truly, but he was an old pro now.
He knew they’d arrived before the door opened. He’d been surrounded, as usual, by dogs, though Charlie was stretched out in front of Tildy’s door, keeping watch. Suddenly, all five dogs around him got up and hurried to the hallway. Even Charlie left his post to stand at the junction between the main hall and the one that led to the bedrooms. When the door opened, everybody hurried up to greet their people. Charlie, the Dog in Charge, hung back a little, still on the job. That dog was half human—and all soldier.
After the usual greeting melee at the door, everybody headed back to the living room. Making sure not to disturb Ethan’s feed, Duncan stood; he knew either Dex or Kelsey would want to hold the boy immediately.
It was Dex who came through first. His tie was gone and his dress shirt unbuttoned to the third button.
“Hey,” he said as he reached for his son. “Everything good?”
Duncan handed the baby over. “Perfect, as usual. Tildy went down about eight-thirty. She got up about half an hour ago, when Ethan woke up, but she had a sip and went back down. How was it?”
He’d expected Dex to bitch about hanging with rich civilians for the night, but instead he grinned. “It was great. Kelsey won an award.”
“She did?” His sister walked in just then, her fancy hairdo a little droopy now, and her high heels dangling from her fingers, but her sparkly dress still pretty. “I didn’t know you were up for an award.”
