What Love Is

Chapter 15

“Dad, come on, let us!”

“You’ll be pretty, Daddy.”

Drew looked between the faces of his bubbly daughters, stacks of play makeup and nail polish in their arms. He glanced suspiciously at a polish in Hannah’s hand, a nauseating shade of purple that made him want to turn around and run from the room.

“I’m not so sure,” he warily replied, and his heart crumbled when Raine’s face fell. He sighed, watching her dump more girly materials on the coffee table.

“Okay, fine,” he muttered, and plopped himself down on the carpet. Immediately Hannah crawled into his lap, a bright pink tube of lipstick in her hand.

“Hold still, Daddy,” he commanded, looking like an army general as she held the lipstick above her head, prepared to strike.

He grunted as she leaned close to his face, mouth wide, blue eyes focused intently on his lips as she moved the tube over them. Her breath smelled strongly of what he’d served his daughters for lunch; grilled cheese and white milk mixed with Hershey’s chocolate syrup. Drew glanced down as he spotted Raine on her hands and knees, sliding off the couch and searching for a bottle of nail polish she’d dropped. When he found the tiny container under the table, he picked it up and tossed it to her.

She beamed at him briefly, dropping her ice-blue gaze downward as she screwed the top off. Drew winced when Hannah bumped into his knee, sending sparks of discomfort shooting down his calf, and grimaced further when he smacked his lips together, positively sticky now, and undoubtedly neon pink.

“I like this color on you, Dad,” Raine smiled jokingly as she picked up his left hand and compared it to the light pink nail polish he’d handed her.

“It’s real cute,” he commented dryly.

“Don’t be grumpy, Daddy,” Hannah snapped, glaring at him with her lower lip sticking out. “We’re only making you pretty.”

“That’s right, make him pretty,” Rowan chuckled from the bathroom doorway. “He could use it.”

Drew sent her a withering glare as Raine plucked up his fingers and began to stroke the miniscule brush down his nails. The strong scent of polish struck his nostrils and he let out a powerful sneeze.

Hannah wrinkled her nose up and backed away, wiping her face. “Ew,” she muttered. “You sneezed on me, Daddy.”

“I couldn’t help it,” he defended himself mildly. “You were very close to me.”

“You still sneezed on me, though.”

Rowan crossed the floor of his apartment in a few unhurried strides, seating herself in one of the armchairs they’d dug up from the basement of the huge white house. The cut on her cheek had scabbed over, there were bruises up and down her arms, and her arm was in a sling from the dislocation, but her dark brown eyes were shining, and there was a broad grin playing on her lips.

“You’re so pretty, Drew,” she smiled sweetly and held her chin in her hand, casually crossing her legs.

Raine’s long, dusty-brown braid brushed against his thigh as she moved to his next hand. Drew held up his prettified nails, observing them quietly. It wasn’t the first time his daughters had insisted on a makeover, but it was the first time they’d chosen to paint his nails. He shook his head in consternation as the pale pink gleamed back at him. It was ridiculous, but it made them happy.

“Why couldn’t you have done Rowan?” he complained, and squeezed his left eye shut as Hannah poked it with something colorful and pointy. Sparkly dust exploded on his cheek and he sighed. “She’s a girl.”