Page 52 of A Cursed Heart
Honestly, the pair of them were too cute.
“Okay, if you’ve had breakfast, do you want me to help you get dressed? Auntie Lydia wants to take you out for the day!” I said.
Her face lit up. “Really?” She scrambled out of Mal’s arms to the end of the bed.
“Yeah, then you can have a sleepover.”
She froze. “No, Daddy. I want to stay here with you.”
“Don’t you want to go out with Auntie Lydia?”
I saw Mal eyeing me with a frown on his face. He was so in tune with Freya’s emotions after taking up more than his fair share of childcare duties. They’d bonded deeply.
“Yes. No. Not to sleep. I want to sleep in my bed, in my house, with Daddy and Mal.” When she turned to face us, her pout was epic.
With how much she had been through recently, it was kind of unfair for us to expect her to be away all day, then straight after for her to spend the night somewhere new. I didn’t think there was room for Freya at Lydia’s student housing, so where were they going to sleep? I felt a prickle of guilt for not thinking about her feelings first before agreeing to it.
“I’ll speak to Liddy for you, okay? You don’t have to sleep over. You can come home to us. We’ll be here waiting for you,” I promised.
I spared a glance as if to apologize to Mal. It must suck to be constantly stuck at home with me and my kid.
“Yes, we’ll be right here waiting. You better have lots of fun and tell us about your adventures when you get back,” Mal soothed. He flashed me a grin.
Mollified, Freya went off to her room.
“Mal—” I didn’t know what to say. I felt so damn guilty that we were under all this outside pressure. We barely got any time alone.
“What’s wrong?”
“Do you ever wish I didn’t have Fre—”
“No,” He cut me off sharply. “Never. That child is my second favorite human in the world and was made by my favorite. I love her.” His words were so firm, he almost sounded angry. There was no room for doubt.
“But we never get any time alone.”
“Ryan… this,” he waved a hand, “all this mess with Salvatore, will pass. Once things settle down and Freya has grieved more, there will be time for dates, for family adventures. Besides, I’m sure we can manage lunch somewhere, right? You don’t have to work on the files all day, do you?”
“No, you’re right there. I just… other relationships have failed because I had a kid.” Well, usually helped along by Jasmine, but it really didn’t help matters when I had Freya for half the week, usually over the weekend too just so my ex could work.
“Freya is the best parts of you, the man I have feelings for, condensed into this little fascinating person. I adore her. Now, let’s get her ready for a day out. You’ll have to break the news to Lydia.”
My sister was unimpressed. “What if something happens?”
“Liddy, Mal’s literally magic. He can vanish Freya out of any situation if something happens. She won’t go with you today if you try to make her sleep over. She just isn’t ready.”
She softened. “Was she upset?”
“Yeah. The only way we could get her to go out at all was to promise she could come home for bedtime stories with Mal.”
Freya wasn’t prone to tantrums. Honestly, she was a pretty easy-going kid. Slept well as a baby, the terrible twos weren’t so terrible compared to some. I thought we were going to get her first tantrum in a long while when I’d tried to suggest she sleep over with Lydia one more time. Mal had been the one to shoot me down, complaining that he would miss story time too much. They were ganging up on me. All I wanted was a night with my… boyfriend? Just one night!
After all this was over, we could take a trip. Maybe Lydia could come and be on kid duty, or my mom. Actually, Mom would be better. She would love that, and I knew Freya would love to see her. Mom had booked a cruise before Jasmine had died. She wasn’t going to go and instead planned to come to the funeral to support me, but I’d insisted she take the trip. Mom only offered to cancel it out of love for me and who Jasmine once was. Their relationship had broken down after Jasmine had stolen from her and never recovered. Still, I knew my mom grieved her former daughter-in-law. She had worked so hard to pay for the month-long trip, I hadn’t wanted her to miss out on it.
“So… how’s things with Mal?” Lydia sidled up to me to ask in an undertone. I could feel my face getting hot. “Something happened!”
“Shh…”
“It totally did!” Her voice got louder in her excitement. Luckily, Mal was with Freya in her room, packing a bag of things she might need that day. “You look so happy! Are you happy? You are, aren’t you?”
