Watching Her Work Part II
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“She has a mother much stronger than that.” He rested his chin on her shoulder as he watched her steady hands tie the stone into the chain. “I am very proud of you, January. You must know how proud I am. You overcame such adversity; such fear and such heartbreak to raise the most incredible little girl. I am in awe of you. Your strength is superior to anyone else I have ever met.”
“I lost myself because of you, Gulliver. I will never let myself become so consumed by another man again. I wrapped so much of my own identity in us, in being your wife, that I didn’t think I could exist without you. I learned I could. I will never let myself be so foolish again with any man.”
“I understand. I don’t want you to feel that I would expect you to give up who you are January.”
“Good because I won’t.”
He turned his head a fraction and kissed her cheek softly, stealing it from her and smiling when she didn’t pull away or smack at him. “This piece is exquisite by the way. You fashioned the chain too? Each little piece by hand?”
“Yes.”
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“It’s impeccably done. Whoever ordered this is going to be
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Watching Her Work Part II
thrilled with the outcome.”
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“Thanks. I hope they love it. Lottie arranged the commission. She gets the basics. I provide a few sketches based on what she gets from the client, and they go back and forth until we get the final version of the plan.”
“This is beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
“Will you make my ring?”
The quiet whispered question made her freeze under his
nearness.
“You’ll have your grandfather’s ring.”
“My grandfather’s ring is simply a family ring meant for the head of the family to wear. It is pretty but it is not anything crafted by my wife.”
“I don’t think so, Gulliver. I dreamed that up when I believed I was your wife. I’m not her anymore.”
“No. I’m not your husband in your eyes. You are still my wife. Even if you marry someone else, in my heart you will always be
my wife.”
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Watching Her Work Part II
“You make no sense at all.”
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“I know.” He sighed dramatically and nuzzled her cheek with his nose, “think about it please?”
“I’ll think on it, but you need to back up. You’re all in my space and I can’t work like this.”
“Because it’s making you horny?”
She smacked at his hand, “no, you idiot. I need to concentrate and your breath is awful with coffee breathing in my face.”
He moved back to his seat near her and leaned up on one elbow near her. “Can you talk and work at the same time?”
“Yes though I’m tempted to say no.”
“I only want to know more about Kaylee when she was littler.”
“Sure. She’s my favorite conversation to have. What do you want to know?”
“What is your favorite memory of her so far?”
“Oh, wow, tough question.” She was thinking about it as she pursed her lips and adjusted her magnifying glass. “There’s a few. I think the firsts are always good. Her first step. The firs!38
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time she said mama. The first time she ever danced to music.
Watching Her Work Part II
&
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Her little diaper–clad booty shaking to music Dad was playing on his stereo was pretty great.” She smiled, “then there are the things like the time she was part of the Christmas play in kindergarten and she had two whole lines and she said them but then pointed to the back of the room and asked if they could hear her because they were so far away and she repeated her two lines, screaming them at the top of her lungs so nobody missed it.”
He laughed at her story telling.
“There was the time she was in her dance recital, and she was the most enthusiastic kid on the stage and when the other kids weren’t excited enough she was scolding them.”
“No.”
“Yes. She takes her entertaining very seriously.”
“I can’t wait to see her dancing on stage.”
“She is the one who stands out the most, that’s for sure but I
could be biased.”
“Nah. She’s definitely the shining star.” He smiled at her. “What’s the worst memory? The hardest one?”
“That’s easy. She got sick and I took her to the hospital. The 4/6
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first doctor we saw told us it was just a virus and to go home. I
Watching Her Work Part II
was furious and was yelling at them that there was
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something wrong, but he called me a hysterical first–time mom, and I needed to take my kid home, feed her fluids and acetaminophen and it would pass.”
“What happened?”
“We were being escorted out by security because I’d made quite the hell of a scene and she had a seizure in my arms. Thankfully, another doctor was coming in at the same time and he got her admitted.”
“A seizure?”
“Yes. She had six seizures over a twelve–hour period but that was the first one. I knew something was wrong with her and they weren’t listening to me. They listened to me then.
Fuckers.”
Gulliver asked quietly, “what was wrong with her?”
“Some kind of infection which her body was struggling to fight off. Within the next forty–eight hours, five other kids were admitted with similar symptoms. She eventually got better. She’s never been that sick before or since and I was never so terrified.”
“You must have been.” 5/6
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Watching Her Work Part II
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“I was going to call you then,” she admitted quietly. “I had your number all prepped and ready to dial. I didn’t know what to say but I was scared she was going to die and you would have never known her.”
“Why didn’t you?” his question held none of the anger she’d been expecting.
“I don’t know. I chickened out. She started to get better and I said I was panicking over nothing. That was three years ago. Davis really had us convinced you were the devil. I was scared you’d kill me and take her.”
“He is going to wish he’d never heard my name.”
Lottie poked her head into the room breaking up the moment, “uh, January. You have a guest out here.”
“Who?”
“He has a badge. Says his name is Davis.”
As she and Gulliver exchanged long looks she found herself suddenly filled with an anger she couldn’t describe. Her eyes moved to the shotgun which was mounted on the wall and a smile twisted her lips.
