“You think I don’t have the exact same instincts you do where my family is concerned, Michael?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“I want to make a home for Sey and the kids. I can protect them. You know I can.”
Michael looked pensive, his grey-green eyes shifting color to dark jade. “Can you, Declan?”
Declan’s mouth tightened to a thin hard line. “I would never question you that way. Why would you--?”
“For a very good reason, Declan. You’re right, I do have the same protective instincts you do. But unlike you, I’ve confronted my limitations. Over and over. I know I can’t do everything myself. You seem to think you can.”
“I wouldn’t let anything happen to them,” Declan whispered harshly, pain etched in every inch of his face.
“You wouldn’t want anything to happen to them. There are things out there beyond your control. Beyond mine. God knows, I’ve learned that…the hard way.” This was the most Michael had ever spoken to Declan, and Declan had a feeling, he wasn’t done yet.
“What are you saying?”
“Stay here.”
“We can’t. You don’t kn—“
“Is it a question of space? Privacy? Tell me, Declan, and we can work this out.”
Declan’s silvery eyes blurred with tears despite the rigid control he was exerting over himself. “You want to loan me money, the way you did Neil?”
“If that’s what it takes.”
“Well, I wouldn’t take your freaking money, Michael! I can support my own damn family! I don’t want to be obligated to anyone!”
Michael’s eyes narrowed. Declan nearly backed up. He had seen that dangerous glint in Michael’s eyes before, but it was never directed at him. “You can’t afford to be noble, Declan. You’re already obligated. We all are. To each other. If you can’t live with that, well….”
Michael’s expression advised Declan to consider his next words carefully.
“You don’t understand.” Declan finally settled for what seemed like the obvious.
Michael stared at Declan for a long moment, apparently mulling over something in his mind. “Declan, it’s hard for me to tell people how much they mean to me.” He paused, as if to illustrate just how difficult this was.
“I don’t want you and Birkoff to leave. It’s not safe. For you. For us. There’s something to be said for safety in numbers.”
“You’re worried my leaving will jeopardize the rest of the family?” Declan asked.
“That’s part of it.”
Michael shrugged. “You’re part of my family, Declan. I don’t want to give you up.”
God, what that must have cost Michael to admit. Declan let out the breath he’d been unconsciously holding. “I don’t really want to go. It’s just—we have so little space…and we can’t take any more from you. We just can’t.”
“Maybe you won’t have to,” a gruff voice came from the doorway. Walter had seen Michael pull Declan into the TV room earlier, and he had valiantly tried to keep still. But as the long minutes wore on, he just couldn’t sit by and watch any more.
“Maybe there’s a solution staring you both right in the face.”
“Like?” Declan inquired.
“Let’s talk.”
***
Sey found Sasha on the back lawn. He was lying on his stomach, weeping more quietly now, his restless fingers repeatedly plucking at the grass.
Sey swallowed and knelt down by the boy’s side. “You must be cold. It’s getting a little chilly out here,” he said in an attempt at normalcy.
Sasha mumbled something unintelligible into the grass. “What did you say?”
He lifted his tear-stained face to look at his father. “I said, I don’t care.”
Sey cocked his head gently. “Well, I care.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I do, Sasha. I always care what happens to you.”
“If you cared about me, you wouldn’t let Da move us away from here, Daddy,” came the low reply.
“So…” Sey reached out to stroke Sasha’s hair, but the young boy jerked his head away. “You want me to fight with Da? That would make you feel better?”
Sasha buried his face in his arms. “No.”
“I didn’t think so.”
Suddenly Sasha sniffled loudly and swiped at his nose. Turning his bittersweet gaze upon his father, he asked, “Do you really want to go, Daddy?”
An uncomfortable look crossed Sey’s face, and he knew he was coloring furiously. “I-I really can’t—“
“If you don’t want to go either, please, can’t we stay, Daddy?”
