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Felicity shook her head. “Hope won’t sleep in a crib when she’s sick like this. She’ll only sleep soundly when she’s held.” It was true—the little girl was already stirring on the sofa. Felicity’s head dropped forward for a moment. Rafael could tell she was exhausted. It had been a long flight, and she was in a new country.
“Go change,” he said to her. “Have a shower. I’ll hold Hope until you can get back.”
She hesitated. “Are you sure?”
He lifted Hope gently into his arms. “I’ve got this.” Hope curled into his shoulder, and Rafael sank into the sofa. “Go. We’ll be right here.”
Felicity waited another moment, but Hope’s breathing settled back into the even rhythm of sleep. “Okay,” she said. “It’ll be all right.”
The moment she left the room, he wasn’t so sure. Hope felt so small and precious in his arms. Rafael found himself hanging on every breath.
He was almost afraid he’d break her.
* * *
He didn’t know how long she was gone. It could have been a few minutes, or it could have been hours—all Rafael remembered was becoming aware of her footsteps padding back into the room, accompanied by a wave of the scent of shampoo. His staff kept all the bathrooms stocked with delicious-smelling soaps and shampoos, but none had ever smelled so good as this one did coming off Felicity’s still-damp hair.
She came and sat behind him as he shifted his weight, adjusting some of the pressure on his arms. He kept himself in excellent shape, but sitting here still beneath Hope’s sleeping self had made his arms ache in an entirely unfamiliar way.
Felicity gave him a wry smile. “Stiff arms?”
“Of course not,” he said, though he couldn’t help returning the smile.
“I can take her.”
He swallowed. “I’d rather you didn’t,” he said softly. He felt her quiet acceptance in the air between them.
“At least let me help you move her.” She stood up, and with expert hands, lifted Hope and set her down again into a different position, all without waking her up.
“Should we get her into clean clothes?”
Felicity looked ruefully down at the two of them. “I think she mostly missed her own outfit, but you’re right. She could stand to have a new pair of pajamas and a sponge bath.” Felicity had changed Hope into comfortable pajamas not long after takeoff. A matching outfit was one thing for the jetway, but it was another for a long plane ride.
It seemed like magic to Rafael, the way Felicity was so sure of herself when it came to Hope’s care. She went out of the room for another few minutes, coming back with warm washcloths and a fluffy towel. Somehow, she managed to undress Hope, bathe her with the cloths, dry her, and dress her in a fresh pair of footie pajamas without so much as making her open her eyes. Felicity had such gentle hands.
Rafael couldn’t remember if she’d always been that gentle. He knew she’d already had a kind nature when he’d known her before, but motherhood had forged her into someone stronger and softer than the Felicity he’d known.
“You’re good at this,” he murmured as she gathered up the washcloths and towel and handed them off to the last remaining staff member, who walked soundlessly away with the laundry. “I always thought you might be.”
“Oh, please.” Felicity laughed quietly, settling in next to him on the sofa. “You never thought about what I’d be like as a mother. We were preoccupied with…other things.”
“But you always cared.” He looked down into Hope’s slumbering face. “It didn’t surprise me that you went back to the States for your sister. It only surprised me that you chose to cut all ties before you left. I thought—” His throat tightened. “A part of me thought you’d bring her back here.”
Felicity was silent for a long moment. “Well, I did, eventually.”
“Yes.” He huffed a laugh. “Though these aren’t exactly the circumstances I imagined.”
“I don’t know,” said Felicity. “Sometimes I think our imaginations are overrated.”
“How do you mean?”
“Sometimes, I’ve wondered what it would be like to be famous. But after getting a taste of the rules and people always taking photographs…” She shook her head. “Now I know that my imagination was totally off base.”
“You haven’t even been here a full day,” joked Rafael. “Don’t discount it yet.”
Felicity let her head fall back against the back of the sofa. “It’s been the longest day of my life.” She sat up again, looking down at Hope. “But not all bad.”
“You two will be fine,” Rafael said. “Perhaps you’re not schooled in the ways of royalty, but I don’t know anything about caring for children. I’m bad at this.”
