Here Comes the Sun | ✓

Chapter Twenty-Three - Liam

Chapter Twenty-Three. Liam

I blink open my eyes, and her face is beautiful.

        Her entire being is beautiful.

        Her eyes are locked on mine and my heart hammers in my chest, leaving me to silently supress the urge for me to touch the side of her face where there are no flaws. None at all. The soft corners of her lips curve up and she does what I had been resisting to do: reaches for me and touches my cheek.

        I blink hard, completely convinced this is a dream, but it's not. I open my eyes and she's still there. I take my hand away from under my pillow and touch her hand that lies on my cheek. Her hand is warm, and her small fingers are engulfed in my large grasp. I fold my hand into hers, our fingers interwining with one another and our grasp falling off my cheek and onto the cold space between us on the mattress.

        "Good morning," she whispers, her voice clear as if she's been awake for hours.

        I feel myself smiling and I squeeze her hand. "Good morning."

        Her brown eyes scan my blue ones, as if making sure nothing is out of place. "Did you sleep well?"

        "Yes."

        We stay silent for a second, soaking in each other's presence. How did this happen? I ask myself. A girl in my bed... after only knowing her for how many days? Three? Four? I've lost count. Days are blending in with each other, but each memory with her is bold in my mind, as if they're inked into my head.

        When she sighs, I don't know how, but I know I'm not the only one supressing something. "Something's wrong."

        She parts her gaze from mine. "Don't worry about it," she says. "I'm fine."

        I open my mouth to apologize when a little body tackles me and flattens me on my bed. "What the heck are you doing, little man?" I laugh, past worries seeming to fade all because of the beaming smile of my son's.

        He giggles, lying in the middle of me and Libby and where our hands slowly detangle beneath Jere's head. "Why are you here?" he asks, turning to Libby with a smile while trying to snuggle beneath the covers with us.

        She glances at me, but then finally comes out with, "Just visiting. I missed y'all too much!"

        Jere's smile grows broader and he flips over to where he's facing me. "We missed you too, didn't we Daddy?"

        I'm too embarrassed to look at her, so I smile a small smile and look down at him with his ratty bedhead and his shining blue eyes. "Absolutely."

        Jere squirms beneath the covers to where he's tucked against me, snuggling his head against the pillow I'm resting on - at least, was resting on - and staring at Libby as if she were a lovely, out-of-a-fairytale-book goddess. "You're really pretty," he says, reaching out to pet her haphazard, pixie hair.

        A warm smile spreads on her clean face, and she reaches up from beneath the covers to pet his curly hair too. "And you're really handsome."

      He laughs, burying his face in my pillow as if to hide his pleasure. "No, silly, Daddy's handsome! I'm cute!"

        She laughs with him, like lights on a rainy day. "You sure are." She pauses, then meets my eyes that have been gazing down at her. "You both are."

     Before I can reply, Jere interrupts with another one of his no-boundary questions that five-year-olds always seem to have up their sleeve. "Why do you have a boy's haircut?"