“Ooh! I like swimming, too! I wanna be a mermaid,” she announced.
I laughed and gave her a hug. “You'd make a lovely mermaid, Jane. Well, since I've told you what a mermaid is, would you like to watch a movie about one?”
“Is the mermaid pretty like you?”
I laughed. “You're such a lil' sweetie, aren't you? Thank you for the compliment. Yes, the mermaid in the movie is pretty, very pretty.”
“Yeah! I wanna watch it! Let's watch The Little Mermaid.”
“Just to be courteous, we'll see what your daddy says about it.”
“Daddy always lets me watch whatever movies I wanna watch. He'll say yes, I just know he will.”
“I think if you and I both ask him very nicely ... then yeah, he'll say yes.”
Just then Everett came into the room. I saw immediately from the expression on his face that something was bothering him, but as soon as he saw us, it seemed that he did his best to put on a big smile. I could see, however, the worry lurking behind his eyes. Still, it seemed that at this moment he didn't want to discuss it, so I didn't push it.
“Here's your medicine, sweet pea,” he said to Jane and knelt down next to her with a spoonful of medicine. “I don't know how it's gonna taste, but you have to have it, alright? You can have a piece of chocolate after you have it. So, open wide, and drink all of it, okay?”
Jane nodded, and he gave her the spoonful of medicine, which she swallowed without complaint.
“Good girl,” he said, and he handed her the chocolate, which she took with a smile and popped into her mouth.
“The medicine was a little yucky,” she remarked. “But this chocolate is very yummy!”
He ruffled her hair playfully. “Have we reached a consensus about what we're going to watch?” he asked.
“Well, both of us agree The Little
Mermaid would be an ideal choice,” I commented.
He laughed. “Alright, alright, I'm sure we can find that on the smart TV.”
“Yay!” exclaimed Jane. “We're gonna watch The Little Mermaid!”
“Since when do you know what The Little Mermaid is, sweet pea?” Everett asked, looking amused.
“Vivienne told me all about mermaids, Daddy! They're real pretty, they live under the sea, and they're like girls and like fish! I wanna be a mermaid!”
He looked at me, and a deep affection glowed with warmth in his eyes.
“Looks like you're a good influence on this one,” he said to me.
“I try,” I replied with a smile. “But you only need to go look in a mirror to see where the best influence in her life is coming from.”
He smiled at me.
“I try, too,” he said. “Come on, I got some chips and soda, let's settle down and enjoy the movie.”
TWO HOURS LATER
“How much of the movie do you think she saw?” I asked.
“Maybe half. Then it was lights out. Come on, let's put her to bed. She's still running a bit of a temperature, and the doctor said she's going to need a lot of rest.”
He picked up the sleeping form of Jane and gently carried her to her room. I trailed behind them and watched as he lovingly slipped her under the covers, pulled them up over her, and then gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead.
“Good night sweet pea,” he whispered. After that, he tiptoed out of the room and took my hand.