Page 59 of Endlessly Yours
“Sorry. Bad dream.”
She frowned, but I didn’t say anything. Instead, I leaned forward and kissed her forehead, running my hand over her braid that she slept in.
“I’m going to go splash water over my face,” I whispered.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked as she sat up next to me.
I shook my head. “No, I’ll be okay.”
Hurt slid over her face, and I understood it. But I wasn’t about to tell her that I had pictured her in Amara’s place, dying in my arms. There was no need to dive deeper into that.
Instead of heading to her bathroom to wash my face, I padded down the hallway so I could go to the kitchen and get some water. I wore sleep pants and a T-shirt, considering I was sleeping at her house. We had been doing this for a couple of weeks now, and the girls hadn’t minded. In fact, they hadn’t said anything. I didn’t know when that was going to change, but for now, we were making it work.
This relationship.
A sound hit my ears, and I paused outside of Alice’s room.
“Momma!”
I cursed under my breath and slid into Alice’s room as she twisted in the sheets, tears running down her cheeks even as her eyes squeezed shut.
I sat down at the edge of the bed and turned on the lamp on the nightstand table.
“It’s okay. Wake up, Alice. It’s just a dream. A nightmare.”
Alice shot up from bed and threw her little shaking body around me, sobbing into my shoulder.
“I miss my mommy,” she muttered into me, and I let out a shuddering breath, just running my hand up and down her back.
“I know you do, baby. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t go. Don’t go like Mommy and Daddy.”
I just held her, not making any promises. I didn’t know if Rory and I were going too fast, or slow as molasses, but if I walked away because I kept having dreams that I was losing Rory just like I lost Amara, I wasn’t only going to hurt the woman I was trying not to fall for. I was going to hurt this little girl and the almost teenager standing in the doorway, arms folded over her chest.
“Alice had a nightmare.”
“I can handle it,” Cameron said as she lifted her chin.
“But you don’t have to,” Rory whispered.
Cameron just shook her head and slid past her back to her room.
Rory met my gaze, sighing.
I wasn’t sure how to get through to Cameron. I knew that she had to be hurting, but every time she lashed out at Rory, it hurt her. Hell, it hurt both of them. But Rory continued to take it, and that’s why I had a feeling Cameron kept doing it. Because Rory wasn’t going to leave, no matter how many times Cameron lashed out.
Eventually, Rory and I got Alice back to bed, and instead of heading for water or anything in the kitchen so I could get away for a moment, I followed Rory back to bed, and without a word, we fell back asleep, thankfully, dreamless.
The next day, instead of taking my day off or the girls spending time outside with their friends, we were all at a wedding.
There was a major wedding taking place on the property later tonight, and a few of the crew were sick, and that meant all hands on deck to finish prep.
As the wedding planner, Alexis was in twenty places at once, giving orders like a drill sergeant, and we did whatever she needed.
There were hay bales to be moved in one area and seating moved to another. Kendall and her team were in charge of catering, and I wasn’t quite sure how Kendall could do eight jobs at once, but hell, I did the same.
Even Bethany, my cousin-in-law who happened to be an Academy Award-winning actress, had her hair pulled back, a ball cap on her head to hide her face slightly, and was standing up on a ladder and working on fairy lights that had come down in the winds overnight.
