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"Well, in that case, I don't see why not," Sam said to the boys. "You go find us some branches and I'll help you string up a couple poles."
Nathan and Joseph ran off, chattering loudly, leaving Sam with Emma. Becky was still sitting on the blanket, her small hands clutching a cookie. Her lips were ringed with milk and dotted with crumbs. Noisily, she gulped down the last of her milk, making it difficult for Emma not to smile.
Sam stacked two empty bowls and set the spoons inside. "Do you mind?" he asked Emma as she took them from him and stowed them in the picnic basket.
Emma shook her head. How could she object to a man spending time with his sons? In fact, that was one of the things she admired most about the man she'd married - his devotion to his children.
While Sam went off to make fishing poles for the boys, Emma finished clearing the dishes and packing away the remnants of their meal.
"Now?" Becky asked a few minutes later. "We make pretty flowers now, okay??"
"Okay."
Settling herself on the blanket with Becky beside her, Emma picked up two of the daisies Becky had collected. Making a small slit in the stem of one of the flowers with her finger nail, she slipped the stem of another daisy through it. "See, Becky. It'll be beautiful."
Becky's eyes sparkled, showing the dimple in her cheek. "Me do it."
Emma helped the little girl to make the chain, and soon, it was long enough to join to make a crown. When it was finished, Emma set it gently on Becky's hair. "You look beautiful, Becky. Just like a princess."
Becky gingerly reached up and touched the petals in her hair. "A princess," she repeated, then bounded to her feet and raced to the water's edge.
Sam and the boys were collecting worms in a tin can he'd found in the wagon. "Papa! Look!" Becky cried out. "Me a princess."
Sam crouched down to meet her gaze. "And a beautiful princess you are," he agreed. "The most beautiful princess in the whole world."
"Yep," she agreed, her face alight with pleasure. "What you doing?"
Sam picked up one of the worms and held it in his palm. Becky shrieked as it wriggled. "Yucky!" she said, backing away. "Yucky." Turning, she ran back up the hill to where Emma was sitting on the blanket.
As Becky approached, she shifted. Her skirt slid up, revealing a length of creamy skin.
Sam's face heated, and he tore his gaze away. He'd felt that skin against his while she slept, but she had no idea he knew exactly how silky that skin of hers was.
Quickly, as if she could read his thoughts, she tucked her skirt around her legs. Becky dropped to the blanket beside her, the daisy crown sliding off her head to land at her feet. Emma picked it up and set it aside as she slipped a smaller circle of flowers over Becky's hand.
Becky's eyes sparkled with pleasure as she fingered the petals with her other hand. "Pretty," she exclaimed, resting her adorned arm gently on her lap. Then she yawned.
"Are you sleepy, sweetheart?" Emma asked.
Becky shook her head, even as another yawn escaped her.
She needed a nap, Emma realized. But she knew Becky well enough to know that she fought against sleep, especially during the day.
"I think I'll just lie down here for a few minutes and close my eyes," Emma said.
A frown crossed Becky's forehead. "Why?"
"To listen to the birds." Emma stretched out on the blanket and closed her eyes. She felt Becky move beside her, and opened her eyes only wide enough to watch as Becky lay down beside her and squeezed her eyes closed.
"How long we gotta keep our eyes shut?" Becky asked a
few seconds later.
"Not long," Emma replied. "But we have to lie quietly or we won't hear them."
Emma lay still, feeling herself relax in the warmth of the sun's rays. Overhead, birds chirped in the trees, and a soft breeze rustled the leaves. She could hear the boys' laughter, and Sam's voice in the distance.
Sam. How she'd come to care for him and the children. If only things were different ... if she could believe he truly was different ... that he could care for her even though she wasn't perfect.