“But this would be a good change, Sasha. Honest. You and Emmy could have bigger rooms. Da could have a studio for his art.”
With an intellectual leap that would make an adult proud, Sasha concluded, “You’re doing this for him, aren’t you? You don’t want to go, do you, Daddy?”
“Sasha, I swear, if you tell him—“
“Tell me what?” Declan asked. From his vantage point on the back porch, he had a clear view of his partner and his son.
Two pairs of dark brown eyes met almost anxiously, pleading with one another.
Sey struggled for words, but he was damn surprised by what came out of his mouth. “We’re not leaving.”
“No, we’re not,” Declan calmly agreed.
“But—“
Declan grinned at the two of them, encouraged by the way Sasha wrapped an arm around Sey’s waist, burying his face against Sey’s side, only to suddenly peek at Declan.
“We’re not?”
“You’d like to argue about it some more?”
Sey literally sprung to his feet, taking Sasha with him. Declan bent down to Sasha’s level, his expression sobering. “Seriously, Sasha. We’re not going to leave.”
Sasha threw himself at Declan with a cry, inadvertently hitting the bruise on Declan’s cheek. Declan grimaced, and Sasha drew back, horrified to see the mark he’d left on him.
“Oh, shit. Da, did I do that?”
“Aye, you did, you little blackguard,” Declan answered affectionately. “And stop saying “shit” all the time. I let you get away with entirely too much.”
“I’m sorry, Da. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” And with that, Sasha kissed the bruise on Declan’s cheek.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you either, kiddo. What say we both learn from our mistakes?”
“Good idea,” said Sey, leaning close enough to Declan to whisper, “I knew you could work it out.”
Declan rubbed his cheek against Sey’s hair. “I had a little help, baby.” A wise man knew when to rely on himself, and when to rely on the help of others. It was also said that you could choose your friends, but you couldn’t choose your family. That wasn’t true. Declan could have told them.
“I hear there’s a piece of birthday cake in the fridge with your name on it, kiddo.” Sasha whooped, as if he’d just remembered that it was still his birthday, and Sey couldn’t help but grin.
Sasha darted through the back door, obviously taking a shortcut to the kitchen. Meanwhile, the two men followed more slowly. They had a great deal to talk about. Decisions had been made, and then, those decisions were turned on their heads.
“So what happens now?” Sey asked.
“For the time being, not much.” Declan rubbed his hands over his face, unintentionally touching his bruised cheekbone. “Unh….”
“Want me to get some ice for that?” Sey offered.
“Maybe later.” Declan paused. “Y’know, I never thought of Walter as getting old. He’s just—Walter.”
“Ageless.”
“Aye, something like that. Anyway, he said that between old age and arthritis, he wouldn’t be doing much woodworking anymore….”
Sey’s dark eyes gleamed. “He’s giving you the workshop for a studio?”
Declan nodded, tears springing to his eyes in remembrance. “That was such a damn kind thing to do. Unexpected, too.”
“That’s Walter,” said Sey, thinking how often Walter had saved his ass, in one way or another. “He must like you.”
Declan smiled faintly. “He loves you. Maybe I get points for getting close to you.”
“Maybe you should get closer,” Sey agreed, pulling Declan’s head down for a kiss. He chuckled afterwards, and Declan gave him an enigmatic look.
“What was that for?”
“GP.”
“GP?”
“General Principles.” Plunging both hands into his jeans pockets, Sey rocked back and forth on his heels for a moment. “That takes care of the studio. What about living in two rooms?”
“Well…it gets better. The workshop’s on the ground floor. No light. No way to make a skylight. So Walter suggested building an extension onto the back of the house, which would give it—“
“Light. Will that be enough?”
Declan blushed. “Oh, now you’ve got to tell me what that was for, Dec.”
“Walter asked me what I thought of making a glass wall facing the back lawn.”
“Well, that would sure bring in more light!” Sey nodded encouragingly. “But why did that make you blush?”
