Page 48 of The Light to My Darkness (The Light to My Darkness 1)

I opened up the door anyway. Scarlett was lying in the middle of her floor with her face buried in the carpet.

"Hey," I said and slowly sat down cross-legged beside her. "Can you please look at me?" I gently ran my fingers through her curly hair.

"No," she mumbled into the floor.

"Okay." I lay down beside her and just stared at her in silence for a few minutes until she finally turned her head toward me.

"Mommy, it's not fair. The stork is going to take the baby. And then the snake is going to take you. And I'll only have Daddy. And Daddy will be too sad to be a good daddy when you're gone."

For just a second, I was too stunned to say anything. "Scar, what are you talking about? There are no evil snakes, it was just a movie. I'm not going anywhere."

She scrunched her eyes closed. "We need you, Mommy. It's not fair."

"Baby girl, I'm not going anywhere. That movie wasn't real. It's just made up. There are no evil snakes."

"No, Mommy." She scooted forward and wrapped her arms around me. "He was already here."

Her words sent a chill down my spine. What was she talking about? "Scarlett, who's here?"

"The snake! Mommy, I don't even want a baby sister. No one asked me. I never wanted one. I just wanted you." She was crying again. I could feel her tears soaking through my shirt.

"You have me," I said and ran my fingers through her hair again. "I promise I'm not going anywhere." I held her tight as she cried. We really shouldn't have let her watch Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. First the stork story and then the movie that was giving her nightmares. Were we awful parents?

She lifted her tear stained face to mine. "You promise?"

I swallowed hard. "I promise I'm not going anywhere." I didn't want to lie to her. But she believed in Santa Claus. She believed in the Easter Bunny. What would another white lie hurt? The logic was sound, but for some reason I felt an ache in my chest. She might lose me before she finds out that Santa isn't real. That there is no Easter Bunny. Would she resent me forever if I broke that promise? "I promise," I said again. God, I was an awful parent.

She sniffled through her nose. "Am I in trouble?"

"No." I kissed her forehead. "But you need to promise me you won't leave the house without a grown-up. And when you don't get what you want, you need to talk to us instead of screaming at the top of your lungs." I tried to give her a stern look, but it just made her smile.

"I promise."

I found a little solace in the fact that she would most likely not keep either of those promises either. Maybe she did get the lying thing from me. "Now, we're going to go finish catching fake butterflies and then have another slumber party. But this time you'll be having one with Soph and Axel." I sat up and pulled her into my lap.

She scrunched her mouth to the side, like she was thinking. "With my best friends?"

"That's right."

"Axel isn't one of my best friends. My best friends are you, Daddy, and Sophie."

"Scar." I frowned. Where had all this sass come from? "Why would you say that? You and Axel get along so well. Did something happen?"

"No, Mommy, he's my boyfriend. That's different. You can't be best friends with your boyfriend."

Oh my God. I couldn't help but smile. "Actually, you can be. Daddy's my best friend too."

"Really?"

"Mhm."

"What about Aunt Melissa? And Aunt Bee? And Aunt..."

"You can have more than one best friend. You just named a few yourself."

"Okay. Then Axel is my best friend and my boyfriend." She nodded her head like she was completely convinced of Axel's new title.

As we wandered out of her room, her little hand in mine, I really hoped that we could both keep our promises. I wanted her to stay safe. And I wanted to be there to witness it.

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