Would shelikethat? How could he ask such a silly question? She would be over the moon delighted by that because she loved all those things too.
After her first week, Ian had started feeding her a meal in a highchair in addition to her bottles and she loved how it felt—although she didn’t always love what he fed her. Pureed green beans were gross. But that definitely wouldn’t stop her, not for a second.
She threw her arms around his neck again and hugged him so tight she might’ve been strangling him but Ian—Papa!—didn’t seem to mind.
“Yes, Papa. Please. I want to stay and be yours and Daddy’s. I love you too.”
There was a knock on the doorframe and Hudson was standing there with a big grin on his face.
“You told her, huh?”
“I did,” Ian confirmed. “And she feels the same way. So I’m this little one’s papa now.”
“That is some really, really good news, and we’ll have to figure out a way to celebrate later. But for now, can you get Cosy tucked back in? Jethro and Sable are on their way up.”
* * *
Cosima
She’d had to meet a lot of new people in the hospital—doctors and nurses and social workers and on and on—and Master had occasionally had people over who she wasn’t allowed to speak to. But she hadn’t met anyone just tomeetthem in a very, very long time. It was terrifying even though Daddy and Papa had both said Jethro and Sable were nice.
Papa held her hand and kissed her temple. “Don’t worry, Coco. They’re gonna love you. And you know if it’s too much just use your special word. It works anytime, anywhere, for anything. They’ll understand if you get overwhelmed. They know some of what you’ve been through.”
That was embarrassing.
But she didn’t have time to fret about it because there was another knock on the doorframe, and this time there were other people with Daddy. A really, really beautiful girl with dark hair in low pigtails and a jumper with some of the cutest knee socks Cosima had ever seen. They had doggy faces on the front with floppy ears attached at the top. She was carrying a white stuffed animal and holding hands with a tall man who had a plant tucked against his side. He was very handsome and they both smiled at her.
“Cosy, this is Sable,” Hudson said, gesturing toward the girl with a big hand.
The girl waved after tucking the stuffie under her arm so she wouldn’t drop it. She looked shy and was clinging to her daddy’s hand. Cosima knew how she felt. She was holding her papa’s hand pretty tight right now too.
“And this is Jethro. He’s Sable’s daddy.”
Jethro didn’t wave but gave her a nod and a big friendly smile. “You know Sable calls your daddy Uncle Hudson?”
“And she calls your papa Uncle Ian,” Papa interjected from beside her, sounding really…proud? Was he proud of being her papa?
“So you can call me Uncle Jethro if you want. But it’s totally up to you.”
Cosima felt herself flush. They were so nice, and not scary at all, just like Daddy and Papa had said.
“Hi,” she managed. They might not be scary but she still had butterflies all over.
Jethro leaned down and whispered something to Sable who exclaimed, “Oh!” before dropping Jethro’s hand and taking the plant.
She took a couple of steps toward the bed and then stopped, her toes pointing toward each other, and biting her lip. “We brought you presents. Can I give them to you?”
Presents? They brought her presents? She’d never gotten so many presents before. All the clothes and other things Daddy and Papa had given her, the books and phone from Doctor Eric, it was crazy how many things she had.
“Okay?”
Sable came closer and offered her the stuffie. It was a white owl with some grey specks on its wings and back and yellow eyes.
“It’s a snowy owl,” she said. “I brought my snow leopard in my backpack. Her name is Tundra. We can play stuffies later if you like playing stuffies.”
Sable waited a beat but when it became obvious Cosima couldn’t think of anything to say, she went on.
“And we brought you a ponytail palm. I picked it because I liked the name and it’s hard to kill. Daddy is really good at growing stuff. I’m still learning, but he helped me write out how to take care of your plant so it doesn’t die. Maybe you’re good at growing stuff too and you won’t need them but in case you don’t know how I didn’t want you to worry.”
Cosima shook her head. “I don’t know how to take care of a plant.” She didn’t know how to do a lot of things. “Thank you for the directions, and the presents. I love them.”
She accepted the plant with the envelope taped to it and looked at the embarrassment of riches in her lap. It had been such a long time since she’d had things of her own and now she had so many. It was so much, and she was so grateful she could’ve cried.
“Hey, Coco, why don’t we put your plant on the windowsill so it can get some light and you’ll still be able to see it. Sound good?”
Cosima chewed on her lip. It wasn’t that she thought Papa would take her plant away—he would never take anything away from her unless it wasn’t safe—but she wasn’t quite ready to let it go yet. It was maybe silly to need to hold it in her lap to feel like it was really hers, but…
“You want to hold it for a little longer?”
Papa looked at her so kindly, so indulgently, like she was a treasure he wanted to cradle in his hands. Like she was precious and he loved her. Cosima was so, so lucky. She nodded, her cheeks getting hot and probably red. Could Ian read her mind? Did he know why she didn’t want to let go yet? Maybe he didn’t care why, maybe he just cared that it made her happy.