Page 19 of Promises & Pumpkins
“Yes!” Maddie shrieked, answering loudly enough for all of us. She leapt off the first step and down to the sidewalk, dancing in circles around us while we walked. “Trick or treat, trick or treat, trick ortreat!”She dragged out the last word, singing the two words over and over while we walked. I snickered when she fixed her tiara again and skipped a few steps ahead of us.
“I really do like your costume,” I said quietly, wrapping my hand around Miles’ arm.
“Thank you, trouble. I like yours too.” He leaned in, bringing his lips close to my ear. “But I think you already knew I would when you picked it out.”
I shrugged. If only he knew how many costumes I had put back because he would’ve liked them too much. “At least I didn’t dress as the nurse.” I wiggled my brow, earning a low laugh in return.
“You’re bad,” he said.
I stepped closer to him, watching while Maddie ran up to the first house and hit the doorbell. “I guess you’ll have to call the cops.”
The crowd of people around us faded away when Miles put his arm around me, pulling me against him. From the front porch, Maddie held up a piece of candy and waved it before dropping it in her bag. “Say thank you,” Miles shouted, and I giggled.
“Are you going to make me say thank you later?” What was I saying? His eyes darkened, letting me know that I was venturing into dangerous territory.So much for behaving.
“I plan on getting you to say more than thank you.” When he spoke again, his voice changed completely. The gravelly tone that was there disappeared, and it was replaced with wholesome warmth. “What did you get?” he asked Maddie when she skipped up to us grinning.
She sucked in a deep breath and held out two fingers. “I gottwocandies!” Then she reached up and grabbed his free hand, tugging him behind her while she took off for the next house. “IloveHalloween!”
At the next house, Maddie let go of Miles and took my hand. “Will you come up with me for this one?" she pleaded. I shrugged, following her up the driveway.
“Do you think they’ll give me candy too?” I asked her. I felt Miles’ eyes following each step we took, and his laugh traveled with us when Maddie shrugged.
“Only if you say trick or treat,” she explained. Then she danced up to the door, ringing the bell and bouncing around while she waited for it to open. Once it was open barely a crack, she threw her hands in the air and squealed, “Trick or treat!”
An older woman beamed at Maddie. “Well look at you!” she said, holding a bowl in both hands. “I sure like your costume. Are you a princess?”
“I’m a princessdoctor,”she corrected, fixing her tiara again. It would be a miracle if it made it home with her.
“Oh, a princess doctor,” the woman said like she should’ve known. “That’s a great costume. Can princess doctors eat candy?”
Maddie nodded, holding her bag out in front of her. “They can have lot of it!” she said, earning a laugh from the woman with the candy bowl. She was cute, and she knew it—especially when it resulted in getting more than a couple pieces of candy. “Thank you!”
“She’s adorable,” the woman said to me when Maddie turned to run down the front porch, already eager to get to the next house. “Happy Halloween!”
“Happy Halloween,” I said, following Maddie to where Miles watched us expectantly from the end of the driveway.
The pattern continued for the next several houses. Maddie would dance up to the house, running back down the driveway when she had added candy to her bag. Each time she returned, the smile on her face got wider.
“This is so much fun! Can it be Halloween more often?” Maddie asked, standing between us with a grip on both of our hands. When Miles’ phone started to ring in his pocket, she gasped, then a wave of emotions crossed over her face, starting with surprise then anger and ending with sadness. “Oh no,” she whined, already rolling her lip in an obvious pout.
I followed her disappointment to Miles when he answered the phone. “Captain Hunter.” His voice was low and serious, different than I had heard it before—like it carried weight and responsibility behind it.
I strained to try and hear the muffled voice on the other line but couldn’t. Miles said everything with his guilt-ridden expression and the low harumphs and agreements he uttered. “You can’t handle it?” He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his finger and thumb. “Okay, okay. Yeah. I’m on my way.”
“No!” Maddie wailed when he hung up the phone before waiting to hear what he had to say. “Daddy, that’s not fair.” Large tears started to streak their way down her face. This time, when her tiara dipped to the side, she didn’t bother to fix it.
“I know, sweetheart,” Miles said, squatting down so he was at her level. He pulled the surgeon cap off his head and looked her in the eyes like he was going to be able to reason with her. “But you know how my job is. Sometimes I have to go help people.”
She sniffled, and my chest cracked. “Do you ha-ha-have to?” A sob wracked through her body, drawing attention from kids around us who carried on with their holiday celebration without any interruption. My stomach sank for every tear that dripped onto her costume.
“Yeah, I have to, and I’m going to take you over to Grandma’s.” He wiped away one of her tears, but they were quickly replaced with more. The look on his face was defeated. “Do you forgive me?” She scrunched her nose while she had an inner debate with herself.
“What if I stay with her?” I asked before I knew what I was saying. The sadness on Maddie’s face changed something in me.
Miles looked up over his shoulder. “What?” Maddie sniffled again, and her breath shook when she exhaled.
“What if I finish taking her around to the houses for you?” Maddie looked up at me with wide eyes and then looked to her dad for an answer.
