31. Chapter Thirty-One
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
MAYLEE
T he first Maylee noticed when she woke was that she was wet. She was wearing a diaper, and hope filled her for a second. Was Daddy back? Had he come to change her into a diaper while she slept?
She slowly started to move in the crib, letting Daddy know she was waking. Anytime she was in the crib there was a rule that she couldn’t get out by herself. Not that she could with how high the railings were, but it was a rule.
“Morning,” someone whispered.
She furrowed her brow. That wasn’t Daddy’s voice. Had she been moved to a different house? Had someone taken her?
Justin came into view, and tears filled her eyes. She didn’t want Justin. She wanted her Daddy, and he still wasn’t there.
Was he ever going to come home?
“I know you miss your Daddy. It’s not going to be long until you see him,” Justin said, gently .
She shook her head and the tears rolled down her cheeks. Part of her wanted to believe him that Daddy was coming home soon, but the other part didn’t want to get her hopes up. He had said he didn’t know when Daddy was coming home. How had that changed?
“Everything is going to be okay. I know it’s been tough without your Daddy, but it’s gonna be over soon.”
Maylee tried to stop herself from crying. Only a week had passed since Daddy’s departure, but it felt like an eternity, as if an entire year had gone by.
“We’re going to get out and do something. Do you need me to change your diaper?” Justin asked.
She nodded and grimaced as she closed her legs. The wetness from the diaper was unpleasant on her skin, and she didn’t like it. It was uncomfortable.
“We’ll do that first, and then we can go see what sounds good to eat.”
Justin helped her out of the crib and placed her on the changing table. She wasn’t in as much of a funk anymore, but it was still there. Him changing her diaper was somewhat embarrassing this time, but she couldn’t say much about it. He had told her yesterday he was taking control, and this was one of the things.
He knew she wore diapers, and he knew she needed them right now. She couldn’t take care of herself. If he left, would she find herself in another position like yesterday, sitting on the ground and peeing herself?
Justin wasn’t going to let her do that since he said he was staying with her until Daddy returned. But if he had left, she could see herself in the same situation. It was dangerous .
“Such a good girl,” Justin said as he started to clean her. “If you need me to change you again, you let me know. I don’t want you sitting in a wet diaper for too long. It’s not good on your skin. Can you let me know when you need to be changed?”
She nodded and looked away.
“And if you don’t want to be wearing diapers anymore, you let me know. And if you need to say your safeword, then you say it. I will honor all of that. I don’t want to push you too far and have something bad happen.”
“Are you a Daddy?” she whispered.
She remembered them saying everyone in the office was a Daddy, but she couldn’t exactly remember if he said he was one. He could have been talking about all the other employees and not him.
“Sorry, I don’t know if that was appropriate for me to ask or not. If it wasn’t or you don’t want to answer you don’t have to,” she rushed out.
Maylee was trying to keep her mind off Daddy not being there and Justin taking care of her. She wasn’t succeeding, but she was trying. It was hard when her world mostly revolved around Daddy. Okay, maybe it didn’t revolve around him, but he did so much for her and kept her calm and collected.
“It’s okay. Take a deep breath for me. You are overworking yourself, and we don’t need that,” Justin said, calmly. “And to answer your question, I am a Daddy. Have been for over twenty-five years.”
Her mouth hung open, but she quickly closed to it when he gave her an amused look .
“I know. It’s hard to believe sometimes. But I have been. Started off at a young age and haven’t looked back.”
“But you haven’t found anybody?”
He gave her a soft smile and shook his head. “Well, I have but she doesn’t know yet. It’s a slow process. A very slow process.”
“Does she know you’re even interested in her?”
Justin shook his head. “I’ve given her some hints but I don’t think she’s picked up on them yet, which is fine.”
He tightened the diaper strips around her before setting his hand on her stomach.
“No, I don’t need you telling anybody what I told you. I’m not ready for her to know yet, and I’m not ready for other people to ask me questions. Do you think it can be just our secret?”
She widened her eyes, nodding. Everything in her wanted to ask more questions on who it was and if she knew her, but that was too personal. He’d been vague, and she didn’t want to make him uncomfortable.
“Are you ready for a snack?” Justin asked.
She screwed her face up and shook her head. She wasn’t really hungry.
“That’s not going to do. You need to eat something. How does Oreos and milk sound?”
“Yes!” She raised her voice. Daddy didn’t let her have many sweets like that. He wanted her to have a balanced meal and snacks. She understood, but occasionally she wanted something sweet, too. It was her craving. Apples and peanut butter weren’t going to do .
“Do you want to put on a onesie or just be in Daddy’s shirt?”
Maylee considered this for a second. She wanted to wear her onesies because she absolutely loved them, but she also wanted to wear Daddy’s shirt because she could smell his scent.
“Daddy shirt.”
Justin helped her down from the changing table and grabbed her hand.
“You know the rule. You’re going to hold my hand while we walk down the stairs and then you can let go. But I would hate for you to fall and hurt yourself. That wouldn’t be any good.”
She knew the drill, and it didn’t bother her. She was known for falling and hurting herself. It was also one of the safety rules, which were important.
They went downstairs toward the kitchen. Even for Oreos and milk she wasn’t all that hungry, but she was going to eat something because she needed to. Or else Justin would be on her case and could possibly tell her Daddy.
