Page 75 of Came the Closest
“Annie,” he cries. Like a magnet drawn to another magnet, he rolls into my chest, tiny hand grasping at my skin. “They were gonna take her and I couldn’t stop them! I don’t want them to take her!”
I had thought wrong.
Wrongly, I wish he’d said our mother. Then I might know what to say.
“No one is taking Annie away,” I say softly. I close my fingers around his when he latches onto my hand. His chest trembles, and each hiccupped sob twists a knife deeper into my chest. “I won’t let it happen, Milo. I promise.”
Milo stares at me through tired, watery blue eyes. “You won’t?”
I shake my head. “Never.”
He quiets. I don’t dare to move. My knees are numb and exhaustion pulls at my eyes, but I don’t move. His hand clasps mine, his head is halfway on his pillow and halfway off, and his expression grows heavy with sleep. I don’t know what protocol is here, but if it’s to let him fall back asleep and then leave, I say screw the protocol.
I move around the bed and straighten out the comforter. I crawl onto the bed, the mattress dipping beneath my weight, and his body forcefully rolls into mine.
“I wish you were my daddy,” he whispers.
The words steal the very breath from my lungs. They still every muscle in my body. They might very well stop the world from spinning on its axis.
I wish you were my daddy.
Six words, seven syllables.
It’s the most profound thing anyone has ever said to me.
“Me too,” I finally say, my voice hoarse. “Me…too.”
Right here in this too-small twin bed, with a knee jammed into my groin, a tiny arm slung over my neck, and a cheek pressed into the hollow of my shoulder, I think I’ve finally felt true, indescribable, unconditional love.
Chapter Twenty-Three
You’re The Sun To Me
Cheyenne
The last wedding I attended was two summers ago. I didn’t know the bride or the groom because they had been Stephen’s friends (read: acquaintances). The ceremony took place at Holy Name Cathedral, doves were released after, and my steak at the reception was sorely overcooked.
Today’s ceremony is to be held in the plush backyard of The Serendipity Inn with a reception at The Gardens near Palmer’s Park. I don’t know Ember well, but I’ve known Graham since he was born. Between the resplendent sunshine and the idyllic July temperatures, the lovely couple should have the loveliest of days.
The lake house is quiet now as I help Milo get ready. Indi and Colton went up to the inn to get ready with the rest of the wedding party shortly after we had PB&Js with carrot sticks for lunch. The quietness doesn’t shake my unease, though; something with Colton is off. He joked like normal, but his smile wasn’t quite convincing. I didn’t have the chance to talk to him before he left.
Milo wanted to swim, so we did, and then I managed to get him down for a short nap. The day will be long even with a nap, so I laid down for a little while too, but sleep mostly evaded me. All I could think about was Colton’s confessions on the dock the other night, the tortured rasp of his voice when he said he didn’t know how to love me.
“I told Colt that I wish he was my daddy!”
Milo says this randomly while he’s sitting on the upstairs bathroom counter between my cooled curling wand and the full sink of water where his plastic sailboat bobs. My fingers fumble with the tie I’m trying to knot around his neck.
Maybe Colton’s distractedness had less to do with the wedding or me, and more to do with…that.
“You did?” I feign nonchalance, but my words sound strangled. Overhead, one of the lightbulbs flickers. I make a mental note to ask Colton to replace it.
“Uh-huh!” Milo shrugs his small shoulders and tiptoes his fingers along my shoulder. “Did you know my mom died?”
The way he subject jumps coupled with his lisp makes it difficult to answer. I open my mouth to say that, yes, I know, but he speaks up again.
“Colt slept in my bed last night!” Milo thumps his heel into the wooden cupboard door. “I had a scary dream. They were gonna take you!”
I go completely still this time, no longer bothering with the tie. I look Milo directly in those wide, trusting eyes. “He did?”