Dressed For Death

EPILOGUE

HAYDEN

8 years later...

A faint crying sound woke me from my sleep. It was the middle of the night and Juliette was still in my arms sleeping soundly. She always slept like the dead and it took everything to wake her up.

We had to turn up the baby monitor to the highest volume so she could wake up at night when I had to stay overnight at work. But when I was home, I decreased the volume so I would be the one taking care of our kids when they were newborns. I always wanted her to get as much rest as she could.

I slowly let go of Juliette and got out of bed. I pulled the blanket higher to cover Juliette then I walked out of our bedroom. I walked towards our daughter's bedroom, where I could hear her faintly crying.

I opened the door and caught the sight of my little princess hugging her pink bunny plushie tightly to her chest. "What's wrong princess?" I asked her as I walked closer to her bed.

"The light stopped working, daddy" She sniffled as she sat in her bed, rubbing her tired eyes from the tears she shed.

"It's okay, princess. Daddy's here now" I reassured her as I pulled her into my arms and brushed her hair. She's always been scared of the dark and always needed a little night light to help her sleep at night.

I guess the light bulb inside must have died and it scared her. She's young and I didn't mind waking up in the night to comfort her.

"You're going to protect me against the monsters?" My little princess asked and I kissed her chubby cheek.

"Always and forever. The monsters won't dare to eat your little feet as long as I'm here to scare them off" I said as I tickled her feet and she trashed against me, laughing and kicking her feet.

"Stop, daddy!" She giggled as she continued to kick her feet.

"What are the magic words?" I asked her.

"Please, stop tickling my feet, daddy" She pleaded and I stopped tickling her.

"C'mon, princess. Mommy's not going to be happy if you're grumpy tomorrow because you didn't get enough sleep" She scoffed as she went under the covers and I tucked her in.

"Can you stay with me to chase away the monsters?" She asked me with those puppy eyes that I couldn't resist.

"Scoot over, princess" She smiled as I joined her in her little bed that I know will give me a backache tomorrow, but I will do anything for my daughter's happiness.

She laid on my chest and in a matter of minutes, she was snoring. I kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back. Like her mom, she loved when I rubbed her back.

I fell asleep shortly after her and I could already feel that backache beginning to appear.

The next morning...

"Daddy, wake up" Eva poked me in my cheek with her finger. I pretended I was sleeping, but she didn't relent. She continued to poke me in the cheek.

I kept pretending until she began to jump on her bed and tripped on my chest, making me lose my breath for a second.

"Eva" I groaned as I opened my eyes and glared at her. She giggled, wiggling her bunny in the air.