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“Nyana.” He lifted a hand to touch her but dropped it just as quickly. “No more surprises.”
She released a breath and nodded. “I’m not feeling great. I just need to rest.”
His gaze dropped to the cane in her hand and her trembling leg, and suddenly, a wave of guilt punched him in the stomach. Cian had been at the house. He should have had the healer look at her leg before they left.
Not wanting her to stand for long, he set up the tent, sleep rolls, and blankets over a bed of soft pine needles and fallen leaves before starting a fire. Just as a small flicker of fire caught onto the kindling, Nyana exited the tent without Eva. Maisy sat on a log near the fire, tapping her shoes together and humming with a mouth full of dried meat.
He desperately wanted to reach out and help Nyana sit, but he watched helplessly as she winced while lowering herself on the same log he sat on.
Orange and yellow flames climbed up the logs and spread warmth through the chilling air. He fed a log to the fire and then another. His brows furrowed together in contemplation.
“Why doesn’t Eva speak?”
Nyana tightened her grip on her cane, loosened her fingers, and tightened them once more. She kept her gaze glued to the flames. “Liam got…frustrated…when the children were too loud, like all children are when they are playing. After getting yelled at too many times, she stopped speaking altogether. I’m not sure what to do to help her.”
Anger and sadness lay heavy on his shoulders as he ran a hand over his chin. Piece by piece, he vowed to fix what damage Liam had done to his new family. But the extent of the hurt and pain was the product of years in the making. How could he unravel it?
“Eva talks to me, Mama,” Maisy said as she continued tapping her boots together. She pointed to her head. “In here.”
“I know,” Nyana sighed as a deep sadness lingered in her expression. Clearly, she wanted her own daughter to speak to her, too.
Joel held his hands closer to the fire to warm his fingers. His mouth twitched in amusement when Maisy followed his example several seconds later. “My younger sister shut down after we fled Heulwen,” he said, purposely avoiding the painful events of that horrible night. “Changing her environment helped. Managing our own expectations of her also helped. Eva needs to heal, and she will. Maybe she just needs a little time.”
Another sigh. “Perhaps you’re right.” She glanced his way and offered the faintest smile. His heart stopped. His entire body froze. And then heat flushed from his head to his toes when his heart began thundering within his ribcage.
He pulled his gaze away and focused on the glowing embers on the underside of the wood. “Why don’t you get some sleep? The ride here clearly exhausted you.”
“And then what? Wake to find you had slept out here the entire time?”
“Well…” He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck before lowering his voice. “I am trying to respect you.”
“And I you.” A grunt escaped her lips as she struggled to stand. It took far too much self-control to keep his worry at bay and his hands at his sides to keep from helping her. “There is plenty of room for all four of us.”
After a few minutes of enjoying the warmth the fire offered, he kicked out the flames and followed his family into the tent. The three girls lay clustered together beneath blankets, and he began laying out his own bedroll.
“Mama, Eva is cold. I am, too.” Maisy’s teeth chattered through her words.
Nyana began handing her own blanket to her daughters. “I have an extra blanket. Here—”
“Wait,” he interrupted her, shocked that she would give up her own blanket to keep the children warm. He ducked his head as he moved toward them and positioned himself next to the other three until the girls were sandwiched between him and Nyana. He then proceeded to spread the blankets over the four of them before he draped his arm over the top of their shoulders over the blankets.
After a minute, they stopped shivering.
Eva quickly fell asleep tucked in the crook of his arm, and Maisy snuggled up with her mother, soon falling asleep as well.
“Thank you,” Nyana whispered in the darkness after several long minutes of silence.
He turned his head to seek her out, but she stared at the canopy overhead. “For what?”
“For doing so much for the girls.”
A frown worked his lips downward as he continued to stare at her. “This is what a father is supposed to do.”
She audibly swallowed as if fighting back emotion. “I wouldn’t know. I don’t have a lot of memories of my birth father. My stepfather was always gone on business. And Liam…”
He smiled wryly. “You are giving me too much credit. I don’t think it’s too hard to surpass the bar set by the men in your life.”
“No…perhaps not.” Fabric rustled as she shifted. Soft fingers brushed against his own. She inhaled sharply. “Oh.”
