Paris said, “Can we go down to the kitchen and get breakfast?”
“Cereal?” Daniel asked. “You can all get that easily enough. I’m going to stay up here with Emma for a little while. Come get me if you need me.”
Paris gave her father one of those looks that said he had to be kidding. “I can pour cereal and milk, Dad.”
“Of course you can,” he said lightly. “And I know you’ll watch over your sisters.”
“Aw, Dad,” they said in unison.
They were standing right outside the door of Fiesta’s room and Daniel put his finger to his lips. “Let’s keep quiet for a bit so we don’t scare Fiesta or the kittens.”
The girls went clomping down the stairs while Emma and Daniel returned to the room. “Do you think she’ll have more?”
“I don’t know. But number three is having trouble latching on. If she won’t, we’ll have to bottle-feed her.”
“Her? How do you know? I mean, it’s too soon, isn’t it?”
Emma laughed. “It’s the coloring. Mostly female cats are that coloring. We really shouldn’t handle them too much, but they need to nurse.” She gave the third kitten a gentle little push and she finally latched onto her mom’s nipple.
As Emma and Daniel sat in the room together on the floor, leaning against the wall, Emma could hardly take her eyes from momma and kittens. Finally, however, she turned to Daniel and said, “Does Paris ever talk to you about her feelings?”
“She hasn’t been talking about much at all lately.”
“I think she’d like to have some honest conversations with you. Can you be open to that?”
“You mean, conversations where I don’t act as if I’m going to judge what she says?”
Emma nodded. “Also, where you tell her the truth about your feelings if she asks. Don’t try to sugarcoat anything.”
“What did she tell you?”
“I believe she needs to tell you herself.”
“Emma, if it’s important—” He sounded annoyed with her.
“Everything’s important at that age.”
Staring at Emma, he nodded. “I guess that’s true. What about you? Are you honest with me about your feelings?”
She kept her gaze on the kittens. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Sure, you do. What were you thinking when I came to wake you this morning?”
“I...” Emma hesitated. “I don’t know.”
Daniel shook his head. “Yes, you do. I’m not going to judge what you say because my guess is that we were thinking the same thing.”
“All right.” If he wanted honesty, she’d give it to him. “I was thinking that if you kissed me again, it might not stop at that.”
“Exactly,” he agreed. “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”
When he leaned toward her, she knew he was going to kiss her. She wanted him to. When his lips came down on hers, she kissed him back until somehow she ended up in his lap and he was holding her. Emma didn’t know how long the kiss went on. She just knew there was nowhere else she’d rather be.
Finally when Daniel raised his head, he gave her a crooked smile. “We’ve been trying to deny this but even two of us being in denial didn’t help. My feelings for you are growing stronger, and I want you more and more each day.”
Emma sighed. “Oh, Daniel. Is this the right time for either of us?” What if I’m wrong about Daniel, as I was about John?
Daniel really must be getting to know her well because he said firmly, “I’m not John. I don’t have a fiancée in the wings. I would never ever betray a woman that way. I wouldn’t betray you.”
She wanted to believe him. Oh, how she wanted to believe him.
Fiesta meowed and Emma scrambled from Daniel’s lap to check on her. “She looks tired and spent.”
The birthing of kitten number four was slower than the others. As soon as the kitten was delivered, Fiesta lay still, obviously exhausted.
Emma said, “We need to break the sac. I’ll break it and you wipe the kitten with that warm cloth, okay?”
“Okay.”
They worked together in stimulating the kitten and helping it breathe. It was all black and fuzzy, and soon started squirming and rooting for its mom’s nipple.
They watched to make sure it got attached, then Daniel said, “I’ll call the girls. They’re going to want to see this.”
It was one of those moments that needed an exuberant expression of feeling. Daniel hugged Emma and she hugged him back. They kissed and it was coaxing and gentle and perfect. Then Daniel pulled away and stood. “I’ll call the three P’s and I’ll remind them to be quiet.”
Emma knew the girls would have excitement that would bubble over, too, and that was okay. Hugs all around were called for.
However, fear stole into Emma’s heart. She was getting close to Daniel. She loved Daniel, and she was forming bonds with his daughters. What would happen if what they were feeling fell apart?
Chapter Nine
Daniel watched Emma make sure that Fiesta had everything she needed. That included a darkened room and quiet. The problem was... Emma was quiet, too. That meant something was wrong.
The three P’s were in their rooms getting dressed. Daniel had decided it was okay if they skipped their camps today to keep checking on Fiesta and the kittens. Emma was watching the momma and babies carefully. She had been concerned until the last placenta had been delivered. However, she still wanted to make sure that Fiesta’s birthing was over.
After Daniel jogged down the stairs, he spotted Emma coming his way. She said to him, “Fiesta has food and water. I’d like to feed her every few hours. She needs her strength for nursing.”
“I set up the baby monitor.”
“I saw the speaker in the kitchen. That will help if we hear anything unusual going on.”
Emma wasn’t quite meeting his eyes and that wasn’t like her at all. “Is something bothering you?” he asked. “Something I said?”
