Page 19 of Soothing Little Sylmen

“Go see your Daddy,” Blake sang.

I crawled over to the door, then stood slowly once I reached it. Daddy watched me carefully, like he was taking in the whole process. Part of me didn’t want to stand up. I wanted to be lifted, carried around like the baby I felt I was inside.

I knew I would probably end up mentioning it before the trip was over. I couldn’t have this once-in-a-lifetime experience without being carried at some point. Not for a long time since I knew I wasn’t a lightweight, but for long enough that it was enjoyable. Something to add to the experience.

Daddy laced his fingers with mine and tugged me away from the room. As we passed the Caterpillar Room, I eyed it. Next time I would be braver. I would see if I could go in there.

No more holding back.

No more believing that I didn’t fit in.

“Sweet boy, I have a surprise for you.”

I turned to him, my expression curious.

“I ordered us some food so we could build our fort and have an indoor picnic.”

My eyes widened. A picnic in our room? I didn’t even know that was an option. There seemed to be so much more to Rawhide Ranch than what was on the surface. All of the rules and basic protections were just a start. It was layered like a giant onion. Every piece you peeled back revealed more. I bounced on the balls of my feet as excitement grew. I could just picture how perfect everything would be.

Daddy increased the pace of his steps. We weren’t running, but we were definitely in a power-walk situation as we easily navigated through the halls and back to the guest suites. Mine was a single room with the basics. I didn’t feel I needed a suite, and really I didn’t want all that empty space alone. If I had come and not made any friends, it would have felt weird to sit all by myself every day. I just needed a bed and four walls—somewhere I could decompress when I had peopled too much.

Daddy took my key when I handed it over and opened my door. He motioned for me to go inside before him, then made sure to lock everything up behind us and leave my card on the counter. He placed the books on the empty space beside it, then turned to face the room. With his hands on his hips, he assessed it all. I bet he was thinking of how to piece it together.

It was kind of funny. I had just been building a castle with blocks, and now Daddy was going to build a fort with blankets. We were both super construction-minded. The thought made me giggle. My shoulders shook and Daddy turned to look at me.

“You think this is funny?” he said.

I waved my arms around like that would give some kind of answer. I could have pulled my phone out to type it, but I didn’t feel like it. Back home on the ranch there was always a quiet pressure to have my phone on me so I could communicate with people. If there was something I needed or someone came to ask me a question, I had to be able to respond. So it was just my natural choice—though choice really wasn’t the right word. It was that or carry a notepad around all the time.

But here, I could not say a word, and no one cared. They just asked me yes or no questions, or in the one case where I had to be clear, asked me to write it down. Once everything was established, I didn’t have to do anything else. I didn’t have to pretend that I wanted to be involved in the conversation. I didn’t have to pretend that I wanted to make decisions, because honestly, whoever wants to make decisions all the time?

That’s exhausting.

Daddy’s eyes stayed on me. His silence felt peaceful, like he was truly just enjoying being with me. It was so rare for people to not talk around me. They tended to be nervous when it was quiet, so they rushed to fill the empty space.

But not Daddy. He embraced it. Welcomed it even.

“You wait by the door, sweet boy. I’m going to get us a fort going.”

I leaned against the wall watching him as he managed to use chairs, a table, the bed comforter, and the extra blanket from the closet to craft an archway. It wasn’t the best blanket fort I’d ever seen, but he had put in hard work, and there was just enough space for us to climb inside.

Daddy kneeled at the opening and held his hand out. “Come on, sweet boy. Climb in. Tell me what you think.”

I did as asked, stepping forward until I could put my hand in his. Then I ducked down and moved into the space. It was much different on the inside than it looked from the outside. I couldn’t have said I was impressed standing there seeing all the different ways he had to piece it together, but inside it was magical.

This was my blanket fort that my Daddy had built me. I was proud of him, and I wanted him to know, so I clapped my hands and smiled at him.

He chuckled, but before he could climb inside or say anything else, there was a knock at the door.

“That must be the food. Let me go get it.” He disappeared out of sight.

I didn’t question anything. Whatever Daddy thought to get me food-wise was what I was going to eat. When he came back, he had some to-go containers and silverware in his hand. He handed them to me, motioning for me to set them down in the space beside me. Then he disappeared again, but this time he came back with the books, and he crawled all the way in.

When he was beside me, there was much less room than there had been. Daddy was a big guy. The fort was sort of big, but not nearly enough. We were shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee, and I never wanted to be anywhere else.

Okay, maybe that wasn’t true. I could sit in his lap again. That would be fun.

As if he could read my mind, Daddy patted the space between his legs. He spread them out so I could shift over and settle against one of his thighs, matching his position with my back leaning against his chest. He then slipped a hand beneath one of the folds on the blanket and when he pulled it back, he had Bowzer in his hand.