Declan averted his eyes, but Sey reached up with both hands to grip Declan’s face, holding him fast. Declan’s hot silver gaze flickered every which way before finally lighting on Sey’s face as a last resort. “I had a bit of an erotic fantasy about the wall.”
Sey smiled slowly, a tiny crease appearing at the corner of his mouth. “We’ll talk later,” he whispered, giving Declan a wink.
Declan gave his lover a reassuring pat on the butt, and if he lingered just a little too long, Sey wasn’t complaining.
“What about our rooms?”
“That was Walter’s idea. He wants to raise the roof and build a third floor.”
“And Michael gave you the go-ahead?”
“Yes. I can hardly believe it myself.”
“But what about walking through the house to get from here to there? Doesn’t sound very private. For us. Or for Michael and Nikita.”
“Michael’s going to build a separate entrance in the back. Sorta our own stairway to heaven. Only thing is, all of this construction is going to take time.”
“We’ve got time.”
“And money.”
“That we don’t have.” Sey sighed. “I suppose I could get a loan using the bookstore as collateral. Or I could always dip into one of the stock portfolios.”
“No, acushla, that’s your money.”
“Our money now, Dec. Don’t go getting huffy about whose money it is now.”
Declan leaned close, kissing Sey very tenderly. “I love you…but I won’t take your money. This is something I want to do for you. I don’t want you to be forced to finance your own dream.”
“It’s your dream, too, Declan. And the good part is, we get to live it together.” Heaving a contented sigh, he gently pushed his hands through Declan’s long thick curls to caress his shoulders.
“Michael probably wouldn’t mind laying out the money. We could pay him back later. How would that be?”
“That…would be fine,” answered the man in question, coming up behind the couple.
Michael lay a hand on the back of each man’s neck. “Sasha told me to tell you…if you don’t come soon, there won’t be any cake left…and he won’t be seven anymore.”
Declan and Sey laughed, almost in unison, trading startled glances immediately afterwards. “He’s right. We’ve seen him eat. Sey’s the same way. Must be genetic,” said Declan.
“I know Chris was upset at the thought of Emmy leaving, Michael. What did he say when you gave him the good news?”
Michael’s countenance abruptly grew shadowed. “I didn’t see him. Or Faith.”
“That’s funny. Kids who don’t want cake or ice cream. Hmm, what’s wrong with that picture?”
That was an interesting choice of words.
Suddenly Nikita drew abreast of the three men in the hallway, panting and out of breath. Sey was just about to comment on how Nikita’s conditioning had gone downhill since they left Section when he noticed her pallor. “Hey, are you all right?”
“No,” gasped Nikita. “I can’t find Chris. Or Faith.”
Michael ran a hand carelessly through his hair, his wedding ring catching what little light there was with an ominous glint.
“Maybe they went next door?”
Nikita shook her head vehemently. “We’ve looked everywhere. No one’s seen them.”
It was too terrible to contemplate. Chris simply wasn’t the type to run away. But there seemed to be no other explanation.
James unlocked the door to the classroom, Smoke following hot on his heels. After the two lovers entered the room, James quickly locked the door behind them.
Smoke gave James an unrepentant grin. “That was almost premeditated, Jamie. I must be corrupting you, I think.”
James gazed helplessly at the slightly older man he loved, his mouth falling open into a small ‘oh’ of surprise, as if he’d been caught doing something he wasn’t entirely convinced he should do. “Maybe we shouldn’t—“
Smoke silenced him with a hard kiss that took his breath away. When he could breathe again, he looked questioningly at Smoke. “It’s just that I have to teach in this classroom, Pete. If we—you know—every time I come in here, I’ll be thinking—“
Smoke leaned close, his breath huffing across James’ lips. “You’ll be thinking of me.” He licked at James’ mouth, delicately tracing his way back and forth, corner to corner, with the natural grace of the feline he resembled. “Is that a bad thing, Jamie?”
