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“Willa, too,” I say with a nod. “But she’s been dead to the world all day. I was up with Sadie all night. She’s feeling better, but I’m exhausted.”
“You’re hot,” he says, feeling my forehead. “Go sleep, I’ll keep her entertained.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Arguable,” he says, easily. “Come on. Let’s get you back to bed.”
Cillian shuffles me back to the bedroom. Sadie has her nightstand lamp on and is flipping through a book, her eyes hooded.
“Daddy,” she says with a shadow of a smile.
“Hey, Sadie Baby. How you feeling?”
“Okay. Mommy says I’m restless, but I think I just need to do some things.”
“Why don’t you come out to the living room with me? We’ll find some things while Mommy takes a nap.”
She holds her arms out, not rising on her own. With a big grin, he picks her up and snuggles her under his chin. Since the day he crossed our threshold and she recognized him from that nameless picture she’s always had, her trust in him has never wavered. Instinctively she knows he’ll take care of her. Instinctively, I know she’s right.
Cillian’s devotion to her isn’t anything I question anymore. He loved her at first sight like I loved him at first date.
Drifting off to sleep, I wonder when he first fell in love with me.
I wake hours later, my headache finally gone, to find Cillian hovering over me.
“Hey, we made dinner. And there’s a storm.”
“A storm?”
“Your favorite kind,” he says, his arms sliding under my shoulders and knees to lift me.
“I’m sick, not paralyzed.”
“Fuck off and humor me for once, Cole,” he says, laughing off my snark.
I relent as we round the hall corner to the living room. “What is this?”
“A fort!” Sadie is all smiles, even though her nose is raw and red and her voice hoarse from coughing.
Sheets are draped all around, creating a giant tent in the middle of the room with a wide opening facing the floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over the city. Fairy lights are strung artfully, giving the room a comfortable glow. Sadie must have shown him where we keep the holiday decorations.
Cillian squats to set me inside the makeshift tent. It’s full of cushions, pillows, and blankets. They make a perfect, cozy little spot to nest. Sadie follows us in, curling up next to me and pulling a blanket over us both.
“Isn’t it magical?”
“It is, baby,” I say as a shard of lightening lights up the sky and the walls inside. My favorite. It’s a rare storm for Seattle. We get rain and wind, but rarely do we get rumbling thunder and striking lightning. But when it does happen? Yeah, it’s magical.
“I’ll be right back,” Cillian says.
“We made dinner and special medicine.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yep,” Sadie says, popping her lips on the word, a clear sign she’s not feeling too poorly. “Daddy says when he was my size, his mommy made him special medicines. So, he made us some, too. It’s yummy, I didn’t even have to hold my nose.”
“Wow, it must be special,” I say with feigned excitement.
“I know that’s right,” she says, petting my head like I do her when she’s tired or ill. “Did you see that one?”
