Page 104 of Skin Deep

“Happy birthday, princess,” he said, moving her party hat aside to kiss the top of her head.

He’d taken to calling her that over the last few months, mostly at Charlie’s insistence. She still couldn’t say the word princess right, but she wanted everyone to call her Princess Charlie. Apparently, that had gotten started when she went in for surgery. One of the nurses started calling her princess and it went downhill from there.

War said the cleft lip repair had gone textbook, which seemed to mean perfect. She was three weeks out from the procedure and couldn’t be happier. Only time would tell how prominent the scar would be once the bandages came off, but War seemed confident they’d be minimal. He said he’d used some new, high-tech procedure that was minimally invasive. He even had a special cream we put on every time we changed the bandages to reduce scarring.

And if there was a scar, we knew one of the best plastic surgeons in the state.

As for me, I’d left my job in construction, somewhat reluctantly, and moved in with War. I wasn’t the biggest fan of not working for a living, but I couldn’t knock the extra time it bought me with my daughters. Plus, it freed me up to pursue something else I’d always wanted to do.

While everyone else dug into the cake and ice cream, I slipped into the living room with beers for my new business partners, who were busy going over building plans.

“Thanks,” Theo said, accepting the beer.

“No problem. How’s it going?” I leaned over the plans they’d been going over. “Those the building plans they sent?”

Nikita stood and nodded. “If all goes well, we can break ground on the Maya Cooper Memorial Mental Health Clinic in the spring. Provided we have an early thaw, of course. The weather has to cooperate.”

My throat tightened like it did every time I heard her name, though hearing it in connection with the project made it much easier to swallow. Nikita and the vory were pouring a literal boatload of cash into the foundation and the clinic itself, while I was officially a consultant, working with the architects and builders. Theo had helped us recruit a number of skilled psychiatrists and psychologists with Shepherd’s help.

Best of all, we were in the process of securing funds from a large donor out west that would let us offer services for free. I didn’t know a lot about our mysterious donor except that he went by the name Lucky. His checks always came by way of some corporation called Lucky Losers Inc. Apparently, he was some billionaire who’d made a disgusting amount of money playing high stakes poker games. How he’d gotten attached to the project was still something of a mystery to me, but I wasn’t going to turn down free money, especially if it went to helping people.

I hoped Maya would approve. She’d want her death to mean something, and helping others who were suffering with their mental health… There was no higher calling than to be there for people when they needed it.

“Sounds good,” I said with a nod. “And the plans look okay as far as I can tell. We just need to make sure there’s room for the garden.” Maya always wanted a flower garden, but it’d been impossible since we lived in an apartment. This was my way of giving it to her. One final gift.

“Speaking of dates…” Nikita popped the top on his beer and took a long drink. “Have you and War settled on one yet?”

I smiled and nodded. “Yep. September twenty-first next year.”

“That’s so far away!” Theo said.

I shrugged. “Trust me, when it comes to War, it’s barely enough time.”

He was being his notoriously meticulous self about everything, right down to deciding how many petals should be on the flowers, even though it wasn’t near time to get the florist involved further than booking them.

“I heard you rented out a whole castle,” Nikita said with a small smile.

Theo’s eyes glittered. “A castle? God, he’lllovethat.”

“Castle and grounds,” I clarified, choosing to leave out that it’d cost a damn fortune.

Lucky for us, War had a sizable nest egg. I felt bad that he was paying for everything, but he didn’t. War loved spending his money on me and the girls, and I wasn’t going to complain about it if he wasn’t. Besides, it was his big day. He’d never done much for himself. I figured he should have the fairytale wedding of his dreams. Who was I to say no to anything my man wanted?

Hell, I’d build him a damn castle if I could.

“What’s going on in here?” War asked, walking in.

I gave a sly press of my finger to my lips to Theo and Nikita before smiling and saying, “We were just going over the plans for the clinic. Boring stuff.”

He made a face. War was happy I had the clinic to work on, and he wanted to help once it was open, but he wasn’t particularly interested in the planning phase. In his mind, if he wasn’t interested, it didn’t exist. He had his things and I had mine, and we supported each other in our own way. That’s how we made it work.

“Lettie was asking if she could help Charlie open her presents,” he said.

I frowned. “Already? They just started cake and ice cream.”

“Why do you think I’m in here instead of in there? Charlie was mixing the cake and ice cream into a semi-solid puddle. I couldn’t watch anymore.”

I chuckled and kissed his cheek. War blushed and glanced at Nikita, squirming with embarrassment. “You’re more than welcome to hang out in here with us.”

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