Page 76 of Stolen Kiss

It would just be the three of us in this house, and that sounded like the perfect little piece of heaven.

“Want to help Elodie pick out her big kid’s bed with me?” I asked.

I knew by the spark of excitement in Emilia’s eyes that she wasn’t ready to say goodbye, either.

She schooled her features and I bit my lip to hold in the smile I could feel threatening to show. “Aren’t you tired of me already?” she asked.

I grabbed her hand, my thumb moving over the back of it before I looked up. “What do you think?”

* * *

Elodie pickedthe bed with the pink headboard and footer.

She was pretty excited about it, too, but it seemed she was much more excited that Emilia was there to help her pick it out.

Everything I had read on making the transfer from crib to bed told me I needed to create as big of a fuss about this as I could to get Elodie excited about it so she wouldn’t miss her crib later.

I told Emilia this, and she gave me a strange look.

“What?” I asked.

She shook her head, smiling a little. “Nothing. I just think it’s cute you did research on it.”

I looked away from her, feeling my face getting warm. “I didn’t realize how terrifying it was to take care of another human being until the night I was left alone with Elodie for the first time. She was so tiny and depended on me for everything, and I guess I’m just scared I might mess up one of these days, and she would be the one to pay the price for it.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment. I turned toward her. I didn’t know what that look in her eyes meant.

“You know,” she began, her voice soft. “Evelyn said something similar to me.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded. “Yeah. It truly amazes me how good parents always doubt themselves, always afraid they’re doing something wrong, while parents who should be doubtful of their actions, parents who shouldn’t have been parents in the first place, are always so sure of themselves, to the point of arrogance.”

She pointed to Elodie, who was now giggling with Mr. Fluffy, the stuffed unicorn she brought almost everywhere. “Look at her, Jensen. She’s happy. She feels secure in your love for her, and that makes her confident. She knows you would always be there to catch her if she falls.”

Emilia moved closer to me, wrapping her arms around my waist. I held still. This was the first time she initiated physical contact with me. My arms stayed by my sides at first, before, carefully, I wrapped them around her body.

She buried her face in my chest.

“You’re a good father.”

I tilted my head down and took her in.

She kissed the center of my chest, and I felt my heart skip a beat from such an innocent action.

She let go of me, shooting me a bashful smile before making her way over to Elodie.

She said something that made Elodie go wild with laughter, before Elodie placed Mr. Fluffy in Emilia’s hands, and sat in Emilia’s lap.

Emilia wrapped her arms around Elodie, saying something to her.

And not for the first time since I found out, I became doubtful that I was doing the right thing.

Both by Elodie and by Emilia.

Perhaps I’d been too arrogant in my actions and decisions. Thinking I could make her fall in love with me before I told her the truth.Fall in love with Elodie.

Because no matter how I looked at it, I knew now that my desire to make her mine had blinded me.

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