Page 48 of Hearing Little Hadley

“What color are we making your star, Peeps?”

Hadley pointed to the green icing and handed him the knife.

“Do you want to try?”

She shook her head. Finn understood. She really didn’t like to be sticky and she was already doing so many new things, getting icing on her skin might be something that caused her to go into sensory overload.

“Okay, Peeps.” He smeared the green icing on the cookie. “Do you want any red on it?”

Hadley pointed at the tips of the star.

“Oh, we’re making a fancy star?”

She nodded. Finn took a minute just to observe how free and innocent she looked with the twinkling lights in the background. The light gave her a bit of a halo and she looked every bit of the Christmas angel she was.

Her brow furrowed and she put her hand over his, spurring him to put the icing on her cookie.

Laughing, he complied. “Sorry, Peeps. I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have you, baby. I love you.”

Three taps to his chest brought another smile to his face.

“You’re my best girl,” he said, holding out the cookie. “You did such a great job.”

Her face lit up but instead of taking it, she clapped. Finn was so damn thankful when she didn’t get embarrassed about it. She was making so much progress.

Thank you.

“You’re welcome, baby. We might need to eat it quickly so we can get to the stables for duty.”

She nodded before opening her mouth. Throwing his head back, big guffaws of laughter bellowed out of him. He broke the cookie into pieces before feeling them to her so she didn’t get any icing on her. He knew in reality, he’d decorated a cookie instead of her, but he’d do anything to keep that smile on her face.

Finn held Hadley’s gloved hand as they walked out to the stables. “If you get too warm, you can take your gloves and jacket off in the stables, but if your group comes outside at all, I want you to put them back on. It’s very cold.” Finn was thankful the stables were heated.

Hadley nodded.

“I’ll be on coat and glove duty, so you can just hand them to me,” Leo, Mindy’s Daddy, said.

“Thank you so much, and thanks again for staying with them. I know it made Hadley feel better.”

Hadley nodded in agreement.

“No problem. I’m excited to meet the world famous Rudolph!”

“Me too! I bet his nose is so bright it lights up the whole Ranch!” Mindy added.

Hadley moved her arms around in a certain shape.

“Hadley agrees. She thinks it will light up the whole state of Montana!” Finn filled in.

Hadley’s curls bounced as she agreed.

“The whole state?” Mindy squealed.

“The whole state,” Finn confirmed, causing big smiles to break out on their faces.

He walked Hadley into the heated stables and gave her a kiss on the forehead and then the mouth. “I love you, I’ll be back soon.”

She gave him a big squeeze before he headed off to find Master Travis.

---