Page 86 of Cage
He’s right. I can’t wait until tonight for her to see it, though. We’ve been working on her playroom for weeks. It’s been torture not showing her.
“Guess she’ll come to dinner with a red bottom if she decides to have a tantrum about leaving it,” I reply as I stride out of the room to search for my girl in the main house.
Giggling leads me toward one of the living rooms. As soon as I turn the corner, I come to a halt. Both Ember and Rowie are on their knees, coloring at the coffee table. At least theyappearto be coloring, but what they’re actually doing is trying to cover their laughing while continually pointing at Jasper, who is leaning back on the couch, fast asleep. With a smile drawn on his face in black marker.
“Girls,” I scold softly.
Both of them gasp, their eyes wide as they look up at me standing in the doorway.
“Hi, Daddy,” Ember says sweetly.
I raise an eyebrow at her, then Rowie. “What did you brats do to Jasper?”
Ember glances up at my brother and giggles softly. “We just wanted to make sure he woke up with a smile, Daddy. He’s been so tired and grumpy lately.”
Rowie bobs her head in agreement, looking quite proud of herself.
Putting my hands on my hips, I let out a slow exhale. It’s taking every bit of Daddy strength not to laugh right now because, honestly, what they did is fucking hilarious.
“You two are going to be in trouble when he wakes up and sees what you did. You’re not even supposed to use markers without supervision.”
Rowie holds up her hands and shrugs. “It’s not our fault our supervisor fell asleep.”
I glare at Rowie. “You know how much he struggles to sleep. Obviously, he felt safe to close his eyes with the two of you.”
“Yeah, but he looks so happy right now,” Ember replies.
Jesus. These two together are trouble with a capital T.
“You’re both going to lose some Good Girl Points for this. Don’t come whining to me when that happens.”
Rowie and Ember look at each other and then back at me.
“We already discussed that before we did it and decided it would be worth it,” Rowie tells me.
Ember nods, grinning proudly.
Unable to mask it any longer, a slow smile spreads as I look at my brother again. Poor Jasper. He’s never going to sleep again.
I hold out my hand to Ember. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”
She comes to me without hesitation, and when she slides her fingers into my palm, I’m whole again.
“Can I come, too?” Rowie pipes up, her gaze hopeful.
“Yes, brat. Let’s go.”
Jumping to her feet, she runs to us and takes Ember’s hand and I think my heart just exploded. These two have been inseparable since I brought Ember home from DC. It’s the sweetest thing ever. Not only has Ember learned to trust someone besides me, but Rowie is smiling so much more. It makes me feel shitty that I didn’t realize she was lonely before. I probably need to talk to her about it and apologize. I should have picked up on it.
Both girls skip next to me, talking about all sorts of random things that pop into their Little minds. My baby girl is finding out just how much she loves being in this headspace. Seeing her blossom so much in these past few weeks has been the best thing I could have ever imagined.
She hasn’t asked about her father once. Unless she does, I’ll never speak about his existence around her. It will take time for her to fully know that she deserves so much more. And I’m going to give her everything.
“Where are we going? I thought your friends were coming over for a barbecue?” Ember looks up at me with confusion.
“They are. We’re just going home for a few minutes, then we’ll go back to the main house,” I reply.
Ember’s cheeks turn rosy. “Daddy, I don’t think we should have brought Rowie with us if you want to sneak in a quickie before they come.”