During Akari's healing journey he'll find himself revealing to Gwendolyn that he's always had a soft spot for her. As a young woman who's struggling to love herself and believe someone else could, would Gwendolyn finally welcome love with open arms?
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Akari Jeffers "Okay snuggle bug let's see what this is about.." I sat down in the chair with Akira in my arms and a book from the shelf. As I cradled her with one arm with my hand on her lower leg to keep her in place, she held on to my shirt and stared up at me with her pacifier in her mouth. I placed the book on the armrest of the chair and stared at the title. "Harold's Fairy Tale." I read.
"You ready?" I looked down at her. "Hm? Let's see what bad a— I mean what Harold done got himself into." I told her. A smile appeared behind her paci as she gripped my shirt tighter and blinked slowly. I could tell I wasn't going to have to read for long. We'd just made it to Celeste's place almost an hour ago and I'd fed her and even got to put her pajamas on. Celeste hadn't really said much to me other than telling me I could feed her if I wanted to and she picked out some pajamas and let me dress her.
She'd told me to make sure that Akira burped first after having a bottle of milk before ever laying her down. She even showed me. I didn't know much but I was willing to learn so I wouldn't need any help when it was time for me to look after Akira alone. She was still on the bottle but Celeste had a schedule or some shit. She'd give her a bottle of milk but she'd recently introduced Akira to solid foods so there was that. That only made me more nervous because I didn't know when I should give her one or the other. Shit.
As I sat in Akira's room, Celeste had disappeared into hers. I felt a bit bad for how I'd reacted at the park earlier when maybe...just maybe she hadn't been trying to be shady. This was the quietest I'd ever seen her and I knew then I'd definitely blown up for nothing.
Akira was my mom's first grandchild and she wasn't here to meet her. I'd talked to my sister late last night and she was thrilled to hear that she was an aunt. However, she wasn't here to meet Akira either. Bonding with my daughter knowing that my mother never would overwhelmed me and I could admit I'd probably taken it out on Celeste. Maybe she'd truly changed.
I didn't know how true that was and if we were going to co-parent we needed to get along. I just didn't know if letting my guard down and so soon was for the best at the moment. She'd put me through hell and I was used to her switching up within the blink of an eye. Man this was tough but I was trying.
I opened the book and read the first page. "One evening Harold got out of bed, took his purple crayon and the moon along, and went for a walk in an enchanted garden. Nothing grew in it. If he hadn't known it was an enchanted garden, Harold scarcely would have called it a garden at all." I picked up the book to show Akira the photo before putting it back down and flipping the page.
"To find out what the trouble was, Harold decided to ask the king. Kings live in large castles." I continued. "Harold had to make sure the castle was big enough to be the king's. He didn't want to waste time talking to any princes or earls or dukes. This was a king's castle all right. It had tall towers and a big draw-gate to keep out people the king didn't want to see. But when the draw-gate was drawn closed, it kept Harold out too."
