Chapter 58 #2
“Does that face mean she likes that idea?” North asked. “I will purchase some baby bottles. What type of formula?”
“You don’t need to get baby formula,” Jared told him. “Look for meal replacement shakes. Although she still needs to eat. The bottles would just be supplements.”
“I don’t need bottles,” she protested. Although that protest sounded weak even to her ears.
“I think bottles are a good idea,” Jared told her. “Daddy would like holding you on his lap on your rocking chair while you suck on your bottle.”
“All right, ordered. Everything should be there by tonight,” North said.
She thought about protesting some more but decided it was pointless. These two were going to do what they wanted.
“Here we are. Open up your mouth. Here comes the choo-choo train,” Jared said as he moved the sandwich through the air toward her.
She gaped at him.
Never in a million years did she think she would see the day that Jared Bartolli did the choo-choo train.
“This is a strange sight,” North said.
“Would you like me to feed you this way as well?” Jared asked.
“I’d like to see you try. You do remember I have a knife?” North said.
“I don’t think you should pull a knife on Jared again, North,” she said haughtily.
“Really? What about when you pulled a knife on Jared the other day?” North asked.
Oh. Heck.
“Umm.”
“I’m starting to feel a bit abused,” Jared said. “Seems everyone wants to remove my head from my body.”
Both she and North glared at him.
“What? Too soon?” he asked.
“Yes, it will always be too soon,” she whispered.
“Sorry, baby girl. Here, eat some sandwich for Daddy.”
She reluctantly took a bite. The sandwich was actually surprisingly good.
“You make good sandwiches, Northie,” she told him.
“You sound surprised. It’s not that hard.”
“It is if you don’t have any ingredients,” she said. “Once all I had was sauerkraut and bread. I don’t know where the sauerkraut came from, maybe the foodbank. Anyway, it wasn’t good. And I had the toots all day. Embarrassing.”
Now both men were staring at her.
Oops.
“But yours are way better, Northie.”
North grunted. “I should hope so.”
“I don’t like that your father never took care of you, didn’t feed you properly,” Jared said.
She shrugged. “I don’t like that your father killed anyone that you showed you cared about.”
“Seems I was better off not having parents,” North said. Then he paused. “Although perhaps not.”
“You didn’t have parents?” she whispered.
“Well, at some stage I must have but as a toddler I was placed in an orphanage in Romania. And then when I was around eight I was placed in a foster home.”
“Well, that’s good,” she said. “Did they treat you well?”
“As well as could be expected.”
That wasn’t mysterious or anything.
“Getting information out of you is like trying to milk a stone,” she told him.
“Why would you milk a stone?” North asked. “That’s impossible.”
“Exactly.”
“I’ve been trying to get more out of him for years,” Jared told her as he held the sandwich to her mouth again. “It is impossible.”
“When did you come to America? You don’t really have an accent. And do you still keep in touch with your foster parents?” she asked.
“When I turned eighteen I moved to South America. I traveled around a lot. And no, I’ve never had much of an accent. Sometimes we keep in touch.”
Huh.
How did he manage to say stuff without really saying anything?
That was definitely a skill.
“Here, baby girl. Leave North alone and eat some more food.”
“Sorry, Northie,” she said, feeling bad.
North just shrugged and finished eating.
She ate the rest of her sandwich then Jared held the iced coffee up for her to sip from. The ice had melted but it was still amazing.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you knew who had killed Rex?” she asked.
That part kind of hurt.
She’d have thought that they might have confided in her.
“We didn’t want you worried about this,” Jared said. “It’s our job to shield you. From everything.”
She shook her head in disagreement. “I know you think it is. But I’m an adult, even though I’m also a Little. I can cope with knowing the bad stuff as well as the good. And shouldn’t I know if there’s a threat?”
“I thought a severed head would certainly be a clue that there was a threat,” North said.
Well. North wasn’t wrong.
“We just want to keep you as shielded and as happy as possible.” Jared cupped the side of her face. He grabbed a napkin and started cleaning her up.
She frowned.
“But perhaps we should have warned you in this instance and then you wouldn’t have run off,” Jared said. He raised an eyebrow.
Sheesh.
“You’re not going to let that go, are you?” she grumbled.
“Not for a long time. Now, it’s time for a little girl to have a nap.”
“I’m not tired.” She pouted.
Then she yawned.
Well. That sucked. It was like her body was trying to betray her.
Rude.
“I would say that you do.” North drew the curtains while Jared dimmed the lights and put her bed down so she was lying flat.
Then he sat beside her and gently massaged her scalp.
“I really don’t think I can sleep, Daddy,” she complained. “This is pointless.”
“Hmm, what about if Daddy sings you a lullaby?”
She eyed him suspiciously. “Do you know any of those?”
“Do I know any of those?” Jared gave her an offended look. “Of course I do.”
He started singing in a surprisingly good voice. To her shock, her eyelids started to close and she snuggled in under the covers.
“That’s it, baby. Just sleep. Good girl.”
She drifted off.