Page 118 of Hush, Little Baby

My thumb glides over the friendship bracelet looped around my wrist. I haven’t taken it off. He hasn’t taken off his matching one. The beads click softly together whenever our hands brush. I like that sound—maybe more than makes sense. A smile tugs at my lips.

“What are you thinking about?” Nikolaus murmurs.

I tilt my head back against his shoulder. “Nothing.”

“Hmm. Little liar.”

I grin; the corner of his mouth twitches.

“Was it about me?” he asks.

“Maybe.”

“Mhm.”

I roll my eyes, and his expression softens. God, how I love him. The feeling no longer crashes over me like a tidal wave; it simply exists now, steady and true, as natural as breathing, as certain as knowing he’ll catch me whenever I fall.

A gentle buzz vibrates against my thigh—my phone. I pull it out and laugh before I even glance at the screen.

“What?” He leans forward to look, and I tilt it toward him. The caller ID reads: Mama Maria. His groan is immediate.

I answer anyway. “Hi, Maria.”

“My sweet boy!” Her voice is all theatrical delight. “Tell me your Daddy isn’t forcing you into something boring tonight.”

Yes, she knows.

And has been oddly normal about it.

Supportive of it, even.

I burst into laughter, and Nikolaus pinches the bridge of his nose.

“I’m literally sitting next to him,” I tell her. “But we’re going out tonight, so don’t worry.”

“Okaaaay,” she sings, utterly unapologetic. I hear her rearranging things on her end before she announces, “You will never believe what happened at lunch today.”

Nikolaus sighs.

I sink deeper into the seat and let Maria launch into a five-minute epic about three conniving women, two clandestine affairs, a gleaming yacht, and “absolutely criminal plastic surgery.” By the time I hang up, my sides ache from laughing.

“You encourage her,” Nikolaus accuses, folding his arms.

“I do not.”

“You absolutely do.”

“She’s funny.”

“She’s dangerous.”

“She bought me a cat.”

His outrage is instant. “A cat that will not sit on me.”

I beam. “It’ll happen eventually, Daddy. He’s just scared of giant men with mean faces.”

He looks personally offended. I laugh again, the sound bright and easy in my chest—an honest, unforced happiness.