Page 113 of Protecting Addison
Now, a few days later, Addison wanted to see where her daughter’s head was at. Make sure she was dealing with everything that had happened. Ricky was at the base, the younger kids were at school, and Addison had taken some time off from work. She needed to spend time with Ellory.
“How are you doing, El? Really?”
“I’m okay, Mom.”
“You know you can talk to me about anything.”
Ellory rolled her eyes, which surprisingly made Addison relax a little. Her daughter was getting back to normal, and nothing felt better.
“You sleeping all right?”
“Uh-huh.”
She was playing with a little frog, rolling it around in her fingers as they spoke. She’d gotten it from the container where she’d been held hostage. It was in one of the many boxes she’d opened.
“I’m worried about you.”
At that, Ellory looked up. “Why?”
“Because you’re my daughter, and I love you. And you went through some pretty awful things. I’m concerned about that frog,” she admitted, nodding at the little toy Ellory was playing with. “Why did you keep it? Doesn’t it remind you of being stuck in that box?”
Ellory stared at the toy for a long moment, then met her mom’s gaze. “It reminds me of what happened, but not in a bad way. I was scared, that’s not a secret. But when I found that box of stuffed bears and realized they were flashlights of a sort, it gave me a kind of confidence I’d never felt before.Ihad done that. I climbed to the top of those boxes and found something useful to the situation. The box of frogs wasn’t useful at all, except it gave me the drive to keep searching. That’s when I found the tools.” She shrugged. “Looking at this frog reminds me that I’m more than just what people see. More than the sick kid. The puny one who hasn’t grown any boobs yet. More than the disgusting daughter that Brady saw. I’m resourceful and smart.Igot Yana and myself out of that box.Isaved us. The bad guy didn’t win. That’s what I see when I look at this frog.”
Addison pressed her lips together hard, attempting not to cry.
“Jeez, Mom. You aren’t going to cry again, are you?” Ellory asked with another roll of her eyes.
That was what Addison needed. She laughed. “Maybe. And you’ll just have to get used to your mama crying now and then.”
Ellory smiled at her and put the frog back into her pocket. “Ricky told me he was proud of me,” she said out of the blue.
“He is,” Addison agreed.
“When he saw how that stupid ‘Jingle Bell’ song in Yana’s bear bothered both of us, he took me to the garage and we figured out together how to turn it off. We did a bear-ectomy.” She grinned. “Took out the box that played the song, then rewired it so the lights still work. I love how he doesn’t offer to play dolls and talk makeup with me just because I’m a girl. He also told me that his team gave me a nickname!”
“They did?” Addison asked, knowing all about her daughter’s new nickname. Ricky didn’t keep anything from her. They talked every night when they went to bed. About the schedule for the next day, school, the adoption process, and about his work—what he could share, that was. He’d let her know that his friends now called their daughter “Little Mac”—impressed by how she’d used the skills he’d taught her to MacGyver her way out of the Conex container.
“Yeah. Little Mac. Like little MacGyver.”
“How do you feel about that?” Addison asked.
Ellory smiled again. “I cried when he told me. I can’t think of anything better than being MacGyver’s daughter. Of being a little MacGyver. Of him being my dad.”
“It’s a high honor for sure,” Addison told her, hanging on to her control by a thread.
“He said he wanted to adopt me…if I was okay with it.”
Addison couldn’t stop the tear that fell down her cheek. “And you said?” she managed to croak.
“Oh Lord, there goes the crying again,” Ellory said with another roll of her eyes. “OfcourseI said that would be awesome. I asked if I could call him Dad, and he got all emotional and said he’d love that…if it’s okay with you, of course.”
“There’s nothing I’d like more. Ricky and I talked about it already, and we both agreed that it would be up to you. But I’m so happy that you’re open to it.”
“Why wouldn’t I be? He’s awesome,” Ellory said. Then her smile faded, and she said in a very serious tone, “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course. You can ask me anything.”
“Are the SEALs going to get in trouble for killing that guy?”
