Page 59 of Daddy P.I. 3.0

“Did you eat the cookies yourself?” she asks, planting her fists on her hips. Exasperated baby doll is such a cute look.

“Possibly?”

“Daddy!”

I laugh, swing her up into my arms, and spin around with her. She grabs at my neck to hold on and giggles her enchanting giggle.

I set her down on one of the kitchen stools and slide the plate of cookies and a glass of warm milk in front of her. Then I immediately steal a cookie off her plate and chomp it down in two bites. I lick frosting off my fingers. “Delicious.”

Emily shakes her head at me but takes a cookie and nibbles at it. “They are good,” she admits after chewing ten times. “Bren’s right about the ginger. Really adds flavor.”

I rub my belly emphatically. “Yum-yum for Daddy’s tum.”

She giggles. I hand her a cookie and encourage her to feed it to me, which she does, grinning.

“I saw you getting buddy-buddy with Matty earlier. What do you think of Matty and Faolan?” I ask.

She takes a sip of milk to clear her mouth before saying, “Matty’s great. Did you know she’s a masochistic little like me?”

“Faolan mentioned they go for heavy play.”

Emmy nods, her ponytail bouncing. “Could we do some scenes with them at the club?”

“We could,” I agree. “I’ll talk with Faolan about scheduling a scene or two. He might make a fine Viking-Daddy.”

Emily’s eyes go rounder than any owl’s. “Viking-Daddy,” she whispers. “I think I need to be raided and pillaged.”

I laugh. “That can be arranged, little girl. Are you okay with this ‘art attack’ play date? I don’t want you taking on too much right now.”

“I’m okay with it. As long as I keep my mornings free for writing, I’m good.” Her face creases. “Mac’s going to take Livvy tomorrow morning for the first time. I’m not sure how I feel about that, Daddy.”

“Why, baby?”

She chews on her lower lip. I pinch it between my fingers and give it a tug until she looks up at me.

“I’m just really enjoying getting to know Livvy and I want to take her to see the Rexes. We haven’t done that yet.”

“Could we do that together soon instead of you going alone tomorrow?”

She nods slowly.

“Baby, I know you’re having fun with Livvy but it’s important you keep on top of your deadlines. Let’s see how tomorrow goes and if you feel like you want to adjust the schedule so you have more time with the baby after tomorrow, we’ll revisit it.”

That gets me a smile. “Okay, Daddy.”

I kiss her forehead. “Good girl. We haven’t had a chance to talk again about how you’re feeling about your mum. I know the last visit was very hard for you.”

Emmy sighs. “I knew it was coming. I just felt so stupid and helpless when she got lost in her belief that Frances was dead. I didn’t know whether to argue with her or go along with it or what. I know what the doctors said but it felt so wrong.”

I shift so I’m standing close to her stool and she can lean against my chest. “You did all the right things, sweetheart. It’s important not to upset her.”

“I know.”

I kiss her forehead again. “You’re my very brave girl, Emmy. I know a lot of people who would simply stop visiting her. You’re a good daughter.”

Emily blinks wet eyes up at me. “She’ll never know who Livvy is. I think that’s the thing that hurts the worst.”

I think she’s displacing. Violette doesn’t know her own daughter anymore.That’sthe thing that hurts the worst.

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