I turn and look at Molly in her fruit-print pajamas. A section of her dark curls is sticking up on top of her head like they can’t be tamed. Her blue eyes widen as she sees me properly. I wait for it to register that she’s run to me and not Sullivan. But all she does is beam at me, then thrust her dolly into my arms.
“Uncle Shade burp baby.”
She slides past me, climbing into Sullivan’s lap and looks at me expectantly.
I lift the baby to my shoulder and Molly holds my eyes, entranced as I gently sway and pat the little bundle’s back, cooing to it.
Sullivan blinks, pinching the bridge of his nose and looking away.
“You ready for bed, Sweetheart?” he says, clearing his throat after his voice comes out funny.
Molly nods, her eyes still locked onto mine as I smile at her, continuing to tend to her dolly carefully.
“Do you want to read to her tonight before Jude gets here?”
I snap my eyes to my brother’s. “Me?”
He nods tightly. “She’s a trier, though. Don’t let her fool you into thinking she gets two stories. It’s one.”
“Yay!” Molly declares.
My hand stalls on the doll’s back. “You sure?”
Sullivan holds my eyes. “Never been surer.” He looks at Molly. “Good night, Sweetheart.”
“Night, Daddy.” She kisses him with an exaggerated ‘mwah’ sound, before sliding down from his lap.
She slides her hand into mine and looks at me expectantly.
“Right, okay, then.” I swallow, following her as she leads me to her bedroom. The sound of the piano being played follows us down the hallway.
Molly pulls me over to her princess carriage bed and clambers up, waiting for me to climb on beside her.
“This one?” I ask, placing the doll on the bed and picking up a book with a cartoon cover from the nightstand before getting onto the bed.
“That it,” Molly says, throwing a little arm over my stomach and snuggling into me.
I recline back until I’m lying beside her and hold the book so she can see it. The cover picture is of a dark-haired character wearing camouflage gear and swinging on a vine through a jungle.
“He an exp-or-wah,” Molly explains as I turn the cover and read.
We’re halfway through the book and the guy has already wrestled a snake, swum underneath a waterfall, and slept in a hammock beneath a starry sky.
“He really does go on a lot of adventures, huh?” I say.
“He go home at the end. See?” Molly reaches out with little fingers and swipes over the remaining pages, pointing at the dark-haired explorer on the last page, smiling and surrounded by people.
She sinks back into my side and my throat clogs with emotion.
I cough, clearing it so I can keep reading.
“There, there.” Molly rubs my chest like it’ll help.
The rest of the pages blur into one until finally I’m reading the final page to her.
The one where the explorer finally makes it home.
I close the book and let out a breath.
