Page 98 of Play With Me

“I missed you too, Sophie. I missed you so much.”

She held on for a few more seconds before letting go. When I looked in her eyes and saw all the questions there, I feared that I might have come too late. “Sophie, what’s wrong?”

“Are you still mad at Daddy?”

“Mad? No, honey. I’m not mad at him.”

“Then are you mad at me?”

“And why would I be mad at you?” I took Sophie’s hand and led her over to a window seat, where we made ourselves comfortable. “Sophie, I love you with all my heart, and I’m sorry that I haven’t called, but what your Daddy did—”

“It was my idea.”

I chuckled and tapped her nose. “And that’s one of the million reasons why I love you and your daddy. You’re both loyal to a fault.”

“I don’t know what that means, but it sounds good. They say when things sound too good to be true they usually are, but this time it’s different.”

She was right. This timewasdifferent, and I wanted Sophie to know that.

“So you’re here to stay? You’re here to get back with Daddy?” Her eyes grew wide.

“No, honey—”

“Because I have a wish coming up on my birthday, and I can save it for you. You could wish for whatever you wanted. You could wish for everything to be okay.”

“You’d give me your wish?”

She nodded.

“Thank you, Sophie. That means a lot to me. But I’d love it if you kept that wish for yourself, and I promise you that everything will be okay with me and your Daddy.”

“But how do you know?”

“I just know. You have to believe me.”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you. I just…” She slouched and sighed as if feeling the weight of the world. “It’s so hard as a kid, you know. Nobody wants to tell you anything, and then you have to wonder if you matter at all.”

I shook my head. Brook would have been proud if he saw how well she could manipulate. “All right, Sophie. I’m going to tell you something that proves to you that your father and I are going to be just fine.”

“Are you sure? You’re not just telling me what I want to hear, are you?”

“No, Sophie. This is big, and I need you to keep this secret to yourself for a few good weeks, until I’m ready.”

“I don’t know, Lola. I think I learned my lesson about keeping secrets and not being honest.”

“This is different, Sophie. It’s a good secret, and it’s not a lie.”

She rubbed her hands together with delight. “Oh, this must be big. I won’t tell – cross my heart.” She drew her finger diagonally over her chest then held her hand up like a scout.

I leaned into her ear, whispering, “You’re going to have a little sister or brother.”

She pulled away, eyes and mouth wide open. It felt like a long while that she stood there, staring at me, until she finally breathed out.

“I didn’t even think to wish for that.”

“Does that mean you’re happy?”

“Happy? Lola, it’s… it’s a wish I didn’t know I would ever have, and it came true all on its own. How in the world am I going to keep this a secret?”

---