Chapter 11
Pike peeked through the door of the Caterpillar Room and smiled as his Little girl sat on the floor playing with a babydoll.
There were three other Little girls playing with her.
Pike recognized one of them as Hadley from the day before.
The other two girls were new faces to him.
One had long dark hair, and one had short blonde hair.
“Ewwwww, I think Teefs tooted,” one said, making Pike chuckle.
“Teefs has such bad manners. Say ‘cuse me, Teefs!” Dallas scolded.
“She said it,” the other Little girl said through a tablet.
Pike still thought it was very cool that Hadley had a communication device.
“Yeah, I heard her too,” Natalie agreed.
“Good zombie baby.” Dallas patted Teefs’ bald, green head.
“Do you have more spooky babies at home?” the Little girl with dark hair asked.
“No. I really wish I had a Living Dead Baby. They’re reborn babies made to look like zombies, monsters, and aliens,” Dallas answered.
“Why don’t you have one? Didja ask your Daddy?” the dark-haired Little asked.
“No, Eloise. They’re lotsa money and Daddy buys me so many things already. I’d been saving my money to buy one, but then I gave it away, so I had to start over.”
Pike was instantly on alert, not only had he not known his Little one wanted a Living Dead Baby, he had no idea she’d given money away.
“Why did you give it away?” the blonde one asked.
Pike watched as Dallas swallowed. “Two of our friends lived in a homeless shelter for a while. One because she aged out of foster care and one because her ex was abusing her. They both have Daddies now and don’t live in the shelter anymore, but their Daddies helped throw a fundraiser for the shelter because it was struggling financially and lots more people needed help.
I gave all of my money to the shelter because it just seemed so important.
Daddy and I volunteer there too, twice a month.
It’s really makes me feel good to help them, Natalie. ”
Tucking their names away for later, Pike blinked back the tears filling his eyes. He stepped away from the door. He knew Dallas had been touched by the women in their circle of friends but hadn’t known she’d given everything she’d saved to the shelter. She was such a big-hearted Little girl.
“That’s really nice of you, Dallas,” the blonde one said. “Maybe Santa will bring you your spooky baby since you was so good.”
“I think Santa maybe doesn’t bring spooky babies. Maybe you need to ask a jack-o’-lantern or something,” Tommy said as he pushed a truck by the girls.
Dallas laughed, loud and carefree. “Yeah, maybe I’ll whisper my wishes to a ghostie.”
“What did the baby look like?” the blonde Little asked.
“She was the cutest spooky baby ever! She had blonde hair and blonde eyes and her zombie skin looked so realistic. She even had purple veins and stuff!”
“Yeah.. I think maybe you needa ask Freddy or Jason for that, not Santa. She sounds so amazing though!” Eloise said.
Dallas giggled. “Maybe I should ask Chucky since he’s already a doll.”
Grinning, Pike turned around and left the nursery. He had an idea.
“Good morning,” a woman said, greeting him when he walked into the Ranch Store. “I’m Jackie, can I help you find something?”
“Good morning, Jackie,” Pike said. “I was wondering if you had any Halloween board books and a few spooky trinkets?”
“Yes, Sir. Follow me,” she said. She led him toward the back of the store where there were children’s toys laid out. “We don’t have a large selection, but we do have a Littles’ Library.”
Pike studied the three Halloween books in front of him. “I will take a copy of all three and visit the library too. My Little girl loves to read and I’m sure we will put them to good use.”
She smiled at him. “Will you be at the Ranch for Halloween?”
“We will!”
“It’s so fun! You both will love it,” she said. “There are a few Halloween goodies here, and we get fresh cookies and chocolates from Angel’s Heavenly Bakery and Chocolate Shoppe on Rawhide Ridge and they sent some really cute ones over. Would you like to see the cookies first?”
“Yes, please,” he answered, knowing Dallas would die over cute cookies.
Jackie picked up two large baskets and allowed him to look over the sweets. He selected a bat, a jack-o’-lantern, and a ghost with a bow. “These are wonderful!”
“I thought that ghost was almost too cute to eat.”
He nodded, agreeing.
“We also have some craft kits if you would like to look at those. Each one has an easel, a Halloween image, paints, and a paintbrush.”
Pike followed her to the area with the art kits and picked out two. One had a unicorn with a pumpkin stuck to its horn and one was a black cat in moonlight.
