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“Missed you”

Her words warmed my heart I pressed a kiss to her head “I missed you”

“Hot

“Is she all fed?”

“Yes, all fed Again”

I grinned Heather had a voracious appetite Constantly hungry and impatient when she was made to wait for her meal

“Okay, stay there I’ll be back”

She s her eyes drift shut

Heather snuggled close toto tuck her in quite yet She was a warht in my arms I rocked side to side in thehow she felt nestled tothe wild hair away from her forehead She had inheritedto drive her crazy

Once IGracie She was a light sleeper, and I knew there was a good chance once I tried toshort of one of our Daddy and Gracie raids on the ice cream tub would lull her back to sleep We would sit at the table, her on my lap, the ice cream tub in front of us, and I would feed her tiny reat event in her day, trying not to grin like an idiot the way her lisp made some words sound

“It wath tho funny, Daddy! I laugh and laugh!”

Luckily, she h the lifting, carrying, and re-tucking into her little princess bed Bending low, I kissed her curls,in my chest

Then I returned to the nursery With no children on top of her, Katy had curled into a ball and was sound asleep I tried not to laugh She probably wouldn’t re toI bent, slidingher to our bed Her side of the bed was straight and tidy She had obviously been sleeping on my side, the pillorinkled and bunched, the blankets thrown back She always slept there when I was gone She said it was the only way she could sleep when I ay My side of the bed, dressed in one ofmy pillow

I pulled back the blankets on her side and slid her in I left her sleeping, grabbed a long, hot shower, and got ready for bed, slipping in beside her In a second, she was nestled againsttossed over mine—my own personal starfish There was no doubt Gracie had inherited that from her