“Do you know my real daddy?”
E nodded wordlessly.
“Can you tell him I am waiting for him? Mommy said he’s very busy. Please. Tell him to see me.”
E’s bottom lip wobbled. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll tell him.”
She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. He seemed surprised at that, but he hugged her back gently.
“You look so much like your daddy,” E whispered, a tear snaking down his cheek.
Ellis giggled softly. “Mommy says that.”
“She can be hell like him, too,” Anson said. “When she wants something, she’s unstoppable.”
E chuckled as she released him.
“Do you like to play princesses? Aunt Weena plays princesses with me.”
I glanced at Sirena, who stood at Dante’s side, silent as always. She was breathtaking. Ethereal. Always silent. But she doted on Ellis so much, and Ellis loved her.
Dante reached out and kissed the top of Sirena’s hand before releasing her. She left the room a moment later without a word said.
Ellis quickly signed to Dante, making him chuckle.
We all learned to sign to communicate with Sirena, but she wasn’t alwaystalkative.
“I will tell her that’s what you want,” Dante said. “Macaroni and cheese. Not soup.”
Ellis glanced at me with her big blue eyes.
“Daddy makes macaroni soup. That’s what Mommy calls it.”
E looked from Ellis to me, his forehead crinkled.
Fuck.I never could make mac and cheese. The guys always teased me about it. E shifted closer, his entire attention fixed on me as he seemed to be thinking over Ellis’s words.
“Daddy is good at cooking lots of things. Just not pasta,” Anson piped up. “You like his monster cookies.”
“Can we make them?” Ellis lit up at the mention of her favorite cookie.
“Mommy gave Sirena and Shadow the recipe. I’m sure they will make them with you tonight. Uncle Kai likes them too,” Dante said.
“Do you know my Unkie Kai?” Ellis looked to E. “He has the rope. Sometimes he lets me play jump rope with it, but Aunt Weena said he wasn’t allowed to anymore because he got it dirty.”
“Uh, yes. I know Unkie Kai,” E murmured, finally looking away from me.
Thank fuck.
“Do you know Unkie Sin and Unkie Crazy Butt?”
Anson chuckled, and E looked confused.
“Unkie Crazy Butt is Asylum,” Anson said.
Klaus let out a little laugh, and I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. Ellis started calling Asylum that last year when she caught him talking to a seagull on the beach. It sort of stuck, especially after a seagull shit on him and on his ice cream. He’d had a meltdown and dropped it. It ended in a barrage of seagulls swooping in for the cone and him swearing as he kicked at them like a madman.
“Ah.” E nodded knowingly.
