Slowly reaching out so he didn’t scare her, Emmett placed his hands around her waist and guided her to sit and cuddle against him.
Pleased that she didn’t pull away and that he didn’t trigger the panic attack to get worse, Emmett wrapped his arms around Rae and hugged her tightly.
He understood that deep pressure therapy would help ease the attack quicker.
“Daddy is here, Little Duckling. It’s going to be okay.”
Emmett continued to hold her and whisper to her that Daddy was here and wasn’t going anywhere.
Slowly her shaking eased and the whimpering that was slowly breaking his heart quieted down. He could tell that she was regaining her presence in reality.
Nevertheless, Emmett didn’t stop his sweet words of encouragement.
“Daddy?” he heard Rae whisper to him.
“Yes sweet girl, Daddy is right here.” Pleased that she didn’t look disgusted at his words, Emmett mentally filed away that information for later when Rae was feeling back to normal.
“I’m sorry I freaked out.” he heard her timidly say. Needinga little more information from her, Emmett began asking questions about what happened.
“Sweet girl, Daddy needs to know what went wrong. I can’t help you if I don’t understand.”
He watched a blush slowly etch its way across her face before she answered. “I get easily overwhelmed at times. It’s part of the processing disorder that I told you about at breakfast.”
Not wanting to rush her, he patiently waited for her to continue explaining. “I could feel myself getting overwhelmed by all the stimulation around me. I didn’t want to stop playing though, so I just pushed it down and tried to ignore it.”
Halting the growl that was forming in his chest, he squeezed her a little tighter and listened for her next words.
“The little kid beside us had a meltdown about leaving. The screaming was the final straw and it triggered my attack. I didn’t want you to see me like that, so I ran away in here to try to self-regulate. As you can tell, I didn’t do such a good job.”
Emmett kissed her head, “Oh, Little bit. I wish you would have spoken up about how you were feeling. Daddy always wants to help when his Little girl is struggling with something.”
The couple fell into a comfortable silence as Raelyn continued to come back to reality. He felt her hand slightly push against his chest before he saw her adorable green eyes look at him.
“You keep calling yourself Daddy.”
Emmett couldn’t help the small smile that graced his face. “Yes, my darling Duckling. I don’t have any doubt that I’m your Daddy, just like I don’t have any doubt that you are the Little girl that I have been waiting for.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
RAELYN
Raelyn could feel her heart race like a wild horse and she knew that it wasn’t because of the panic attack she just suffered. Staring at him with doe eyes, she was trying to process what he was telling her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not a Little girl.” She denied, looking away before her eyes could betray the lie she had just spoken. Emmett’s face showed many emotions before it settled on one of disapproval.
“Don’t lie to Daddy, Little bit. That’s a naughty thing to do.”
Feeling chastised, Rae bit her lip and nodded at him.
“This isn’t the appropriate time or place to discuss this, but we will have this conversation.”
“Yes, Sir”
Feeling more like herself, Rae pushed against his chest to move off of Emmett’s lap.
The squeeze that she felt around her waist halted her efforts. Settling down, she looked up at him with a question in hereyes.
“I want to make sure you are okay from that attack. Plus, I like holding you in my arms so why don’t you appease an old man and just continue to cuddle here with me for a few more minutes.”
