Chapter 37

“There we go,” he crooned when she unstuck herself long enough to blink down at her father. “Tucked in nice and warm with Daddy and me. Nothing to cry about, is there?”

She issued one more disagreeable whimper, then quieted as he stroked her curls. She stared resolutely down at Erik, but brightened up a little bit when Andreas carefully slid down to join him, and let her roll onto her back between them, bracketed like a doll between two giant bookends. She began to play with Erik’s beard, tugging on it until he cracked open a single blue eye.

“What do we have here?”

Andreas rolled his eyes as the peace was disturbed in favour of a tickling game that had Beatriz shrieking the house down, although at least it was in a more cheerful manner. He detached himself when the game reached eardrum-perforating levels, and migrated to the shower. He’d have to get dinner on soo—

He stopped in the bathroom, and stared.