“No, of course not, Pete,” James protested, not wanting to hurt his lover’s feelings. Besides, he could feel arousal thrumming through his veins and nerves and muscles now. He wanted this. He could deny it as prettily as he liked, but he wanted this.
“But there’s something about being here that seems—“
Smoke moved closer, stepping between James’ legs, his knee almost, but not quite, touching James’ groin. Slowly but surely, he approached until James could feel Smoke’s body heat radiating off the other man. Now he touched James. The increase in pressure from Smoke’s knee was subtle but inexorable, and James responded accordingly.
“That’s what attracted you to me, Jamie…” Smoke whispered against his mouth. “I’m a little bit dangerous.”
His hands roamed freely over James’ body, claiming him, inch by inch. Chest. Abdomen. Back. Sliding his hands down James’ back to his hips, Smoke pulled the younger man closer, tighter, until he could feel his burgeoning arousal. “If you wanted safe, you wouldn’t have gone looking for me, Jamie.”
“But you didn’t want dull…you didn’t want boring.”
“No….” James agreed. “Teachers don’t marry exotic dancers, Pete,” he whispered.
Smoke smiled mysteriously, as if he knew that was a lie. They wouldn’t be together now, if that were the truth. He backed the younger man against the wall, pressing his erection firmly against James. His blue-grey eyes pale chips of tourmaline set in striking contrast to his now tanned face, Smoke let his tongue trace its way along James’ cheek and up to the hairline, above his ear.
His sensual lips caressing James’ ear, Smoke whispered huskily, “But you don’t care what other people think, Jamie. You married me anyway.”
“Yes….” James said, completely mesmerized by Smoke’s single-minded seduction.
“Don’t you want to know what attracted me to you?” said the softly-accented voice that held James’ attention.
“God, yes.”
Smoke’s sweetly disordered attempts to entice abruptly ceased. He looked deeply and intently into James’ cobalt blue eyes, holding his gaze when he could easily have looked away. “You’re the first one who ever wanted to keep me.”
James’ eyes flickered with an as yet-unexpressed emotion. “It’s all I wanted. From the moment I met you. To take you home…and make you stay, Pete.”
Smoke nodded, brushing his fingertips against James’ cheek. James closed his eyes, feeling the gentle abrasion, the rhythmic stroking. Skin against skin. “I love you, Jamie.”
A stunning light show took up residence behind his eyelids. James didn’t even need to open his eyes to know what he would see there. Unadulterated love. “I love you, too, Pete,” James declared the moment he opened his eyes again.
Smoke’s eyes flared a brighter, more vivid shade of blue. “Part of me wants to run like ‘ell when you say that, Jamie.” He smiled. “Luckily, the other part of me wants to wrap you in my arms and never let go.”
An inarticulate sound escaped James’ lips, right before Smoke kissed him. His mouth opened under his, allowing Smoke to plunge his tongue deep and true. There were hidden treasures everywhere if you but knew where to look.
“Shall I tell you ‘bout my fantasy?”
“Please….”
With that, Smoke bent his head to James’, his tongue swirling inside his ear even as he whispered the most delicious things he wanted to do to him.
James pressed a palm to Smoke’s chest. “We can’t take off our clothes,” he said with a trace of urgency. “If someone found us here….” Well, that went without saying. Smoke wanted to make James happy, not crazy. Well, maybe just a little crazy. But in a good way.
Smoke nodded his assent, then proceeded to bend James back over the nearest student desk. It was the old-fashioned kind. Wooden. A hinged top hid a compartment that held pencils, papers and books. The outside was marred by a myriad of names and initials, the surface unpolished but not excessively rough to the touch.
Scooting up on the desk, James’ body strained to get closer to Smoke’s, even as he realized the precarious nature of his perch. Placing both hands on James’ upper chest, just below his shoulders, Smoke began to kiss his way down his body, without removing a single article of clothing. The fabric that separated them frustrated as it tantalized.
