“I was wondering where you went off to,” he said, holding up two steaming coffee cups. “Mind if I join you?”
I smiled, because he knew my answer as I lifted my hand andinvited him to join me on the porch swing. It amazed all our friends that we owned some of the grandest and most luxurious hotels in the state and yet our favorite place to retreat was the rustic, two-bedroom cabin in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
He handed me one of the mugs and then took a seat. I laid my head on his shoulder, trying not to yawn.
“Tired?” he asked.
“I don’t remember being this exhausted when Ben and Lucy were children.”
He pushed the swing with his foot, a smile in his voice. “Claire and Noah gave you a run for your money today?”
“If that girl survives childhood,” I said, taking a sip of the hot coffee, “I will consider it the greatest accomplishment of my life.”
Sam chuckled. “And where Claire goes, Noah is not far behind.” His voice held affection for our two youngest. “God is just trying to keep you young.”
“Then why do I feel so old?”
At the age of thirty-seven, we had been shocked to realize that I was expecting a third child. At that time, Ben was eleven and Lucy was nine, and we thought we were entering a quieter phase in our lives. But then, God had given us Noah, a sweet-tempered boy with big brown eyes like his father and a spray of freckles across his nose. We didn’t want Noah to grow up without a sibling close in age, so a little over a year later, I became pregnant with Claire, and we started the second half of our parenting journey. I laughed, thinking about the time I’d told Mama and Grace that I wouldn’t have six children like my sister Julia. Yet, that’s exactly what I had done.
When Claire came into the world five weeks early, and only after thirty minutes of labor, bearing the mark of a time-crosser on the back of her head, we knew we were in for an adventure. Every day since then, she had lived life at full speed, wanting to experience as much of it as possible. Her fearlessness and charm would prove to be a dangerous combination, I was certain.
The sound of laughter filled the air as Noah and Claire ranup from the riverbanks, where they had been playing since suppertime. At the ages of seven and five, they were inseparable and almost always covered in mud.
“Look, Mama!” Claire said as she held her little hand up for me to see whatever treasure she had found. “It’s an Indian arrowhead!”
Sam frowned as he set aside his coffee and rose to inspect the item. “Where did you get this, Claire?”
Her brown eyes were almost black, and her soft brown ringlets covered her cheeks as she tilted her face down in a gesture I knew far too well.
She was hiding something.
“Claire?” I also rose and joined Sam on the steps.
Noah averted his gaze, which was another sign that they had done something they shouldn’t.
“Noah?” Sam asked.
“Claire got it from the little Indian boy she talks to,” Noah blurted out.
“Noah!” Claire’s face came up with a frown. “You said you wouldn’t tell.”
“You know what we’ve told you about talking to strangers,” I said to her, fear gripping my heart. There had been an Indian uprising in northern California a few years before, and the threat of another one was always on my mind when we were at the cabin.
“But he’s not a stranger,” Claire protested. “He’s my friend. He gave me the arrowhead as a present.”
“You shouldn’t take gifts from strangers,” Sam chastised. “We don’t know this boy or his family.”
“I do know him,” she said with a confused frown.
Claire had never met a person she hadn’t liked, which was a wonderful quality. It didn’t matter if it was the governor of California or a homeless miner; each person held the possibility of becoming her newest friend. Still, it made me nervous, whether we were in the wilds of the Sierra Nevada Mountains or on the streets of San Francisco.
“Please obey me,” I said, feeling tired again. “And don’t debate, Claire.”
She frowned, and I knew this wouldn’t be the last time I had to scold her for talking to strangers.
“Go inside and clean up.” I touched her soft curls. “It’s almost time for bed.”
“And a little break for Mama,” Sam said with a smile.
