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My heart fluttered at how handsome he looked as a smile spread over his face. He had matured in the years we had been apart, but it all just made him more attractive. His boyish features were gone and replaced with a sharp jawline. His body was packed with a lot more muscle than I remembered and he just carried himself with a confidence he hadn’t had before, like he knew who he was now.
“Anything you need changed, you just let us know, Maddie. This is your home now, we want you both to be comfortable here,” Hunter added.
“Thanks,” I agreed. I wanted to argue with what he’d said, since we really had no idea how long we’d be staying, but I didn’t want to upset Willow when she looked so excited and settled already.
“Okay sweetie, tell me what you think,” Kai announced as he opened the door and stood aside to let Willow walk in.
There was a loud, high pitched squeal from Willow. Hunter and I followed Kai into the room, and found her running back and forth excitedly.
“Mommy! Look!” she cried as she spotted me in the doorway. “It’s a jungle!”
“Kai,” I gasped as I turned in a circle to take everything in. The large room had been painted on every wall with jungle scenes. Tall trees made their way up every wall, right up to the ceiling and amid them were painted a whole array of animals. Amongst the images were shelves on the wall, filled with stuffed animals, and some hammocks from which hung stuffed monkeys. One whole wall was lined with shelves filled with cube shaped buckets, brimming with toys and games, from what I could see, all brand new. To my right there was a child size desk filled with every art supply I could possibly think of and beside that, in the corner stood a huge giraffe stuffed toy that had to be six feet tall. The whole space was completely amazing, but the bed was the best part. It was raised a little, with three steps up to it. The two sides were cut out into the shape of an elephant and at the foot was the head, the trunk a slide that Willow could go down to get out of bed.
Willow clambered up, then cried with delight as she slid down the slide and landed on the carpet with a giggle.
“This is the bestest room ever!” she announced as she ran to the steps on the bed to do it all again.
“Good work, brother,” Hunter said as he slapped Kai on the back.
“Cam did a lot of it. He made the bed and the shelves. I just did the painting,” Kai shrugged.
“Cam made this?” I gasped as I walked over to the bed and ran my hand over the smooth wood.
“He does a ton of woodworking now. It’s the only thing that gets him out of his room,” Hunter sighed sadly.
“You still paint?” I asked as I looked from the beautiful art on the walls, to Kai.
“Not much anymore,” he shrugged. “But this was fun to do. Are you sure she likes it? We could change things if it’s not right. I just went off what Hunter told me she liked.” He rubbed the back of his neck and looked anxious as he spoke, and I realized it really mattered to him. He really wanted to make sure Willow was happy. That realization hit me hard. Edward had never worried about her happiness and she was his child.
“What do you think, peanut?” I asked as I looked to my daughter. “Do we need to change anything in here?”
“No way!” she cried. “This is awesome. Look, there’s a spider monkey over there!” she pointed to a monkey painted on the tallest tree opposite her bed, with a huge smile on her face. “They live in the rainforest in South America, but now I gots one in my room!”
“She loves it, Kai,” I told him with a smile. “Thank you so much. I have no idea how you did all of this in such a short time.”
“Come and see your room. I didn’t have as much time to work on it, so if you want things changed, just let me know,” he said as he led the way to a door off to the side.
“You shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble,” I told him, beginning to feel a little guilty about how snippy I had been with them when they had clearly gone to some considerable trouble to make us both comfortable in their home. They really didn’t have to do that.
“No trouble,” Kai shrugged.
“We’re just going to check out mommy’s room next door. You want to come, Pumkin?” Hunter asked Willow.
Willow froze where she was tentatively looking into the tubs of toys on the shelves and looked to me nervously. It was the first time I had seen a hint of the guardedness which Edward had instilled in her, since we left the hospital, and I hated it.
“Is it okay to stay in here, mommy?” she asked, unsure. I walked right over to her and dropped down to my knees, hiding my wince of pain at the move as I wrapped my arms around her.
“Of course it’s alright, honey. You don’t have to be scared anymore, okay? Hunter, Kai, and Cameron won’t yell at you like daddy did. It’s okay to tell them what you want or need,” I told her.
“Are we really gonna stay here now?” she asked as she looked up at me.
“Yes, we are. Is that good with you?”
“I likes it here and they’re nice,” she looked past me to Kai and Hunter. “But what if daddy comes. Is he mad with us?” she asked in little more than a whisper.
Tears burned my eyes as I debated how the hell to answer that question. A part of me felt it was wrong to say anything bad about her father to her, but the sensible part of me knew I needed to be honest with her to a certain degree. I didn’t want to scare or upset her more, but I needed to be sure she wouldn’t go running to Edward if he turned up there, not that I thought she really would. She was scared of him, and with good reason. I had never once seen him show her anything even verging on kindness or affection.
“You don’t need to worry about daddy, Willow. He’s a long way away. If he comes here then mommy will handle it. I’m not going to let him hurt us again, okay? We’re safe here,” I promised her. It was all I could get out without falling apart. How had I done this to my three year old? She was far too young to have these types of worries and that was all on me.