“Christ…” said James under his breath. “I can’t believe you’re—“
Smoke raised his head from where he was, looking back up the length of James’ body with an expression that was a curious mixture of arousal and amusement. “Jamie? I think both of us would enjoy this a lot more if you stopped saying that.”
James took a deep breath and lay his head back, consciously trying to relax his body. Smoke focused on what he was doing, and James bit his lip hard in an effort to keep from moaning aloud. Unfortunately, that made him tense again. Smoke noticed.
“Jamie…you need to forget where we are.”
“I can’t. That’s what making me so…excited.”
Smoke pressed his mouth to the increasingly hard ridge that strained the zipper of James’ jeans. Without using his teeth, he mouthed James’ erection through the fabric, knowing it must feel hot…and moist…
James’ hands found their way to Smoke’s long black hair, tangling themselves in the strands before gaining enough leverage to push his head down. “More….”
Smoke smiled against James’ arousal. “Any more and you’ll come.”
As if to verify this, James’ hardened length twitched against Smoke’s cheek. James stared at his lover with passion-filled eyes. “Then come back up here and kiss me.”
Smoke clambered back up the length of James’ body, settling comfortably atop him. Now they were face to face, groin to groin, their arousals touching. “Open for me,” Smoke commanded.
James had no choice but to obey. With a fevered gasp, he let Smoke back inside, and they kissed repeatedly. Warm, wet, open-mouthed kisses that destroyed the last of James’ inhibitions and fueled the involuntary frottage between them.
It began to feel good. Too good. They were both too close, too excited to hang onto the edge any longer. Rubbing furiously against each other, the couple raced towards completion, their movements wilder, more erratic.
It was hard to tell who precipitated what. For one long desperate moment, they were one. Then they toppled into freefall together. Smoke thrust against James, giving the too-small desk beneath them a push it could no longer withstand. Suddenly there was a huge crash.
In a tangle of arms and legs, their fall became reality. The desk went one way, their bodies another, Smoke landing on top of James with a very real groan.
After checking to make sure that nothing vital was damaged, Smoke grinned at James. James burst out laughing, and Smoke did the only thing he could do under the circumstances. He kissed him.
All at once, the door opened. Madeline stood there, in the doorway, looking for all the world like a frustrated schoolmarm with two unruly young men on her hands. With an expression that was somehow envious and yet dismissive, Madeline snapped frostily, “If you gentlemen are quite through, we need you next door.”
Smoke blinked at James. “I thought you locked the door.”
“I did,” James agreed.
Madeline interrupted again. “Don’t worry, boys, I have the key, remember?” When James would have protested her intrusion, Madeline forestalled him with an imperious wave of her hands. “I would never have come up here, but we have a family crisis.”
She turned to go, pausing to say, “Nikita seems to think the two of you might be useful.” Raising an eyebrow, she added, “I can’t imagine why.”
After Madeline left, James buried his bright red face against Smoke’s shoulder. “You realize we will never live this down.”
Smoke growled under his breath. “She’s never going to be as ‘appy as we are, and she knows it, Jamie.”
“Somehow that doesn’t help, Pete.”
Smoke rolled off his lover and slowly stood up. He offered a hand to James, helping him up. Ducking into the adjoining bathroom for a towel, Smoke made quick work of cleaning himself up before doing the same for James.
Smoke’s silent solicitude moved James. It wasn’t his fault that Madeline saw them together. Besides, it wasn’t as if they were caught in the act. They were both fully dressed. They just happened to be lying on top of each other.
Suddenly seeing the humor in the situation, James shrugged off the black mood that had threatened. “Hey…Pete?”
Smoke darted a sidelong glance at his lover, his light eyes serious. “Yeah?”
“I wouldn’t trade you for anyone. You know that, right?”
Smoke smiled, the sudden warmth brightening his face. “You want to keep me a little bit longer?”
