“Maybe I came on a little too strong today.” Daniel shrugged. “I’ll go over there tonight, apologize, ask her to help me out, just for a couple of days.”
Sarah was putting the doll to bed again, an endless repetition of the same action…patting it, snuggling it, loving it. He’d given up trying to figure out what it meant, but it broke his heart all the same.
“Once she’s been around Sarah for a couple of days, she’ll see how much Sarah needs her. She won’t be able to let her down.”
The way I did. The way Ashley did. The way everybody in her short life has done.
The only thing, the only person he or Sarah could rely on, was him. Not other people, not God. He should have learned that lesson by now.
He frowned out the window at the skeleton of the addition he was building to the inn. Sarah’s future. That was her security, and this time he wouldn’t let her down.
As for Leigh Christopher—something about that generous smile and tender touch told him she wanted to agree. So what was holding her back?
He puzzled at it, trying to imagine a scenario to explain the woman’s actions. Finally he shook his head.
It didn’t matter. It didn’t matter what her reason was, because he wouldn’t give up until she said yes.
“We’re home,” Leigh called. She shook out the sandy beach towels and spread them on the gray deck rail. Josh and Jamie’s cedar shingle house nestled under the live oaks at the edge of the salt marsh, and the deck overlooked its constant changes as the tide pushed up the creek into the marsh, then receded.
“Home and hungry, I’ll bet.” Jamie held the kitchen screen door wide, welcoming her children with hugs. She wrinkled her nose at Meggie’s salty, sandy bathing suit. “You two get out of your swimsuits and wash up. And don’t forget to rinse out those suits. Supper will be on the table in a little while.”
Of course it would. Leigh looked at her sister, her affection mixed with both awe and amusement. Jamie had worked a full day at her accounting business and she’d still managed to beat them home and have supper cooking when they came through the door. High achiever had always been Jamie’s middle name.
“We found a losted little girl,” Meggie informed her mother. “And she couldn’t hear, so I spelled my name like Aunt Leigh showed me.”
“Lost,” Mark corrected his little sister for the tenth or eleventh time. “She was lost and she was deaf. So Aunt Leigh talked to her and then she found her daddy. We helped.”
“And her daddy wanted Aunt Leigh to come work for him, but she wouldn’t.” Meggie turned that direct blue gaze on Leigh. “Why wouldn’t you, Aunt Leigh? You could bring her here and we’d play.”
“Because I have other plans, pumpkin.” Leigh gave her talkative niece a hug.
“But it would be fun,” Meggie protested.
Leigh ruffled her hair. “Didn’t I hear Mommy say something about getting washed up? Hurry, and maybe we’ll have time for a game.”
“Chutes and Ladders!” Meggie shouted. “I’ll get it.”
“Wash first,” Jamie said.
“We will, Mommy.” Mark raced Meggie down the hall.
Jamie turned to Leigh, her blue gaze just as direct and inquiring as Meggie’s. Only, she was a lot harder to deflect than Meggie. Leigh’s heart sank. Jamie would not understand this decision.
“Think I’ll take a shower before the game,” she murmured.
Jamie raised an eyebrow. “A deaf little girl. That must be Daniel Gregory’s child.”
“Now, how did you—That’s right, he said he knew you and Josh.” Leigh took a step toward the door, hoping to escape a discussion.
Jamie moved in front of her. “Come on, tell all.”
“It was nothing, Jamie.” Leigh suspected her sibling wouldn’t be convinced.
Jamie gave her a big-sisterly look. “Right. Now, tell it fast, before the monsters get back and drag you into that game you rashly promised.” She cast an affectionate glance toward the hall.
Leigh shrugged. Trying to evade her sister had always been worse than useless, whether she was playing tag or keeping a secret.
“You already heard it from the town criers. We found her, we restored her to her father, end of story.”
“Aren’t you leaving something out? How about the part where he asked you to work for him?”
“He’s looking for someone to take care of Sarah. I told him I wasn’t interested.”
Jamie gave Leigh her accountant look, as if Leigh were a doubtful number in a column of figures. “Not interested? Leigh, it’s a chance to work with a deaf child again. How could you not be interested?”
“I’m not going to do that any more, Jamie. Remember?”
Jamie’s mouth set stubbornly. “Well, it would certainly be a lot better than waitressing all summer while you look for a new job.”
“Jamie…” Familiar frustration welled in Leigh. She loved her sister dearly, but this disagreement was getting old. “Just leave it alone, okay?”
Her sister’s blue eyes looked as stubborn as Mark’s.
“I know it’s been difficult, but you’ve got to put it behind you.”
“I can’t.” The lump in Leigh’s throat was big enough to choke a horse.
“If you’d just try harder…”
Leigh shook her head. Jamie loved her, but she didn’t understand. “Please don’t bug me about this. I’m sorry for Daniel and Sarah, but I can’t get involved. I can’t do it.”
“So you’re going to throw away your training and go into some other field entirely.”
“Lots of people change jobs. It’s practically a national sport.”
“Not for someone like you. You have a precious, God-given gift. You can’t turn your back on it.”
A God-given gift. Was that really what Jamie thought her abilities with deaf children were? If so, it had turned into something closer to a curse.
“I have to do this my own way.” She tried to smile. “This time, big sister, you can’t make it all better, no matter how much you want to.”
Jamie studied her, looking as if she considered a whole series of arguments. But finally she nodded. She patted Leigh as if she were one of the children.
“All right. I won’t bug you about it any more now.”
Leigh started to turn away, but Jamie caught her hand.
“Just…pray about it, Leigh. Will you?”
Leigh closed her eyes briefly. Sometimes it seemed she’d prayed about nothing else in months.
“I will. I have.” She opened her eyes and smiled at her sister. “Now I’d better get showered. I have a shift at the restaurant tonight.”
Leigh took the narrow lane slowly as she came home from the restaurant. The island didn’t boast streetlights, and even longtime residents sometimes had trouble spotting their destinations in the dark, screened as they were by the lush, invasive vegetation. Live oaks lined the road, their veils of Spanish moss dancing in the soft Southern breeze, soothing her frazzled nerves.
No doubt about it; that encounter with Sarah had touched her heart. Too vulnerable for your own good. That was what her supervisor had said at their last meeting,