ARELLA (A Mafia Story)

Twenty-Five

Freya

"Chunky butt? Can you leave Cerberus alone, please? He's trying to take a nap, exactly what you should be doing right now." I plead with the baby.

She shakes her head at me, wiggling closer to Cerberus in his dog bed. He's rolled over onto his side, letting Arella lean against his belly. The dog is panting with his tongue lolled out the side of his mouth.

He's in heaven with her. Those two haven't been apart since we brought Damon home a couple days ago. He's even got her sleeping in her toddler bed. Cerberus will crawl his big body in with her, snuggling until she wakes up for her midnight feed.

Often, Arella will wake during the night to nurse. It's a comfort thing and it puts her right back to sleep. I'll be sad when the day comes that she doesn't want to nurse from me anymore.

"Well, little lady, you need your bum changed. Cerberus can come with us. Okay?" I can see her diaper sagging from here.

She's refused a diaper change for the past hour. It's getting to the point where her diapers getting ready to leak.

The baby pouts and huffs, crossing her arms over her chest. Gosh, she's developed such a little attitude now that she's comfortable with us. I can't even be upset about it. She's made so much progress since being out of her sperm donors care.

"Cerberus, come!" I command, snapping my fingers and pointing to the ground in front of me.

He grunts, standing up and stretching his rump in the air, lazily trotting towards me. The action sends Arella falling to her back on his dog bed.

She quickly turns over onto her hands and leg, crawling over to the two of us.

Bending over, I pick up Arella and turn to Cerberus commanding, "Follow."

He trots upstairs right by my side and follows me into the nursery. Laying my daughter down on her changing table, I get to work changing her diaper. Like I suspected, she has a little bit of a rash.

"That's why you need to let me change your bum. You got an owie on your girl parts now." I explain to her, grabbing a wipe from the warmer.

She shrieks in pain when I gently wipe her. I instantly feel bad. I should've changed her earlier and just let her fight me on it. My poor baby girl.

"Mama will put some stuff on it that will make it feel better. It's okay." I'm grabbing the cream out of the drawer under her changing table, when Damon comes bustling into the room.

"Why is my baby crying?" He demands to know.

My husband looks ragged. He's wearing a pair of old sweats and no shirt. There's a bandage tapped to his incision site and his skin tone is slightly paled.

"She has a diaper rash. It hurt when I wiped her. I'm putting some ointment on it now."

Arella's cries rise in volume when she spots Damon, playing it up for her daddy. He's at her side instantly, soothing her while I finish the diaper change. Once her onesie is buttoned up again, he lifts her and presses her close to his chest.

"Daddy's got you, my love. No more owies. Hush now." He paces the room while rubbing her back.

Cerberus whines from his spot by the door, concerned about his new favorite human. I call him forward to let him check on Arella. He's on her in a second, sniffing her foot and giving it little licks.