Page 48 of Sweet Home

“Yes,” Elizabeth said.

“Okay, let’s go get some toys,” Dulcie told her.

They headed back upstairs. Elizabeth had a wall of built-in shelves in her room that were filled with books and toys. Although there was nothing on the floor, the shelves weren’t very neat, and it took a little while to find all the toys that could be washed.

“Do you wish your shelves were organized?” Dulcie asked.

“What do you mean?” Elizabeth asked.

“Sometimes, it’s nice to know where all your books and toys are,” Dulcie told her. “Especially when you have as many beautiful things as you do.”

“How do we do that?” Elizabeth asked.

“First, we take everything down,” Dulcie told her. “Then we put it all back up again, but this time with all the toys together and the books together and the stuffed animals together.”

“Okay,” Elizabeth said. “I want to do that.”

“Right now, or after lunch?” Dulcie offered.

“Now,” Elizabeth said.

Dulcie watched her carefully start moving her things onto the floor.

“We need music for a job like this,” Dulcie decided.

“Music?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yes,” Dulcie told her. “I think we can also make this a dance party.”

Elizabeth let out a belly laugh, her head falling back with abandon.

Dulcie suddenly felt that maybe she was going to do her job well. And she wasn’t just thinking ofthe job West had given her, which was simply to keep Elizabeth safe and happy. She was thinking about the job she had given herself, which was to help the serious little girl let her hair down.

By late afternoonDulcie looked around the house with satisfaction.

They had danced, sung, and laughed the morning away in Elizabeth’s room, reorganizing her shelves. Then they realized that there was no time to give the toys a bath if they wanted to start the crock pot with chicken soup.

Dulcie offered Elizabeth a choice—she could bathe her toys and they could make soup tomorrow,orthey could make soup now, and bathe the toys another time.

To Dulcie’s surprise, Elizabeth had handled the decision thoughtfully and with no tears. She chose to make soup, and seemed to be immediately pleased with her decision.

And the day had unfolded happily from there. Now, the soup was almost done, a cake was in the oven, Elizabeth had taken her nap, and she was finally sitting on a towel on the kitchen floor, giving her little plastic toys a bath while Dulcie put away the ingredients from the cake.

When they heard the sound of the front door opening, Dulcie was honestly surprised.

“Daddy,”Elizabeth called out.

“I finished up early,” West said as he strode into the kitchen. “Hey, what smells so good?”

“We made soup,” Elizabeth told him. “And we made cake. And I took my nap. And my toys are having abath.”

“Wow,” West said. “Great job.”

Dulcie smiled and watched him get down on the floor with her.

“This guy isn’t clean yet,” Elizabeth said, picking up a small plastic horse and holding it out to him.

Dulcie held her breath. West was always kind to Elizabeth, but somehow Dulcie just couldn’t picture the big man giving a small plastic horse a bath.

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