“Open your eyes, poppet,” Archer commanded.
She opened her eyes, blinking, unable to work out what she was looking at for a start. Then it hit her. It was a small house. Similar to the ones that Dave had made for her, only…
Wonky.
Very wonky.
The overhang of the roof was longer on one side than the other. Then she realized that one wall was actually shorter than the other. The windows weren’t cut evenly, giving it an even more lopsided appearance. It had been painted pink with white shutters, except some of the shutters were bigger than others.
“She doesn’t like it,” Archer said. “I told you we should have just bought one.”
“It doesn’t mean as much,” Issy argued back. “Anyone can buy one. We made her one.”
“It’s terrible, though. It’s going to break as soon as she touches it. It’s not nearly as good as Dave’s train set.”
Her heart stuttered. Tears filled her eyes, blurring her vision. “You made this for me?”
Archer took hold of her left hand. “Yes, poppet. But you don’t have to play with it if you don’t want to. It’s probably a hazard anyway.”
“And I thought I was meant to be the negative one,” Issy snapped. “It won’t fall apart. Look at the back.”
He turned it to show the open back, which had two levels and was painted a plain white. “We haven’t had a chance to make any people for it. This has been taking up our spare time.”
“When did you have time?” she asked in amazement.
“We found some time every day,” Archer told her. “While one of us kept you entertained, the other one would sneak off to work on it.” He gave it a skeptical look. “Still think it’s not safe.”
Issy turned it back around then he gave the roof a thump. “It’s solid.”
A shutter fell off onto the floor. He reached down and quickly scooped it up, placing it in his pocket. “Archer did that one.”
“I did not!”
She started giggling. And then she wasn’t laughing, she was crying. Tears dripped down her face.
“Shit! She’s crying.” Issy leaped for her but Archer pulled her up into his arms first, carrying her to the sofa.
“Shh, poppet. It’s okay. If you don’t want to play with it, you don’t have to.” Archer sat, holding her tightly on his lap.
Issy crouched in front of her. He rubbed his hand up and down her back. “We know it’s not as good as Dave’s train set that he made. We didn’t make it to replace that. But we just thought…maybe you would like something to play with that we made for you. Look.”
He moved back and picking up the house, tilted it so she could see underneath.
For Caley
From Daddy and Papa who love her very much.
She sobbed, burying her face in Archer’s chest.
“Shit, Archer, what do we do?”
“Take it away,” Archer told him. “Get it out of her sight.”
“No, Daddy, don’t!” She jumped out of Archer’s lap and raced over to the small house, hugging it. Carefully. “I love it.”
“Then why did you cry?” Issy asked.
“It just…it’s amazing. And special. And I can’t believe you guys did this for me. Thank you!” She jumped at Issy, hugging him tight before moving to Archer, giving him a squeeze. “Thank you so much. I’m so lucky.”