His fingers sliding under Smoke’s chin, James kissed him tenderly. “I love you, Pete. And that’s forever.”
Chris was so preoccupied, he decided to go for a walk. Alone. He didn’t want cake or ice cream. He didn’t feel much like celebrating. To be honest, it didn’t look like Sasha felt much like celebrating either. So he trudged through the house, virtually unnoticed in the chaos that ensued after Declan’s announcement, and right out the back door.
But Chris didn’t stop there. If he had, he would have seen Sasha throw himself down on the back lawn. He would have seen Birkoff comforting his son. And he would have realized that things were eventually resolved with Declan’s arrival.
Instead, Chris kept right on going. Lost in thought. He’d never been more deeply lost in thought. The idea of losing Emmy was so totally devastating to him, he couldn’t get beyond the initial numbness that overtook his heart and soul. He supposed he might cry at some point. But even tears were too much effort. They required feeling. And he couldn’t feel anything right now. He was deathly afraid that he might never feel anything ever again.
So Chris made his way over the low stone wall that marked the end of the back lawn. Contrary to common belief, it was not the Samuelle property line. In fact, Michael owned land that extended far beyond the wall and into the forest. Buying up the adjoining land was Michael’s way of ensuring his family’s protection. By expanding their perimeter, he gave them a greater margin of safety.
But just because he owned it didn’t mean that he or Nikita let the children explore it. The wall was first built with the birth of the twins. Because none of the children ever showed any interest in that part of the property, it simply never occurred to Michael that the wall might be inadequate to keep them out.
Chris never particularly noticed that he had ventured outside his usual territory. He just kept walking…and walking…muttering to himself all the while. “What am I going to do?”
Though he was no stranger to rumination, Chris nevertheless tended to make decisions and stick to them. But in this case, he felt as if his known reality had been torn away, making him feel like a ship without moorings. That was why he never registered that he was being closely shadowed.
By his sister.
Faith and Chris were more than brother and sister. They were twins. But more than that, they shared an almost psychic connection. When one hurt, the other knew why.
Faith was a born explorer at heart. But even if she hadn’t been, she would have followed Chris. She wasn’t about to let him do something foolish. She rarely admitted this, even to herself, but she loved her brother. He accepted her; he defended her. Without being asked. Chris had honor. He would become a knight someday, in one form or another. In the meantime, she would watch his back.
***
Unbeknownst to the twins, things at home were in a complete uproar. Davenport and his wife were probably the closest to finding Faith and Chris, if they had only known, but they walked the perimeter, assuming that the children had not scaled the wall. Declan paced back and forth in the kitchen, alternating between anger and despair. It didn’t help that Nikita blamed him for springing his announcement on the family without warning her or Michael.
“How could I be so bloody stupid?”
“I dunno, Declan. You tell me.” Nikita risked drawing Declan’s ire by answering his rhetorical question.
Declan met her eyes for only a moment before plunging headfirst back into his litany of self-deprecation. “I know I screwed up, Nikita, I don’t need you to tell me that.”
Nikita sighed. It wasn’t like her to be this unforgiving. But she was deeply worried about the children. It would be dark soon. She refused to let her mind wander any further. They would be okay. They had to be.
“Michael will find them. Michael will bring them back,” she said anxiously, visibly restraining herself from wringing her hands.
“You place a lot of faith in Michael,” Smoke pointed out.
Nikita nodded. Much to Smoke’s surprise, she had practically begged James to go out with the others looking for the kids. “You can talk to Chris. He listens to you, James,” she had said.
James reluctantly agreed to join the search party, though he was certain that he would be no more help than anyone else. It was determined that Smoke would stay behind and lend moral support. God knew Nikita needed all the support she could get.
Without Michael at her side, Nikita felt the weight of their parental responsibilities fall squarely on her shoulders. She bore it well, as Michael was convinced she would, but she needed to be in the embrace of her family.