“No, not anything you said. But I have to ask you—do you want me forming bonds with your daughters?”
He wasn’t sure how to answer that. All five of them were forming bonds like a family. Would an affair between him and Emma be good for his daughters? What if Emma left?
“I think you’re good for them. Paris is especially opening up more around you, and Pippa seems happier than I’ve seen her in a long while. Penny still likes sports more than anything else. But that’s Penny.”
“What about our bonds?” Emma asked, looking more serious than he’d ever seen her. She must have been doing some hard thinking.
Suddenly he had to tell her the truth, and the whole truth. “If you’re asking how far we can go, I don’t know. I don’t know if I can ever fully trust a woman again.”
Emma’s face fell. “Maybe I should leave now before the girls get more attached to me.”
“Is that what you want?” He looked her over. Pretty didn’t begin to describe Emma. He was incredibly attracted to her, but the connection growing between them went deeper than that. She had love in her heart to give, but he didn’t know if he could accept it. His daughters certainly needed it.
When she didn’t answer him, he said, “Tell me something, Emma. It’s not that long ago that you found John with his fiancée.”
“Almost two months,” she said, her chin lifting.
“I just wondered if you’re over him...over what you shared. If you loved him, it seems to me you’d still be recovering.”
“What are you accusing me of, Daniel? Not caring enough? I thought I loved John. The truth was that I didn’t know him. How could I love a man who thought trampling on my heart was easy, who thought having a fiancée in another state was okay? He lied to me, and when I walked in on him and his fiancée, any feelings I had for him died. Except maybe anger. But I
learned long ago that anger isn’t productive. That would only hurt me, not him. So I began volunteering. A coworker told me about a studio apartment I could rent month-to-month, and I started over. That’s what I’d wanted all along, only this time I decided I didn’t need a man by my side to do it.”
He believed her. “I don’t want you to leave.”
She shook her head. “But if there’s no chance that you can have real feelings for me, I don’t know if I should stay.” A strained silence settled between them. Finally she asked, “Are you going in to work today?”
“Yes. I called Megan and told her I’d be late. I gave her a key when I hired her. I have to start looking into the Whitaker sisters’ affairs. Megan can handle the financial aspect, but I want to do a little snooping around of my own. Bunny and Birdie might love their brother Gator, but I’m not so sure he isn’t trying to pull a fast one on them.”
Daniel had pulled on a T-shirt with his jogging pants, but now he had to change into his office clothes. “If anything happens and you need me, you know you can call me. I’ll try to come home early, but then I’ll have to go into work again tomorrow.”
She nodded then turned toward the kitchen. “I’ll see what I can round up for lunch.” She was gone before they could add to or finish their conversation.
Except what was there to finish?
He’d turned toward the stairway when he heard a rustling up above. By the time he reached the first step, he didn’t see Penny, Pippa or Paris there. Had one of them overheard his conversation with Emma? He hoped not, because his daughters’ world was unsettled enough.
* * *
Emma didn’t know where else to look. Her locket was missing.
Daniel had come home early and checked on the kittens and his daughters, who were sitting quietly by the side of the box watching them. Emma had come to her room to change for the evening. As she’d taken off her blouse in favor of a tank top, she’d realized she wasn’t wearing her locket.
After checking the dresser, the drawers in the dresser and every spot she could get to in her room, she still couldn’t find it.
Hurrying to the main part of the house, she practically ran into Daniel. Holding her by the shoulders, he took one look at her and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t find my locket.” Her voice was a bit wobbly.
“Emma, it will be all right. We’ll find it. We’ll ask the girls to help. When did you last see it?”
That was a logical question. “Last night before I went to bed. I took it off as I always do at night. I laid it on the dresser.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes. I always spread out the chain so it doesn’t tangle. That’s the last I saw it. Today when you woke me, I didn’t even think about putting it on. We were busy with the kittens and Fiesta all day. I changed my blouse just now and realized I wasn’t wearing it. But when I checked the dresser, it wasn’t there. Daniel...” She knew there was a pleading note in her tone, and she didn’t know what to do about it. That locket meant so much to her. It was the only connection to her mother that she still had.
Daniel brought her close for a hug. He murmured beside her ear, “I know what that locket means to you. Let me call the girls. We’ll all look for it.”
An hour later, all of them had searched for the locket but none of them had found it. They had each taken a room and then traded with someone else. When they gathered in the family room once more, Daniel told the three P’s, “I want to remind you that this isn’t a lost trinket. This locket belonged to Emma’s mother. Even though her mom died, it still gives her a feeling of connection. I know it seems we looked into every nook and cranny in this house, but we’re going to do it again. This time I’ll go with you room by room and I’ll move the furniture while you look. Does everyone understand the new plan?”
Paris, Penny and Pippa all nodded.
Emma simply felt like crying. They were doing their best for her. However, this might be a hopeless cause.
Another hour later, they all joined up in the kitchen.
