41. Cal
Chapter forty-one
Cal
There was nothing quite like coming home.
I dropped my gear in the front entrance, tension fading away, and followed the happy chatter into the living room. Despite the exhaustion after traveling, the picture in front of me healed something deep in my cracked heart.
Khia perched on the sofa edge in front of Noelle, explaining something about deep sea sharks (her long-standing obsession). Noelle listened with a smile as she scooped my daughter’s curly hair into a small silk bonnet. She tied it expertly, something I’d tried and failed at many times.
“All done,” Noelle announced, and Khia bounced up like Tigger, hand to her head. She was absolutely adorable.
I rubbed a hand over my sternum. This. I could get used to this. How about forever?
“Daddy!” Khia cried when she saw me lingering in the doorway. “We waited for you to have hot chocolate!”
Noelle turned and smiled, her pale skin smudged with dark circles under her eyes. “I’ll get it.”
I set a hand on her shoulder. “Sit. Let me.”
“I’ll help!” Khia scampered to the kitchen, leaving us alone.
“Hard day?” I asked in a low tone.
Noelle shrugged and tried to smile again, but she couldn’t mask the exhaustion.
Without thinking the action through, I bent and kissed the top of her head. “Take a load off. We’ve got you, Elle.”
I ladled out the hot chocolate warming in a large saucepan on the stove. The rich chocolate aroma was heady, and was that . . . spices?
“Is this spiced hot chocolate?” I asked Khia.
She giggled, topping our mugs with mini marshmallows. “We surprised you!”
Spiced hot chocolate was my favourite kind. The notes of ginger and cinnamon elevated it to a whole new level, but the secret ingredient was really cardamom. Out of this world.
Khia insisted on carrying her own cup, and I walked behind her, watching her carefully as I held mine and Noelle’s.
We settled on the couch, and Noelle smiled softly when I handed her the drink.
“You remembered the cardamom,” I said quietly.
“Of course. I’m not a heathen.”
“Thank you.” For so much. The words didn’t feel like enough, but I was no Shakespeare, and it was all I could come up with. I only hoped she could hear everything I wasn’t saying.
From the light in her eyes and the way she smiled at me over Khia’s head, I think she did.