Page 77 of Arianna

Her laugh is infectious.

It also works miracles.

I don’t mind laughing when it is with her.

Ella grabs my face in both of her tiny hands. “Me tuh!”

Then she proceeds to smack little slobbery kisses all over my face. Turning me inside out. Twisting me in two.

My heart is in her tiny, tiny fist.

For the first time in years, I say a small prayer in my mind.

Begging whatever God there is, or forces of nature, to let me have this for life.

Forever.

Is that too much to ask?

Taking a deep breath and hugging my beautiful girl closer, I close my eyes. “Goodnight, my sweet girl.”

BASTIAN

“It’s a princess dress for the cutest princess in all the land.” A sultry, low whisper sounds from inside my daughter’s room.

Arianna Luna, what a mystery you are. So cold with me, but not with my child. So much love shines in her eyes whenever she stares at my Ellaiza.

She believes I don’t notice, but I do. All I do is notice her.

What am I going to do with you?

I am so fucked.

Completely besotted by a twenty-year-old with more walls around that beautiful heart than the ones in this home.

God help me. I am fucked.

BASTIAN

Midnights

“Every broken thing he touches

becomes whole again.” – A

“She managed to fight sleep and is waiting for you.” Banning says as he opens the door of my daughter’s room.

“The girl?” I ask.

“Went to bed about an hour ago.” Banning says with an idiotic grin on his face as he opens the door wider and steps aside.

I nod once and make my way inside my baby’s room, shutting it softly behind me. Taking a deep breath, one I have been holding since I left a meeting that ran late, I step inside the room. I walk towards my daughter, who is happily babbling while watching a princess ride a horse through the sea on the screen.

Her favorite Disney movie.

The one with the two sisters and the snowman.

Before, I never missed our nighttime routine, but lately, it has been hell juggling both my career and my fatherly duties. Ella comes first, always, but sometimes things happen, and I have no choice but to deal with them.

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