A Beauty’s Change

Veronica Barrowcliff

Chapter 1

April 17-20, 2020

The salty mist cooled my skin, which had been warmed by the beaming sun. The sun’s yellow rays disappeared from view as I refocused on my book. Palm fronds cast disfigured shadows across the crisp pages as the sunglasses I wore tinted everything around me a darker shade.

“Come on, Em,” my husband’s deep voice begged with a playful hint in his tone, cutting through the seagulls’ shrieking.

The sun’s sheen blinded me as I managed to raise my head to take a look at the whining figure. Lifting my eyes above my dark sunglasses for a brief second, I found myself looking at Daniel’s camera lens. Playfully raising my book to cover my face, I shielded myself from the camera’s blank reflective face, waiting through the sounds of multiple shutter clicks.

“Oh, come on! That one would have been great!” My husband complained, letting his bulky black camera fall to his chest. I laughed as I slowly lowered my book from my face, making sure he wouldn’t take any more surprise pictures.

A few strands of his long brown hair still swayed when they weren’t weighed down by water to nicely frame his rectangular face. Daniel’s feet and tanned muscular torso were bare, while his drenched black and gray swim trunks clung to his thighs.

“How many do you have already?” I asked.

“Let’s see… since vacation? Or ever? Hmmm…” He hummed, rubbing his chin and exhaling in quick bursts trying to find memories.

I scoffed at his goofy attempts to collect a mental scrapbook to all the photos he’d ever taken in his life. When he gave up with a shrug after a few minutes, his head swiveled to look over the beach. Then he was back on track.

“… since vacation, I think there’s… not enough!” He exclaimed as he raised the camera to his brown eyes once again.

I laughed, “I can’t believe it. We’re on this beautiful Hawaiian beach–” I swung my arm out to emphasize the gorgeous landscape and scenery before us for my husband, who chose to lovingly stare at me instead. “– on a gorgeous day! And all you want– all that’s going to fill the computer back home– are pictures of me.”

“Yeah,” he smiled with a huff. “We got out of the car, then you were standing next to a palm tree by the water one day. Those pictures count for both boxes; I’m taking them. And we’re both getting paid when we get back either way, so…” He smiled as he began to study the pictures.

“We’re getting paid? The whole family has taken up what should have been my father’s vacation, and now we’re getting paid, too?”

“Yeah,” he replied confidently. “I asked the boss. He said doing this was fine. Don’t tell your father, of course.”

I laughed again as he came toward me. The silky warm sand shifted around my foot as Daniel groaned and sat beside my beach chair, and I felt a soggy tuft of his hair settle, the moisture quickly tickling against my thigh and soaking through half of my jean shorts. We both sighed, content, as we looked past the golden sand out to baby blue waves that rolled and filtered in towards the damp surface, leaving only a crystal white outline of their previous wake, before receding. Their movements, overlapping back and forth, again and again, the noise like softly crinkled tissue paper, drowned out the seagulls, roaring wind, and enjoyment from other beach-goers for me. This was what I hoped Daniel would take more time to focus on. The scene was something I would never stop re-creating, already beginning the imaginary sketch to painting after painting, my eyes copying the natural beauty for my designs just as fast as Daniel could snap his photos.

I focused on and watched my parents and daughter; I could see their happy smiles as they played, shoulders deep within the water.

When I playfully nudged Daniel with my knee, he moved for me so I could get up from my chair and head to the water. Standing with me, his hands suddenly wrapped around my waist as he pulled my back against his chest. We stood in that embrace, letting the sunshine rain down onto our bodies, as flakes of sand and the breeze softly skid across our exposed skin. Daniel soon lifted his head from the base of my neck, which I was quick to cover with my hand to try to contain some of that warmth in his absence. As I tried to find where Daniel had almost gone so suddenly, and what he was focusing on behind me, I felt his body rotate away from me. Though he still had one of his arms wrapped around me and his hip pressing against mine, I tried my best to back up and keep him against me.

”Hey,” he finally whispered against my earlobe, before moving his head again.

While I thought he had been spending this time trying to prove me wrong and get invested in his scenic sight-seeing, he motioned for me to look towards the boardwalk. I spun inside his arms, and followed his eyes, already imagining a shop that had piqued his interest and he could advocate for later in the day. I have no idea when my mouth started watering when I scanned for what he wanted, hoping it was ice cream to finish out a lovely day.

