Page 45 of Sweet Home

love you baby sister

hug yourself hard for me

14

DULCIE

Dulcie slipped out of bed before the sun came up on Monday morning, and turned off the alarm on her phone long before it would have gone off.

She had been up since four in the morning, her emotions bouncing her from excited about her day with Elizabeth, to sad about her moment with West, to angry and scared about her dad, and then back again, like a puppy pulling on a leash. She tried for a while, but hadn’t been able to drift back to sleep, so instead she decided to make the most of the early morning.

Elizabeth wouldn’t be awake for a bit, but Dulcie thought it would be great to be dressed and showered with a few activities ready to go when the little one got up.

The main thing was probably to make sure they started the day off just right. If she had a happy morning, Elizabeth would give Dulcie the benefit of the doubt later if she didn’t do things exactly the way Mrs. Webster did.But if Dulcie messed up the first few minutes… well, she couldn’t help imagining a miserable Elizabeth begging West not to go to work, and West turning to Dulcie with a stormy frown.

That’s not going to happen,Dulcie told herself firmly.West explained everything yesterday and even wrote it all down. Besides, Elizabeth is awesome, and we like a lot of the same things. We’re going to have so much fun together.

With that happy thought in mind, she got a quick shower, and then pulled on a nice pair of jeans and one of Elizabeth’s favorite sweaters from the Second Hand Rose haul. It was a beautiful red color in a soft, fuzzy material that Elizabeth said made Dulcie look like one of Santa’s elves.

But does it make me look pretty?

She shook her head and turned her back on the mirror. It didn’t matter if she looked pretty or not. She had definitely given West the impression that she wasn’t interested by jumping the minute her phone buzzed Saturday night.

And that was for the best, because he probably wasn’t really interested either. The tree lighting had been so beautiful, and Christmas brought up so many emotions. Maybe he’d just been lost in the moment.

Tiptoeing through the house made her feel like a child again, but in a good way—the way Elizabeth might feel slipping down the stairs on Christmas Eve to peek at what was under the tree.

She knew the house well enough now to skip the squeakiest step. As soon as she passed the landing, the sweet pine scent of the tree drifted up to her.

Tempted as she was to plug in the tree and curl up on the sofa to gaze at it for a while, she turned and headed back to the kitchen instead. Hopefully, she could get everything ready for both Elizabeth and West. If there was coffee and breakfast ready to go when they came down, then their morning would be just a little bit brighter.

She turned the radio on low and smiled when she heard the strains of “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” drifting through the empty kitchen. She had always liked that one, even though it seemed to always play in Christmas movies when something was about to go wrong. Hopefully, that wasn’t the case this morning.

She hummed along and even danced a little as she started the coffee and checked the cupboards for ingredients.

As she’d hoped, West had all she needed for blueberry muffins. There had been frozen berries in the freezer since the day she got here, and so far no one had used them. She didn’t think West would mind.

She had his apron on and was mixing the batter and fully singing along with Mariah Carey about all she wanted for Christmas when she heard West clear his throat from the doorway.

She stopped immediately and spun around, flinging a few drops of batter onto the floor as she did.

He watched her, a half-smile tugging up one corner of his mouth. Elizabeth stood beside him, still wearing her pajamas and a big smile.

“Uh, good morning,” Dulcie said, feeling a littleembarrassed.

“You were singing,” Elizabeth pointed out. “And dancing.”

“What’s in the bowl?” West asked.

“Blueberry muffins,” she told him, relieved for the change of subject. “I thought maybe Elizabeth would like to help me make them.”

“Yes,” Elizabeth said. But she had such a serious look on her little face, like Dulcie had asked her to volunteer to go into battle or something.

“They’re nice and easy, Lilibet,” Dulcie told her as she cleaned up the stray drop of batter with a paper towel. “It’s really fun to make them.”

“Okay,” Elizabeth said, scurrying over to join her.

“Coffee,” West murmured appreciatively, heading over to fix a cup. “Thank you.”

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