Page 14 of Ace

“I think we have a winner,” Ace murmured gently, appearing beside her.

“His name is Bert, Daddy, and I love him!”

“Well, hello, Bert!” Ace stuck his hand out in front of him as if to offer a handshake then frowned. “Bert doesn’t have any arms.”

Lizzie found this hysterical, erupting into peals of joyful laughter. “He’s a stingray, Daddy. They don’t have arms!”

“Ah my mistake,” Ace teased. “We need a few more things, little one. Do you think Bert would like to help you pick them out?”

Picking out more things made her nervous, but she nodded shyly and slid her hand into Ace’s. “What else do we need, Daddy?”

“All the important stuff. A special blanket, a sippy cup, one outfit, one pair of jammies, a coloring book and crayons and a pacifier, I think. That’s just the bare minimum of basics, but I think it will help.”

The pacifier surprised her, but it didn’t make her panic. She was more curious than opposed. “Do they have all that stuff here?” she asked, looking around the crowded shop with huge eyes.

“We do! We have a bit of everything, and if we don’t have something, we know where you can go to get it!” A bouncy older Little with bright-pink pigtails on each side of her head bounded up and patted Bert on the head. “Oh that’s a good choice,” she said appreciatively before sticking her hand out in front of Lizzie. “I’ve met your Daddy at the aquarium, but I haven’t met you yet! I’m Alice. That’s my Daddy, Lyle.” Alice tipped her head to indicate the man behind the counter.

“Hi, I’m Lizzie, and this is Bert.” She hated how quiet her voice was, how nervous and unsure.

“You’re scared,” Alice surmised, nodding wisely. “It can all get overwhelming, but there’s no reason to be scared. How about I help you shop? I know exactly where everything is and have really good instincts about what people want and need, or at least my Daddy says I do.”

Alice didn’t wait for an answer before grabbing Lizzie’s free hand and dragging her to a corner of the shop with Ace following. A glass-enclosed rack held bejeweled, custom pacifiers. “I make these myself,” Alice announced proudly. “Daddy says I’m a fiend with a glue gun.”

“And I meant it too!” her Daddy called out, his voice carrying through the store as he let them know he was keeping a close eye on the situation.

“They’re beautiful,” Lizzie said carefully. They were, but she still wasn’t a hundred percent comfortable with the pacifier thing and felt strange picking one out with Ace standing there watching her. Luckily, Alice had no such hesitation as she pulled a key from the apron, and unlocked the case, pulling out a black velvet tray of the sparkly binkies. Alice hummed as her hand hovered over the selection until she finally picked up a pale pink one with pastel blue and yellow gemstones on it. “This one. It was made for you,” she proclaimed, pressing it into a gift box and placing it in Lizzie’s hand. “It matches Bert too.”

And that was that. Alice pulled her all through the store, working the same magic in each department, until Lizzie had been outfitted with a marine life coloring book with both crayons and colored pencils, a soft ocean-blue blanket, fuzzy onesie pajamas covered in narwhals, and two different outfits. One was a pink pair of overalls and a blue-and-pink-striped onesie, and the other a twirly dress with buttons down the front, a peter-pan collar and pockets. The dozens of oceanic creatures depicted in the fabric were absolutely obnoxiously adorable and she’d never even dreamed of owning anything like it. Of course when Daddy caught her eyeing a pair of black Mary Janes, he added those to the pile and shushed her before she could protest, taking everything but Bert from her arms and stalking to the cash register. When they got there, she pulled her wallet out of the back pocket of her skirt and Daddy stepped in front of her shaking his head. “I’ve got it,” he said, pulling a chain from his pocket until he revealed a thick black leather wallet attached to it.

“No, I can get it,” Lizzie argued. “You don’t need to buy me things.”

Lyle just shook his head and started to ring up the items while Ace turned toward her with a smirk and a raised brow. “Are you arguing with Daddy, little girl?”

That shut her up quick, and though the total made her wince, she stayed silent as he paid. “Thank you, Daddy,” she said graciously. “I love it all.”

He just smiled and took the bags, shifting them to his other hand so he could take hers.

“Where are we going now?” she wondered out loud.

“I haven’t decided yet,” Daddy answered.

In the end, they ended up back in his room, a fact for which Lizzie was secretly grateful. She was still feeling ripped raw and vulnerable, and the only thing she was sure about in this new experience was Ace.

As if he knew that, Ace patiently took control once again, helping her out of the clothes she’d worn over and into her new overall get-up.

“Is this okay?” Ace asked as he buckled the overall straps over her chest. “Or would you rather wear the dress? I should have asked first.”

“The dress is special and I want to save it for something special,” Lizzie assured him. “But if we do go to the aquarium, can I wear it then?”

“That sounds like a deal,” Ace agreed jovially before his face got serious. “Will you be really disappointed if we don’t go to the aquarium today?”

Lizzie shrugged. Besides just being with her Daddy it was the one thing she was most excited to do, but if she didn’t get to go today it just gave her an excuse to come back.

“We can go if you want, but I had some other plans I thought you might enjoy.”

“Okay.” Lizzie licked her lips, her breath catching as she looked up at her Daddy’s imposing form.

“Get your coloring book and crayons out and sit at the table,” Ace instructed. “I’m going to fill your cup with juice and get you a snack and then we will talk while you color.”