Page 48 of Secret Bratva Baby
I’m starting to worry that things will never change.
She brushes past me with her face turned down, not making eye contact. When I watch her from a distance, she looks sad and lost.
Lily, on the other hand, is oblivious to the tension and often runs up to hug me, wrapping her little arms around my leg and making me laugh.
I scoop her up, cradling her against my chest as she giggles, trying to hang upside down so that I can spin her around. I did this two days ago, and now she wants to do it a hundred times. It’s funny how the smallest things bring her the most joy.
She’s laughing loudly, carefree and full of life, letting her arms flop over her head as I spin her, dangling from my safe grip.
I’m laughing too, loving every moment of the attention she gives me.
From the corner of my eye, I see Rose, leaning against the doorframe a distance away, watching us play.
My heart flips, and I stop spinning Lily, pulling her back into my arms to sit normally.
“Do you want to build blocks?” I ask, gesturing towards the Legos spread out on the living room floor.
“Fairy house,” she says, wiggling free of my grip.
We’ve already built two Lego houses for the fairies and hidden them in the garden. At night, I sneak out to put a chocolate or a silver coin inside the little houses, and in the morning, I tell Lily that the fairies slept over and paid her to say thank you for the hotel. It’s something my grandmother used to do with me, except the houses were made out of sticks and clay we found in the river—and they weren’t for the fairies, they were for the frogs. My grandmother used to tell us stories about how the frogs were secretly our guardians and we should respect them.
Sitting on the floor next to Lily, I notice that Rose is still watching us.
I smile at her. “Come join us,” I say, gesturing for her to sit next to me.
She stands quietly, not moving, hesitating for a long moment before she nods and walks towards us. My heart flips nervously.
Rose settles down on the carpet, her eyes drifting over me. She doesn’t say much to me, but she starts helping us build the fairy house.
Lily chooses the colors and points to where we need to make the wall higher or add a window.
Soon, we are all so engrossed in the task that the tension between Rose and me seems to disappear completely.
I dare not push my luck, so I just go with the flow.
“Mommy must make a garden.”
“Okay, but aren’t we putting the whole house in the big garden outside?”
“Oh.” Lily presses her little finger against her lip, rethinking her request.
“I can make a bench over here.” Rose points to an open spot on the Lego board.
“Yes,” Lily agrees, the architect and project planner.
“Do you think the fairies will need a car?” I ask, running the wheels of a little racing car over the carpet.
Lily’s eyes brighten. “Oh yes, a red one.”
I scratch around in the toy box until I find the red one.
Lily gets focused on her task again, and Rose looks up at me. I can feel the heat of her eyes on me.
“You know, first thing every morning she asks me to take her outside to check the fairy houses.” Rose smiles sweetly. “Almost as soon as her eyes open, that’s what she thinks about.”
“She does seem to enjoy them,” I smile back.
There is a moment of comfortable silence between us as her eyes drift over my lips.