Smoke was encouraged by Michael’s implied affirmation that he was now part of the family. It seemed a little enough thing, but it was one that gladdened his heart.
“Michael will do anything ‘e can,” Smoke averred.
Declan walked right up to Smoke, knowingly intimidating the younger man. “Like I wouldn’t?” he asked in an anguished tone.
“I wasn’t trying to ‘urt your feelings, Declan.”
“You couldn’t bloody well hurt my feelings if you tried,” Declan snarled, feeling like he was right on the edge of losing whatever control he had regained.
Nikita immediately intervened, physically moving between the two men in order to prevent further escalation. “Look, we’re all a bit upset, and we all have our own ways of dealing with it. Let’s not start sniping at one another here. That’s not what we’re about.”
Declan turned his hot silver gaze upon Nikita. “Wasn’t that you taking potshots at me earlier?”
Nikita relented. She could see the toll this was taking on Declan, and it truly wasn’t his fault. He just made an easy target.
“Yeah, you’re right. I apologize, Declan.”
Declan backed off, raking both hands through his long red hair. “Christ, I just wish we’d hear something. Anything.”
But when they did, it certainly wasn’t what any of them expected to hear.
Chris sat down, hard, right where he was. The forest floor was covered in leaves of various colors: red, yellow, brown, and the occasional green. But Chris was in no mood to notice. He crossed his legs Indian-style and surveyed his surroundings. Every time he moved, leaves crackled beneath him.
That was probably why he didn’t register his sister’s arrival.
Her approaching steps masked by the continued crackling of the leaves, Faith had ample opportunity to study her brother without his knowledge. He had abandoned the blank stare. He looked miserable. His face was streaked with tears, his nose running. A couple of loud sniffles later, he looked up to see his sister standing over him.
“What are you doing here, Fee?” he asked, surprised to find that he was a little bit angry. Now that he had unleashed the rigid control he kept over his emotions, it was all too easy to get in touch with his feelings. And some of them were not all that pleasant.
“I was worried about you.” Faith didn’t wait for an invitation. She was pretty sure that Chris wouldn’t give her one. So she sat down next to him.
“Ha!” Chris snorted. His light blue eyes clouded over. “Like you care.”
“Well, I do.”
Chris picked up a small stone and examined it closely, his fingers running over the smooth, clear surface as if it were a precious gem. Faith ran out of patience waiting for her brother to open up. With lightning speed, she grabbed the pebble from his hand and threw it as far as she could. It vanished in the gathering gloom of dusk.
“Hey! What’d you do that for?”
“To get your attention.”
Chris glared at Faith, uncrossing his legs to stand up, probably to run, but Faith was too quick for him. After wrestling him to the ground, Faith straddled her brother’s body, her knees pinning his arms on either side.
“Shit, Fee, you always were better at karate than me.”
“Only cause I use it. You don’t.” Pause. “If I let you up, are you gonna run?”
Chris couldn’t lie if his life depended on it. “No. I won’t run.”
“Good.” Faith allowed herself a small, self-satisfied smile.
“That doesn’t mean I’ll talk to you, though,” Chris was swift to point out.
“Fine,” she conceded. “We’ll just sit here. In the middle of nowhere.”
“Um…I don’t suppose you paid attention to where you were going when you followed me?”
“Not really, why?” The light dawned. “Oh, God, Chris, you don’t know where we are?”
“Well, I was gonna go for a walk—“
“Pretty long walk, if you ask me,” Faith muttered.
Chris hid his face behind his hands and made an inarticulate noise. “We’re lost, right?”
Faith nodded. “It sure seems that way.”
“Guess we might as well settle in then. Gonna be a long time ‘fore anyone thinks to look for us here.”
Faith twirled a dry leaf in her hands, eventually letting the crisp bits and pieces fall back to the forest floor. “I know how you feel, Chris.”