Until I noticed what I’m pretty sure he wanted me to see. A party of what appeared to be at least five people who stood in a row on the elevated large wooden platform. They were each either holding cameras, phones, or nothing as they faced the beach.

“What does any tourist, or hell, even a civilian of Hawaii want? Their cameras chock full of beautiful pictures of the scenery. Their positioning,” his arm bent up slightly toward the group and their equipment. “The angles are too low to be facing any combination of sky, beach, or water.”

“Like you’d know beautiful scenic pictures,” I joked. My eyes roamed around, across the incredibly lush and vibrant landscape my husband claims he’s photographed before.

He scoffed. Wrapping his arm around my waist, he smacked my hip, then laughed with me. “I get scenic pictures.”

With Daniel’s exaggerated gasp, I couldn’t help giggling from the jab he knew I was right in making.

I felt another pair of eyes near me, distracting me from messing with my husband. Focusing my attention on the boardwalk again, I noticed something. The group had dwindled, just barely; three people from the group remained. I let out a huff of breath I didn’t know I was holding, feeling lighter with the separation from the glaring crowd– despite the populated beach. A young woman and two men were now lined up against the railing. My eyes caught onto an eccentric white crop top with rainbow polka dots printed on it. When I looked at the owner’s face, my eyes met the young woman’s, and a quick shiver wiggled up my spine.

“Are you cold?” Daniel asked me before he pulled me closer to him.

“No, no. It’s not that,” I unconsciously lifted my arms to tuck my hands into my armpits, licking my upper lip.

Taking me softly by my elbows, Daniel shifted his body, blocking the section of the boardwalk. He faced me, bending his head down to me, “These couple of cameras here?” He asked for clarification, checking over his shoulder at the boardwalk. “How many cameras do you encounter daily?”

“No,” I clicked my tongue to him.

Sure, he had a point: I made a living walking past lines and crowds of cameras all the time.

“The cameras are fine. It’s those operators behind them, staring at me…”

Sure, I had people (other than my husband) staring at me. But their attention would be more on the outfits or gowns I’d wear and promote. And even then that attention that I’d have would last for a certain amount of time, depending on the events.

Based on Daniel’s critique over the angle, I began unconsciously comparing the multiple styles of photography I’d encountered since taking my modeling contract, even before meeting Daniel. The cameras kept moving, something I was used to. The people never moved on– walking away from the beach, or taking their eyes off me; like they were still waiting for me to do something.

Even with the distance between us, I felt like the two men were staring me down, longer than what I figured most cameramen had done in the past. Their eyes made me feel as if they were trying to pry a secret from my soul.

“I stare at you all the time–” Thankfully, my husband’s deep and upbeat voice broke me out of my petrifying trance.

I returned my attention to the one cameraman I wanted to be around.

“We’re married. You can stare at me…”

“Okay, good.” He smiled at me.

I giggled at his exaggerated sigh when I’d given him the right reassurance to keep looking at me.

“They can’t,” I could tell there was some fluctuation in the volume of my voice as I scanned the sandy beach for any other staring tourists. With the impressive space, every hat and pair of sunglasses hid eyes that I could not say for certain were looking for the same enjoyment I’d come for. The tint from other beachgoers’ sunglasses revealed a blankness in any and all stares, taking the wind from my lungs whenever a head shifted even relatively in my direction. “It’s like you said. Something’s not right.” My head turned up, trying to see the boardwalk group over Daniel’s shoulder.

Come on, Em. With my eyes connecting to the line again, my imagination echoed my husband’s beg from earlier, the once playful hint from Daniel came off in a more demanding manner, this tone shrieking at me like the seagulls.

While I’d been slow to crane my neck to make sure I was doing the right double-take, I pulled my head back down, pushing it against Daniel’s chest, wanting to remain in his gentle arms, and separate myself from whoever wanted to make sure I was seeing them.

“Well, if you want…” he smiled at me. “I can just stay in front of you and walk backward, like this, for the rest of the trip. So all you see is me,” a goofy smile broke out on his face. “And I can just–” he ran back to my chair, and picked something up, then took his phone into his hand and held it above his head, the screen of the phone acting like some type of mirror for him. “Walk back like this…”

“Shut up, you dork,” we chuckled as he came back and pulled me to him again.

