Page 48 of Substitute Bride

His forehead wrinkled. “You don’t have to.”

Her lips parted in surprise. “Of course I have to. I can’t keep a ring like that. And if we’re going to lay low, then we won’t really need it again. I’ll leave it in your room later today.”

He hesitated for a moment, his eyes searching her face. Then he gave a weird little nod and turned to walk into his room.

And that was it. Nothing that happened between them last night evidently mattered in any way.

Rose woke up that night to the sound of Julie crying. Her room was right next to the girls’ so she could always hear them when they cried.

She climbed out of bed and hurried out of her room, quietly opening the door to peek inside.

They slept with a nightlight so she could see their figures clearly in their beds.

Julie was tossing around still crying softly.

Rose strode over and sat on the edge of the bed, reaching out for Julie’s restless form. “What is it, sweetie? Did you have a nightmare?”

Julie was awake, her eyes wide and pained. “My ear hurts.”

Julie had always been prone to earaches, so Rose knew what to do. She leaned down to kiss the girl’s hot face. “Okay. Give me a minute and I’ll go get some medicine.”

She went downstairs and found the pain reliever they used and then heated up a hot pad, which usually helped to ease the pain a little, at least temporarily.

She went back upstairs and gave the girl the medicine. Then she pressed the hot pad against her ear. “Can you hold it there?”

“It really hurts,” Julie whispered.

Since the girl was a bit of a drama queen, Rose always knew when things were serious because Julie got really quiet. If it wasn’t serious, she made a big deal about things. But if it was, she never did.

Rose’s heart clenched in sympathy, and she crawled into the girl’s bed, pulling her into her arms and pressing the hot pad against her ear. “I’m sorry, sweetie. It will get better soon. Just try to relax.”

Julie cried for another minute—softly, pitifully—but eventually she calmed down. She didn’t sleep though. Her ear must really be hurting.

Jill always slept like the dead and hadn’t woken up at all.

“Where’s Daddy?” Julie asked, snuggling into Rose’s arms.

“He’s in bed. Do you want me to wake him up?”

“That’s okay.”

“I can wake him up, Julie. He won’t mind at all. Do you want me to?”

Julie shook her head and sniffed. “I’m okay.”

“Okay. Just let me know if you need him. He’ll want to be here.”

Julie whimpered a little. “I’m a big girl.”

Rose made up her mind. She eased the girl out of her arms and stood up. “I know you are. But even big girls need their daddies sometimes.”

She felt a little awkward as she made her way to James’s room. She really didn’t want to wake him up. She’d never liked having to do so, but now it was even worse after what had happened in his room last night.

But Julie was more important than Rose’s awkwardness.

She tapped on the door.

When there wasn’t a response, she knocked even louder. This time she heard motion from inside the room and the sound of his steps across the hardwood floor.