AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What about with Troy and Taylor? I’d think they’d be great with her.”
“Everyone would be wonderful with her. It’s Daisy I’m concerned about. She doesn’t handle change well. She doesn’t need the upheaval.” He hesitated. “Would you be willing to stay with her? She adores you and is comfortable with you, and I know she’d be safe with you.”
Whitney blinked, surprised, not just by the favor, but by his trust. “Of course I’d stay with her.”
“The hotel room service has cleaned the suite already. The bed has fresh sheets—”
“I’m not worried about your sheets.”
He smiled reluctantly. “I’d leave this afternoon. Catch the five o’clock flight out.”
“Would I need to pick Daisy up from preschool?”
He nodded. “She goes to after school care and you’d just sign her out. I’ve already given them your name.”
“You were that confident I’d say yes?”
He shrugged. “You’ve never let me down.”
*
Whitney was woken in the middle of the night by Daisy’s cry. She jumped from bed and stumbled in the dark to Daisy’s roll away, leaning over the bed to comfort Daisy. The little girl’s eyes were closed but she was crying and thrashing, legs and arms restlessly moving.
“Ssssh, it’s okay,” Whitney whispered, rubbing her back, trying to calm her. “It’s okay, Daisy. It’s just a dream.”
She sat by Daisy’s side, rubbing her back until the girl fell back asleep.
It took Whitney much longer to fall asleep again, wondering how often Daisy had bad dreams and how Cormac normally handled them.
*
The next morning when Cormac called to check on Daisy, Whitney asked him about the nightmares.
“Did she have another one last night?” he replied.
“Yes. She was really upset, kicking and fighting.”
He sighed. “This is new. I mean, it’s new since the school incident. She’d never had dreams like this before.”
“Have you tried talking to her about it?”
“She doesn’t want to talk about what happened at school, and she doesn’t seem to remember the dreams the next day. But it’s clearly upsetting.”
“Have you thought about getting her in to see someone? A doctor or counselor?”
“She doesn’t need a shrink.”
“The right person, a child psychologist, for example, would know how to talk to her about it—”
“No. I don’t trust shrinks. They’re in business to make money. And they’ll suggest she take some kind of pill and I’m not going to do that to her.”
“That’s a little bit ignorant.”
“I appreciate that you’re concerned, Whitney,” he retorted sharply, “but she’s my daughter, and I’m not going to have her medicated or confused by some stranger filling her head with stuff. She’s a child. She needs stability and routine, and that’s what I’m determined to give her. So tell her I’ll try my best to get out of here tonight, and hope to be there when she wakes in the morning.”
*
But it began to snow that afternoon, and once it started, it didn’t stop. The snow came down in a blinding white sheet and flights were cancelled. School was even let out early to allow the school bus to get kids home before the roads became too dangerous.
Whitney was happy to spend another night with Daisy. She walked to the school and checked Daisy out and they danced their way from Church Street back to the Graff.
Daisy kept tipping her head back and sticking out her tongue to catch the snowflakes and Whitney laughed as Daisy kept swallowing them going “yum.”
Yum, indeed, Whitney thought, hopping up the hotel steps hand in hand with the four-year-old. This was pretty magical. Daisy’s delight made the world feel sparkly and new.
As the doorman opened the door for them, Daisy tugged on Whitney’s hand. “Let’s go say hi to Santa.”
She brushed stray flakes from Daisy’s nose and cheek. “Is he here? I didn’t think he worked until the evening.”
“He always comes just before dinner time. Is it almost dinner time?”
And then as if magic, he was there, blowing into the hotel with a gust of wind and snow, white gloved hands tucked into his wide black belt, laughing and ho-ho-hoing.
“I told you!” Daisy sang, dashing to fling herself at Kris.
Kris gave her a great big hug back.
Whitney watched them, smiling, wishing childhood could last forever. And then Daisy was skipping back and flashed her candy cane. “He remembers me every time,” she said happily.
“Of course. Santa loves you.”
“I know. And he’s really going to help me with my Christmas wish.”
Daisy had her full attention now. “What have you asked Santa for this year?”
“Oh, I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“It’s a secret surprise.”
“I won’t tell anyone.”
“But if I tell you it won’t be a surprise anymore.”
Whitney watched Kris walk to his big gold chair with children trailing not far behind. “Is it something he will make in his toy workshop?” she asked.
“I can’t tell you,” Daisy said firmly. “It’s a surprise.”
Whitney was beginning to understand Cormac’s concern. “And Santa said he can bring this?”
“He said he’s working on it, so that means yes.”
*
Whitney gave Daisy a bath and got her in warm pajamas and then they colored in Daisy’s Princess Sofia coloring book while waiting for room service to bring up Daisy’s macaroni and cheese.
Having finished her coloring in Sofia’s skirt and shoes, Whitney began doodling in the margins, drawing pictures of miniature Christmas trees and snowmen and snowflakes.
While shading the snowman’s hat, Whitney casually asked Daisy if she ever had bad dreams.
“No,” Daisy said, pausing coloring Sofia’s crown to watch Whitney work on the snowman’s scarf.
“You don’t ever dream bad things?”
“No.” Daisy tilted her head. “Are you going to give him a r
ed scarf?”
“Should I?”
Daisy nodded.
Whitney picked up the red crayon and drew a long scarf that appeared to blow in the wind. “You don’t ever worry about anything?” She asked, adding a little fringe to the scarf.
“No.” Daisy leaned over the table to draw something on the snowman’s face.
“What is that?” Whitney asked, watching the brown crayon scribble over much of the snowman’s round face.
“His pipe and his smoke.”
“Ah. Good call.” Her lips twitched. “You’re a very good drawer, Daisy.”
“I know.” She looked up at Whitney and smiled. “This is fun, huh?”
Whitney smiled back. “It is.”
“Will you always be my god-momma?”
A lump formed in Whitney’s throat. “Always.”
“And we’ll always do fun things like this together?”
Whitney leaned over and kissed Daisy’s nose. “Always.”
*
It was still snowing Friday morning. Whitney pushed aside the blackout curtain in the hotel room to look out on the street. The snow blanketed the town, turning everything a glittering white.
She had a feeling with this much snow, school would either be cancelled or the opening would be delayed.
Whitney climbed back into bed with her phone to check the news. She was in the middle of searching for school closure when Cormac texted her.
No school today, the text read.
He added a moment later. Planes still grounded, Bozeman airport closed.
She answered his text. That’s okay. We’re doing great. No bad dreams last night, either.
He replied with a thumbs up emoji.
She giggled, amused that Cormac Sheenan would resort to an emoji. What was the world coming to?
She answered his emoji with one of her own, sending him a cat that was laughing so hard it cried. She didn’t know why she sent a laughing crying cat. It just felt right.
He answered with a heart. A red heart.
She stared at the red heart for a long time before putting the phone away.
*
After a lazy morning in the room, they headed downstairs for breakfast and then Whitney got a call from Trey Sheenan saying he and McKenna and TJ wanted to take Daisy sledding and Cormac had given them permission. Would Whitney mind if they stopped by the hotel and picked her up?
