Page 40 of Hearing Little Hadley

Hadley pointed to where Eloise lay curled on the mat. She tiptoed over, trying not to make too much noise and trying very hard not to flap.

Eloise looked up when Hadley approached. She quickly wiped her face and spit out her pacifier. Hadley held out the picture and the other little took it.

“You made this for me?”

Hadley nodded.

“Why?”

Hadley flipped through her cards.Sad.

“Cause I was sad?”

Hadley nodded again.

“That’s really nice. Thank you,” Eloise said, sitting up on the beanbag. “My name is Eloise.”

Hadley. Nonverbal.

“It’s nice to meet you, Hadley. Are you visiting for Christmas?”

Hadley nodded.

“How many days have you been here?”

Hadley counted before holding up eight fingers.

“Oh. I was on vacation with my Daddies. Today is my first day back.” Eloise wiped at some new tears on her face.

Hadley patted her leg. She hated her new friend was so upset.

“Girls, would you like to read one of our new Christmas books together?” Miss Phoebe asked, walking over and holding out some new books.

“Yes, please,” Eloise said, picking two from the stack.

“Do you like to read?”

Hadley nodded.

“Have you ever read this one?” Eloise asked, holding up a book with a blue truck on it.

Hadley shook her head.

“I’ll read it to you,” she said. “This is one of our favorites at home.”

Hadley smiled. She wasn’t sure if Eloise reading a book to her meant she’d made another friend, but she thought maybe it was a good sign.

Chapter Fifteen

Finn smiled at the picture on his phone. His Little girl was curled up on a beanbag with another Little one. It looked like the Little girl was reading to Hadley. He read the message at the bottom from Nanny J detailing how Hadley had been sweet to a friend who was upset today.

His heart swelled with pride. He was so proud of her. Noelle had broken a really special part of his baby and he hadn’t been sure that the Ranch was going to help that. He couldn’t imagine how exhausting it was to be in Hadley’s position. Having to weigh everything you said, overexplaining yourself so you didn’t come across as rude or inconsiderate, having to read body language to gauge a social situation, and feeling things so deeply some days it hurt to physically exist. He was amazed she had the strength to keep searching for friendship when people like Noelle had broken her spirit. He was so fucking proud of her and wished he even had an ounce of the hope that burned inside her, hope brighter than all the Christmas lights meticulously placed around the Ranch.

“Hello, Master Finn,” Erika said, walking up to him.

“Hello, any chance it came today?” he asked. He felt bad because he’d called the front at least once a day, seeing if hispackage had arrived yet. He’d ordered it from Porter’s Corner which was only about ten miles away, but it seemed to be maybe the shop owner was walking it here at this rate.

“The post won’t come until 3 pm, but I asked Master Derek to call the shop and see if he could get them to move a bit faster. They promised him it would be here today. We don’t usually throw his name around like that, but wereallywanted that special delivery to make it in time for Christmas.”

---