don’t mind doing it with her.”
I grimaced. “You have no idea how tempted I am to say yes. But I promised her. I want her to know she’s got one parent she can depend on. That not everyone she loves will abandon her.”
She rose up on tiptoe and kissed me again, one hand on my cheek. “You’re a good man, Declan MacAllister.”
“I try.”
“I’m off tomorrow. Need anything? Want me to stay with Winnie while you go get the other two? That way you don’t have to drag her out in this cold.”
I shook my head. “You’ve done so much for me already this week. You deserve one day off, at least.”
She got behind the wheel and smiled up at me. “My number is by the phone. You let me know.”
“Thanks. ’Night.”
“’Night.” She pulled the door shut, buckled her seatbelt, and pulled away, blowing me a kiss over her shoulder.
Shoving my hands into my pockets, I stood there in the frozen dark for a moment and watched her go, imagining the two of us alone in some tropical paradise. Lying on the sand. Kissing in the ocean. Walking along the beach in the moonlight. Endless nights in each other’s arms, our bodies hot and tangled up in cool sheets. Not a care in the world.
Too bad it could never fucking happen.
Frannie
Mack called before I was even out of bed the next morning, and the number on the screen was his cell. “You found your phone,” I said, my voice low and gravelly.
“It was in my car, beneath the driver’s seat.”
“Good. How’s Winnie?”
“She’s okay, pretty fucking crabby, but I don’t blame her.” He sighed. “I hate to ask you this, but she does not want to get in the car, and I have to pick up Millie and Felicity by noon.”
“Say no more.” I swung my legs over the side of the bed. “I’ll take a quick shower and head over.”
“You’re the best. Back door’s open.”
When I arrived at Mack’s my hair was still damp. He met me in the kitchen and ruffled it. “Did you miss me this morning?”
“Yes. I had to brush my own hair, and it was not nearly as nice.”
He smiled. “I’m sorry for the rush. She’s in the living room watching cartoons. In about an hour, she can have another dose of Motrin. It’s right there on the counter, already measured out.”
“Okay.”
“If she’s hungry, she can have some lunch, but she had a tough time eating anything for breakfast.” He grabbed his coat from the back hall and slipped it on. “I should be back before two. Call if you need anything.”
“Okay. Don’t worry, she’ll be fine.” I reassured him with a smile. “I’ll fix her some soup or something.”
“Thanks.” He gave me a grateful look and headed out.
I spent the rest of the morning sitting on the couch with Winnie, trying to keep her mind off her poor stitched-up mouth. We watched Disney’s Sleeping Beauty and I told her I knew someone who had grown up near the castle.
“Really?” Her eyes went wide. “It’s a real place?”
I nodded, widening my eyes too. “Yes.”
“Is the story real?” she wondered.
“Definitely,” I said.
“I want to marry a prince, don’t you?”
I winked at her. “Definitely.”
A little while later, I got her to take the Motrin but she refused to eat much more than a piece of bread with nothing on it. She did let me braid her hair, though, and she was asleep with her head on my lap when I heard Mack and the other two girls come in the back door.
“How’s she doing?” Mack said, following Millie and Felicity into the living room.
“She’s fine,” I whispered, putting a finger over my lips so the girls would stay quiet.
Millie noticed her sister’s braids right away. “You said you’d teach me how to do Dutch braids in my hair, remember?”
“I want braids too,” piped up Felicity.
Millie rolled her eyes. “You don’t even have enough hair. And it’s all hacked up in the front.”
Felicity started to cry, and Winnie woke up. Mack came over and helped her sit up, feeling her forehead.
“I think you have enough hair for braids, Felicity,” I told her. “I can do it—they’ll just be short at the ends.”
“Yay! Daddy, can Frannie stay a little?”
“That’s up to Frannie,” he said. “If she wants to spend more time in this loony bin, I’m not gonna stop her.”
I laughed. “I like this loony bin. I can stay a little longer.”
When all three girls had Dutch braids in their hair,