“Yep!” he said excitedly.
“Alright, but I need you to listen to me for a second.”
“Kay!,” he said.
“It is not okay to behave like you did at lunch. Yelling and throwing a fit is not going to get you what you want. Do you understand?” I asked him.
He looked up at me with a crinkled brow and nodded his head. I wasn’t sure if he truly did understand or not, but at least he seemed to get that my tone meant business.
“Okay. Now, go pick out the book you want me to read and we’ll cuddle up,” I said.
Liam scurried off as I got up and placed Hadley in her pack-and-play. It was something the nanny suggested for her after her first week here, and I relied on it heavily. I could put Hadley in this safe, padded environment as I stoked a fire or did something in the kitchen and I never had to worry about her. I could hear her jingling her toys and blowing spit bubbles while I got a fire going.
By the time the flames were shooting heat into the room, Liam thrust a book in front of my face.
“Again?” I asked.
“Uh huh,” Liam said.
“You really like The Giving Tree, don’t you?” I asked.
“Uh huh!”
“All right. Let’s go sit by your sister and we’ll read The Giving Tree again.”
“Couch?” Liam asked.
“Hadley’s in her playpen right now. Do you wanna get in with her?”
Liam’s face lit up, so I got to my feet and helped him into the playpen with his sister. I watched him cuddle right up to her, his legs wrapped around her body as she leaned back into him. They looked so much like their parents; Liam with my brother’s eyes and Hadley with her mother’s smile. It hurt to look at them sometimes.
Looking at them reminded me that not only had I lost the only immediate family I had left after my parents, but that these two precious souls only had me left in the world.
“Uncle Ev?” Liam asked.
“Yeah?”
“Are you sad?”
Shaking my head, I pulled myself from my thoughts. Liam’s eyes were wide and bright, filled with worry a three year old should never have to experience. Hadley was already falling asleep against Liam’s chest, her eyes closing as the time for her nap grew closer and closer.
“Just a bit tired,” I said. “You ready for a nap?”
“After story,” Liam said.
“Yes. But after we read this book, I think it’ll be time for a nap.”
“Sleep with Hadley?” he asked.
I watched as his sister curled into him before the two of them laid down on the bottom of the pack-and-play.
“Sure,” I said, sighing. “Why not?”
I propped myself against the edge of the couch and began reading The Giving Tree. I’d bought this book for Liam on a whim and he’d been obsessed with it ever since. We’d only had it a few months, but the spine was already falling apart. There were food and drink stains on the pages, some of them were ripped, and others were stuck together. I read through the book and showed Liam the pictures while Hadley fell asleep, and the moment I finished the book I could see Liam’s eyelids drooping as well.
I grunted as I rose off the hardwood floor and grabbed a blanket from the couch. I fluttered it over their bodies before a small smile crossed Liam’s cheeks. I looked down at them, and couldn’t help but feel a pang of aching in my gut.
I quickly pushed it away and resolved myself to do the best I could for them. Even with all the troubles that life had thrown our way, I’d try to be happy we had each other.
CHAPTER 4
MELANIE
The snow was falling so hard I could no longer see where I was going. The roads were a blur and the path was no longer clear. I was slowly winding up a mountain whose edges I could no longer keep in my vision. A downed tree lay across the main road that led to my house and I swore. I knew there was another way, a back way, but I hadn’t traveled it in ages. Right now, though, it didn’t look like I had any choice but to try. I took a right turn off the main road and started traveling through some thick forestry, but then my car started to slide.
It slid and it weaved and I slammed on my breaks. My tires refused to grip the ground and I felt myself losing control. My hands gripped the steering wheel while I tried to dodge the trees, but I fell over an embankment and into a ditch.
I was stuck and the snow was coming down even harder than before.
“Shit!” I swore and hit my steering wheel with the palm of my hand.
My hands were trembling as I reached for my purse. I gathered up my stuff and checked my phone, pulling it out just in time to watch it die. I scrounged around, hoping I had another charger in my car, but no luck. I was stuck in the woods with snow falling in bucket loads and no one knew I was out here.