Free Fulfillment (Book 3 in The Temptation Series) by K.M. Golland

pirouette on the spot and flung her arms out in an
over-exaggerated move which made me laugh. My daughter had just as
much of a love for music as I did, so I knew that getting her to
parade around the living area with me, would surely lift her gloomy
spirits. She happily followed me like a shadow, copying my moves
and singing along to the Broadway musical song.
    There was a
part in the song that I knew was coming and it referred to a hat,
so I quickly skipped to the beat of the music and grabbed my sun
hat which was hanging on the hook near the entryway wall. As I sang
the words ‘Hat, Sir,’ I placed it on her head and curtsied to her.
Smiling, she returned my curtsy with one of her own and gracefully
nodded her head.
    I took off
again but stopped abruptly after only a few steps which made her
bump into my back. She looked a little stunned but realised I had
done it on purpose so that I could tap my finger on the tip of her
nose while singing ‘or freckle on the nose’. She responded to my
nose tap by performing a cute little wrinkle and wipe of her own,
then ran around me and stepped up onto the sofa with her arms flung
out, mimicking a plane. I knew only too well what she had planned
because this was not the first time we had danced and performed to
this song. So, when she fell forward, I caught her and spun us both
around in a dizzying circle. Pausing for the smallest of seconds,
we gathered our bearings from my over-exuberant twirling.
    While my head
deciphered which way was what, I figured I’d remain in character,
acting as if I was in the middle of a Broadway drama by draping my
arm across my forehead, over-exaggerating my exhausted state.
Charli laughed then joined in on the act and pretended to pat down
my head and fan her hands at me.
    Keeping with
the dramatized theme, I sprung up unexpectedly and danced to the
kitchen, grabbing an apple as the song mentioned ‘life was juicy’
and having to have a bite. I pretended to take a bite of the apple,
but screwed my nose up at it and tossed to her. She completely
missed the catch and the apple hit the floor and rolled away. Her
smile faded to a look of shock and then ‘Ooops’. She is just so
adorably cute.
    I danced up to
her, grabbed her hand and winked, then led her back into the living
area as I knew our favourite part was coming. I snuck a glance at
her getting ready for the move, and her excited face warmed my
heart. We both stopped dancing simultaneously and pointed our
fingers to each other like guns, shouting ‘BAM!’ As always, I let
her imaginary bullet get me by faking a clutching of my chest and
stumbling for a bit.
    After a quick
recovery and a few more spinning leaps, the song was about to come
to an end where Rachel held the word ‘Parade’ for a long time. We
both belted it out, raising our hands to our invisible audience and
giving each other smiling glances to see who was going to run out
of breath first. I noticed her suck in another breath while keeping
her mouth open, pretending she hadn’t done just that. I couldn’t
help but laugh while still holding the note, so I pointed at her
accusingly making her giggle.
    When the song
finished, we dropped our hands and flopped back onto the sofa
laughing and taking deep breaths.
    “Feel a bit
better, Sweetheart?” I panted.
    “Yep, thanks
Mum.” Her smile was genuine so I pulled her close for a hug.
    Suddenly, we
heard clapping from behind us and spun around to see Bryce and Nate
standing at the elevator door, McDonald’s bags tucked under their
arms. Nate was shaking his head and rolling his eyes while smiling
and gently clapping—this performance was not a first for him to
have witnessed.
    Bryce, on the
other hand, was clapping loudly with the biggest smile on his face.
“Wow! I’ve just found the two newest members of our band.” He
walked over and kissed my head from behind the sofa.
    “Really? Can I
really be in your band?” asked Charli, excitedly.
    “Sure.”
    “Oh. My.