“With yer help, o’course,” he smiled and touched her cheek, leaving a black smudge. “I ken if I had ye helping me, we could do most anything.”
“Let’s do something now,” she suggested, excitement lighting up her wide, brown eyes.
Darach nodded. “Aye, then. Shall we look for something tae burn before that icicle on yer nose gets any bigger?”
Emily’s hand went straight to her nose to check, before giggling. “You’re teasing.”
He shook his head, his expression serious. “Nae, lass. I’m an expert at icicles. I can tell when one’s about tae form. So, let’s see what we can do about a fire tae warm ye, and yer Aunt Tessa.”
When he shifted his gaze to Tess, that disarming smile from earlier was back. She felt an odd jolt. Like an unexpected, but pleasant surprise. She looked away, determined to be indifferent.
A handsome face and a great smile don’t automatically imply trustworthiness. Just the opposite, more than likely.
But even logic couldn’t discount the traitorous tingle along her skin.
“Do ye ken what a treasure hunt is, lass?” Darach asked the child.
“Yes.” The light in Emily’s eyes dimmed before she ducked her head and fussed with a glove. “I used to play it all the time, with my mom, before…” Her breath hitched and she took several shaky breaths. “She’d hide things and I’d find them. Sometimes my dad played, too, but he wasn’t as good at hiding stuff.”
Darach gave Tess a quick questioning look, before understanding and a sense of helplessness filled his eyes.
Tessa choked back the image of her sister, laughing and playing abandonedly with Emily. She’d adored her daughter. Both she and Tom had been amazing parents. How could she ever be half the mother to Emily, Allison had been?
Tessa drew Em into a tight hug. “Those are very special memories, honey. Hold on to them.” She pulled back and wiped the sooty smudge from the little girl’s cheek. “But I think Darach is talking about a different kind of treasure hunt. We could be a team, if you’d like,” she smiled, trying to put the excitement back in Em’s eyes. “We’re looking for…wood for the fire?” She turned to Darach, noting the concern pinching his face.
“Oh! Aye,” he said with a little too much enthusiasm. “Some wood. Or, anything else that will burn. And the reward will be…” he looked around the room before he shrugged. “…warm noses?” he laughed. “Can I count on your help, lass?”
Emily nodded and managed a smile.
“Well then, let’s see what we can find…” Darach looked around the dusty room and spied a fallen piece of carved molding, from the shelves.
“Don’t you dare!” Tessa cried when he reached for it. “I need that.”
He gave her an odd look but didn’t say anything as he paced a few steps away before stopping to stare at the windows.
Tess followed his gaze. “The window boards!”
“Aye,” he nodded. “But I’ll need something tae pry them off with. I’ll go look around outside. Mayhap, I’ll stumble ontae something useful.”
He hadn’t been gone a full minute when Tess remembered there should be a tire iron in the car. That would work perfectly. And she could grab their blankets and sleeping bags to wrap up in until the fire warmed the room. They’d also need their flashlights to explore the rest of the house.
“I’m going to get some things from the car, Em. Will you be okay to stay here, alone, while I get them? I really don’t want you to get wet all over again.”
Emily shrugged, her body hunched as she stared at her toes.
“Okay, what if you stand in the alcove by the door? You’ll be able to see me, but you’ll stay dry.”
“I guess,” Emily said, her voice betraying her true feelings. “But you won’t be very long, will you?”
“Of course, not,” Tess assured her. “But I won’t go at all if you’re frightened.”
She could see the fight going on inside Emily. Every emotion played across the child’s face. She was trying so hard to be brave.
How could you be so thoughtless, Tessa?
“On second thought, if you come with me, you could carry the picnic basket in, and save me another trip.”
All the tenseness left Em’s body, replaced by a huge grin. “I think that’s a good idea. I bet Darach’s awful hungry.”
“He’ll be even hungrier after he wrestles that huge board off the window,” Tess said, taking Em’s hand and heading outside.
She cursed herself for even considering leaving Emily alone, anywhere, for any amount of time. Since her parent’s deaths, being left behind had become Emily’s Achilles heel.
And the fear of failing at pseudo-motherhood had become Tessa’s.
