Page 105 of Totally Shipped
DAISY
Gray and Rex come back to the Airbnb with us.
“Meemaw insisted we don’t rush to hold a funeral for her. She said she wanted us to get our feet beneath the table again first. Typical—always thinking of others.”
I’m grateful for Meemaw’s thoughtfulness. Gray and Rex both look absolutely shattered, poor things.
We are all continuously tired. It’s being surrounded by noise and people and everything none of us are used to. It’s incredible how exhausting traffic noise is when you’ve not heard it in a year. Or how the smell of antiseptic is hard on the lining of your nose. And the floors of buildings make your feet ache after soft loam and sand.
In the master bedroom, I draw back the covers of the bed and crawled into the crisp sheets while Rex and Gray take turns showering. Thea is sleeping in a travel crib a few feet away.
I fall asleep before they get into bed either side of me. But when Thea’s little whimpers wake me a few hours later, I realize I’m sandwiched between them.
They have just been through so much, I’ve been absolutely longing to hold them both close. Feel their skin against mine, give them love. Be there through their mourning.
I feel Gray stir awake as I try to gently move around him.
“Daisy?”
“Shh, I’m just getting Thea, go back to sleep.”
“You need help?”
“Nope, just sleep, big guy. I love you.”
“I love you too, babe,” he mumbles.
Gray gives a snore and I settle into a large armchair while Thea eagerly latches on. As she feeds, I listen to the slumbering noises all around me. Gray, Rex, and I are in this room, but the door to the bedroom next door is open, and I guess Leander and Killian must have crashed out in there.
Amazingly, Thea falls back to sleep after only fifteen minutes of feeding; normally she’d keep going for at least half-an-hour. As I lay her down in the crib, I realized the sun was beginning to rise.
Today is the day we were going to go see my blood family.
The peace of my early morning is broken with thoughts of all the chaos and mayhem me and Brooke’s switch is going to create when the news broke. Already, our rescue had been in the headlines around the globe. No one has been able to keep track of any of the Mary-Mo survivors though—thankfully.
We’ve managed to keep in the wind.
I walk into the bathroom and look at myself in the mirror. A lot of conditioner and some scissors had got out the worst of my hair mats, but I still look very…wild. I set the shower running and told myself to forget about what I looked like. It just didn’t matter.
“Want some company? How are you doing?” Rex is standing in front of me, rubbing his eyes.
I put a hand onto his bare chest. “How areyoudoing?”
“I’m sad, but OK. I’m at peace with Meemaw’s passing, I think. I’m so grateful I got to see her.”
“I’m so glad for you too. The timing was miraculous.”
“You’re miraculous,” he tells me, arms going around my waist.
“Sweet talker,” I murmur, then reach my arms around his neck. “I’d love some company in the shower.” I move closer and press myself against him. The doctor had told me I’d healed nicely from birth, but should still wait a week or two before having penis-in-vagina sex.
When she said that it hadn’t been a problem, sex was the last thing on my mind. But apparently, my body and mind were changing. One minute ago, my breasts were just a milk-machine for my daughter, but in a personality switch, they have suddenly started tingling in a very different way. Rex must be able to feel my hardened nipples through my thin tee shirt.
“Hmm, are you alright, Daisy?”
“Don’t I feel alright?” I ask.
“You feel beautiful, and sexy as hell, and I apologize for the boner that is throbbing against your belly.”