“I can give you something else to stare at…” He raised his arm, with his phone screen facing us. He leaned down and pressed his head close to mine, and let his finger click the camera’s button three times. Each click came with a different set of poses from us. Daniel stuck his tongue out to the camera, while I gasped at it, in mocking surprise; Daniel closed his mouth, but let his tongue stick out between his teeth, while I felt my cheeks widen with my smile; and finally, one where Daniel and I shared a kiss, his mouth felt cold against mine from his time in the water while his stubble brushed along my chin.

As Daniel lowered his phone, the polka-dot-shirt girl leaned closer to her partner on her right like the two were communicating. Her head turned to look back over her shoulder; she waved a hand over her back in what looked like annoyance, and then she was back to staring, her vision now on the landscape.

I could hardly blame her. With the beauty of this day, I could do nothing but daydream, caught just as I had been with Daniel minutes earlier in the serenity.

“Mama, mama!” A small girl squeaked from around the shoreline behind us.

Daniel and I focused our attention on the other person. I watched my brother Joshua trot toward us. His tall wife, Carly, followed behind him.

Josh’s curly, drenched caramel brown hair bobbed as he bounced over the sand. Behind him, Carly’s long, sopping rust orange-brown hair stuck to her heart-shaped face. Water fell from their hair to their swimsuits, down to the sand while they moved.

In between them, our daughter, Jackie, stuck her head out just past Josh’s hip. Water droplets glistened and trickled off her small face, plastered with peach-colored sunburns. Her chocolate brown eyes gleamed in the sun as she gave a wide smile to us. I made a mental note to reapply her sunscreen, and to give her some lotion to soothe her skin so it wouldn’t be irritable later on. Surrounded by her puffy life jacket and covered by her purple bathing suit, she sat on her knees, gripping the surfboard laid out between her aunt and uncle.

“Hey, guys,” Carly’s sweet voice chirped, close to hyperventilating. After taking Jackie from the surfboard with an exaggerated swish, she spun back to greet us again. “We were thinking of helping Jackie with a sandcastle. What do you guys say?” Her face beaming with excitement, I could almost see the imaginative architecture of the sandcastle in her eyes.

Leaning forward, she rested her hands on her thighs as water dripped off of her red two-piece swimsuit. Like her niece, her pale cheeks were speckled with rosey patches from the sun. Her bottle-green eyes sparkled as cheerfully as her smile, eager in waiting for our response. Since we landed in Hawaii for our vacation for the weekend, Carly hadn’t stopped searching for any kind of activities to do with the family. With her willingness to try different things combined with Daniel’s drive to be active, I wasn’t sure if this vacation would really last for just the four days of the weekend.

While everyone was more excited for the whole family trip, I still felt a knot swirling in my stomach. I absolutely knew my father had earned this trip, sure. But I still walked beside him, thinking I was out of place, or looking like a space invader.

“Yeah! Yeah!” Jackie piped up after she’d been let down from the surfboard. “I wanna make a sandcastle!” She cheered, her eagerness shining while she shook her head and began jumping around the sand before looking back to us. Trying her best to run across the slippery sand, she made her way over to me. With her grabbing onto my leg, I felt that same cold against my skin again from having been near Daniel’s wet body. She looked up at me, eyes pleading with me as her hands tried to shake my leg. When all I could do was smile at how cute she was in the way she’d been enjoying the vacation, she ignored my smile, turning now to her dad. Who we all knew was more than ready to climb a volcano, and then at the same time satisfied to get buried in sand.

“We saw some paddle-boarders far out in the water. Jackie got excited–” Jackie’s enthusiasm was heightened by this idea too, and she nodded in agreement with her own decision. “She wanted to try that after,” Josh told me, huffing out a long sigh to relax and trying to shake some water off of his body and away from his blue and white swim trunks. Propping the surfboard upright, he leaned his weight against the side of it as he settled himself down and waited for us, his brown eyes watching the area with a lazy gaze. His skin was just about as tan as Daniel’s from the sunshine.

“Wow. Productive,” I praised my brother and daughter, staring at my husband with a teasing anticipation. He’d moved away from my side, and now stood beside the second surfboard we’d rented, which was propped up in between my beach chair and the palm tree behind it.

“Hey!” Daniel started to acknowledge my quip, returning to the family after a distracted pause from staring at the board. “I’m productive!” He tried to counter as he made a comical miming of swimming and surfing motions, before falling back into my chair.

