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A heavy frown came over his face. Stepping to the dresser on the other side of the room and the canvas pack left there, he opened it and, a second later, drew out the worn, droopy-eared teddy bear her baby had so loved.
Chaya covered her lips with her fingers to hold back her sobs, aware of Bliss watching in interest from where she lay on the bed next to Angel.
Red straps, because red had been her favorite color, and a red gingham bandana tied around his neck were faded from time and obvious love.
Accepting the plump little bear with shaking hands, Chaya caressed its face, the bright black plastic eyes, a worn area next to his ear.
Lifting his finger to his lips to keep his secret, he gave Angel a look filled with such love Chaya knew that she’d never have to worry about him breaking her baby’s heart.
“I just wanted to check on her,” he said softly. “We’re still working in the kitchen.”
“She’s resting easy,” Chaya promised him. “The fever’s gone, her blood pressure’s normal, and her color looks normal. She’s going to be fine, Duke.”
He nodded. “Of course she will. She knows I won’t be happy with her otherwise.” Leaning to her he brushed his lips over her forehead, then placed his lips at her ear and whispered something to her.
Surprisingly, Angel’s fingers moved, just a little, as though searching. When Duke’s fingers covered them, she stilled and seemed to settle back into sleep.
Straightening, he lifted her fingers, brushed his lips against her palm, then placed her hand on the bed once again with no sign of self-consciousness or embarrassment.
“We’ve been through this before, ain’t we, baby?” he said softly, his expression gentler when he looked at Angel. “But we’re going to try to make sure it doesn’t happen again, huh?” It sounded as though the words were well worn, as though he’d said them many times before.
Holding the bear to her heart, Chaya had to force back the tears, the sobs. If she didn’t stop crying Bliss was going to start crying with her, and that Chaya couldn’t bear.
“Come get me if she wakes?” he asked, not for the first time.
Each time he checked on her he made the same request.
“You know I will,” Chaya promised him. “We’re just talking, aren’t we, little baby?” She let her fingers curl over Angel’s, her thumb brushing over the faint scars on her knuckles. “We had a little talk about those bar fights she gets into earlier. We don’t want Bliss to think it’s okay to do the same, right?”
The look Duke gave her was highly suspicious. Bliss was going to be a handful and they knew it.
“Hey, little baby.” Chaya leaned closer. “I have a friend that wanted a moment of your time.” Placing the bear against Angel’s hip she lifted her daughter’s hand to the bear’s legs and let it rest there. “Binny’s here, BeeBee. Aren’t you going to say hello?”
Duke waited a moment, then turned and left the bedroom. As the door to the suite was opened Chaya watched as Angel’s fingers curled against the bear’s fur, rubbed, then settled once again.
“If you had been able to tell me about her, I would know about Binny, Momma,” Bliss said then. “Then I could have told you how Angel showed me her teddy bear that her momma gave her, and how much she loved it.”
“Oh, Bliss,” she whispered, so many regrets lying inside her heart. “Every time I tried, all I could do was cry for what I had lost, and the sister taken from you. If I had known . . .”
“Tell me about her now, Mom.” Bliss rested her head on the pillow next to Angel’s.
Her girls. Her babies.
“Tell you about her.” She smiled, the memories rushing in. “Oh, Bliss, what a little imp she was. . . .”
• • •
Laughter.
It was light, floating just out of touch and filled with happiness.
“What did she do, Mom?” The teenager’s giggles made Angel want to laugh, too, but she wasn’t certain what was so funny.
“She propped her hands on her hips and got that look you get when you and your dad go head to head, and she informed me point-blank that three was not too young for school. She was plenty old enough and I just wanted to be mean and keep her home forever just because I loved her so much.”
The laughter whispered across her, the images that began to float through her mind warming her. Memories she hadn’t let herself think of in so long.
She had wanted to go to school so bad. She could already read. And she knew her letters and her numbers. That meant three was old enough. . . .
