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“You’ll get it back with each bite.” I chuckled, giving Ethan a plate.
He took it and kissed the side of my cheek. “Stop gloating.”
“Just accept it; it’s easier.”
He made a face and walked around me to get his food from the spread. While I did, I took the portion I made for Gigi to her room, which was right beside my room in this big ass bunker of the safe house. When I walked in, she was curled up in the sheets.
All I had to do was put the food beside her face for her nose to start wiggling. Biting my lip, trying not to laugh, I watched her stir before she sat up with bedhead, confused.
“Mommy?”
“Morning, sleepyhead,” I said, taking a seat beside her. “Look what I brought.”
“Bacon.”
“No.” I stopped her before she reached for it. “You’ve been doing whatever you want the last few weeks and seem to have forgotten my rules. What do we do when we want breakfast?”
“Mommy!”
“Don’t Mommy me,” I said to her. “I heard you broke the stuff in your room, too. And you haven’t been paying attention to your homework. Should we talk about all of that now?”
She quickly got out of bed. “I need to brush my teeth and wash my face, then do my bed.”
I nodded. “Good, go.”
She quickly went and smiled. Usually, she’d have to feed and take out her dogs, but Ethan hadn’t brought them. I understood why that wasn’t his priority at the time. Even though I hadn’t left the house, I knew we were still in Chicago…well, right outside out of Chicago in Winnetka, my hometown. This safe house was just down the block from where I had stayed with my mother for the first seven years of my life. However, we weren’t at the top level of the house. We were in the safe house Ethan had built right under it. It was almost an exact replica of an ordinary house. But there were no windows, no way to see outside except for the cameras. I was sure Gigi had sort of noticed but was too distracted with everything else to really ask why she couldn’t go out.
“Mommy.”
I looked to see she’d fixed her hair a bit, too.
She pointed to the bed. “I can’t fix it with you on it.”
“Right,” I said, getting up off the mattress, holding her food. She hopped up and fixed it the best she could and even spread it out to push out the wrinkles. When she was done, I set the food down on top of the bed beside her. “Good girl. Eat all you want.”
“Thank you, Mommy,” she said excitedly and crossed her feet. “Mommy, are you better now?”
“Much better.”
“Then, can we go back home soon?” she asked.
I knew she had noticed. I nodded, putting my hand on her head. “You’ll be with everyone on Christmas, but Daddy, Mommy, and your grandparents will have to be away for a few days.”
“On Christmas?” She gasped.
“I know. But we’ll have New Year’s Day and so many other Christmases together after this.”
She pouted, so I poked her cheek. “You remember when I told you that one day Mommy was going to finish the book?”
She nodded.
“Well, that’s what I am going to do.” Tomorrow would be the end of Calliope Orsini…the long-suffering little girl. “It’s very important to Mommy, so can you forgive me for Christmas this year?”
/> “Will you tell me the story?”
“Maybe one day, when you are older.”
“How old?”