Eating was one of her health rules, which was super important. She didn’t want to have to do lines for Justin or wait until Daddy got home and have a spanking. Neither options sounded fun.
“How about you sit in that chair while I get you the Oreos in milk,” Justin said.
She sat down and patiently waited for him to grab everything.
“While I’m not your Daddy, that doesn’t mean I’m just going to give you as many Oreos as you want. I am also a Daddy and know Littles can get very sick when they eat too many sweets.”
Maylee could never eat many Oreos without making herself sick. Four was the magic number for her—just enough that she was satisfied.
Justin set down the cup and bowl in front of her, but before she could even grab one of the Oreos, the door opened. She quickly turned around and looked at who was had entered. She didn’t know how many people had a spare key to Daddy’s house.
But it wasn’t just anybody. It was Daddy.
“Freeze!” Daddy yelled.
She stopped, half on the chair and half off. Why’d he tell her to freeze?
“Slowly get off the chair and remember, no running in the house. I don’t need you getting hurt,” Daddy said.
Of course, he would immediately go into Daddy mode when he came through those doors. She shouldn’t have expected anything less.
Maylee slowly got off her chair before quickly making her way over towards Daddy. His arms were wide open as she flung herself into them. Tears streamed down her face as he wrapped them around her. She felt completed, safe, whole again.
“Such a good girl. I know it was hard on you, but I’m home now. Everything is going to be okay,” he whispered in her ear as he continued to rock them.
She continued to cry into his arms, letting go of all the emotions she’d been holding in .
“Shhhh, you’re okay. Daddy is never going to go on a job again and not have contact with you. Any job I do from now on I will always be able to call and text you. You don’t have to worry about anything now. I’m home.”
Daddy continued to hold her. She never wanted to leave his arms. She wanted to have them wrapped around her for the rest of her life.
“You’ve got the next three days off to be with her,” Justin said.
Yeah, there was no way Daddy was going to be able to go to work for the next couple days. She didn’t want him out of her sight.
“I’ve already called her boss to let him know the situation and that she’ll be taking the next three days off. He completely understands and he told her to get better. Her PTO has not been used for these three days.”
It didn’t matter if her PTO was used. She’d so much racked up because she never took time off. When Daddy had first been deployed, she’d worked and worked, not wanting any spare time to think about him being gone. That was how she’d coped with it back then, but this time was different. So different.
“Thank you so much for doing that,” Daddy replied. “And thank you for taking care of her and checking up on her.”
“Welcome. Anytime you need it, let me know. You would do the same for me,” Justin replied. “I’ll let myself out now. You two just relax. If you don’t want to go out and need anything, text me or Liv, and we’ll get it for you.”
“Thank you. ”
Justin left, and she snuggled into Daddy’s chest. It was just them for now.
“Let’s go to the bed. Do you need anything before? Your diaper changed or a bottle?” Daddy asked.
She shook her head and held on tighter. She didn’t need anything but to continue to be in his arms. That was the only thing she needed.
“All right, if that changes, you let me know. But right now, I think we both need some snuggle time.”
She was not disagreeing with the fact that she didn’t know if Daddy had missed her like she had missed him. Maybe he was just saying they needed to snuggle time because he knew she needed it. Either way, she wasn’t going to disagree.
Daddy hoisted her legs up, she wrapped them around his waist, and he went upstairs to his room.
“Daddy is going to place you on the bed while I change my clothes. You’ll be able to see me the entire time, so you don’t need to worry. But Daddy needs to change out of these clothes before he gets into bed with you and snuggles.”
She didn’t want that, but it was going to happen either way. She didn’t want to let go of him so soon, but it eased her knowing she would be able to see him the whole time.
Daddy set her down on the bed and she kept her eyes on him as he changed. His eyes found her, and he gave her a breathtaking smile.
It was so nice to have him back after he’d been gone for a week.
Maylee scooched to the middle of the bed as Daddy climbed in on the side. He lay down, and she immediately laid her head on his chest and snuggled into his body. He wrapped his arms around her, and she let out a contented sigh.
“I want you to know that you weren’t the only one missing me. Well, that came out wrong. I wanted to let you know that every day I was away from you, it was hard. I wanted to be with you every second of the day, contact you to see how you were doing. I was distracted, and it showed. I won’t be able to do that again, and I’ve already told Justin to take me off of high-profile cases like that. Any job I take now will be one where I can call you and text you at any moment,” Daddy informed her.
“I didn’t want to take you away from that,” she whispered, forcing every word out of her mouth. “I know you love your job, and I don’t want you to stop because I couldn’t handle it. I’ll figure it out somehow. You can continue to go on jobs like that.”
Every word was so hard for her to say. She didn’t want to hold him back. That was the last thing she wanted to do. If he was doing this because he knew she wouldn’t be able to handle it, then she needed to stop him.
Daddy tightened his arms around her. “I do love my job, but it was hard for me not being able to contact you. I know it was hard for you, as well. I’m not doing it just because it was hard for you. I’m doing it because I don’t like not having contact with you. I want to know if you’re okay, and I can’t do that if I have high-profile cases. So, don’t worry. I’m still doing the job I love.”
Maylee nodded and snuggled into his chest even more—if that was possible. She wanted to be as close to him as she could. They’d spent a week apart, and it had been one of the hardest weeks.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you, too. Always and forever.”