Daniel put his arm around Emma’s shoulders, and she was surprised by the gesture in front of his girls. He saw her surprise and explained to his daughters, “Emma has become important to us. We care about her, and we want to find that locket. I doubt if the locket got dragged outside, but we have daylight left. Let’s take a walk around the house and along the woods. If we don’t find it now and it’s out there, maybe tomorrow we’ll find it when the sun glints on it.”
“We should check on Fiesta and the kittens,” Emma reminded him.
“I was just up there. All four kittens are nursing and they’ll go to sleep after that. I’m sure Fiesta needs a rest, too. So we’re good for a little while there. When we come back, we’ll check again.”
Logical, Emma thought. Daniel was so logical. The facts mattered to him, as they would to any lawyer. Yet when she looked into his eyes, she saw more than logic. He did care about her, and each day she was falling more and more in love with him.
Love. When had that happened? Maybe if she kept her mind on finding the locket, she wouldn’t be so scared by the idea of loving Daniel.
Outside, Pippa stooped over as if she’d found something in the grass. But when she picked up the object, it was just a white stone. Paris thought she’d found something but it was just a seed pod from a sugar gum. Not to be outdone by her sisters, Penny searched long and hard, examining the yard as if it was a grid. But all she came up with was a penny.
When they began to walk along the woods, Emma knew they wouldn’t find the locket tonight, not out here. Daniel soon slowed his long-legged strides so that his daughters and Emma could keep up. He mostly walked beside her, their shoulders brushing, neither of them moving away. His daughters didn’t seem to notice as they skipped and jogged in front of them, carefree as only children could be.
Daniel said in a low voice to Emma, “I know nothing can replace that locket.”
“I still have the memory of it,” Emma said. “My dad still has photos of him and Mom. I can buy another locket and put one of those pictures in it.”
“You’re a brave woman, Emma Alvarez, but you don’t have to pretend with me. I know you’re feeling devastated. I would be, too. Let’s give it a few days, though, before you give up hope. It could be in that one place we didn’t look.”
“Thank you,” Emma said.
He leaned away. “What for?”
“For being you.”
When he smiled at her, her heart seemed as buoyant as a balloon. Maybe they still could find the locket.
Suddenly Pippa called, “Dad, come here. There’s a dog. Look.”
Penny pointed, too. “He’s darting in and out.”
It was almost dusk and Daniel tried to see what they were seeing.
Paris explained, “He’s small and gray and really scruffy. He was over there by that tree.”
Daniel put his finger to his lips, directing his daughters to be quiet. After he crouched down, he whistled softly.
The dog peered at him around the tree.
“Come here, boy,” Daniel coaxed. “We won’t hurt you. Come on.”
But quick as lightning, the dog shot into the woods.
“I’ll see if I can find him, but you all stay here.”
The girls gathered around Emma and she circled them with her arms. She didn’t merely feel like a friend to them. She felt like a mom. The feeling totally caught her off guard.
When Daniel returned to them, he was frowning. His shirt was torn and his arms were scratched from either thorny bushes or tree branches.
“I couldn’t find him. My guess is he knows the best hiding places in these woods.”
“We can’t just leave him out here,” Pippa said, almost near tears.
“Honey, we have no choice,” Daniel told her firmly. “But I’ll tell you
what. We’ll put out a bowl of food and a bowl of water on the porch. If he comes around and eats, we’ll be helping to take care of him. And if he keeps coming around, we’ll try to catch him. Okay with you?”
Somehow Daniel had again found a solution so that his daughters wouldn’t worry quite as much. Emma tapped his arm. “We should go back to the house and take care of those scratches.”
He gave a shrug. “They’ll heal.”
“With some antiseptic and antibiotic ointment,” Emma pointed out. “Right, girls?”
“You should listen to Emma,” Penny told her father.
Although he grumbled about it, Daniel finally nodded. “I’ll listen to Emma after we put food out for the dog.”
Emma considered ministering to Daniel something to look forward to.
After they returned inside, Daniel found two burgers in the refrigerator that they chopped up and put in a bowl. Pippa watched while Emma filled a water bowl. They all went out to the porch and set the bowls near the edge.
Daniel gave Pippa a huge hug. “Dogs have great noses. If he smells food out here, I’m sure he’ll come over and eat it.”
“But it doesn’t have ketchup or mustard on it,” Pippa complained.
Daniel could see that Emma was trying hard to hide a smile and so was he. “Honey,” he said, “dogs can’t have ketchup or mustard on their food. It would make them sick. He’ll like it plain, I promise.”
“And now I have to take care of your dad’s scratches and cuts. Some of them are hard to get to. Can you and Paris and Penny go upstairs and check Fiesta and the kittens, then get ready for bed?”
Daniel knew he was going to hear complaints about that. He added, “After you’re all dressed and you’ve brushed your teeth, you can check the porch to see if the food’s still there, okay?”
There were nods all around as Pippa, Penny and Paris went inside.
Daniel insisted, “Really, I’m fine.”
But Emma was having none of that. She said, “Some of those scratches are on the back of your arms, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you have them on your back, too. Treating those by yourself wouldn’t be easy. So let me take care of it, okay?”
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