Page 33 of Butch

“Oh my goodness,” she whispered, staring at it in awe.

Raelynn didn’t take a step toward the stuffed koala. It looked precious. Perfect.

“I even had the lady do something special for you. She said she normally doesn’t do it, but I wanted to make this present something you’ve never seen before,” Reaper said. “Can you guess what that might be?”

She shook her head and took a step back. Rae definitely wasn’t worth having something special done.

“What’s wrong, Little Miss?” Reaper asked. “Do you not want it?”

Rae opened and closed her mouth several times as she tried to tell him she wasn’t worthy of it. She was never going to be worthy of getting a present from him or anybody.

“Hmm, I think I might know why you don’t want to come close to me,” Reaper said as he looked all serious.

Raelynn gripped her hands together as she looked at him, waiting for him to expose her secret.

“It’s because I’m a little smelly, isn’t it? I promise I took a shower before I got here. The sun wasn’t out to make it hot either, so I didn’t sweat. I promise I don’t stink.” Reaper cracked a smile. “Why don’t you come say hi to your new friend? And maybe then you can see what I added to it.”

Her gaze went over to Daddy, who gave her an encouraging nod. But she still wasn’t so sure if she should go over to him and see what was going on.

“I’m not going to bite, Little Miss,” Reaper coaxed. “I thought we were close to each other and that you would accept this gift, but maybe I was wrong. Which is quite a bummer because I was so excited to give this to you. I had everything planned out and was going to show you just how unique this little stuffed animal was.”

Guilt formed in Raelynn’s stomach as he talked.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Why are you sorry when you’ve done nothing wrong?” Reaper asked.

“Because I don’t deserve it. I’ve done nothing to deserve a present from you,” she confessed before she could stop herself. “I don’t deserve you asking somebody to do something special on it when I’ve done nothing.”

Realization flashed across Reaper’s face. “Oh, Little Miss, but you have done so much for me. You’ve given me a little sister when I didn’t think I would ever get one again. I know we aren’t blood-related, but I still consider you a sister. You act like my sister used to act. If it’s okay with you, I would like to treat you as a little sister, not a replacement, but as another sibling. Someone I can dote on and can spoil rotten. Someone to be there when you need a shoulder to cry on when your Daddy makes a mistake and you get angry. Would you like that?”

Rae nodded before she could stop herself. She had never had something like that. Sure, when Butch had first arrived, he was like an older brother, but that dynamic quickly changed before it ever got to settle. Butch had made sure it changed so she never had a chance to really see him as a brother, and everything became awkward.

“Good. Then why don’t you come over here and accept this gift. Let me spoil you,” Reaper said as he held out the stuffed koala.

She quickly walked over to him and looked at the koala.

“Can you spot what’s special about her?” Reaper asked.

Her eyes scanned the whole stuffed animal to try to find out what was different.

“I don’t know,” she mumbled after a while.

Maybe him saying something was different was just a ploy to get her close to him.

“Look at the left ear,” he suggested.

Her eyes narrowed in on the left ear, and a small gasp left her lips.

“No,” she mumbled. “You didn’t.”

“But I did. I wanted to give you this right away after your implant activation, but Butch wouldn’t let anybody near you, so I had to wait. I wanted to show you that you aren’t in this alone. This little koala also just got a cochlear implant and needs a buddy to go through with it. It can be pretty scary, and the koala would like a friend so that she isn’t alone,” Reaper explained. “So, do you think you can be the koala’s friend? Do you think you’ll be okay if you have a buddy to go through this with?”

Tears streamed down her face as she nodded, trying to calm her eyes, still focused on the koala’s ear.

“Oh, Little Miss, I didn’t mean to make you cry,” he gently said. “Do you want to give the koala a hug?”

She grabbed the koala and wrapped her arms around it, holding it tightly. Tears turned into sobs as she hugged it even tighter.