“The unicorn one is popular with the Littles. Apparently, there are several copies for them to color because they like it so much,” she explained. “We have a few beanie boos too. The skeleton is so soft and it glows in the dark,” she told him.
“I will listen to your recommendation and take one skeleton beanie boo.”
She grinned, pleased to have helped him and grabbed the soft stuffy.
“Anything else?”
“Just a question, who do I need to let know I’m having a package shipped here?”
“The front desk. They will have you fill out a form with your room number and when it arrives, Moses will bring it to you.”
“Thank you so much, Jackie, you have been incredibly helpful.”
She beamed at him before leading him to the checkout.
Becky scanned all his items for him and placed them in white bags printed with the Ranch logo.
At the register, he saw a few bundles of bath toys.
Spotting one with a mermaid, he added it to his items. Bitty would probably like some toys for the pool.
“Oh, some Little one is going to be very happy.”
He nodded. “That’s what I’m hoping for.”
“Well, the mermaid in this bag has weights, so she will sink to the bottom of the pool and it looks like she’s swimming. It’s really cool.”
Pike grinned. His little girl would love that.
“Daddy!” Dallas squealed from the carpet of the Caterpillar Room.
She waited until Nanny J gave her permission before she climbed to her feet and rushed over to him. It was on the tip of his tongue to remind her to use her walking feet, but since she wasn’t exactly running, he refrained.
He scooped her in his arms and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Teefs’ body hit him in the back since she was holding the lovie. “Oh, I missed you so much today, Little girl.”
“I missed you too, Daddy, but we were so brave!”
“She did very well indeed today,” Nanny J said.
“Thank you for looking after her and keeping her safe. I’m glad to hear she did well.”
“Teefs also behaved herself. I’m glad to report she didn’t bite anyone and I don’t have a classroom full of zombies.”
Pike laughed. “Well, that is great news.”
“And Dallas is the sweetest Little girl. She used her best manners and played with her new friends so well,” another woman added. Her name tag read Miss Phoebe. Pike recognized her as the woman who’d called to ask about his Little’s ice cream allergies.
“Thank you, I’m so glad she was on her best behavior. And thank you again for calling to make sure my Little girl will enjoy the upcoming festivities as well.”
“It was our pleasure,” Phoebe assured him.
Pike took Dallas’ backpack, which was serving more as a diaper bag, and let her wave goodbye to her friends before he left the nursery.
“Did you have a good day, Bitty?”
“Yas, huh, Daddy. I painted and then I played with Eloise, Hadley, Natalie! And Tommy!”
“Is Eloise the Little girl with dark hair or blonde hair? I believe I heard you say her name.”
“Dark hair. Her has a Daddy and a Papa. Just like Rae Rae and Tinsley,” she said, referring to their friends back home.
“Oh, that’s so exciting!”
“Yas, huh. Hadley is the blonde friend. I gots to hear her use her communication device ‘cause her is non-verbal.”
“I remember,” Pike assured her. “That’s very cool! So the other blonde must be Natalie?”
“Yas, huh.
“What did you paint today?”
“Is a surprise, Daddy. I can’t tell you.”
He smiled and kissed her nose. “Oh, it’s a surprise?”
“Yas, huh.”
“So you won’t tell Daddy?”
“Nu!”
“What if he offered you six cupcakes?”
She giggled. “Nu!”
“What if he gave you seventeen jellybeans?”
“Nu!”
“Wow, it must be a super-secret!”
Pressing her forehead to his, she whispered, “A super-secret.”
He loved that she was being so silly and carefree. It did his heart good to know he’d made the right choice by regressing her like this.
“What do you say we go back to the room for a snuggle and a bottle?”
She nodded. “Yas, huh. And then we can swims?”
“We can swim after lunch.”
“Do you fink we can has a pool at our house one day?”
“You know, I think we can totally do that. I didn’t know how much you liked to swim, but I don’t think you did either. We haven’t really explored that, have we?”
“Nu, Daddy. We works a lots.”
Guilt, not for the first time, stabbed his heart. They did work too much, the fact this was the first real vacation they’d taken since their honeymoon was a testament to that.
“I’m sorry we work so much, baby, this vacation has shown me how much I miss having just you and us time. When we get back to Strickland, Daddy promises to hire some more help for the bar, okay?”
Her face lit up and she hugged him even tighter. “Really, Daddy?”
“Really, Bitty. There’s going to be lots more us time in our future.”