Page 61 of Paper Flowers (Stonebrook #1)

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

DAYNA

Opening our bedroom door, I quickly pad down the hallway, I reach her room as the whimpers turn into wails.

I push her door open and the light from the hallway spills into her bedroom and slices through her bed.

Lighting her fully flushed face as she’s sitting upright, tears streaking down her face.

Her hair is tousled, and she reaches out to me with grabby hands.

“Oh Sweet Girl, what’s wrong?” I whisper as I gently tug her free from her comforter.

Her tiny body trembles, curling into mine, like she’s trying to disappear inside me.

Her forehead is too warm— too much heat for someone so small.

The damp strands of her hair stick to her skin, her breath coming out in shallow hiccups against my throat.

I press the back of my hand to her forehead, she’s burning up.

Walking back to our room, seeing Luke has shifted in his sleep, his body closer to my side. I walk over to him and cautiously wake him.

“Luke, Baby, wake up.”

Sadie lifts her head “Daddy…” She says with agony as her voice cracks.

Luke opens his eyes and squints.

“Sadie? His voice thick with sleep, but the moment her tiny voice cracks, he’s fully awake.

His hands fumble for his eye glasses on the nightstand, he shoves them onto his face.

He’s up before he can think, rounding the bed, eyes scanning her fever-flushed face like he can somehow fix it by just looking.

His palm ghosts over her back, gentle, but urgent.

“I—I feel sickie.” Her voice hoarse as she hiccups from crying, grabbing her throat.

“I woke up and heard her crying. I think she’s running a fever. But I need to check her temperature to be sure.” Luke rushes to our bathroom, I hear him rummaging through the drawers. I press my lips to Sadie’s temple, whispering, “Shh…we’ve got you, Sweet Girl.”

He rushes back with a white and blue forehead thermometer in his hand.

His ocean blue eyes meet mine for just a second— just long enough for me to see the worry behind his glasses, the silent plea of “Is she okay,” The thermometer beeps, the screen flashing green as it powers on.

Luke brushes her curly hair to the side as he lifts it and presses it to her temple, his hands steady— but his breath isn’t.

The longest three seconds of my life pass before it blinks again, red this time. 101.9 degrees Fahrenheit.

Luke takes it again to get a second reading, and it’s the same outcome.

“I’m gonna run downstairs to the kitchen and get her medicine, we need to lower her fever.

” His fingertips graze my shoulder as he slips by.

Looking down in my arms, I see Sadie’s hazel eyes track him as he walks out of the bedroom.

She tightens her grips around my shoulders, as she begins to whimper again.

I run my fingers through the tips of her curly hair, trying to soothe her .

“Do you want to snuggle here with me and Daddy or do you want to snuggle in your room?” I ask her, swaying side to side.

“Here.” She croaks out, grabbing her throat.

“Alright, Sweet Girl, let’s snuggle.”

I set her down on the foot of our bed and moved our pillows to make room for Sadie.

Then she climbs over the tossed blankets and gets situated in the middle.

I sit next to her, fixing the surrounding blanket.

Luke returns with her medicine, her water tumbler, and a damp kitchen towel.

He has the medicine in a little yellow syringe.

“Here you go Sadie Girl, this should make you feel better, princess.” The bed shifts as Luke sits down, he dabs her forehead with the damp kitchen towel.

“No,” She shakes her head. “I want Trixie with me too.” She looks to Luke and then to me.

I nod at Luke, “I’ll get it for you, I’ll be right back.

” I say as I move towards her bedroom. I turn on her light and spot Trixie the pink Triceratops next to her pillow, I grab the stuffy and her cozy throw blanket that’s cool enough for her fever and head back.

“Someone ask for a Miss Trixie Beckett?” I say lightly, handing it to Sadie. “Can she go first?”

“Sweetheart, I know you’re scared but I promise, you’ll feel better when you take this but I’ll give Trixie some first.” Luke says as she cradles her stuffed Triceratops in her arms.

“It’s okay, Trixie, you’ll be okay. we got you” Sadie says with barely a voice.

She’s mimicking what we just told her to her stuffy.

It’s gutting me that she’s sick. She’s so tiny and can’t express how she truly feels to me and Luke.

Yet, she reached for me first. Not her father.

Me. That realization settles in my chest, a quiet ache that’s equal parts overwhelming and impossible to ignore.

She trusts me. She needs me. For the first time, I let myself believe that maybe, just maybe, I’m hers too.

