Page 27 of Captivating Little Calla
Just thinking about how many people that would be, all focused on me, sent my mind spiraling, questioning all my decisions that had gotten me to the conclusion I could own a retail store. Let alone all the animals and other crazy ideas Sadie had been spouting off about.
Then Bobbi was telling Sadie to cool her jets, and Eric had appeared out of nowhere to carry me off to the sensory room. The next time I saw her, Sadie had looked utterly miserable. She kept apologizing for causing my meltdown and promised thatshe and Bobbi would make sure that the whole day stayed at a level I could handle.
That was how my “non-grand opening and absolutely not a birthday party” came about. They’d broken the whole day into hour-time segments, blocking off the last fifteen minutes of each hour for me to have quiet time between rounds of socializing. Then they’d gotten everyone who’d wanted to come on my opening day scheduled evenly over all the time slots, making sure everyone understood the accommodations I needed. They’d even arranged for Becky and Jackie, who both took shifts working in the Ranch’s store, to come and work the day for me, serving customers and making sure everything ran smoothly.
Eric had told them early on that I didn’t like surprises which assured they’d kept me in the loop so I’d always known what was going on and what they were planning. It meant that this morning all I had left to really worry about was if what I was wearing was suitable.
Eric finished with his shoes, and sitting straighter on the bench seat, he widened his legs and held his hand out to me.
“Come closer, my little love.”
He had a glint in his eyes as I shuffled over to him that had me squinting, wondering what he was up to now. Putting my palm in his, he pulled me all the way into the cradle of his body.
“I’ve got a present for you to wear today.”
Anticipation bubbled within me and, grinning, I rose up on my toes bouncing a little as my gaze followed his hand when he reached behind the seat. Turned out I did like surprises if they were presents, and Eric was constantly showering me with gifts. He’d told me he was making up for all the times I’d missed out on things I should have had.
He produced a large box wrapped in shiny purple paper that he held out to me.
“Happy birthday, my sweet girl. The first of many we’ll celebrate together, I promise.”
Taking the box, I leaned over and kissed the corner of his mouth before lowering myself to sit on his leg while I carefully peeled the tape up so I could take the paper off without tearing it. Opening the box within the paper, I gasped at what I saw. The most fabulous shoes I’d ever seen sat surrounded by bright purple tissue paper. Combat style boots made from a deep rich purple suede, with big chunky silver buckles. But the part that made them instantly my new favorite shoes was the small pair of black leather dragon wings. There was one wing on each shoe, each fanning out from where the base was attached to the top three eyelet holes on the boots to form a pair. My hands trembled as I reached to take one out of the box, I held it in front of me as tears tracked down my cheeks.
“Oh, babygirl. Don’t you like them? I’d been sure you would, but if you don’t we can return them.”
I shook my head, signing green without looking away from the shoe I held. They were perfect. Absolutely perfect, just like my Daddy.
Carefully setting the boot back into the box then setting the box onto the seat beside Eric, I stood and cupped his face between my palms. His arms wrapped around my back, holding me tightly against him as I leaned in but stopped short of touching my lips to his. Instead I rubbed my nose against his then held his gaze and spoke words I’d never said to anyone before.
“I love you.”
His eyes widened and his arms tightened then he grinned, happiness shining from his gaze.
“My sweet little Calla Lily, I love you so much, and you have no idea what it means to hear you tell me you feel the same way.”
He cupped the back of my head in his palm and pulled me forward, slanting his lips over mine, kissing me deeply until my knees went weak. Then he lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist as he strode toward our bed.
Grinning, I peppered kisses over his face. We were totally going to be late to the opening, but it would be absolutely worth it.
The End
