“You got lots of books,” she murmured and yawned. “Can you read?”

“Yep. Do you want me to read to you?” She yawned again but nodded, the smile on her face making her green eyes bright. “Do you want to pick the book?”

She shook her head. “Just something with a brave girl. Like me!”

Grinning, I grabbed one of my favorite books and walked over to my bed. She followed but struggled to get onto the mattress. Smiling, I helped Nova climb up, and she laid her head on my pillow. Her eyes were already lowering, so I pulled the covers up over her and sat beside her.

I barely got to the third page before she was asleep. Closing the book, I just sat and watched her. She looked like a little doll lying there, with one hand tucked under her cheek and the other clutching my shirt. I liked the way she held on to me, wanting me close.

As I watched her, my own eyes began to get heavy, and I scooted down so I could lay my head on the pillow with her. The last few nights, I hadn’t slept much, and my whole body felt exhausted all of a sudden.

3

Ryan

Nova shifted in her sleep. Releasing my shirt, she clasped my hand, her tiny fingers wrapping around my considerably larger ones. A sense of peace hit me out of nowhere, and the next thing I knew, it was dark outside my window.

Blinking the sleep from my eyes, I moved, and my heart stopped when Nova cuddled against me with a soft whine. Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around her, and I kissed the top of her head. I knew I had to get up, that Nova needed to eat. Both of our stomachs were growling because they were empty. We had both missed lunch earlier, and I knew it must be past dinnertime at this point.

But I didn’t want to move.

In that moment, I wasn’t scared or tired or dreading being around people I didn’t know. There were no bad memories from before Mom became my mom, from when I had a different mom. The one who wasn’t so nice to me. The one who liked to make me cry and hurt me. The scars on my chest didn’t make my skin crawl. My stomach wasn’t cramped up.

There was just the tiny angel who trusted me to protect her while she slept peacefully beside me.

Nova squirmed in her sleep for a moment before her eyes snapped open. “I have ta potty!” she whisper-shouted as she sat up, her eyes glancing around frantically.

I jumped out of bed and helped her down before leading her into the bathroom. Only, her legs were too short for her to get on the toilet all by herself. What if she fell in? She was already doing that dance everyone did when they had to pee really bad, but I had no idea what to do to help her.