Chapter36
The Three Of Us
Dash’s POV
“Do you know how to sew?” Sunny asked, and I couldn’t help laughing.
“Given my profession, I better know how to sew.”
Sunny smiled at me. “Sometimes I forget you’re a healer, Dash.”
That made me lose my smile. Sunny referred to me as a healer, but as a man who’d hurt his wife so
badly, I didn’t feel like much of a healer or a man lately.
Sunny put her hand on my arm, seeming to read my mind with her next words. “Even healers aren’t perfect.”
“I hurt Zinnie, Sunny.”
“You did. Fortunately, the universe is big enough to hold our mistakes.
Her voice was firm and assured when she made that statement that didn’t make one bit of sense
to me.
“What does that even mean, Sunny?”
“You know, you’re the first person to ever ask me that. My daughters never liked it when I told
them that, but Light just nods like he understands and goes on his way.” She laughed delightedly.
“It can mean many things, but in this case, when you think your mistake is the end of the world, it
really isn’t. The universe can hold all of our mistakes and the Earth keeps turning.”
I’m sure the look on my face was a study in confusion because that explanation hadn’t helped
much.
“While I’m not pleased with what you said and how you acted afterward for too long, your mistake helped Zinnie break free from a lifetime of less than with her family, and to a lesser extent, you. It was her catalyst, if you will, to declare she’d had enough. Think of Zinnia as a baby bird breaking
free of the egg holding it in.”
That I could readily understand.
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“And while she’s been going through the pain, she’s been having to look at herself, too, at the things she’d been conditioned to accept. She’s recognizing the toxic behaviors she lived with and how those behaviors bled into your marriage and hurt both of you.”
I knew that to be true. For the last four weeks, Zin had been quiet, reflective, sometimes troubled, and I saw it as she looked at Melitta, her love for our daughter so obvious that you could see her trying to understand how a mother couldn’t love the tiny, helpless life that she’d nurtured inside her for all of those months.
So every day, without being obvious about it, I reinforced what a good, loving mother Zinnie was.
I wanted to erase any thought in her head that she might fail Melitta like her mother had completely failed her.
“It’s the cutest thing, Zinnie. Every time I’m holding My Little and she hears your voice, she tries to lift her head to find you.”
“You have the magic touch with her, Zin. You can see the way she relaxes when she’s in your
arms.”
“She’s only a few weeks old, Zinnie, and I think she already knows she has the best mommy in the
world.”
“I think this has just become my favorite picture of the two of you,” I told my wife, holding my
phone out to her to show her a picture I’d just taken. “That look on your face is pure love, and Melitta’s is pure adoration. She’s absolutely mesmerized by you, Zinnie.”
“Where did you go just now, Dash?” Sunny asked.
“I was thinking about what a good mother Zinnie is. She’s going to love this baby blessing
ceremony tonight.”
“She is,” Sunny smiled warmly as she set a basket in front of me filled with very realistic–looking fake flowers. “Normally, one of the ladies does this, but since you asked to help with the ceremony tonight and you know how to sew, you can embellish the straps and neckline of your wife’s gown and the hem of your daughter’s dress.”
She showed me what to do and then sat across from me at the table as she created flower crowns,
using real flowers, for Zinnie and Melitta. We worked silently for a couple of hours, then Sunny
asked if I’d like to take a break before we came back to finish our work.
“Sure,” I said, straightening my back. “Where are we going?”
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“To the bees,” she said. “You’ve never met them as far as I know, but you should see where wife spends so much of her time with me.
your
“This isn’t some plot to have me attacked by bees, is it?” I teased her, but she looked horrified.
“Oh no, Dash. We don’t want our honeybees to sting.” She closed her eyes as if pained. “Honeybees die if they sting someone or something. It’s a terrible death for them.”
“Why?”
“Because honeybees, unlike hornets and wasps, have a barbed stinger. So when they pull away after stinging something, they basically tear away their abdomen. It’s hard to talk about it
because it makes me so sad.”
“I had no idea, Sunny. I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t know.” She patted my arm. “It’s why it’s so important to keep the bees happy and calm. Now, let’s go on the bee tour. We won’t get close, but we’ll drive by all the hives and I’ll show you where we’re thinking of adding more.”
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.