“No, you don’t, Fee. You’re not losing anything. Connor’s right next-door. He’s not moving away.”
“Like Emmy.”
“Yeah, like Emmy,” Chris’ voice broke upon speaking Emmy’s name. “Oh, crap, I hate this.” He rolled onto his side, away from Faith’s scrutiny, his face crumpling. “Go away, Fee.”
But Faith wasn’t about to let Chris suffer alone. “Sorry, I can’t do that.”
“Why the heck not?” Chris choked out through his tears.
Faith shrugged. “I love you.”
“You’re just saying that,” Chris said morosely.
“No, no, I’m not.” Faith reached out a hand and rubbed her brother’s shoulder. “I’m sorry this had to happen, Chris. Really.”
Chris drew a huge shuddery breath and rolled onto his back, looking up at Faith. “It’s just that—I love her, Fee. I really truly do.” He swiped at his flushed cheeks almost agitatedly.
“I know.” She didn’t know what else to say. No amount of sympathy was going to make Chris feel better. This was like losing the other half of his soul.
As the sun set, the shadows surrounding the two children lengthened. It grew darker…and darker. Faith shivered and moved closer to her brother. “Are there, um, like, animals out here?”
Chris could barely make out Faith’s shape in the twilight. He wanted to reassure her, but he didn’t know this part of the property. At all.
“I don’t know,” he said in a low voice.
Faith searched among the dry leaves, their crunching suddenly sounding abnormally loud in the virtually silent darkness. Eventually she found what she was looking for. Chris’ hand.
Chris looked at his sister inquiringly, knowing that she couldn’t see him. “Fee, are you scared?”
“Maybe a little,” she whispered, her grip tightening on his hand.
Chris smiled. “Me, too,” he said, giving her hand a squeeze.
***
Help, when it came, was in the form of a very small girl. Emmy couldn’t know anything about her Celtic background, but what Declan told her. But the erstwhile Princess Em drew upon an almost instinctual communion with the trees in the forest. Where others might see them as threatening figures in the burgeoning gloom of night, Emmy felt a near-mystical connection with them. Could a four-year old know anything about Druidism, and if she did, by some miracle, could she find a way to make such knowledge work for her? In whatever mysterious way?
All she knew was that Chris was out here, and he needed her. The rest was mere conjecture.
She could say that the trees “spoke” to her, guiding her footsteps through the forest, but even at four, she was aware that people would dismiss such talk as utter nonsense.
Still, for all her belief in whatever force was compelling her to follow, she was Birkoff’s daughter, too. And as such, she was a child of science as well as mystic origins. Hence, the large flashlight she carried, shining like the veritable rescue beacon that it was.
When she finally spotted the two children, huddled together under a tree, she was so startled, she almost dropped the flashlight. “Chris! Oh, Chris!”
“Soleil?” Chris couldn’t believe his eyes. “It is you, Soleil!”
As if she realized she was superfluous at this point, Faith reached out to take the flashlight from Emmy, and Emmy willingly handed it over. Emmy literally threw herself into Chris’ lap, alternately hugging and kissing him.
“I was afraid I wouldn’t find you, Tosh! Maybe never even see you again!”
The tiny girl wept in Chris’ arms, and suddenly he felt terrible for adding to her pain by more or less disappearing. “I’m sorry, Em.”
Eventually the storm died down, and the two children quieted. Faith hated to interrupt, but she had to know. “Emmy, did you tell anyone where you were going?”
“N-no….” The little girl’s mouth quivered.
Great, thought Faith. Not a complete brain among the three of us.
“Well, I hate to say this, Emmy, but we’re lost.”
Emmy brightened, smiling beatifically through her tears. “No, we’re not.”
“Uh…we’re not?” Faith asked, a skeptical look on her face.
“Nope. The trees will tell us how to get back,” Emmy stated unequivocally.
Faith gave her a weak smile. “Oh….” We are in deep trouble now.