Curtis rocked Ryan back and forth, and the baby dozed peacefully in his father’s arms.
And even though the boy was deeply asleep, Curtis did not make an attempt to lay him back into his crib.
Because every ti he tried that, Ryan beca awake imdiately. And the tears was so loud that Curtis wasn’t willing to subject himself to that anymore.
So he stood at the spot, rocking his very loud, clingy son back and forth.
But Curtis had been at it for hours, and he was exhausted. His arms were aching so bad, and the eye bags underneath his eyes were so large, making him look like a sleep deprived man.
Which was exactly what he was. A sleep deprived Father.
The nursery door opened, and he looked up with relief as Laura stepped in.
"Thank goodness you’re here. I was about to fall asleep on my feet," he mumbled as she walked towards him.
Laura dumped her bag on the floor, reaching out to take the sleeping baby from her brother.
"Sorryy. I had to drive my daughter to school. And there was a little bit of traffic," she apologised.
Curtis ran a hand through his hair imdiately the boy is out of his hands.
"You don’t have to explain yourself to , Laura. You’re the one helping out there. I am very grateful," he stated.
Laura rolled her eyes at him.
"Don’t be dramatic. Since when has Alia been sleeping?" she asked as she glanced towards the sleeping twin.
Curtis looked at his watch before he responded. "About three hours now, I think. She didn’t give any troubles. Ryan is the one who doesn’t sleep. And he makes so much noise in the middle of the night. He drives crazy," he groaned, exhaustion seeping into his words.
"Sorry. It gets better, I promise. Go on, go and take a nap. I’ll be here with them for the rest of today," Laura said as she moved around in the nursery.
Curtis flashed his sister a grateful smile again. "Thank you, Laura. Really."
She waved him away.
Curtis trudged to the door, and was about to walk out when Laura spoke.
"Curtis?"
He turned back to stare at her.
"You still don’t...want to hire a caretaker?" she asked gently.
Curtis heaved a deep sigh and ran a hand through his hair.
Then he shook his head. "I can’t. I’m sorry. I know I need one, since I obviously cannot keep going like this. I know you’re here to help on a temporary basis, I an, you have your own daughter too. You have a family. But I can’t. The thought of another woman in here, looking after the kids, touching them...I can’t even bear to think about it."
He paused, shook his head and went on.
"As long as my wife is not in this house, as long as it’s just and my babies, no other woman, except you, will co in here. If...when Lara cos back, if she wants a nanny then, that’s fine. But as long as she...is still out there, I will not let a stranger into my house."
His throat bobbed as he finished his statent, and Laura said nothing as she held his gaze. She only nodded to tell him that she understood, that she wasn’t going to ask him to hire soone again.
Without saying another word, Curtis turned around and walked down to his room. The room he shared with Lara before she left.
It took him a long ti before he eventually managed to fall asleep, and when he did, Curtis dreamt about his wife.
~~
Hours later, Curtis woke up refreshed.
He took a shower, got dressed and walked downstairs. A delicious sll wafted into his nose, and his lips spread into a small smile as he walked into the kitchen.
Laura was cooking. Making pasta, to be precise.
She didn’t look up as he walked in. Instead, she started to give him orders.
"Make the table. I’ll have dinner here before I leave. Also, I made more food than we can finish right now, so I’ll just put the excess away in the refrigerator. You can always heat it up whenever you want."
Curtis raised his eyebrows at his sister.
"You didn’t have to do this, you know. Cooking is not part of our agreent," he countered.
She rolled her eyes at him.
"Just shut up and do what I asked, please. I am doing this because I want to. No big deal."
He shrugged and said nothing as he did what she asked.
When he was done, Curtis leaned against the counter and spoke again.
"The kids are fed?" he asked.
She nodded.
"Yes. They are asleep right now, and nothing should wake them up, I think. You just have to change their diapers once, probably in the middle of the night. Apart from that, you’re set. You should even be able to get in a few hours of sleep."
Curtis nodded and leaned down to kiss her hair.
"Thank you."
She smiled at him, and was about to speak when her phone buzzed.
It was a text ssage. Laura wiped her hands on her apron before she picked it up.
Her brows furrowed into a frown as soon as she read the content of the ssage. Curtis instantly noticed the change.
"Hey. Is everything okay? Did sothing happen?" he asked, worried about her.
Laura’s hands started to trembly slightly. She cursed inwardly, and panic started to crawl up her spine.
"Tell what’s going on, Laura," Curtis insisted.
Laura took a deep breath before she spoke. "Okay. So you rember when I told you that Mum and I are going to help you, right? That Mum is in charge of convincing Lara to co back without any pressure because she probably — definitely — would not want to see you, right?"
Curtis gave a curt nod, and she went on.
"Well, turned out that mum might have... placed too much pressure on Lara. Because Kayla just texted . And she said that Lara is missing. Apparently, she left the house imdiately after the eting with mum, and she didn’t go with her cell phone. Kayla said it’s been hours."
Curtis’s stomach dropped. His vision swimd, and his sister’s next words did not help the panic he was currently feeling.
"Lara is missing."
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