Page 58 of Tiffanie

“Daddy. I love you, Daddy.”

He pressed his lips to her temple. “I love you, Tiffanie. I think it’s time my Little girl went to sleep.”

She nodded, completely wilted after everything she’d experienced. More orgasms than she’d thought were even possible had wiped out her energy. Tiffanie yawned and rested her head on his shoulder as Phineas gathered her into his arms and stood.

After he’d brushed her teeth and tucked her into the king-size bed, Tiffanie couldn’t keep her eyes open. She turned onto her tummy, giving her sore bottom a rest. After he slid Biff under her arm, his hand stroked over her hair and along her spine, soothing her.

“Sleep tight, Little girl. Daddy will join you in a few minutes when he gets everything closed down for the night.”

She waited for him to crawl in next to her but lost the battle and crashed into a deep slumber. When her dreams woke her several hours later, Tiffanie found herself asleep on her Daddy’s chest. Sighing happily, she closed her eyes and relaxed into a refreshing slumber.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The Blue Ribbon Knowledge Fair day had finally arrived. Tiffanie sat in the chair her Daddy had placed at the entrance of the ballroom. He’d given her strict orders to conserve her energy as much as possible. While she felt stronger and better with every day that passed, Tiffanie wanted to be the most help to Essie as she could so his directions made sense. She’d follow them—for now.

After checking in the last exhibitor to arrive, she turned to glance over her shoulder at Ivan. His face was relaxed in his normal easygoing way, but Tiffanie could tell her brother was stressed from the stiffness of his shoulders and how he moved various carvings to the front of his table only to replace them with a different item a few seconds later. Ever since Phineas had shared that the woman who’d checked out one of the Daddy books from the library over and over would also be an exhibitor, Ivan had debated which of his creations would attract her attention.

Seeing her focused on him, Ivan headed to her side. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes. Perfect. The last table just walked in. Everyone’s here now. How are you?”

“I’m great. Never better.”

She waved the packet of papers in her hands frantically.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to put the flames out.”

“What flames?” he asked with a bewildered expression.

“The liar, liar, pants on fire ones.”

“Very funny, Tiff.”

She laughed, enjoying his discomfort as only a sister could. “Sorry. Got your creations arranged perfectly?” she asked innocently.

Ivan rolled his eyes at her teasing. “I’m going to hit the restroom before everyone streams inside.”

“Good idea. I’ll keep an eye on your table.”

“Thank you.” He disappeared down the hallway.

Amused at his discomfort like any younger sister who loved her brother would be, Tiffanie turned in her chair to have a direct line of sight to his table. Ivan’s creations looked so cute. She would definitely pause to see them. Tiffanie crossed her fingers, hoping the woman who’d enjoyed those library books would stop to meet him.

An orange blur caught her eye. Marmalade, who had roamed through the chaos of everyone moving their boxes of display and sale items into the large space, raced past her and halted at Ivan’s table. What was he doing? He settled on his hind legs before launching himself up onto the tablecloth.

Tiffanie jumped to her feet and rushed over as the cat systematically knocked one carving after another off the table, as if he were playing hockey in the Stanley Cup. Goal! Goal! Goal!

“Marmalade! Stop that!” she called. The pesky fuzzball didn’t hesitate but kept whacking Ivan’s creations off.

By the time she reached the table, only two remained. Tiffanie reached for Marmalade, and as her fingers settled around his torso, the cat struck again. “Will you cut that out?” she asked, hoisting him into air jail.

“Meow!” Marmalade wasn’t bothered in the least by his behavior.

“What happened?” a quiet voice asked from behind her.

“Marmalade spread his normal chaos, that’s what,” Tiffanie said, turning to face a softly curvy woman with her hair in braids before sending Marmalade a dark glower.