She paused outside Hadlee’s door and knocked once. She opened the door and moved to sit on her bed and Hadlee sniffed.
“Is he gone?”
“He is. He said he’d come back tomorrow to try again.”
“Can you sleep with me, mom?”
“Yup. I’ll go change to my jammies and I’ll be right back.” Briar decided if the child asked her to sacrifice herself to a pagan God, she would do it considering how much she had hurt her tonight. The notion she still wanted to cuddle was a blessing Briar wasn’t going to overlook. Maybe tomorrow Hadlee would hate her too but for now, she was taking all she could get.
Eventually they both drifted off with Briar playing with the long lengths of Hadlee’s hair while the child rested against her chest. Her sleep was short lived though.
Briar woke to the sound of sobbing and
