“No. When my mother died, I became the mother of our little family and did my best to take care of my brother and my father. And that’s quite an undertaking for a child who can barely talk, let alone cook for a family. To be quite truthful, it has been a duty that has not allowed much else in my life. There were a few girlfriends when I was younger, but again, we moved so often as a family, that even those became rare.”
“Ah.” Swift Hawk nodded. “Now I understand why you were scolding your brother when first I met you.” He smiled. “It is probably something you have done often, if you have been attempting to be a mother as well as a sister to him.”
“Yes. It is a frequent pastime. Now, if you please, perhaps we should get back to the lesson at hand, and?—”
“And what of love?”
Her gaze flew to his so quickly that he wondered if he had hit upon another sore spot. But when she spoke, all she said was, “Love?”
“Haa’he.Love. Have you ever been in love?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Never?”
“No. Never. My family has always come first in my life, and it has been quite an adventure to care for my father and my brother.”
“But surely there has been someone. Every young girl of my acquaintance wishes to marry.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t wish to marry…someone…sometime. But that time is not now, and there has been no love in my life, save that of my family.” She sat up rather primly. “Now, why all these questions?”
“I am trying to understand you.”
She shrugged and sat forward, jiggling her shoulders at him. “I am not so different from other girls.” The tone of her voice was plain, but her movements at him screamed seduction.
Swift Hawk couldn’t help but give her a quick grin. In truth, he laughed. “You are very different from any girl I have ever met.”
“I don’t believe it.”
It was his turn to shrug. “I do not lie.”
She gazed at him for several moments, and then, as though he had hit too deeply below the surface, she cleared her throat. “Yes, well, I believe it is time that we get back to what we were doing in our lessons.”
“If you say so.”
“Yes.” Nervously she clasped her hands together. “Now, we were talking of addition, weren’t we?”
“Were we?”
“Yes, and I think first we should define ‘addition’…”
Her voice droned on and on, but Swift Hawk barely paid attention to the meaning of her words, until she leaned forward and said, “So if that were the case, how many plums would I have given you?”
He smiled. “Are you going to tell me the rest?”
She leaned backward. “The rest?”
He nodded. “Haa’he.Over how many moons have you given me these plums?”
“What?”
“If I remember correctly, you gave me two plums last night to eat, therefore, if you give me one of these plums now, then another, and another even yet, that would be enough plums, I think, to make a good soup.”
A long silence followed this ridiculous statement. After a time, though, the angel said, “Perhaps that is true. But…” she closed her book, “…I don’t think you understand the concept of what I’m trying to teach you. What I mean is right now, if I give you these plums in my hand…” she held two plums out toward him, “…and only these plums, how many would you have?”
Again, he grinned at her. “Not enough to make a good soup, that is certain. Of course, plum soup is not as good as berry soup. Have you ever had good Indian berry soup?”
“No, I haven’t.” She coughed, set her shoulders back, glared at him and, clearly agitated, she continued. “Now, Mr. Hawk, you are trying to change the subject once again, but this time it shan’t work. I am here to teach you, not to discuss my life with you.” Taking hold of the plums once more, she outstretched them. “Now, how many plums do I have in my hands, right now? Not last night, not the day before—just this very moment.”
