Page 159 of Pucking Strong

“Did you have fun today, min lilla mermaid?” I tuck Karro into bed with her stuffed animals, and she nods, her eyes bleary with fatigue.

Henrik and I washed the rainbow tiger stripes from our faces as soon as we got home, but Karro cried when Henrik told her she had to wash off her glittery unicorn. With a gentle nudge from me, he relented. Our new deal is that Karro can wear her face paint to bed tonight, and we’ll wash it off in the morning. Also in the morning, she has to eat two eggs and take her vitamins without complaining. It feels like an even trade.

“Are you leaving?” she murmurs.

“I don’t have to. I can sit right here while you fall asleep. Want me to sing ‘Part of Your World’ again?”

Her mouth turns down into that little pout I’ve come to love so much. She reaches for Teddy the Bear, wrapping her casted arm around him. “They said you’re leaving.”

I’m distracted, fluffing her pillows. “Who said what, honey?”

“A mommy. At the apples. She said you’re leaving.”

I go still. We stopped by a caramel apple booth just before we left the event tonight. The kiddos could all dip and decorate their apples with different fixings. The two that Karolina and Henrik made are sitting on the kitchen island. “Honey, who said that? Can you remember what she looked like?”

Karro shakes her head. “I don’t want you to go.”

I drop down on my elbow. “Oh, honey, no. I don’t know why that mommy said that, but it’s not true, okay?”

Tears well in her eyes. “You won’t leave?”

My protective instincts flare. Some of the other WAGs were definitely milling around with their kids. I swear to fuck, if I find out who was talking about us like that in front of my little girl, I’m gonna sling her around by her goddamn hair. Swallowing my anger, I focus on Karro. “Honey, look at me.”

She glances up, her bottom lip still quivering.

“I will never leave you. Not ever. You and me? We’re friends for life, right?”

Slowly, she nods.

Bending down, I kiss her brow, avoiding the unicorn paint. Then the words spill forth, like I’ve been dying to say them all my life. “Oh, honey, I love you.”

Her eyes brighten as she smiles up at me. “You do?”

“Of course I do. Can you teach me in Swedish? I want you to know in both languages. Say ‘I love you.’”

“Jag älskar dig.”

“Jag älskar dig,” I repeat. “Karolina, you’re my best little friend, and I love you. I want to always be in your life.”

She squeezes her bear. “And Morbror?”

“He loves you too, honey. So much.”

But she shakes her head. “You won’t leave him?”

Fuck. How did I ever think this could go any other way? There’s no faking a marriage when a child is involved. There is no temporary. There’s no “just helping out a friend.” Henrik may have first caught my attention, but Karolina reeled me in. The two of them have me bound. I’m in this now, to whatever end. I take her hand in mine, giving it a kiss. “When I married your morbror, I made him a vow. I’ll not break it. I’m here for as long as you both want me to stay. Is that okay?”

Sighing, she settles back against her pillows, a frown still on her face.

I brush the wisps of blonde hair off her brow. “What’s wrong, honey?”

“Mamma said I could be flower girl.”

“What?”

“At Morbror’s wedding.” She looks down at her bear. “I would be flower girl, Mamma said.”

I glance to the framed picture sitting on her nightstand. It’s a picture of Petra with her arms around Karro. Both are laughing, smiling at the camera, as Karro holds up a bunch of freshly picked flowers.

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