114–Their Stepdaddy Cares For Them.
Madeline:
I could already tell that Sawyer was a very calm and collected person.
He had single–handedly taken care of the kids, putting them back to bed, while I sat in the living room sniffling and drinking wine.
I was losing my mind, thinking my children needed me and I couldn’t do anything for them.
“They’re asleep,” Sawyer informed, arriving into the living room.
I noticed he didn’t have his coat on, his sleeves were rolled up, and his hair was messy.
He looked exhausted because all the kids had requested to be carried on his shoulders and walked around the room until they fell asleep, and he had done it for each of them.
“You’ve had enough,” he said, snatching the wine from my hand.
Then he leaned back on the couch, resting one foot over his knee, forming an open V with his legs.
He took a drink while I sat upright on the edge of the couch, staring out the window at the road.
“It’s okay. They’re fine now,” he said, and I heard the click of the glass as he set it down.
I turned toward him and noticed he was looking at me, two fingers resting near his temple and his thumb next to his chin.
“What are you thinking?” he asked, as if he knew me too well.
“I need to hurry up, but I feel like there’s no lead. Every time I interview a kid, they give me so many vague answers. I don’t even know what to do with that,” I complained, wiping tears from my cheeks.
“I’ll be in my room,” I heard Nina say. Sawyer hadn’t let her take care of the kids, he had insisted on handling
them himself.
“Hmm,” he said, dismissing her with a hand gesture.
“You’re already doing a great job. Don’t beat yourself up. But instead of focusing on interviewing other children, why not do your own?”
His quick focus on me made Nina pause for a moment before she briskly walked into the room and slammed the door behind her.
Sawyer remained unbothered,
“What do you mean?” I asked, turning toward him.
“You’re struggling with the other children because you don’t know them. But you know your kids. They’re also dealing with the same sickness, and it seems worse because there’s a pattern. They’re experiencing something different from the others,” he explained, making me turn fully on the couch to watch his face.
“How so?” I asked in confusion.
“The others are having nightmares, sickness, pains, all of that. But our children-” He paused. “–they tell a story. Like Gina mentioned before, it’s about a man. Others have experienced it too. But with Bodhi and what Elara is saying, our kids are experiencing much deeper effects of the sickness than you realize.”
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As he explained it, I realized he wasn’t wrong. Of course, my kids were having a different experience. “I’ll start interviewing them then. Thank you so much,” I said, rushing to hug him.
I noticed his heartbeat skip slightly, and I quickly pulled away.
“I’m so tired. Do you mind if I just go rest?” I asked.
I could see the hint of defeat in his expression.
He probably suspected something might happen between us tonight, it had been a while since we’d been intimate.
“Yeah, sure. Of course. Rest well,” he said quietly.
I got up and walked away but paused in the doorway of my bedroom, turning back to look at him.
“And thank you for calling them our kids,” I commented before closing the door.
I woke up early this morning because today was the day Sawyer was leaving.
I had been worried over nothing, his arrival wasn’t that bad.
But that was only because he didn’t have enough time to pry into my life and gather much information about what was happening here.
When I walked out of the room in gray pants and a black high–neck top, I found Sawyer sprawled on the couch, his legs dangling off and arms all over the place.
He seemed to have fallen asleep in the same position I’d left him in when I went to my room last night.
I woke him up, and he went to take a shower while I prepared breakfast for him and the kids myself.
Nina had been in the kitchen with me, helping silently. But the way she kept stealing glances at me told me she wanted to speak.
“What is it, Nina?” I finally asked when she still hadn’t found the courage to speak her mind.
“Why was Sawyer sleeping on the couch outside last night?” she questioned, walking to the other side of the counter to examine my expression.
I was kind of taken aback by her question.
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