Page 21 of His Secret Wish

The door creaked open a few more inches. Two faces appeared. They both had big, brown eyes rimmed with enviable lashes. The older one, Claudia, had dark straight hair that was as disheveled as Isabella’s. The little one, Marissa, had a mop full of short, dark curls.

“Hi,” Claudia said, her voice soft. Marissa just stared with her big, beautiful eyes.

“I’m Isabella.” She pointed at herself. “We didn’t get a chance to meet yesterday. Yolanda is my cousin.”

Claudia nodded. “Yolanda is nice.”

“She is.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. Technically, her cousin was a nice person. Isabella just didn’t like the way she exploited the system for her own gain.

The three of them stayed like that for a moment, no one saying anything, just staring. Watching the beautiful little girls made Isabella’s heart hurt. It always did when she looked at children. She and Owen had tried for so long to have a baby, and every time it always ended way too early.

The last time she’d miscarried, she’d started bleeding heavily. The doctors been unable to stop the bleeding and had ultimately needed to remove her uterus. So, there’d be no babies in her future.

Isabella cleared her throat, swallowing back the sadness. “Anyway, I’m going to get dressed and head downstairs. You want to come with me? We’ll go see if we can find something to eat. Yaya usually makes her famous cinnamon rolls.”

Claudia nodded, her eyes lighting up. Marissa just stared. The poor baby had a shell-shocked look about her. Not that Isabella could blame her.

“Alright, then.” Isabella stood, her knees protesting the move. She was definitely not as young as she used to be. “I’ll just be a second.” She hurried into the bedroom and shut the door. Owen was still asleep, if the snore that was emanating from his direction was any indication. He only snored when he was sound asleep and laying on his back. She used to give him the big old elbow to get him to roll over onto his side.

She shook her head to dislodge her wayward thoughts. There were some little girls waiting for her. She grabbed some leggings, underwear, and a long-sleeved San Francisco Barons t-shirt that she’d had forever. It was so worn in, it was practically see-through in spots, but no matter what, she couldn’t get rid of it. She’d bought it during the first ever vacation she and Owen had taken. They’d gone to San Francisco, and it had been so much fun.

Glancing at the bed, she made sure Owen was still asleep. Another snore meant she had nothing to worry about. Although, she wasn’t sure why she was being so weird about getting changed in the same room. It wasn’t like they hadn’t seen each other a lot more naked.

But things were different now. It had been a long time since they’d been naked together. Like about twenty pounds ago. Not that she cared what he thought about how she looked.

Okay, so that might be a bit of a lie. But she didn’t want to care.

She quickly stripped off her pajamas and put on her clothes. Glancing in the mirror, she made a face. A quick swipe of the brush through her hair, and then she plaited it into her usual braid. All in all, it took her less than ten minutes to step back out into the hallway.

The girls were waiting for her, each of them dressed for the day. Claudia had on a pink dress with strawberries on it—very reminiscent of Isabella’s pajamas—a pair of orange leggings, and purple gum boots. Marissa had on a pair of lime green cargo pants and a lilac, lace blouse, topped off with a pair of iridescent, nylon fairy wings.

“You both look amazing,” Isabella said, giving them both a smile. Both girls smiled back, their little shoulders straightening almost as one. “Shall we go and see if Yaya has anything good?”

Claudia clapped and then hurried ahead to the stairs. Marissa hesitated a moment, and then slipped her small hand into Isabella’s.

Isabella’s heart practically melted into a puddle. She wrapped her fingers around the teeny tiny ones. Tears pricked her eyes, but she blinked them away. Crying would do nothing other than freak them both out.

Marissa glanced up at her, uncertainty in her dark eyes. The poor little thing had been through far too much in her young life. Isabella was going to make sure that, for at least this weekend, they both knew nothing but fun.

“Let’s go,” she said, tilting her head in Claudia’s direction—who was getting antsy waiting for them at the top of the stairs. Marissa gave her the sweetest, shyest smile, and the rest of her organs melted into that same puddle of goo as her heart.

Getting down the stairs was a bit of slow going, given that her companions had really short legs. Marissa refused to let go of her hand, which made things even more challenging. Not that Isabella was complaining. She loved kids and knew what these girls had been through.

As they got closer to the kitchen, the scent of cinnamon and dough wafted up the stairs. Isabella’s mouth watered. Yaya was known throughout the area not only for her cooking, but her baking as well. There was nothing she couldn’t make delicious.

They burst into the kitchen in a flurry of color and fairy wings.

“Good morning, mija’s.” Yaya pulled a pan of delicious looking cinnamon rolls out of the oven. She placed them next to a pan that was already iced with, if Isabella had to guess, her outstanding cream cheese frosting.

Isabella got the girls situated at the kitchen table and then walked over to Yaya. “Good morning, Yaya.” She gave her bisabuela a kiss on the cheek. “What can I do to help?”

“Nothing, nothing.” Yaya shooed her away with a dishtowel.

On her way over to the table, Isabella stuck her finger in the icing bowl, and popped it into her mouth. The icing was sweet and tart. She moaned as it melted on her tongue. Yaya swatted her on the butt with her dishtowel, and Isabella laughed and danced out of the way.

Claudia and Marissa watched them with wide eyes. Isabella winked at them to let them know it was all good, that she and Yaya were just teasing.

“Would you like a cinnamon roll?” She looked from one girl to the other.