Page 24 of Jade

“I think this means I’m your Daddy. I feel like your Daddy. I want to be your Daddy. Is that okay with you? Would you like that?”

“Yes!” she cried. “Yes, yes!” Her face lit up with a triumphant smile. He could see that her tears were happy ones.

Still, she’d cried so much her face was blotchy, her dark brown skin mottled with dried tears. Her nose was running and she was sniffling every few minutes.

“Come on, little one.” Standing, with her still in his arms he carried her to the bathroom and set her down on the closed toilet seat, with her skirt fanned out around her. She winced and hissed when her bottom hit the cold plastic.

“What are we doing, Daddy?”

Grabbing the toilet paper, he ripped off a large piece, folded it, and held it up to her nose. “We’re getting you cleaned up. Now, blow.”

She giggled, looking relieved and did as she was told, blowing hard. He folded the tissue again and repeated the command before throwing it in the garbage. Next he reached for the towel rack and grabbed a fresh washcloth, turning the water on in the sink, and letting it warm up before he wet the cloth.

“I’m going to wash your face right up,” he told her, gently applying the wet cloth first to her tired and red eyes and then to her blotchy cheeks.

She closed her eyes and moaned. “That feels good. Thank you.”

“No problem.” He finished and dropped the washcloth in the sink before lifting her back into his arms.

She squealed and wrapped hers around his neck. “Now what, Daddy?”

“Now, we should talk.”

“Can we talk while lying on the bed? Is that okay?”

He could see the questions in her eyes as she asked. She had needs and feelings and wondered if lying on the bed together was inappropriate given his position as a pastor. He had the same questions, and he knew they would have to address the sexual tension between them before the night was over, but first, they had more pressing matters to discuss. If she wanted to discuss those matters lying side by side on a bed, that was okay with him. He figured intimacy was an important part of aftercare. It had to be.

Gently laying her against the pillows, he pulled her skirt down around her and laid on his side, facing her.

“What now?” she asked.

“What now indeed?” He reached out to tuck an errant braid behind her ear. “We need to figure out what this means for us and where we go from here.”

“Did you know that only every other room on this floor has a kitchenette and sitting room? That door there is locked, but Baze wanted people to have the option of adjoining rooms, for like, ya know… nurseries and stuff.”

“That’s very interesting, but eleven-year-olds probably don’t need nurseries, and if I had a Little girl of my own, I’d want her to sleep in bed with me.”

She blushed and looked down at the comforter. “I like having my own room with my own things. And I thought you might want me to… you know… in case… because…”

“Ah.” He understood. Once again, she was thinking about sex. Her brain kept going there. It was a conversation they were going to have to have sooner rather than later. “In case my beliefs require me to remain celibate until I am married?”

She nodded, then gulped.

“They do not. I think it’s clear that my personal beliefs are different than the ones we both grew up around or I wouldn’t have wound up here.”

“So… does that mean…?” She reached for him and he caught her hand, stopping her.

“I believe that I do need to be in a committed relationship with the intention of heading toward marriage,” he said sternly. “And if we don’t stop going off on tangents and have the rest of the conversations needed to define our relationship, we will never get to that point.”

She pulled her hand back like she’d been scalded. “Understood. What conversations do we need to have?”

“Several. For starters, now that we’ve agreed to make things official, how quickly do you want to move? Would you like to move in here? Do you need to wait? Should we talk to Baze?”

“We should talk to Baze, but I don’t really want to wait. I still want to be able to go up and hang out with my friends, sometimes they struggle with change, especially when it happens fast, but I want to be here, with you, as much as possible.”

“I want that too.” He kissed her forehead. “What if you go and hang out with them each morning after breakfast until lunchtime? They nap after lunch, and you can sit in the chapel with me and do your schoolwork, just like you’ve been doing.”

Her brow furrowed. “If you are my Daddy, then I don’t hafta follow Baze’s rules. Will I still have to do schoolwork?”