Mia quietly descended the stairs, relieved that Jem had gone down easily, with only a few small grumbles, but once he got his thumb between his lips and his other hand wrapped around his bear’s arm he settled peacefully. She quickly managed to locate the basket and laid out a soft blanket inside before heading back down to the room she had left Lam in. She thought she had heard Dagger enter the house so didn’t worry too much about their guest being left alone, but that didn’t mean she wanted to linger, just in case Dagger hadn’t gone through.
As she entered the room Mia caught Lam’s last few words and she paused slightly just inside the door, unsure of whether or not she was interrupting or whether she was supposed to have not heard Lam mentioning being worried about something they needn’t have. Her gaze flickered between the two briefly, settling on her husband holding Pandora, looking at her in a way not dissimilar to how he looked at Jem. But there was something slightly different there - perhaps she was imagining it, maybe it was just the surprise of seeing him look at Pandora as though she was his. She’d never really seen him with any other children though, maybe that was just how he looked at all children. Somehow she doubted it though.
And the look Lam was giving him, it looked so much more personal than the way Mia looked at him. She knew she wasn’t exactly his ideal wife, but she tried. It was just so difficult for her - she couldn’t remember ever seeing her own parents together and where else could she have learnt it? And after everything with her uncle and Ridley, most of which she hadn’t told Dagger, she was too nervous to take further steps which she thought she should. And so when so many women would have felt a rush of jealousy upon seeing their husband so close to another woman, holding a child who was not his own, Mia instead felt a pang of guilt. Perhaps if she was able to look at him like that, make easy banter and relax, and performed the duties expected of a wife, there would be no need for her to feel any worry about this situation. Maybe.
“Here’s the basket,” she said quietly, stepping further into the room and gesturing slightly with the large basket and moving to put it by the couch where Lam had been seated before. It didn’t look as though it was needed any more now though, not if Dagger was going to keep hold of her. As she straightened up again Mia clasped her hands in front of her, feeling like an intruder on a private moment. Dagger hadn’t ever spoken to her about Lam, but there was something in the air, something unfamiliar to the young woman.
“Would you like anything to drink, Lam?” she asked, finally letting her gaze settle on the older redhead. She knew Dagger didn’t want her behaving like a servant, but when there was no one else in the house to help she had to and couldn’t help feeling like she was below these two, like she wasn’t worthy of taking part with whatever they were speaking of and she should be serving them instead.
