I heard him talking to the baby from the stairs, telling her he was coming, then both of them laughing and singing the ABC song they sang while changing diapers.
I got up slowly, thinking that I would still be sick from whatever had affected me last night. But I felt fine. Better than fine. I went to the bathroom, showered, and then, having put it off long enough, looked at the wound I knew would be on my leg.
It wasn’t there.
No matter how closely I looked, the scratch, the infection, the scary red ring, all of it was gone. How could that be? What had happened last night? Had my body healed itself after all?
With no answers, I got dressed in a clean shirt, kilt, and my favorite soft fisherman’s sweater. I’d just have to ask Henry what happened. As I rounded the corner to the kitchen, I saw Henry leaning over Ameria, and her hand rested on the side of his cheek like it did when she was speaking to me. He didn’t seem freaked out by it—just the opposite. He seemed to listen or watch what she was saying, then gave her chubby cheek a kiss. “Yes, ma’am, princess. Oatmeal and fruit it is for your breakfast. I’m so glad you like it. It was always my favorite too.”
Having experienced what I had this morning, I was thinking there were obviously depths to Henry I wasn’t aware of yet. That needed to change. I walked into the kitchen, gave the baby a kiss, making her giggle, then grabbed Henry around the waist and pulled him close with his back to my chest and whispered, “I think you have some things you haven’t told me, don’t you, Henry?”
Chapter 8
Henry
Oh, crap!
Snuggling back into Finn’s broad chest, I decided to deflect and deny. It had always worked for me before. I focused on the oatmeal I had made and was stirring the baby food peaches into it while I answered, “I don’t know what you mean, Finn. I’ve told you all about me.”
My fingers were in sight, so I crossed my toes underneath the hem of Finn’s gigantic robe. I really needed to go down and get my clothes out of the drier. A lightbulb went off, and I knew how to get out of this. I dripped some of the baby food on the front of the robe on accident and put my plan in motion.
“Damn, look what I did.” I turned around and looked up at Finn through my lashes while licking the peach sauce off the spoon I was holding. His gaze followed my tongue caressing the spoon, and I watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down when he swallowed, his interest obvious. Sex was always the perfect distraction.
“Finn, would you feed our little princess while I go get cleaned up and changed? I seem to be very, very dirty this morning. I can’t imagine how that happened, can you?”
I was practically purring when I spoke. It worked like a charm. When he just nodded and said, “Um, sure.” I kissed his cheek, loving the way his beard whispered over my skin, then walked away, making sure to sway my hips a little as I went.
I took my time getting cleaned up and dressed. By the time I was done, they were done in the kitchen and ready to go out for a walk.
“Oh, good, you have on the baby harness you ordered. Want me to get her bag?”
Finn gave me a once-over, tilting his head to the side in thought before answering, “No, I’ve got all her stuff here.”
He motioned to the backpack he was wearing. It didn’t look like it held anything but air to me, but it was probably a magical thing he didn’t think I should know about. After this morning, I was rethinking my decision not to tell him about what I was. Finn’s next words caught me off guard.
“What the hell are you wearing?”
Looking down at my outfit, I whirled around and struck a pose with my hands on my hips and hoped it would speak for itself.
“I’m wearing lumberjack wear. It’s perfect for a hike, isn’t it?”
I looked down at my outfit and loved it even more than when I got dressed. Seeing the disbelief in his face, I decided to explain further.
“The tight jeans are perfect for not catching on limbs and stuff. The boots have thick soles to protect my feet and grip the ground. My tee is to keep me warm under this plaid quilted shirt. Don’t most lumberjacks wear plaid?”
Finn was trying to hide his laugh and doing a terrible job.
“Yes, lumberjacks do, in fact, wear plaid, but it’s usually not neon pink and aqua.”
“Well, I like bright colors, and plaid is plaid.”
“Sure, whatever you say, Henry. But where did it come from? You’ve been here over a week, and that wasn’t in your bag.”
Damn, he noticed.
“It was in there; I just didn’t feel like getting dressed up if all I was going to do was be in the house all the time babysitting.”
“Oh, okay. Well, if we’re going to go, then let’s get going. I don’t want to be out long.”
I picked up the baby and whirled her around before getting her situated in the carrier on Finn’s chest.
“We’re going for a walk outside, princess! Yay!”
“Yayaya! Tees, tees.”
“That’s right! We’ll see the trees!”
Ameria clapped her little hands together and kicked her tiny feet back and forth. Finn had dressed her in an adorable overalls outfit with a red and white plaid one-piece long sleeve tee and a red cardigan with ladybugs on it. Her feet were in the
