Page 95 of Sven

His hand slid down her back. “I’ll be right there. Nothing will happen. I promise. Do you want to come in?”

“Yeah,” Natalie said.

This whole situation was fucked up.

“Okay, we’ll both be right there to make sure nothing happens to Winnie.”

Slowly, Natalie nodded, and they made their way back into the house. She wanted to cling to both Sven and Winnie, but she trusted Sven in this situation. If there was anything she’d learned in her time here, he was a good father. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

When they entered, Stacie was sitting on one of the tall chairs at the breakfast bar with her hands between her legs. She looked terrible. Natalie could see that she’d been crying, but it went beyond that. Her skin was almost gray, her hair thin, and the bags under her eyes were bad.

“Let’s go sit on the floor,” Sven said, holding tight to Winnie.

Stacie followed them in and sat on the floor.

“Hi, baby,” she said to Winnie, who looked at the woman but wouldn’t leave Sven’s lap.

Tears, once again, filled the woman’s eyes, and while Natalie would never understand how someone could leave their baby, she also knew about addiction and how that could change a person.

The woman picked up a toy and held it out. “Do you want the puppy?”

Winnie reached out and got it but still seemed to be evaluating the woman. Natalie sat on the couch and watched. She wasn’t sure what to do, but she wanted to be here for Sven and Winnie.

Winnie finally left Sven’s lap, crawled over to the basket on the floor, and played with toys.

“She’s changed so much,” said the woman, wiping a tear away. “Thank you for taking such good care of her. I’m so sorry.”

Winnie crawled over to the couch and beat on the cushions, babbling.

Sven just nodded at the woman, and they all sat, watching Winnie.

Before long, there was a knock at the door.

“I’ll be right back.” Sven got up to answer it.

When he came back, he was standing next to a tall man with a big round stomach and a bald head in an impeccable suit.

“We have some things to talk about. Do you want to take Winnie back to the pool house?” he said as she walked over and picked up Winnie.

“Yeah.” Natalie got off the couch, walked over to them, and took Winnie from him.

Before she walked away, he slid an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll be right out as soon as we finish up a few things.”

“Okay.”

She slid open the patio door and closed it behind her. The warm sun shone down on them as they crossed the yard to the pool house. What a cluster fuck.

After about an hour, Sven came out to the pool house, where Winnie and Natalie sat on the floor, playing with toys and watchingSesame Street.

“How’d it go?” Natalie asked as she stood and walked over to him.

He just held her for a long moment. She attempted to pull away to look to him, but his arms tightened around her. She stood there, allowing him to hold her, as long as he needed and hold him right back.

Finally, he kissed the top of her head and pulled back, rubbing her arms.

“I’m so sorry about today.” He walked and picked up a toy before he sat on the couch, holding out for Winnie.

“You have nothing to apologize for. Nothing that happened in there was your fault.”

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