“Uh huh. Part your legs, please.”

She pushed her legs apart as he dried between them.

“What are we going to do now that you forcibly extracted me from the bath against my express wishes?”

“I thought we might play with the Lego.”

“Play! Yay!” She clapped her hands together and bounced up and down. “I like playing.”

“Let’s get you dressed and put something on that knee then you can find something to play with.”

“Okay, let’s go!” She grabbed his hand as he stood and tried to drag him to the door. Her foot slid on some water on the floor, though, and she would have fallen over had he not held her up.

“Thanks, Dada! You know you really shouldn’t get water all over the bathroom floor. Someone could slip and hurt themselves.”

“I’ll endeavour to be more careful in the future,” he said dryly.

“You do that. Or you’ll be in big trouble, Little one.”

“Oh, I don’t think so.” He turned her, grasping hold of her chin. “You’re the only little one around here.”

She grinned. “And that’s the way I like it.”

“There’s no way we could handle more than one of you.”

“I feel like there’s an insult in there, but I also feel it’s true. The three of you are getting on in years, after all. It seems that you just can’t keep up with us younger folk anymore.”

“I’m only thirty,” he protested.

“Hmm, well, maybe the other two. Although don’t tell them I said that,” she added hastily.

“Why? Are you worried they’ll spank you for your sassiness?”

Her eyes widened. “No! They would never spank me. Tamsy is a good girl.”

“Good to know. But perhaps you should worry about what I might do to you.”

“You?” She swallowed nervously as he led her out into the playroom. “You wouldn’t spank me.”

“Not spank you, no.”

She gasped in horror. “Would you tell on me to Daddy and Papa? That’s just mean.”

“I don’t need to tell on you to punish you.” He led her to the changing unit.

She swallowed as she stared at it. It had just arrived a few days ago and no one had used it with her yet.

And while she wanted to use it . . . she also felt a bit nervous.

“Punish me?”

“Hmm. I might not want to spank you or make you cry. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t put you in timeout or have you write lines.”

“Dada! No! I hate lines and timeout.”

“That’s why they’re a punishment. Now, I need to go and choose your outfit but first let’s get you in these.” He picked upthe bloomers he’d been holding earlier. “Oh, I should have asked before. Do you need to go potty?”

“Ahh, no, I went in the bath.”