“Right now, you’re less productive than our six-year-old.”

“Who says I won’t help her with a sandcastle? Or help her try to stay on a paddleboard that you might steer?” Daniel asked with a challenge. He turned to Jackie next. “I’ll race you to find a spot to build. You wanna do it? Are you gonna beat me? Find a better spot than me? Build a better castle than me? I know you’ll do it. We gotta do it. Let’s go!” Daniel challenged his daughter, getting into the track runner stance. When Jackie spun in a circle one more time, Daniel jumped from his position. Only to make a theatrical flop, face-planting like he wanted that to happen, against the sand. Jackie squealed while Daniel tried his best to flop like a fish in the sand — without getting sand all over himself, like that idea was going to work well.

“There! Our daughter! Put the camera down and go have fun with her!”

My daughter’s happiness was the only thing I needed, in this world and for the weekend. I wasn’t about to go watch or follow my husband to climb a volcano, though. But there was nothing more in this world that I wanted than to see what I was looking at. My child getting an over-the-top stumbling piggyback ride from her father along the beach; my family smiling and laughing among themselves. Sure, maybe I could also enjoy a fruity drink from a coconut — while I’m here.

“Alright. But only if her mother joins in on the fun!” He yelled back to me as he carefully set his cameras down onto the towel near my beach chair, and ran to our daughter.

“Hey, Emma! Come on, get over here!” Carly called. Excited giggles fell from her mouth, echoing in my ears as she, Josh, my parents, and Jackie made their way to an area of sand. Daniel and I jogged to meet my family.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Emma! Come on, let’s go!” Carly yelled once I got myself out of the water. I watched as Daniel cradled Jackie, carrying the giggling child as if she were an infant again out of the water onto the adjoining damp sand. Tugging the planks of wood out of the remaining water, I helped Josh haul the two paddleboards and their remaining articles of gear back towards the rental canopy.

Daniel tossed me my towel, button-up cover-up, and shorts, and I dried myself off. Following my family, we diverged around scattered towels and broad umbrellas. We all then made our way up the wooden steps and began a light stroll across the dark wood of the wide, bustling boardwalk, scanning around between the occupied walkway on the left and the expansive sandy terrain below the railing to the right.

“Excuse me?” Josh called out to a pair of tourists walking past our family, ending our sightseeing for a minute.

A young woman turned away from her partner to face us. A large tan sun hat sat on top of auburn brown hair with honey blonde tips lying against her collarbone. As she turned, I recognized the cute polka-dot shirt, with a pair of shorts and sandals. While she and I made our own scans between ourselves and the company we were in, my mouth twitched with the idea to ask where she’d gotten the shirt. Before I could ask her, the same shadowed stare I felt like I was getting earlier returned to meet me. Even through the purple floral print on their trims, the sunglasses she had on only exaggerated her dull expression. With the recognition of my brother, her features flipped into an automatic faked smile I hated even doing myself.

“Would you mind taking a picture for us? Souvenir family photos for after the vacation, you know?” Josh asked as he shuffled through his backpack for his phone. 

“Oh, yeah. Of course,” she smiled at Josh. Amber eyes were soon revealed from behind her glasses which she used to push her hair back so they could be situated securely on top of her head.

He smiled at her before handing his phone to the woman. While we stood against the railing facing the lively multitude of stores, the girl stepped back and held the phone away from her. After he’d had his fill of standing in the spotlight, Daniel pulled away from us for his own round of photos, hopping to stand beside the other camerawoman as he set his own camera to his eyes. Standing side by side together, my family and I smiled as the cameras clicked a few times, encompassing our group against the lovely ocean backdrop.

“Thank you,” Josh smiled, retrieving his phone.

“You’re welcome. Enjoy the rest of your trip, guys,” she replied with what looked like a genuine smile to us this time before she and her partner returned to a larger party.

“Thank you again. You too,” I called back. Watching her glance back at me for a brief second, the smile dropped off her face immediately.

