Caroline shook her head and returned to the house alone, making use of the outhouse along the way.
She climbed the steps to the porch, planning to open the shutters and let in some light, but it had already been done. The yeasty scent of freshly baked bread wafted past. She opened the door, readying herself to greet whoever was preparing lunch. Instead, she crossed the threshold and paused, her heart breaking for a small boy who sat hunched on the floor all alone, amidst scattered toys that lay untouched.
“Are you Noah?” she asked.
The boy looked up with curiosity so dampened by sadness it was almost indecipherable. “Yes. Who are you?”
“I’m Caroline Bennet, your aunt. Your mother’s sister.”
He looked her over, then screwed his face into a frown and ducked his head.
Caroline crossed the room and crouched down beside him, her black skirt pooling around her. “Your mother loved you very much. You know that, don't you?”
He nodded, sniffling and staring at his crossed legs. “You look like her,” he said after a long moment, lifting his gaze to meet hers through the veil of his lashes, “‘cept your hair is darker, and you’re older.”
Only by a year and a half. But he wasn’t the first person to think it was more. Everyone assumed there was a wider gap.
“You look like your father,” she said with a light voice, even though the observation was a white-hot knife to her heart. Noah favored Jackson, save for a graceful narrowing about his nose and chin, and the color of his eyes. Jackson’s were cornflower blue, while Noah’s were a light, clear green.
The anger Caroline had felt when Jackson threw her over returned tenfold. He’d played her for a fool—played the honorable admirer, while secretly desiring her sister.
Soft whimpers floated from a stuffed chair a few feet away, a woman’s chair. Even in a state of quiet rage, Caroline’s heart was softened by the sound.
She rose and went toward the noise, then peered down at a little blonde girl who was curled up on her side, hugging a tattered doll. “You must be Jewel.”
Jewel quieted and looked up with big blue eyes that made Caroline suck in a breath. She was Jackson made over.
“May I sit with you?”
Jewel sniffled and nodded.
Scooping the child up gently, Caroline slid beneath her and cradled her on her lap, feeling honored when the tot pillowed her head on her chest.
Jewel made a sound, like a whimper, only more delicate. She paused then rolled over and pressed her face against the floral upholstery. When she made the sound again, Caroline recognized it as a sniff and blinked back tears.
The chair held a faint odor of jasmine, Amanda’s favorite scent. Jewel was clinging to the last tangible remembrance she had of her mother.
Jackson had slipped in and was observing from the doorway, his arms folded across his chest, a bulwark against the embarrassment of having been seen during one of his episodes and against the ache that threatened to spill over. Caroline’s presence soothed his heart and, at the same time, singed the raw edges of his grief. It was both a salve and a cruel reminder of what might have been.
“Come here, Noah,” he called without announcing his presence, causing her to flinch.
The boy's head jerked up, and his eyes flashed with defiance. He stood and shuffled over, his spine rigid and his hands jammed into his pockets.
“I have to go pump water. Set the table with tin plates and have it finished by the time I return.”
“Why can’tshedo it?” he said, cutting his eyes toward Caroline.
“Because she’s a guest, and because I asked you.”
If Noah were a bull, he’d have been snortin’ and pawin’, ready to charge. The only thing keeping Jackson from taking the boy over his knee was the fact they were both out of sorts from grief.
Jackson stood his ground, both figuratively and literally, until Noah relented and trudged in the direction of the cupboard. Then he took two empty buckets from the kitchen. As he left, he glanced at Caroline.
She was glaring at him with the hardest look he’d ever seen.
Jackson sighed and went out the door. She must not approve of the way he’d spoken to Noah. If so, she would just have to get past it. He knew enough about males to know he’d best demand obedience now, or he’d have a far bigger mess of trouble later.
Caroline sat quietly while Noah set the table. It went against her instinct not to comfort him and help, but she didn’t want todislodge Jewel or defy Jackson’s instructions. She did, however, wish to know why the boy was so angry with his father.
