Page 51 of The Dark Elf's Surprise Baby

“Oh,” she nods solemnly. “But you’re okay with it?”

“More than okay, baby,” I tell her. “You do magic any time you like here. Mama will understand.”

“Yay!” she giggles and lets me put her stocking on finally. I’m so proud of my amazing daughter. I feel full to bursting with pride.

She really is just like me in so many ways. We finish getting her dressed and cleaned up and head down to find that Harper is waiting for us.

“I thought maybe we could all go to the park?” she suggests, her fingers twisting together.

“Of course!” I say quickly. “Addie wanted to go to the park anyway. Let’s all go and make a day of it. We can take a picnic.

We head out and spend the day at the park, the two of us watching Addie run around and chase all manner of animals and watch the other children race boats in the pond...I promise Addie to get her her own boat she can play with soon.

By the time we get back, Addie is so exhausted that I have to carry her inside. We take her up to her bed and I lay her down and tuck her in. She’s out like a light.

“She’s played too much,” Harper grins. “She probably won’t even wake up for dinner.”

“Well then we’ll just have to have dinner by ourselves then, right?” I ask, offering her my arm. Harper takes it with a soft smile. She seems to be warming up to me.

The cook has already prepared a meal for us and we enter the dining room, taking our seats opposite each other. Addie is still asleep and it’s just me and Harper for the first time.

“So, besides learning to cook, how have you been, Demethys?” she asks.

I stare into my glass of wine and swirl it around. “It’s been lonely,” I tell her honestly. “I almost quit my job but I took a promotion instead. I’m a Captain now.”

“I heard,” Harper nods and takes a drink of her own wine. “Congratulations.”

“It means I get to spend more time at home,” I tell her. “I’m no longer one of the men that they send out all the time into the field.”

“Oh,” Harper looks surprised by that. “How often do you go out?”

“Once a year, for a week,” I tell her. Something in her seems to perk up at that and she smiles into her goblet, but I can see it.

“I see,” she says. “And do you like being home?”

“I do,” I tell her. “I hated leaving, even before I met you.”

“So you’re home all the time then,” she states. I smile and nod.

“All the time. More time for doing important things...” I say suggestively.

The tension is mounting between us, I can feel it in the air.

“Important things...like what?”

“Like spending time with someone special. And showing them just how much they were missed. And showing them how sorry I am that I ever let them slip through my fingers...”

“Demethys,” Harper breathes out, staring deeply into my eyes, the two of us unable to tear our gazes from each other.“Take me upstairs.” The air crackles around us with the climax of our rising tension.

I’m eager to oblige, all but knocking my silverware to the floor in my haste to rise from my chair. I scoop Harper up in my arms and carry her up the stairs straight to my bedroom.

I want this. Harper wants this. There’s no going back now.

24

HARPER

This past week has been amazing. Demethys really has changed. Even though he made a mistake the night we reunited, it's clear that was a one-time thing, an emotional meltdown from years of misery over thinking I left him.

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