We soon heard Carly inhale sharply and let out a small squeak. “I want to do that!” Her hand launched forward as she pointed to what looked like a mural in the distance. “Let’s go!” She called, turning to Josh, Daniel, and I, gripping our arms and pulling us towards a shop on the boardwalk.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

With Daniel’s hand around my own, I felt the wrapping protecting my forearm slick against my skin as I tried to make sure it wasn’t going to be rubbed by too much pressure and disturb the ink. After our spur-of-the-moment visit, leaving the parlor felt freeing; returning to the sunshine and the boardwalk to continue window shopping. With the beautiful images I’d seen from the short time I had looking at the booklet still overlapping in my head, I unconsciously traced each of their outlines, deciding to reimagine a design; my fingers moving to combine the silhouettes into a cohesive image against my uncovered arm while we walked.

I figured some of my family would see me moving my fingers — they always liked to watch me draw. Daniel’s eyes followed my “pencil” fingertip glide over my arm. Even Jackie couldn’t take her eyes off me when she saw me, stumbling as she tried to multitask: skipping in between us and watching whatever art I’d make.

With my arm wrapping around Jackie after I’d finished my creation, we joined the beach-goers flooding the walkways again.

Footsteps echoed through the wind while we intermingled in several crowds on our search for more sights to see.

My heartbeat sped up as I could hear a set of footsteps pound against the wooden path harder than most of the other sight-seers.

Closer than most of the other sight-seers around me.

I flinched, feeling a slight tingle spread down my neck as my hairs inched upwards. Shuddering, I threw my sweater against my torso before goosebumps crawled over my body. Like the sweater was a barrier, the one shield I could count on to hide myself from the world — even with so many bystanders, many of which unaware of us.

Compared to how sensitive I became around them. I willed myself to keep walking; I never wanted to take a look around myself and have to confirm that something was still not right. Not again. Just catch up with and keep up with my family so we’d stay together. Maybe that would help the cover I needed from being glared at like someone had a high-powered telescope trained on me.

She seems to be enjoying herself… The comment from the attendant who helped us returned to my head as I glanced down to Jackie, thankful that she was still keeping stride with the rest of us. I replayed her giggling she’d kept up during the day — I knew she had been enjoying herself, just as any of us were. But I was careful to watch her, make sure she wouldn’t skip off away from where I could see her; between strangers — or unknowingly directly into a stranger. With the amount of people coming and going on the boardwalk now, my grip tightened around her hand, making sure that I wasn’t going to be hurting her as we moved with my hold.

With my periphery focused on Jackie to keep her with me, I tried to use that glance to check over my shoulders.

The compliment about our seemingly fun time on the beach bounced between my ears like a boomerang. Thankfully, it kept me alert, my downcast head starting a slow swinging for my ears to try to pinpoint if anyone nearby was actually speaking that same sentence to us now.

I didn’t want this to be seen as too peaceful a moment that it caught us off guard enough for whoever had caught my attention to use it to make a move.

I was not about to be separated from my family, let alone — god forbid, my daughter.

Nothing but overlapping and unrelated chatter met my thankful ears.

I checked the other members of my family, farther ahead of us, I knew that they, along with the other bystanders, would be enough of a challenge if someone wanted to drag us backwards.

When I watched my family members’ backs, shifting from their steps, I checked up on Jackie again.

A quick pressure helped bring me back to attention. Ripping my head up from staring at my daughter, I balled my unoccupied fist and snarled. Thankfully, my hand was being gripped by my husband, trying to relax and reassure me, and my shoulders sagged while I released my prepared hand. Turning to him, I caught sight of Daniel. His own shoulders looked like they were hunching over himself. Like he wanted to protect himself; or make sure he could shield and protect the smaller Jackie if he needed to. He looked at me from hooded eyes, his head raising just slightly to make sure I could see him as he was, not a stranger who’d taken his place.

The pulse I felt in my own hand, and the protruding veins in his arm were compared to the double squeeze he gave my hand that was pressed against Jackie. When he and I were both familiar with ourselves again after our disassociation, he spoke to me to check up on me.

“You okay?” He asked, the question made as if a whisper, almost lost among the commotions from the others walking alongside us on the path. The question also pulled my breath from my mouth and sent a shiver up my back. I knew it was nothing but comfort from a loved one. But the whisper almost got me to wrench my hand away from him. I almost tripped over my own feet moving like I needed to get away from the strange voice that just tried to communicate with me.

My mind soon went into overdrive. A conversation caught my attention:

Okay… Now that she and her family seem to be enjoying themselves enough. We need her or her husband. … You, you keep yourself out of the way.

