“No games this morning, little sprout,” Kelsey said, holding her door wide, insistently. Heather reluctantly unbuckled her seat belt and slid out of the car.
“Why can’t I go with you?”
“You’d be bored in two min—”
Meg stepped out onto the front porch dressed in a black-and-white swingy-skirted outfit that stopped inches above her knees. Kelsey couldn’t help himself. His attention was caught in how attractive her long legs looked—and he looked all the way down her well-shaped calves to her feet, elegantly encased in black sandals, and back up again. The sight of those long limbs hit him squarely in the middle and with a force to equal a tightfisted punch.
It surprised him. A lot.
He yanked his gaze back to her face. Meg’s skirt wasn’t any shorter than most women’s shorts, so it must be the sophisticated combination of garments, he guessed. Meg always did have pretty legs—he just hadn’t imagined those curves would ever cause him such a disturbance.
“All ready?” Meg sang out, aiming her comment toward the girls as she came toward them.
“Oh, yes,” Lissa said, enraptured.
“Uh-huh,” Aimee agreed, already three steps up the drive.
“I wanna go with Daddy,” Heather began again, her eyes tearing.
“Don’t be such a baby,” Lissa said with a long sigh.
“I’m not a baby,” Heather protested, the pooling in her eyes growing by the second. She edged against Kelsey’s leg, locking her knees as though she didn’t plan to budge.
“Heather, we don’t have time for this.” Kelsey held his impatience under a tight lid. He gave in to his youngest child too often, according to Linda, but it was easier sometimes to make life run smoother. “If you don’t want to go with the girls, then just get back into the car. But I don’t want any gripes later. Understand?”
“Troubles?” Meg asked as she came up to them
“Only the usual kind,” he told her in a resigned tone.
“Hmm,” she acknowledged in sympathy.
As Meg crouched down to look into the little girl’s face, her chin-length hair swung forward. Kelsey noticed the honey streaks mingling with the sunny gold and light brown, all shiny like a shampoo ad.
“I’m sorry you don’t want to go with us today, Heather,” Meg said with sincerity. “We’re going to shop and have lunch and shop some more. Who knows, maybe we’ll find the latest Disney video somewhere to bring home.”
Meg glanced up at him, gave him a lightning grin, then pushed a strand of hair behind an ear as she turned back to his youngest child. He thought her actions were designed to lift Heather’s mood. Her smile certainly lightened his own.
“But that’s okay,” Meg continued. “We can pick it out without you.”
Meg rose and turned her back. “C’mon, girls.” She hung an arm around each of the older girls’ shoulders as she steered them toward a late-model brown compact car. “Lissa, I think you’d look fabulous in something green to match your eyes.”
Lissa looked back at him as though to ask, Is it okay to leave Heather? He nodded her on.
Meg captured the exchange, then turned a quizzical gaze his way. The expression smote his conscience; he guessed he did ask too much of his oldest girl. She’d been stuck taking care of Heather for most of the summer.
Meg resumed her escort. “And, Aimee, you’d look darling in one of those denim outfits. The boys, now—What’ll we get the boys?”
Meg tossed her hair and looked at him over her shoulder with a conspiratorial smile. “See you whenever, Kels Don’t expect us early.”
“Bye, Dad,” Lissa barely remembered to say. Aimee didn’t bother to look back at all.
“No-o-o…” Heather cried. “Lissa…don’t leave me.” Heather launched herself forward.
Lissa stopped and turned just in time to catch her little sister. “Dad?”
Her gaze entreated him to do something. Kelsey thrust out his chin in guilt. He’d really been careless to let too much responsibility land on Lissa’s shoulders. She was losing her childhood altogether too soon. “Don’t worry, Lissa. Heather can go with me.”
“I wanna go with Lissa,” Heather protested.
“Does that mean you want to go shopping with us?” Meg asked, emphasizing us so the child would understand who was in charge of the outing.
“Uh-huh.”
“All right. We’d love for you to join us.” Meg tipped her head, engaging the child’s full attention. “But, Heather, this is a grown-up girls day. We’re going to have lots of fun, but not the kind of fun that babies like. So what do you think?”
Heather considered her for a long moment. “I’m not a baby!”
“Oh, I’m so glad to hear that. You had me worried there for a minute. I really didn’t want to leave you behind. Shall we go now?”
The girls scrambled to get into the brown compact Meg gave him a last wave. And a wink.
She’d handled his daughter very well—certainly better than he did sometimes. Linda Burroughs would have advocated a spanking with tight-lipped disapproval.
“Okay, I reckon that’s settled,” Kelsey said, hoping his relief was well hidden. Somehow, though, he expected Meg knew all about it. Her smile was too angelic.
“Where are we going, Aunt Meg?” Lissa asked from the adjoining front seat as they left the outskirts of Sedalia. Heather had been remarkably quiet next to Aimee in the back.
“Well, I hear there’s an outlet mall near Odessa now. Ever been there?”
“Uh-uh,” Lissa replied.
“Let’s check it out, then. Okay?”
“Whoopee,” squealed Aimee. “Sydney Burroughs thinks she’s so cool ‘cause she’s been there three times this year.”
The Burroughs family again. Meg wondered just how close Linda and Kelsey had grown. But if they were, why hadn’t Linda taken Lissa and Aimee along with her sometime?
“Some people like shopping a lot more than others,” Meg commented. “It’s like a hobby. And with only two people in the family, they probably have more time for it. Perhaps Sydney and her mom shop because they haven’t much else to do. Did you ever think that maybe Sydney is really lonely without her Dad? I’m sure her mother is.”
“Yeah, but that’s no excuse for Sydney to act so dorky. We lost our mom…” Lissa’s voice held a well of sadness. “That’s just as bad.”
Meg felt her throat clog, and she reached out to pat Lissa’s hand. “Yes…yes, it is. But Sydney has only herself and her mother. The five of you children are so lucky, so blessed—you have each other. And your dad is super special.”
“D’you really think Dad’s special, Aunt Meg?”
Meg glanced at Lissa. Lissa’s bright gaze held hope and a subdued excitement, wiping out the sadness Meg’d heard in her voice a moment before.