Everything inside me warms at the sight. Of all the siblings, Ford has the softest heart, and he fought the hardest against us keeping Lanie here against her will. Seeing him like this, laughing and making silly faces and voices while our Little ones giggle and cheer him on is such a perfect moment I want to capture it forever. Reaching into my pocket, I pull my phone free and snap a picture of them before stepping fully into the room.
Ford looks up first, ever alert, just like the rest of us, and not for the first time I’m hit with that wave of sadness over the childhood that was ripped from my youngest siblings. But I force a smile not just for the Little ones’ sakes, but his as well.
“We’re going to take the girls into town for some ice cream. Come with?”
At the mention of ice cream, a brilliant smile splits my brother’s face and the Littles let out a loud happy cheer. “That sounds great. Are the others coming?”
“Colt has work, but I was going to see who else wanted to come.”
“Dane’s outside chopping some wood and I think Gray is in her office. I’ll round them up if you want to get Eli.”
“On it.” Striding to the couch, I pluck Josie off the cushion and settle her on my hip. “Come on, bug. Let’s see if we can pry your Uncle Eli away from the stove for a couple hours.”
“What did Uncle Colt say about letting me work?” she asks as we leave the living room and head for the kitchen.
“He thinks we can probably make it work, and he’s hoping to have something set up for you by the time we get back from our ice-cream run.”
“Really?” Suspicion winds through her voice and her eyes narrow. “Just like that? You made it seem so… complicated.”
“I wasn’t sure how complicated it would be, so I didn’t want to get your hopes up.” And I pray I’m not still setting her up for disappointment. But Colt seemed pretty confident in his ability—or rather Gunther’s—to get Josie back to work without putting us at risk. “Wouldn’t you rather be pleasantly surprised than disappointed?”
“I suppose…”
It’s clear from her tone she isn’t quite convinced, but that’s fine. Eventually, she’ll learn that her Daddy always has her best interests in mind, and that I’d do anything to make her life here a happy one.
Even if it’s not quite the life she always imagined.
CHAPTER 20
JOSIE
It takes what feels like hours to round everyone up and pile them into the giant van Uncle Eli likes to drive. He grumbles about it the entire time, even though I saw the way his eyes lit up when Daddy told him we were heading into town to get ice cream.
And now that we’re here, Uncle Eli has the largest cone of everyone, with three different flavors, and I can’t help but notice how ridiculous he looks with his large frame absolutely dwarfing the tiny chair at the ice-cream shop as he licks at his equally large ice cream. Judging by the odd looks he’s getting from the other patrons, I’m not the only one who notices.
But Uncle Eli isn’t the only one drawing stares from the locals. I turn my head and find an elderly woman staring at me, a fierce frown on her face, and embarrassment heats my cheeks.
I tried to convince Daddy it was too cold for the pretty dress Uncle Max sent over in the approximately two hundred boxes worth of clothes that were delivered to our cabin a few days ago. But not only has the weather warmed up considerably since I first arrived, apparently the boxes also contained multiple pairs of thick stockings.
So here I am, in a pretty purple confection of a dress with layers upon layers of tulle that force the skirt to fluff out around me, waiting on my ice cream. The “Little girl” effect is not helped at all by Lanie, who is wearing a similar dress in a deep green and who is currently begging her Daddy for more than one scoop of ice cream.
“But Uncle Eli gets to havethree!” she whines, tugging at Uncle Axel’s sleeve. “I only want two!”
Frowning, Uncle Axel looks down at his pouting babygirl. “Uncle Eli is about five times your size. One scoop of ice cream is more than enough for a Little girl.”
The woman in the corner of the shop frowns even more fiercely before turning to another wrinkly old woman beside her and whispering something in her ear. My cheeks heat to the point I’m surprised all the ice cream in the shop doesn’t instantly melt.
“But—”
“Melanie Brynne.” Uncle Axel’s voice is sharp, and I instinctively put my hands behind me, even though it’s not directed at me. I forget all about the women in the corner of the shop as I watch my friend’s eyes go wide at her Daddy’s tone.
“If you want to keep arguing, I will take you back out to the van and you can sit there withoutanyice cream and wait on everyone else to finish. Is that what you want, little girl?”
“No, Daddy,” Lanie whispers, her bottom lip trembling and her eyes welling with tears.
Uncle Axel scoops her up into his arms. “Then pick outoneflavor of ice cream for your cone. We can always come back another time if there are other flavors you want to try.”
“Okayyyyy,” she says, dragging the word out into so many syllables I can’t help but giggle.
