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“You,” Pippa said. “I want to watch you.”
Mabel spun the stone in her hand until she reached a comfortable hold on it, and then reared her arm back. She’d never been great at skipping rocks, but she could usually get two or three good jumps. Releasing the stone over the pond, she watched it bounce along to Pippa’s count.
“One…two…three…four! Well done, Mae!”
“Beginner’s luck, I’m sure,” she said, stepping out of the way for Pippa to take her turn.
Pippa’s nose scrunched up. “Beginner? But you’ve done this before.”
“Not in quite a long time. Go ahead, darling.”
Pippa stepped forward, her tongue darting between her teeth as her eyebrows narrowed in concentration. She tossed the rock into the pond with a loud plop and stared after it, dumbfounded.
“What did I do wrong?” she wailed, turning for Mac. “I did it precisely as you showed me.”
He stepped toward Pippa and Mabel moved away to give them space as Mac explained how she needed to flick her wrist, not move her entire arm. Mabel watched him closely, his gentle explanations and kind instruction calming an enraged seven-year-old, giving her the opportunity to try again.
And again, and then again. Pippa threw stone after stone into the pond, each one plopping without a single skip. Her determined brow grew more and more frustrated until finally, she turned, giving Mabel a determined look. “I will remain here until I can get the rock to jump. I will do this. I must.”
“So you might beat Jacob Tucker?”
“Yes,” she said. “I will not allow him to mock me again. I will skip these wretched rocks.”
“Not in your anger, you won’t,” Mac said, his voice soft. “You cannot do so gentle a thing as make a rock dance across the water when you are anxious and your spirits angry.”
Pippa’s face fell. “But I am always angry around Jacob Tucker.”
Mac lifted his broad shoulders in a shrug. “Then perhaps you will never be able to skip a rock around him.”
Pippa’s little jaw dropped, shock reaching her eyes. “Do not say such horrid things, Mac.”
He crouched low, coming to eye-level with the girl. “Master your emotions, Pippa. That is the only way you’ll be able to remain calm in the face of your enemy.”
“But I could never like Jacob Tucker.”
Mac’s gaze flicked to Mabel before returning to her sister. “I am not saying you should or shouldn’t like the boy, only that you must control how you feel. No one else can tell you how to feel. And if you plan to skip a rock in the presence of your enemy, you must learn to remain calm around him, too. Despite how he might try to anger you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Mac, are you acquainted with Jacob Tucker? You speak as though you know him.”
“Not personally, no. But I know his brothers and I imagine he is very much like them.”
Pippa nodded in understanding. “Shall we practice more?”
“I think we will be late to dinner if we do,” Mabel said. “But you can return tomorrow and practice then.”
Pippa pouted. “I want to do this.”
“Yes, and you will. Tomorrow.”
Pippa gave Mac a look that said Mabel is ever so controlling, is she not? Then she stomped across the rocky earth toward her pony.
Mac helped Pippa into the saddle before crossing to Mabel. “Can I be of assistance?”
Her leg throbbed, the day’s overuse wearing on her, and she knew she had no choice but to accept his help. Her body warmed, recalling the feel of Mac’s capable hands on her waist, and she chastised herself for hoping he would help her again in very much the same way. But was it a crime to wish for a man’s touch? Her virtue was intact. Mac had nothing but the desire to help.
Except, the way he looked at her now was so pregnant and full of emotion that she knew, in the recesses of her heart, that he did have more desire than simply to help her. The idea was equally thrilling and terrifying. He had clearly changed from the maddening boy she had known when she was young. And while she struggled to forgive the hurtful things he had said to her that day in the vale, she could acknowledge that youthful follies ought to be forgiven. Particularly when the gentleman was trying so hard to prove his changed heart.
And Mac, changed as he was, wanted to be Mabel’s friend. She could grant him something so paltry as her friendship. She wanted to, dearly, and in the face of the uncertainty regarding Mr. Wright and Papa’s wishes, it would benefit her to have a friend she could trust.
