“You want to go get some lunch?” I asked Rebel, picking her up off the floor.
She signed eat, nodding like a little bobble-head.
“Okay, lets get you some pants, then.” I carried her into her bedroom and set her down on the floor. “You can’t go out when you don’t have clothes on,” I told her as I grabbed some long socks out of her dresser. “Remember that when you get older. Not only would you be cold, but I’m never letting you out of the house without pants—so don’t even try it.”
Reb watched me with a smile as I grabbed some little purple pants and a sweater that matched out of her dresser.
“Some day, your feet are going to fit in these socks,” I informed her as I sat her down and pulled Molly’s socks off her legs. “Then we’ll have to find you some super long ones so you can pull them way up your legs. Bet you could use mine when the time comes, I’ve got pretty big feet.”
I took off her glasses and set them aside before pulling off the little shirt she was wearing and putting a little white one right back on, snapping it in place. I didn’t want her to get cold. Shit, maybe I needed to talk to Molly about turning her furnace up.
“You need a Harley shirt,” I informed Rebel as I pulled her little pants up and over her diaper. “Or a sweatshirt, since it’s getting cold out. You want me to get you one?”
She smiled, her eyes unfocused without her glasses.
“Okay, sweater on,” I said as I pulled the little penguin sweater over her head. “There, now we can put your specs back on. How’s that? Should we go show Mama how good we did?”
“Mama,” Rebel said loudly.
“I’m right here,” Molly said from the doorway, fully dressed in some jeans and a sweater that just barely hung off one shoulder.
I wondered if she’d been watching me the whole time.
“How’d I do, coach?” I asked, getting up off the floor as Reb climbed to her feet and hurried toward Molly.
“You did good,” Molly murmured, giving me a soft smile as she bent over to pick up Rebel. “Rebel, my love, we need to do something with that hair.”
Rebel scrunched up her shoulders and shook her head slowly, making me laugh. Every time her head moved, little flyaway curls that were sticking up from the top of her head weaved back and forth.
“Quick ponytail,” Molly said seriously, nodding her head.
They left me standing in the middle of Rebel’s room with a smile on my face.
Chapter 9
Molly
“I think I need to take her to the doctor,” I told Will groggily a few weeks after Reb started calling me Mama. I stumbled out of bed for the second time that night. “This can’t be normal.”
“Mama!” Reb yelled, the sound blaring through the baby monitor in my room. “Mama!”
“I can’t believe she’s awake again,” Will rasped, sitting up as he rubbed at the scraggly beard on his face. He hadn’t trimmed it in a while, and he was beginning to look like a doomsday prepper, complete with bloodshot eyes and a perpetual scowl on his face. We’d been spending every night together for weeks, and we both usually woke up the next morning feeling like crap because we’d barely gotten any sleep.
I glanced at the clock as I stumbled out of the room, noticing that it had been only an hour since I’d gotten Rebel to sleep the last time she’d woken up. I couldn’t decide if her sleeping habits were getting worse, or if it just seemed like they were because I was so freaking tired.
“Why are you awake again?” I whispered to Rebel as I walked into her room to find her standing up in her crib. “It’s time to be asleep, boo.”
“Mama,” she replied¸ her tired eyes brightening as I reached for her and lifted her into my arms. Her head immediately went to my shoulder as I cuddled her against my chest. She was exhausted, and I couldn’t understand why she was having such a hard time sleeping.
“Want me to sing the bedtime song?” I asked softly. She nodded her head against the side of my neck, so I started singing “Ten in the Bed,” closing my eyes as I swayed from side to side. When I finished the song, her body was relaxed against mine, but when I went to lay her back down, her little fists gripped the t-shirt that I’d worn to bed.
“Come on, baby,” I murmured, sighing. “You have to go back to sleep.”
I was almost in tears as I started the song again. I was so exhausted.
About halfway through the second verse of the song, I turned my head to see Will quietly walking into the room.