to find some pretty paper and those little pencils to send to you. And we’ll see what else we can find to send.”
“Thank you, Roman. I really don’t know what Darcie and I would do without you.”
“You’ll never have to worry about that.”
Roman heard a woman’s voice in the background, and then Talie answered her. A few seconds later Talie spoke to him again. “I’m going to have to go, Roman. Please tell Darcie I love her, and…” she hesitated, feeling nervous about saying what was on her mind, “I love you, too.”
“I know it’s hard for you to say, Talie. But don’t worry, you’ll never be sorry that I'm yours. I promise. I’ll tell Darcie, and please give my number to Sheryl. Just in case she needs to call me if you need me. And ask her what your account number is and how I can put money in it, and…” he said, rushing to get in all his questions before she hung up.
Talie laughed and interrupted him. “Okay! Okay, I will do all of that. I’ll tell you next time I call about the account.”
“Okay. I love you, Talie. Be safe, and be strong. It won’t be long until you’re here with us and I will never allow anything or anybody to hurt you or make you unhappy again.”
“Bye, Roman. Love you,” she said, and the line went dead.
Roman looked at the phone in his hand and took a deep breath before blowing it out slowly between his pursed lips. Then he closed his eyes and held the phone to his chest. “Won’t be long,” he repeated to himself. He sat that way for a few minutes before looking down at the phone again, then plugging it into its charger. It didn’t really need to be charged, he was just paranoid about it now.
He got up and walked down the hallway toward the bedrooms. He stopped in Darcie’s doorway and smiled at her sitting in the middle of her bed. It was a white wrought iron canopy and had a pale lavender comforter and sheet set on it. The overhead canopy was sheer, but it was lavender as well. Her walls were a pale gray as was her carpet. She had a white vanity that had a ribbon hung above it with bows in every color of the rainbow clipped to it, a white chest of drawers, and she’d decorated her bed with all the stuffed animals she’d collected in the short time she’d been with him, but her Gorilla was always front and center, sleeping on her pillow waiting for her. She’d picked out all the things in her room herself and she loved spending time in it. It was her own personal little world.
“Don’t forget you’ll need to go to bed early, baby. We have to go to your school tomorrow, and then go get all your school supplies and whatever else they say you might need.”
“Okay,” she said, smiling up at him.
“I talked to your Mama. She said she’d like us to send her some paper and pencils so she can write us letters. So, I thought we’d try to find her some really pretty paper and envelopes to send her.”
“Okay! I never got a letter before. Do you think she’d like us to write her more letters. We sent her one the night I came here, but we could send her some more,” Darcie said.
“You know what? I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before. I bet she’d love to get some letters from us. We can send her one from both of us every single day so every day she knows we’re thinking of her,” Roman said.
“I’ll start on one now!” Darcie said excitedly.
“You do that. I’m going to take a shower, you don’t go outside, and don’t answer the door. I’ll only be a minute, but if somebody knocks or you get scared, just come knock on the bathroom door, okay?” he said.
“I won’t be scared. Nobody will mess with my Daddy,” Darcie said, grinning at him.
He turned to walk off, but then turned back to her. “Do you know some of your Mom’s favorite things?”
“Like what?” Darcie asked.
Roman shrugged. “I guess like maybe her favorite candy, or if she reads magazines, or books or something. What’s her favorite color? Just everyday stuff like that.”
“Peanut butter cups are her favorite. And she likes green, and she likes to read those magazines about the movie stars, but we didn’t buy them. She