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Arthur laughed as he turned to something on the counter. “Yes, you do. They’re special breakfast cookies with extra healthy things in them. Oatmeal raisin with some carrots and nuts and less sugar than usual.”
“Cookies for breakfast,” she whispered to herself before managing to pick up a piece between her mitts to stuff it in her mouth and then wash it down with milk. She was spoiled.
And more spoiled still when her daddy came over with a smoothie for her and also some quiche and yogurt with fruit on it that he mostly ate but allowed her a few bites of. She had felt super awkward the first time Arthur fed her, but now she liked it. Sometimes she refused just so he would coax her into it or play airplane or choo choo because it was funny.
“Feel better with some food in your tummy?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Good. That’s a good sign,” he said, getting a washcloth to wipe her face off with. “I bet you still want your bubble bath though, right?”
“Yes, please!”
Her daddy smiled at her exclamation and bent down to kiss her on her forehead as she swung her feet. “It makes me so happy to see you feeling better, princess. I’m going to take such good care of you, make sure you never feel that bad again.”
It was a little bit of a funny thing for him to promise since it’s not as though he could keep her from getting the flu or something like that, but she did believe Arthur would protect her from anything he possibly could. And when he couldn’t keep her from harm, he’d be here to help her heal and recover.
Arthur carried her upstairs and into the bathroom where her tub was and turned on the faucet, holding his hand under the water until he’d found a good temperature and then leaving the tub to fill while he undressed her and made her use her diaper before wiping her off.
Then he eased her into the warm water and offered her a book. Sometimes she liked to read the picture books in the nursery but sometimes she liked grown-up books and he’d brought her her kindle, all filled up with grown-up books.
But when she tried, the light from the screen and the overheads gave her a headache.
“What’s the matter, princess?” Arthur asked when she put her kindle down. “Can’t find anything good to read?”
He winked at her, teasing, because he knew she had more books on her device than she could possibly read in a lifetime and even more books were just a click away if she wanted something she didn’t already have.
“Or just sleepy?”
It was true she slept an absurd amount right now so it wouldn’t have been out of the question for her to want a nap only a couple of hours after she’d woken up, but that wasn’t it.
“No, Daddy. The lights are hurting my eyes. Headache.”
The line between Arthur’s brows deepened.
“I’m sorry you’re not feeling good. And you’re not due to have more medicine for a few hours yet. I could call Doctor Eric and see if you can have more so soon.”
It was foolish and weak and pathetic but the idea of not being able to read a book and feeling this yucky was terrible. Made her want to cry with frustration and it was worse knowing she’d done this to herself.
Saoirse buried her face in her hands and tried not to let the tears escape or pitch a fit because she ought to be able to handle this with grace. But grace for herself was in short supply even though she tried to be generous with others and she couldn’t help the sob she let out.
And then of course Arthur was there, rubbing her shoulder, comforting her, and she wanted to tell him to go away because everything was terrible and she was terrible and she just wanted to exhaust herself with a crying jag until she fell asleep again. He wouldn’t like that, knowing she was so miserable, but she couldn’t think of anything else to do.
It was the worst feeling, to have someone who cared for you and wanted to help you ask what they could do and being so lost you couldn’t even answer them.
“Oh, hey, princess. I’ve got an idea. Would you like me to read to you? We can turn down the lights and I can turn up the screen brightness so I can still see and maybe that would make it better. Unless you just want to get out of the bath?”
She didn’t want to get out of the bath. She loved taking baths and this one was hot and had a good six inches of bubbles on the top—it made her feel like the princess Arthur said she was. And she loved the idea of him reading to her. His distinguished courtroom voice softening and brighter with emphasis as he told her stories.
“I don’t want to get out,” she told him. “But I…I do like the idea of you reading to me.”
“I like that idea too. Let me just grab a couple of pillows since this tile floor isn’t meant for sitting on.”
Arthur turned the lights down on his way out, and when he came back, settled onto the floor next to her, sitting on one cushion with another between his back and the wall before taking up her kindle again.
“Let’s see, what do we have here?”
