Page 59 of Your Soul to Keep

Stepping over the threshold, she stopped short when she saw Gabe. A smile bloomed and took over her round face as she slapped her hands onto her little hips, a tiny facsimile of her grandmother beside me.

“Well, hey there, Daddy!”

Gabe grinned at her and held out his arms. “Well, hey there, Dilly-bar!”

With a delighted laugh, she ran as fast as her stubby toddler legs could manage and launched herself into his arms.

Gabe tossed her up in the air then hugged her close as she threw back her head and laughed.

I stood gaping.

Gabe’s gaze, soft and warm on his daughter, eviscerated my heart. His muscled, tattooed arms, the same arms that had just pinned me forcibly to the door, cradling her so tenderly it stole my breath and imprinted on my soul.

I startled at the sound of Maeve’s voice close beside me.

“Aren’t they beautiful?”

I glanced at her quickly.

She grinned at me, knowing.

I laughed and reached for her hand. “You haven’t changed.”

She gripped me tightly. “You’re as lovely as ever.” Her eyes searched mine, flashing with something I couldn’t identify. “I hope they’ll make you happy.”

I blinked in surprise, stuttering as I attempted to reply.

She lifted my hand and patted it with her other one. “I’m glad you’re back.”

Dylan’s next words stole my attention. “Who dat lady?”

“That’s Shae,” Gabe replied before turning toward me. “Hey, Shae-baby.” Gabe grinned at me as he set his squirming daughter on her feet. “This is Dilly-Bar.”

Dylan’s big blues rose to meet mine. She pointed to her own chest, correcting, “I Dylan. Dy. Lan,” she stressed each syllable.

“Hi Dylan.” I smiled down at her.

She grinned, in that moment the very spitting image of her father. “Hey there, Shibaby.”

Gabe guffawed while Maeve chuckled and clapped her hands together with delight beside me.

Dylan tilted her head, looking back and forth between her dad and her grandma, not getting the joke but laughing anyway. This only made all of us laugh harder. Ascertaining she was the cause of the merriment made her stand a little straighter and smile a little wider.

She held her hand out for mine. “You want to play with me and mine Daddy?”

“Well, she was planning on playing with Daddy before you showed up,” Gabe joked drily.

“Oh my God, Gabe,” I muttered.

“Dylan play too.”

Maeve swatted Gabe. “Behave.”

“That was not the goal, Ma,” he mock complained.

“Daddy bad, Grammy?”

Maeve smiled at Dylan and shook her head. “Your daddy is the best.”

---