Wildflowers |h.s|

thirteen

She nods quickly and we get up, walking hand in hand up to Oakley's room to get her up from her nap. I let Annika run in first, smiling as I see her skip up to her sister's crib and hold onto the bars.

"Oakie... Wake up, we're gonna go play fairies!" She whispers, before starting to climb up into the crib. I watch from the doorframe with a smile, tilting my head slightly. Anni crouches down next to her sister, continuing to tell her all about the fairy game.

I pull my phone out of the pocket of my joggers, checking to see if Devon texted me back. I know I shouldn't have bothered her, but the loneliness crept up really bad this morning and I just needed to tell her that I miss her. She's probably never going to respond, but hopefully she reads it before she deletes it.

I just hope she's doing okay. It kills me to know that I hurt her so badly, and I wish there was something I could do to make it up to her, but for now all she wants is space and to not see me. So that's what I'll do.

Oakley starts to stir, waking up from her nap. She always gets really clingy after a nap, so I'm usually left holding her for at least thirty minutes right after. I slip my phone back into my pocket and head over to the crib, smiling at Oakley and her crazy bed head. These girls have such curly hair, but I love it so much.

Picking Oakley up from her crib, she immediately rests her head on my shoulder, keeping her binky in her mouth. "Did you have a nice nap, Oakie?" She rubs her eyes and nods, rubbing my back with her other hand to comfort herself.

"Oakie! We're gonna play fairies! I'm gonna be the animal fairy, you're gonna be the flower fairy and daddy's gonna be the protector fairy! Okay! And I'm gonna have the pink wings because those ones are my favorites so you can have the purple ones." Annika delegates. She's always very strict when it comes to playing fairies.

"Which color wings do I get, blossom?" I rub Oakley's back gently, resting my cheek against her head.

Annika puts her finger to her chin, tapping a few times as she thinks. "You can get the yellow ones. And you can have my pink crown." She already has her white crown on, so it makes sense that she's letting me use the pink one.

"Sounds perfect. Let's go dress up then and head outside to play."

I stand by the crib as Anni climbs out, just to make sure she doesn't fall and hurt herself. She's gotten really good at this though, so I know she's good. I always find her giggling with Oakley in the morning since she likes sneaking in to play with her sister. Pretty soon she'll have Oakley climbing in and out too.

In Annika's room we all get on our fairy gear and I smile as Oakley places the pink flower crown on the top of my head. I'd do absolutely anything for these girls, even dress up in whatever they want me to. As long as it makes them smile and laugh.

"Okay, wildflowers! To the yard!" I cheer, leading the way with Oakley to the backyard.

I've put a lot of work into this yard over the years. It's not too big, just enough room for us to run around in, but there's no pool or anything. It's perfect for the three of us though. Pretty early on with Annika, she began to love flowers. Probably because her nursery was flower themed, but she's been obsessed with flowers and nature for her entire life.

There's a little side nook in the yard where there's a gate for guests to come in and out if we're having a barbeque. And over the years, I just started growing a flower garden along that pathway so that Anni could have her flowers. I must say, this flower garden is pretty nice. The girls just love getting to play fairies there since butterflies and bumblebees tend to gravitate toward that area of the yard. Once a week we come out here to make a nice bouquet for the house and I'm currently trying to learn how to make my own flower crowns so that the girls can have special ones made from their garden.