THE NEXT MORNING
Gavin was roused from sleep the instant he heard Ginger’s startled exclamation. He hurried from bed to where Ginger stood at Ari’s crib, a baffled expression on her face.
The two lovies were in the crib with Ari and she was awake, one of the lovies in her chubby little fists as she gnawed on the ear. She smiled up at her parents, her legs waving and kicking as if to say she was wide awake and ready to be out of her crib.
Gavin’s sharp gaze went to the door to their bedroom, the door he’d made certain was not only closed, but locked before they’d gone to bed. It was now ajar and the two lovies that had been left behind in the nursery were in Ari’s crib, much to Ari’s obvious delight.
He knew in that moment that he couldn’t hide the video footage from Ginger. There was something seriously wrong here.
Ginger reached down to pick Ari up, the lovie falling from his daughter’s grasp. The loss elicited an instant wail of displeasure and only when Ginger picked up the stuffed animal and allowed Ari to reach for it did the cry finally cease.
There were tears of genuine fear in his wife’s eyes as she turned her pleading expression to him. She was wordlessly asking him to make everything okay. To make whatever was happening go away. And it gutted him, because he was utterly clueless, with no idea of what to do.
He’d never failed to supply his wife or daughter with anything they needed or wanted. His only purpose was to protect his family, to ensure their safety, happiness and well-being. And yet he didn’t have the answer for the inexplicable.
“Feed and change her and then meet me in the video surveillance room,” Gavin said in a low voice, keeping it calm and steady so Ari didn’t pick up either his or Ginger’s distress.
“What’s happening, Gav?” Ginger whispered.
“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “But I intend to find out. Take care of Ari and then we’ll sort this out.”
Ginger silently walked from the bedroom but tension emanated from her in a nearly tangible wave. He hated that she was scared. Damn it, he was scared. Nothing in his life had prepared him for something like this. How did you defend the indefensible?
He wasn’t a spiritual man, but in this moment he found himself whispering a prayer to God to remove whatever evil spirit had invaded their home.
Gavin went to the door after Ginger disappeared down the stairs en route to the kitchen, where she fed Ari. Carefully he examined the lock, looking for any sign of forced entry. To his discerning eye, there were none. No scratches, nothing at all to mar the paint, the bolt or the door handle itself. How the hell had the door been opened and the two stuffed toys end up in his daughter’s crib without his knowledge?
He was a light sleeper. Always had been. But after Ari, he slept even lighter than ever, trained to hear any noise, any cry, any sign that something was wrong. And yet he’d slept the entire night, his arms wrapped securely around his wife, while Ari had slept in her crib mere feet from the bed. He’d purposely placed her crib against the far wall so his and Ginger’s bed was between the crib and the door.
Shaking his head, he descended the stairs to see Ari in her high chair gurgling happily, clutching one of her lovies while Ginger prepared a bottle. He dropped a kiss on top of Ari’s silky curls and was rewarded by a smile that never failed to melt his insides to molten lava.
What had their lives been like before Ari had come to them at a time when they’d thought a child would forever be lost to them? He couldn’t remember. He and Ginger had been happy. He had the woman he loved more than life itself and thought himself complete.
Until Ari.
Ari was a true gift from the angels. She’d made him believe in the spirit of Christmas, of giving. And with her arrival, there was no more misery for Ginger to endure. No more doubts of whether Gavin would ever leave her for a woman who could give him something he didn’t even want unless Ginger provided it.
Ginger finished prepping Ari’s bottle but set it down on the counter when Gavin wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. Her kisses would never grow old. Would never lose their magic to make him completely forget himself and the world around him.
Ari, obviously impatient, dropped her lovie and made a banging noise on the tray of her high chair and said, “Mamamama!” An obvious demand for her mother.
Ginger laughed softly as she broke away from Gavin’s kiss.
“I think our daughter is hungry. I’ll feed her in the video surveillance room. You did say you had something to show me?”
He hated the fear in her voice and her attempt at making light of it and the façade that she wasn’t worried when he knew damn well she was.
“Gavin!” she said in a choked whisper. “Look!”
To both their astonishment, the fully prepared bottle simply lifted into the air and floated gently across the kitchen and right into Ari’s outstretched hands.
Neither moved. Neither breathed. They merely stared in disbelief as Ari grasped the bottle with both hands, attempting to angle it enough that she could suck the nipple.
“Did that just happen?” Ginger whispered, her entire body trembling against Gavin’s.
He was so shaken that he didn’t—couldn’t—form a response. First the stuffed animals that had inherently found their way to Ari despite a locked door. And now this?
For the first time he began to suspect that Ari was making these things happen. But she was a child—a baby! It was mind-boggling to even consider she had the ability to move things she wanted into close proximity.