Page 5 of Hearing Little Hadley

“Okay, let me get you pulled up. You can set your luggage there and Moses will come get it,” she said motioning to an area against the wall. “You can leave your keys with me and he’ll move your car as well.”

Once he’d given Erika his keys and his ID, he stroked Hadley’s hand with his thumb.

The small receptionist typed a minute before she looked up smiling, “I have you right here. One king room with an attached nursery.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Will you be going to preschool too?” Erika asked Hadley after checking her file.

“A few days.” Finn answered after she’d nodded her head.

“Awesome. You’re going to have so much fun and you’re visiting at the perfect time! Christmas is magical at Rawhide Ranch!” Erika encouraged. Hadley felt her tummy relax a bit at her calming words. She didn’t know why she was so nervous.

“Master Derek requested a meeting with you both after your arrival. Do you have time to do it now or would you rather get settled first?”

Hadley really hoped Finn would say he wanted to get settled before they met. She was really nervous and wanted to regroup a little bit. Plus they’d been on the road so many days, she just wanted to stretch her legs for a while.

“It was a bit of a drive for us today. Do you mind if we do it a bit later?”

“Of course. No problem. Here is your keycard. Please let us know if you need anything.”

“We will, thank you,” Finn answered.

“I can show them to their room,” a little brown-haired woman said as she skipped over to the desk. “Hi! My name is Sadie. My Daddy is Master Derek.”

“Well, hello.” Finn chuckled as Sadie gave a curtsey, her pigtails swaying with the movement. “This is Hadley and my name is Finn.”

“Sadie, you’ll be on your best behavior?” Erika questioned, looking nervous.

“I promise. I’m being extra good to make sure I stay on Santa’s nice list.”

Erika nodded. “Okay. Remember Master Derek put up Santa cams everywhere, so if you’re naughty, Santawillfind out before your Daddy does.”

“I got it,” Sadie said, nodding. Hadley thought Sadie looked very determined to stay on the nice list.

“You can follow me,” Sadie said as she walked ahead of Finn and Hadley. “I’m not really naughty. I just like pulling pranks occasionally. Well… maybe more than occasionally.”

Finn laughed at her words and for some reason it made Hadley upset. She didn’t think Sadie’s words had been that funny. Hadley felt… almost jealous. Probably because of how beautiful Sadie was.

“Do you like pranks?” she asked, looking back at Hadley.

Hadley shook her head. She didn’t like pranks. She liked to be a good girl.

“You don’t talk much,” Sadie pointed out. “That’s okay. Daddy says I talk enough for three Littles.”

“Hadley is non-verbal right now. She has cards to help her talk to you, though. They’re called Picture Support Cards.”

“Oh. That’s so cool!” Sadie said, stopping in the middle of the hallway and eyeing the ring of cards Hadley was holding.

“What’s your favorite color?”

Pink. Hadley answered, locating her color cards quickly.

“How old are you?”

Twenty-three.

Sadie giggled. “No, silly! Your Little age.”

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