“Mama,” Rebel said loudly.
“I’m right here,” Molly said from the doorway, fully dressed in some jeans and a sweater that just barely hung off one shoulder.#p#分页标题#e#
I wondered if she’d been watching me the whole time.
“How’d I do, coach?” I asked, getting up off the floor as Reb climbed to her feet and hurried toward Molly.
“You did good,” Molly murmured, giving me a soft smile as she bent over to pick up Rebel. “Rebel, my love, we need to do something with that hair.”
Rebel scrunched up her shoulders and shook her head slowly, making me laugh. Every time her head moved, little flyaway curls that were sticking up from the top of her head weaved back and forth.
“Quick ponytail,” Molly said seriously, nodding her head.
They left me standing in the middle of Rebel’s room with a smile on my face.
Chapter 9
Molly
“I think I need to take her to the doctor,” I told Will groggily a few weeks after Reb started calling me Mama. I stumbled out of bed for the second time that night. “This can’t be normal.”
“Mama!” Reb yelled, the sound blaring through the baby monitor in my room. “Mama!”
“I can’t believe she’s awake again,” Will rasped, sitting up as he rubbed at the scraggly beard on his face. He hadn’t trimmed it in a while, and he was beginning to look like a doomsday prepper, complete with bloodshot eyes and a perpetual scowl on his face. We’d been spending every night together for weeks, and we both usually woke up the next morning feeling like crap because we’d barely gotten any sleep.
I glanced at the clock as I stumbled out of the room, noticing that it had been only an hour since I’d gotten Rebel to sleep the last time she’d woken up. I couldn’t decide if her sleeping habits were getting worse, or if it just seemed like they were because I was so freaking tired.
“Why are you awake again?” I whispered to Rebel as I walked into her room to find her standing up in her crib. “It’s time to be asleep, boo.”
“Mama,” she replied¸ her tired eyes brightening as I reached for her and lifted her into my arms. Her head immediately went to my shoulder as I cuddled her against my chest. She was exhausted, and I couldn’t understand why she was having such a hard time sleeping.
“Want me to sing the bedtime song?” I asked softly. She nodded her head against the side of my neck, so I started singing “Ten in the Bed,” closing my eyes as I swayed from side to side. When I finished the song, her body was relaxed against mine, but when I went to lay her back down, her little fists gripped the t-shirt that I’d worn to bed.
“Come on, baby,” I murmured, sighing. “You have to go back to sleep.”
I was almost in tears as I started the song again. I was so exhausted.
About halfway through the second verse of the song, I turned my head to see Will quietly walking into the room.
“Come on, sugar,” he said, wrapping his arms around us from behind. “Just bring her to bed with us.”
I had a rule that Rebel had to sleep in her own bed—I didn’t want her to get into a routine where she wouldn’t sleep in her crib—but at that moment, I was so tired that anything that would let me sleep sounded like a good idea. I let Will guide me back to my room, and I climbed into my bed still holding Rebel to my chest. As soon as I lay down, her little head popped up to see what was going on.
“Time to sleep, baby girl,” Will said firmly as he lay down on the other side of the bed. He reached out as I rolled to the side and started rubbing Rebel’s back as I laid her on the bed between us.
“Do you think this will work?” I whispered as Rebel pulled her knees up to press against my belly.#p#分页标题#e#
“Willin’ to try anything at this point,” Will murmured back.
I gave him a small smile and closed my eyes, falling asleep to the quiet sound of the callouses on Will’s hand scraping against Rebel’s pajama shirt and her warm breath against my chest.
Three hours later, we were awake again.
“Might as well get up for the day,” Will mumbled as he sat up and slid hid his feet to the floor. “You don’t work today?”
“No, I’m off,” I said, as Rebel popped up and started bouncing on the mattress.
“Got an hour before I gotta head out.” Will grabbed Rebel under the armpits and swung her up off the bed. “Go back to sleep for a bit.” He stood up from the bed as Rebel wrapped one arm around his neck and grabbed a fist full of his beard with her other hand.