AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Um…dragons.”
“What? You got the same favorite as me?” Nolan jumped onto his feet, waving a book over his head. “I got a really good one for us!”
He scrambled back onto his bed.
“Sit right there.” He pointed to a spot on the floor beside his bed.
I climbed onto my knees. “How’s this?”
“I think it’s pretty good,” he said with a shrug, and then he tossed open the first page and started speeding through the book. Clearly, he’d memorized every word.
River remained hovering just inside the door, leaning against the wall as he watched his son read me a story.
I was enraptured by the child’s sweet voice. The tinkling lilt. The way he dipped his voice when the villain came on the scene. The giggles. His expression that enthused each spot where he was supposed to be surprised, even though there was no question he had heard this story a hundred times.
“The end! What did you think?”
“I think it was my favorite story I’ve ever heard.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely. Because I had the best storyteller reading it to me.”
He was on his knees in a flash, throwing his arms around my neck. He squeezed so tight that I could hardly breathe, his cheek smooshed against mine.
“Because you love me as much as I love you?”
The cavern inside me trembled. As if it were threatening to cavein, and all the brittle boulders inside were getting ready to dislodge and tumble into the pit. As if the crater stood a chance of being filled.
“I do, Nolan. I love you as much as you love me.”
More, I was sure, because I doubted a child could feel the magnitude of what I felt right then. The way I wanted to become a part of something so brilliant and right.
“That’s good because family is who we love most, remember?” He leaned back, his shining blue eyes searching my face to make sure I understood the importance of what he was saying.
Reaching out, I touched his cheek because I understood it more than he could ever comprehend or imagine. “I remember.”
“Guess you’re pretty smart too.”
He said it casually as he plopped back onto his butt, shoving back his covers so he could get under them. He wiggled around as I drew them up to his chest.
He wore a matching pair of children’s pajamas—pants with a short-sleeved tee with moons and stars all over them. He reached up again to hug me, and it was the first time I noticed the birthmark on the inside of his left arm.
A frown curved my brow, and I lifted my hand so I could tremble my fingers over it. Nostalgia whispered through, my mind blinking through memories I’d done my best to keep at bay.
But River was right.
I didn’t want to forget anymore.
Not any of it.
So, I let it invade, as much as it hurt, all while I was soothed as I traced the mark on his skin. It was nearly heart-shaped, though it was a bit distorted and longer on one side.
I blinked through the joy and sadness when I turned back to his beaming face, and I ran my fingers through the locks of his warm brown hair. “Goodnight, Nolan.”
“Night-night, my Miss Charleigh. You better be here in the morning, but if you gotta go, you gotta wake me up and tell me that you’re leavin’.”
“Okay, I promise.” I leaned forward and swept a kiss to hisforehead.
