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Elias
The hospital had been a nightmare all day, and I wound up working well past the time I intended. Crossing the living room to turn off the television, I saw Emma curled up on the couch. A wine glass sat empty on the coffee table, along with the remnants of a bottle of Pinot. My little girl hadn’t listened to me when I told her to behave and go to bed.
Kneeling by her head, I gently shook her shoulder. “Emma? Wake up, sweetheart. You’ll be stiff if you stay down here.”
Emma blinked open her eyes. “What time is it?”
“Sometime after two.”
“My head hurts.”
Tugging her upright, I helped her to her feet. “You killed a bottle of wine, and likely didn’t have any water this evening.”
“Likely,” she mimicked my accent.
Reminding myself that she had overindulged in alcohol and was dazed from a sleep fog, I let her tone slide. “Let’s get you to bed.”
“Please let me sleep with you, Daddy.”
Nothing yanked on my heart strings harder than the title from her lips. Still, I needed a shower, and it had been ages since I’d slept next to anyone. “We’ll talk about it on a different night.”
“Every time I tried to go upstairs, I got really scared. Please don’t make me sleep alone.”
Calling on patience I didn’t feel, I looked up at the ceiling before returning my attention to her. “Emma Lorraine.”
“If I stay in a room all by myself Shawn might show up and kidnap me. I know it’s a ridiculous fear, but it’s been bothering me all night.”
“Have you done anything that could alert Shawn to our location, sweetheart?” If so, that was an entirely different issue, but one I wasn’t equipped to handle this early in the morning.
“I don’t know.”
“We will talk more on the topic tomorrow. You can stay with me tonight, but I need a shower.”
“Thank you, Daddy.”
“You’re not going to be thanking me after our discussion.”
“No, but it will remind me of our rules.”
Leading her to the bottom of the steps, I gestured for her to go first. “Walk up the stairs in front of me so you don’t fall.”
“Hmph. Then you’re gonna smack my butt the whole way to bed.”
“I bloody well plan on it.” Punctuating my statement with a harsh slap to her sweatpants covered butt, I was glad she read into my intentions even in her sleepy state.
“Daddy,” she whined.
“It’s late. Go on.”
“I missed you today.”
“I missed you as well, sweetheart, but it’s been a long day.” I rubbed my hand down her back. “I’m off tomorrow. We can spend it together.”
“Okay, Daddy.” She agreed without any more push back and we made our way into my bedroom. Tucking her into my bed, I kissed her forehead. Emma sighed as she snuggled under the covers. She had such a sweet disposition, and I adored the way she stared up at me.
“Good night, Emma.”
“Night.” She nuzzled my chin before turning onto her back. We had a lot to sort out tomorrow. I had an awful feeling that she’d done something to alert her ex-boyfriend to where she was, but I had nothing to back it up at the moment.
