Page 29 of Daddy's Little Patient

Cricket sat up and smiled. “Yeah, but not together. But…maybe together?”

Her Daddy laughed. “You can try it, love bug. Just start out with a little in case you don’t like it.”

“Okay, Daddy. Let’s go!”

* * *

A few hours later, after lunch and Cricket had shown him where she’d put her things and he’d installed the second baby monitor camera, Owen set up the machine next to Cricket’s crib.

He wasn’t going to overwhelm Cricket with all the details, but it was called an APAP and would send pressurized air through a tube to a mask to make sure she didn’t stop breathing. There were a few different kinds of machines, but this one could adjust the pressure automatically while she was asleep.

He thought it was pretty cool, but his babygirl seemed less than impressed. Especially when he had her try the mask on.

It covered her mouth and snugged up right under her nose, and there were some adjustable straps that went around her head to keep it in place. She was not a fan.

“It’s weird and I’m ugly,” she pronounced.

Owen was pretty sure she was frowning, but it was hard to tell through the mask. Her words were muffled, but he could still hear the petulance in her voice. Well, she could have a bit of surliness if she wasn’t rude. This couldn’t be easy.

“You could never be ugly,” he reassured her.

“But this thing on my face is so yucky.”

“I understand if it’s unfamiliar and uncomfortable. It could take some getting used to. But it’s not yucky and it’s not ugly. Would you say that about someone’s glasses they needed because they didn’t have good eyesight?”

“If their glasses were ugly I would,” she sulked.

Owen had to swallow a laugh. It was true that not all glasses were equally flattering but Cricket should really have better manners than that. He used taking the mask off to cover up his chuckle and get his face in order. Yep, his babygirl was still pretty glum even though she was making jokes.

… Had it been a joke though?

“That would be rude, sweetheart, and I expect my babygirl to be more polite than that,” he told her pointedly.

“Yes, Daddy.”

“And I don’t like anyone saying mean things about my babygirl, even herself. But how about this? I’m sure we could find some decorative coverings to make the tube or the mask cuter. We’ll have to double-check that it won’t affect how the machine works, but as long as it’s safe, you can have anything you want.”

Cricket blinked at him. She looked dubious and Owen had to remind himself that it seemed as though her needs hadn’t been met a lot of the time and it wasn’t a reflection on him that she didn’t believe him. It would take time to earn her trust and that was fine, he was happy to put in the work. Cricket was worth it.

“Really?”

“Yes, really. And if we can’t find something you like, I’m sure we could get something custom made. Humans are endlessly creative. But if you’re worried I think it’s yucky, I don’t. I am a big huge fan of anything that helps my babygirl sleep well and be healthy. We could put googly eyes on it and name it if you want.”

“Daddy, you’re silly but okay.”

Chapter Fifteen

Last night he’d put Cricket’s mask on and tucked her in. Which his babygirl had not been excited about, but she hadn’t argued or cried about either.

She’d woken up fussing a few times overnight but it had been relatively easy to soothe her back to sleep. Mostly by reminding her that she was using her breathing machine, and cuddling, which both seemed perfectly reasonable. It had to be disconcerting to wake up and have something strapped to your face when you weren’t used to it. But hopefully the APAP would do the trick, and she’d become accustomed to it. If she didn’t, he’d figure something else out.

The eager feeling he got when he thought about going to get Cricket out of her crib was a treat at the same time it was torture. Owen looked forward to a lot of things, but there was something special about the anticipation of getting to baby Cricket again.

She was awake and laying down with her mask still on, holding Bandit to her chest. He was glad the machine didn’t interfere with her ability to hold her stuffie—he couldn’t imagine she’d tolerate that.

He lowered the side of the crib and had her sit up so he could take her mask off, and then shut down the machine. It would take a few times for him to work out the best way to put this on and take it off, but he thought they were doing okay.

“How’d you sleep, love bug?”

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