"Heather?" a tiny voice asked timidly, waking Heather up. Her brown eyes blinked open to see Grace standing to the side of her bed, looking shy but shaking.
"What goin' on, sweetie?" she asked, glancing around her niece's shoulder to check the time.
Two in the morning.
Grace ducked her head. "I had a bad dream and Papa isn't in his room," the young girl admitted.
Heather smiled and propped herself up on one elbow. She flung the covers on the other side of her bed down and patted the mattress. "Hop up kiddo," she told her niece. Grace scrambled up onto the taller bed as Heather lowered herself back down. Grace was holding a stuffed white rabbit with all her strength. "I bet this little guy is going to protect you from nightmares for the rest of the night." She ruffled the fake fur on the toy ears, making Grace smile. "And so will I. Do you think you can sleep now?" Grace nodded timidly and burrowed into the covers. "Good girl. I'm right here," Heather murmured, stroking Grace's hair comfortingly the way her own mother had done for her when she'd had bad dreams growing up.
Grace held her aunt's hand until she fell asleep. Heather smiled tiredly and dropped back off herself.
Jefferson was on the third-floor balcony, record player softly spinning out a tune he could barely hear. He was staring at the stars, thinking—about Rosemary. He'd loved her with all his heart. When his work with the hat caused her death, he felt as though he could never forgive himself. But he had to take care of Grace. He had to be happy for her. She was his happiness, but that didn't mean that he didn't miss his Rosemary.
As the record wound to a close, he pushed the thing back inside and went to check on his daughter.
Her bed was empty and messy.
Panic swept over him and his eyes widened.
He rushed two doors down the hall and practically threw Heather's door open, ready to wake her up to tell her that Grace was missing and they had to go find her—
But he stopped when he saw Grace and Heather asleep on Heather's bed. Grace was clutching her stuffed rabbit tightly to her chest with one hand and her aunt's hand with the other. Her curly light brown hair was spread all over her face. Jefferson relaxed, relief spreading through his body. She must have had a bad dream and crawled in with her aunt when she couldn't find him.
Silently he stepped into the room, brushed his daughter's hair out of her face, kissed her forehead, and retreated to the door. He gave his sister-in-law a lingering, grateful look before closing the door silently and going back to sleep next door.
Heather woke the next morning to the other side of her bed empty and made. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes until she could see the clock. Seven-thirty.
"Mmm," she groaned to herself, planting her face back into her pillow.
The door burst open. "Surprise!" Grace called. Heather jumped and twisted to see the eleven-year-old and her father coming in with a tray. Jefferson looked apologetic while Grace looked absolutely ecstatic. Heather stared, blank and tired and confused, as Jefferson set the tray on her lap.
"Grace thought it would be a good idea to make you breakfast in bed for helping her with her nightmare last night," Jefferson commented.
Heather chuckled and ruffled her niece's hair. "That's cute, kiddo. Thanks."
Grace giggled. "I was thinking, since it's Friday, maybe tonight we can kick Papa out and watch a movie and paint our toenails and have popcorn and have a girls' night! Can we?" she asked excitedly. Heather chuckled and looked over Grace's head at Jefferson, who was smiling at his daughter with all the amusement in the world. Heather smiled herself and looked back down at Grace seriously.
"You'll have to ask your papa," she answered.
Grace whirled around to look up. "Please Papa?" she pleaded.
Jefferson smiled. "Of course, my dear Grace," he replied.
Grace bounced up and down excitedly and gave her father a big hug. "Thank you thank you thank you!" she squealed.
"But for now, you're going to go get ready for school," he added, pretending to be stern. Grace obviously didn't buy it but she went off to go get ready anyway. Jefferson shook his head with amusement and turned back to Heather. "Go ahead and eat. You deserve it. Grace told me about her nightmare and that you promised that you and her rabbit would keep them away. Rosemary used to say that to her too."
"I'm not trying to replace Rosemary. I told you that. I'm just trying to help. It's just something that my mother used to tell us if we had nightmares that woke us up in the middle of the night," Heather explained quickly.
"Thank you," Jefferson remarked, catching Heather off guard. She thought he was going to be somewhat angry that she was acting the same way as her sister would when she wasn't trying to be her sister. The fact that he was being kind and grateful wasn't what she was expecting. She knew he wasn't a violent man or anything, but he always seemed very particular about people.
She shrugged. "You're welcome."
He nodded at the tray. "Eat. Then we'll take Grace to the bus stop."
Heather smiled and picked up the fork. "Okay," she replied with a smile.
End Note: Love this story! Thanks for reading!
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