She shook her head, her gaze locked to his.
He bent closer, taking possession of her mouth, tasting the syrup on her lips and drinking in everything that was Mia. He forced himself to stop and pulled away but only far enough to lean his forehead against hers and catch his breath.
“I love your hair down like this, especially when your cute ears show.”
“You’re crazy," she whispered. “My ears are horrible. They stick out like an elephant’s.”
“They are adorable. I hope our children have ears just like yours.”
Her cheeks turned bright red. “You are out of your mind. I suffered years of ridicule because of these ears. I most certainly do not want our children to deal with the same issues. Their ears will be just like yours—flat against their heads and perfect.”
“Are you two gonna stand there and kiss each other’s faces all day or are we going to go get Summer?”
Mia buried her face in the crook of Josiah’s neck, her shoulders shaking with unbridled laughter.
“We’re right behind you, Billy.” Josiah threaded his fingers through Mia’s as they stepped off the porch steps together and followed the youngster down the road for about a mile.
Billy turned into the trees where a barely visible path wound down to the river. He crossed the water using several large rocks as a makeshift bridge, which took Mia a bit longer to navigate with her high-heeled boots. Once on the other side, the trail widened and they came to an abandoned shack.
Billy placed his finger in front of his lips for them to be quiet then stuck his head inside the dilapidated structure, which was leaning more than it was upright. Two seconds later, he straightened and shook his head.
“She’s not there, and the blanket’s gone.”
“Blanket?” Mia asked. “What blanket?”
“Summer’s gonna kill me already, so I might as well tell you everything,” he muttered. “She was so excited when Josiah said she could pick out stuff for her own room. She’s never had anything of her own before. Only things we’ve been able to call our own was the clothes we’ve worn, and we stole those or pulled ’em out of the garbage. Anyway, when she saw you, Mia, she said you’d make us leave anyway, so she grabbed the quilt from her bed and we left. Said if I got to take the carving with me, she could take the quilt. I couldn’t argue with her.”
Mia frowned at Billy. “Why would she think I’d make you leave just by seeing me?”
“I think it’s because you were so proper—like those ladies at church who’re always lookin’ down at us. They’re the ones who kicked us out of school cuz we couldn’t keep up with the other students.”
Josiah could feel the tension radiating from his wife, so he did the only thing he could and rubbed her back until her trembling eased. “Is there somewhere else she would go?”
“Yeah. There’s another place not too far from here.”
They followed him farther into the forest as the path zig-zagged through the dense trees. Several times, they had to stop and untangle limbs and briars from Mia’s hair and skirt. Finally, they stepped into a small clearing where four or five boulders looked as if they’d been placed on top of each other to form a makeshift house. In the center was a dark entrance.
“You stay here,” Billy said and marched forward. He dropped down on all fours and crawled into the cave. Several minutes passed then he appeared again. This time, Summer crawled out behind him, her quilt clutched in one arm.
She stood beside her cousin, a defiant expression on her face. “I don’t have to live with you if I don’t want to.”
Mia laid her hand on Josiah’s arm and gave him a silent plea with her large gray eyes. She took a couple of steps closer to the two children then squatted down, so she would be eye-to-eye with them. “Hello, Summer. My name is Mia. Billy has told me how wonderful you are, and I am so glad I could meet you.”
The shock on Summer’s face told Josiah Mia’s soft-spoken words were the last thing the young girl had expected. Leave it to his wife to figure out what to say. She had continuously surprised him from the moment he’d seen her on the train platform.
“Josiah, Billy, and I are going in to town to get a few things at the mercantile, then going on to Checotah to talk to a man about buying a few head of cattle. We really need your help. You see, I am a total greenhorn when it comes to country living. I grew up in a very large city and know absolutely nothing about animals. I’m actually quite frightened of them, truth be told. Would you be willing to spend some time with us today and lend a hand? I’m certain Josiah and Billy would appreciate it, and I know I would.”
Josiah held his breath and mentally congratulated his wife’s brilliance as Summer slowly nodded.
“Thank you so much, Summer.”
Josiah was dumbfounded. Without knowing Summer at all, Mia seemed to know exactly how to appeal to the girl’s maternal instincts. He watched Summer carefully wad up the quilt so she wouldn’t trip over it and take Billy’s hand in hers, then lead them back through the woods.
A nearby bush rustled, and as he glanced over, he thought he saw the heel of a small boot disappear behind it.
“Josiah, what is it?” Mia asked, her gaze moving to where he’d seen the boot.
“Nothing,iskitini chukfi luma.I thought I saw something, but it was probably just an animal scrounging for food.” He threaded his fingers through hers and brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “Have I told you how wonderful I think you are?”