This I heard as loud as the ringing from the door bells in the shops. The noise, which sounded like a command, came to me as sudden as mist. What I thought had been a whisper like what Daniel had asked of me not long ago came far clearer to me. As if the speaker was directly behind me, making the unsettling demand only into my ear.

I almost crumpled to the ground, the idea sent a blinding light to disorient me —  even through my sunglasses. When I finished what might have been my fifth turn to check over my shoulder, I returned to find we were facing the parking lot now. Daniel helped guide me out of my spinning state, though my headspace was another story that tangled in me.

The young woman with the polka-dot shirt turned away from the truck she came to and faced us. Her amber eyes were quick to meet mine. I saw her smile; she gave me a short, sheepish wave. The others which she was with all heaved themselves into the car with their own mysterious glances at me. 

For a group of people I’d only seen for the first time today, they all appeared to be more than dedicated to following us for a longer period of time.

They were determined to keep an eye on me.

Why my family? Why me, of all people? The sweat pooling on my forehead and my racing thoughts proved that nothing in me wanted to find out.

With my parents checking up on everyone, and my own headcount being confirmed, we set ourselves in our cars, while the others finished doing the same.

Thankfully my family and I were able to leave faster than the two trucks.

Or so we thought.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“G’night!” Carly exclaimed her final whoop of the day.

After Josh and my parents rose from hugging Jackie goodnight, I got a peck on the cheek from my mother, before I walked her and my father to our front door and waved them good-night again. Then Josh followed Carly up the stairs through one of the doors across the hall. Leaving the three of us to situate ourselves from Daniel and I’s room for the night.

“Okay, little miss,” Daniel picked Jackie up just like he did on the beach, cradling the girl and moving with her toward the queen-sized bed. “Bed-time!” He called out, making a jerk as if he was going to dump his bundle onto the bed.

He cried out when Jackie squealed her rejection. Even when it was early for both of us, 7:30 was still her bedtime; something which, tonight, she wanted to rebel against. No doubt because of her father’s rustling antics, spurring her to a second wind.

When he saw me watching him from across the bed with a stern urging gaze, he perked up, smiling at me before returning his eyes to Jackie.

“Oh, yeah. That’s right. We gotta take care of… cleaning this up!” He huffed out exaggerated growls as his hands flew to tousle Jackie’s hair and he made gentle sets of tickles along her torso.

I was able to make a quick throw of Jackie’s pajamas to Daniel’s arms while he let out a half-faked choked call with Jackie wrapping herself over his upper body to be lifted off the bed.

While Daniel carried Jackie — who stretched her hand out to ask me for help to keep her up; when I shook my head to her pouting face, she dropped the arm, and let it glide along Daniel’s shoulders, tickling him in return (and issuing another of his fake reactions like he’d drop her again) — into the bright en-suite bathroom to get her ready for bed, I got to work on turning down the covers of our bed and drawing the blinds.

When my hand cupped the curtain, my eyes fell to meet the pane of the window.

Reflecting me.

In front of the figure of the girl from the boardwalk.

Backing away from the window with a jump, I watched the reflection stare me down, with the same expression that the first few men had made, not with the one she looked liked she had given me earlier.

I hadn’t even finished pulling the curtain, turning away from the reflection with another shiver trembling up my body.

I stumbled into facing a second reflection. The floor-to-ceiling bedroom mirror repeated — doubled the girl, almost as if the copied hallucinatory forms were sandwiching me in my place.

Still giving off that soul-searching stare.

“What’s wrong?” Daniel responded to the yelp I’d made, arriving back to the bedroom to meet my frozen frame and swiveling eyes.

When my eyes caught Daniel — or at least what I hoped was my Daniel — standing off to the side of the wall mirror with Jackie beside him, my body relaxed, and it was like a weighted blanket had been pulled from over my head.

While he and Jackie faced me in silence, he bent down to Jackie, mumbling to her, until she came toward me.

Hugging my legs, she pulled me out of my daze with a muffled yawn and what I assumed was a sort of “good night, mama,” her drowsy eyes looking up to me.

Not wanting to waste an opportunity or try to change our routine, I pulled her to me, lifting her into my arms to gently swing her onto our bed.

After Daniel had situated himself on the other side of Jackie, he finished his bed-time routine by bending his head down to me, his breath smelled like mint, cooling my skin. I kissed Jackie on the top of her head, with Daniel doing the same, then kissing the top of my head while I hummed Jackie to sleep.