Page 21 of Smoke
Eloise walked by holding a rolled up rainbow rug. “Hi, Ashley!” she exclaimed, dropping the rug on the floor and rushing to give me a hug. “How do you feel?”
“Um, better.” Why were they all here?
I looked up at Dawson to find him grinning.
“I have a surprise for you,” he said.
“For me?”
“We’ve been working very hard on it the whole time you were napping,” he added. Taking my hand he guided me to the stairs that led to a loft space in his home. He helped me up them one by one until we reached the top.
“There’s our girl,” Blade said, looking up from drilling what looked like a small bed together.
“My girl,” Dawson corrected, making my Little surge with pride.
“Well, let’s showyourgirl what we’ve been working on.” Bash laughed.
Dawson put his hand on the small of my back and swept his arm around the room. “I wanted you to have a safe place to go that was bigger than just your closet. This loft is away from everything and super quiet. I thought it would be a good place for you to have a playroom. I tried to base the colors off ofyour blankets and cloth bins. The walls were already gray, so I thought maybe you’d like it if we painted the furniture bright colors. Blade and I made a bed for you. I know the room is a bit small, so we raised the bed a bit so you could have toy storage underneath. Blade and Bash worked on the toy box and bookshelf while Eloise, Ally, and I ran to Target to get some fun things to add to the walls,” he said, motioning to each piece as he talked. The toy box was purple and the bookshelf was teal. They’d done a wonderful job matching everything because the rainbow rug really pulled everything together.
They did this all for me?my Little asked.
“You did this for me?” I asked out loud.
“Of course, babygirl. Don’t you understand how special you are to all of us?” Dawson asked.
“I found the bag, Uncle Smoke!” Ally said, rushing up the stairs.
“Careful!” Bash reminded her. “Walking feet!”
When she saw me she tossed the bag on the ground, much like Eloise had the rug. “Hi! How do you feel?” she asked, walking over to me.
“Better,” I answered.
She hugged me gently. “We were so worried about you,” she said, pulling back from me.
“You were?”
“Of course, silly goose! You’re our friend!”
“Thank you all for doing this, i-it really means a lot to me and um… my Little,” I struggled.
“We’re glad to have you both in our lives,” Blade said, looking back at me from where he was installing hooks in the wall.
“Here, Daddy,” Eloise said, picking up the bag and handing it to him. He unfolded the fabric inside and hung the most adorable tapestry on the largest wall in the loft. It had a big rainbow with tiny forest animals on it.
“Bunnies!” I squealed before slapping my hands over my mouth, but I was only met with encouraging smiles.
I love it here!
Me too, baby.
“Thank you all so, so much. I’ve never had this before.. And I’m really thankful,” I told them.
“You’ve never had a playroom before?” Eloise asked. “I didn’t either, not before Daddy.”
“Me neither,” Ally added.
“No… I mean...” I struggled.
