“You know what I must do now.”
And then, from behind, he heard another shout.
“It is war!”
Owen turned back to see Rose, Graham, Miranda, Cecily, and Jonas all running towards them with snow in their hands and shouting as if it was their battle cry.
He ran forward, grabbing Leah’s hand and pulling her along with him toward a bush. “The enemy is upon us,” he yelled. Balls of snow all came hurtling toward them and Owen hooked an arm around Leah’s waist, pulling her down to the snow with him behind the safety of the bush.
They both laughed as they tumbled down into the soft snow, Owen’s hand resting against her waist. Owen could feel Leah’s waist move each time she inhaled and exhaled, both of them still catching their breath. Upon realizing that he still held her waist, Owen sat up onto his knees and cleared his throat, releasing his hold on her.
Leah sat up beside him, adjusting the hood of her jacket without meeting his eye. “So, what shall we do?”
“We seem to be surrounded.” He began forming lumps of snow as fast as he could. “We need to get to work before we are ambushed.”
Leah chuckled, setting to work. An occasional snowball would fall from overhead, but they weren’t hitting their mark. “I am sure Rose is all joy right now. She adores this sort of thing.”
“You all do. That is why I love coming here so much.” Owen filled his arms with the small mound of snowballs he had formed. “Wish me luck.” He stood, immediately getting smacked in the shoulder with a snowball that shattered into a small plume of white upon contact. It had been Jonas, of that Owen was sure. The aim was immaculate. Not to mention, Jonas was grinning like a schoolboy who had somehow managed to get an extra sweet. Owen threw his snowballs, running out after throwing one at every assailant. He had hit two of the five. Not what he would consider a great success.
He ducked back behind the bush, forming more snowballs and checking on Leah’s progress. She had a fairly sizable stack. But as she glanced at the pile she had made, she stilled.
“What?” he asked, keeping up the pace of his work.
“I am only surprised,” she said quietly. A lump of snow fell from the sky and landed on her shoulder. She gasped, wiping it away and setting back to work.
Owen blindly lobbed a snowball over the bush from the ground. “What are you surprised about? That I was able to rescue you from our attackers? I am quite brave, you know.”
She chuckled before throwing snow over the bush as well, keeping her seat on the ground. “I suppose I did not realize how much you loved to spend time with all of us.”
“How could you not? You were like a second family to me. Until we left of course.” He stood, whipping a few more white orbs and this time, every one hit their mark.
He sat back, his breath coming quickly. It was warmer outside than he had thought it would be, and the exercise was only increasing the heat. The snow might very well be melted by tomorrow.
Owen heard snow crunching on either side of their barricade and then the shadows of all five siblings cast over them, their arms raised, ready for attack. Owen held a hand up. “Wait. You cannot do this. Two against five hardly seems fair.”
Jonas shook his head, shrugging apathetically. “Not my problem.”
“Fire!” Rose shouted. And then the world turned white.
Chapter 13
Leah. Late afternoon of the third day.
Leahsmiledtoherselfas she put away her things in her room. The afternoon hadn’t been what she had expected, but the turn of events had been a pleasant surprise. She hadn’t laughed so hard in ages, and it had left her feeling lighter and, somewhat surprisingly, happier.
After their impromptu snowball fight had come to an end, they had all come inside and had a cup of chocolate. Now, after changing into her day dress, Leah was ready to head downstairs and join them all as they trimmed the table with greens. And she had the perfect prank to pull on Owen.
Leah held a small amount of Epsom salt in the palm of her hand, being careful not to let it sift from her grasp or to have need of her hand before she could discreetly drop it into Owen’s cup. Her mother had said she would provide punch whilst they all decorated, giving Leah the perfect opportunity to even the score with Owen.
As Leah made it to the dining room, her hand had already become sore from clenching it.
“Leah,” Cecily said, running over and taking her hand. “You must see how perfectly silly Owen and Jonas are being. It has been most entertaining.”
Leah kept her fist tightly balled, and Cecily gave it an odd glance before continuing to pull her along. “What are they up to now?”
Cecily ducked her head and chuckled. “They have made the table rather festive for dinner.”
Leah could only imagine what that meant. As they arrived at the table, Leah pulled her hand to her mouth to smother a laugh, almost forgetting to keep it fisted lest the precious salts fall out. “What is that supposed to be? A dog?”