Luke pretends to give Trixie her medicine and Sadie kisses her stuffy, “Okay, Daddy, it’s my turn.

” She says. Luke rolls the yellow syringe between his fingers, his grip just a little too tight, his jaw clenched.

It’s a fever, but the helplessness settles over him, anyway.

If he could take it from her, he would. We both would in a heartbeat.

Instead, what he can do for her is give her this medicine and hope the fever goes down.

He raises the yellow syringe to her lips and Sadie doesn’t hesitate as she makes an aching face and swallows it down.

A sigh of slight relief from Luke breaks through the silence.

“Yuck— that didn’t taste yummy, no way.”

“I know, Sadie Girl but you did it. Why don’t you take a sip of water and let’s get you tucked in.” Luke says as he hands her the water tumbler, brushing a hand through her hair before standing up. He heads downstairs to wash the yellow syringe.

Sadie is burrowing herself further into the bed. I drape her cozy throw blanket over her tiny frame and tuck her in. Pressing a kiss on her flushed cheek. “I’ll be right back, Sweet Girl.” Clutching onto Trixie like a lifeline, she closes her eyes and drifts off to sleep.

Walking downstairs, I see Luke in a gray shirt, with his pajama bottoms slung low around his hips, his hair tousled from sleep, standing at the kitchen island. He’s leaning against the cool marble top, his phone in his hands, thumbs moving fast. His jaw is tight- razor-sharp as he scrolls.

I pull out the barstool. The drag against the hardwood floor makes his eyes flick up.

“How is she?”

I exhale as I sit. “She’s resting, I wanted to check in on you.

” Luke sighs, placing his phone down on the counter as if it betrayed him.

“Honestly? I’m worried about her.” He scrubs a hand down the side of his face, scratching lightly at his beard.

“She’s only been sick like this once— and that was a double ear infection.

She was two.” His voice tightens at the memory.

I glance down at the phone, still open to his work email. “What are you doing?”

“Looking through my work email for the sub hotline but I couldn’t find it. I had set up my substitute with Mrs. Emily when I needed it but it’s too early to call her.”

His fingers tap anxiously against the marble. “I need to call in today.”

“I have it.” I say–simple and sure. He doesn’t register right away. “But I’ll stay with her, you have your class field trip today.”

Luke’s brows knit immediately. “I can’t ask you to do that, Dayna.”

I hold his gaze, unwavering, “You’re not. I’m telling you.”

His lips part like he wants to argue, but I cut him off.

“Luke— listen to me. We’re a family, right?”

He pushes his eye glasses up with his middle finger and rests his hand over mine.

“Of course we are, Love. But you have a whole school to help run.” His voice is calm, but I can hear the weight behind it.

I shake my head, “I also have Sadie.” I glance up at the ceiling, then back at him, letting the words settle.

“She’s my highest priority. She comes first. Right now, I need you to let me help you.

” He stills. The weight of my words hangs heavy between us.

His throat bobs as he nods, slow and quiet.

There’s something in his eyes— relief, disbelief.

Like he didn’t realize how much he needed to hear those words until now.

I turn my palm upward, curling my fingers around his.

“I’m staying home with her.” I say softly.

“I’ll call her doctor. You go on your field trip and I got our girl.

” Luke leans in, brushing my hair behind my shoulder.

His lips warm against my temple. “If anything happens, please call me. I’ll be home as soon as I possibly can.

” He pauses, voice dropping softer. “I know she’s going to be safe with you.

” The tension in his shoulders eases— not completely, but enough. I know, finally that he believes me.

Before Luke left for work, he leaned down and kissed Sadie’s cheek, his voice soft as he brushed her curls away from her face.

“Hi, Sadie Girl, Dayna is staying home with you today.” He murmured as she blinked up at him, still heavy with sleep.

“She’s going to take amazing care of you.

If you need Daddy for anything, just call me. I love you, sweetheart.”

I’ve noticed he calls her sweetheart when she needs it most. Like a comfort blanket— wrapping around her just long enough to make her world feel okay again.

He uses her mother’s nickname without even realizing it. Like a stream that’s always been there, soft and constant, flowing from memory straight into instinct.

This— this is what I meant when I say I see Juliette is with them every single day. He may not know he’s doing it, but the gift— the way it comes so effortlessly. Hearing it.. knowing what it does for her…it presses into my chest like a weight and a warmth all at once.