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He pulled the main door of the Long House open and stepped inside, automatically looking for Leah in the busy room. Juniper was already working away at her wheel. William, her husband, was at the other end of the long room, bent over a block of dark wood, carving tools in hand, his brow furrowed in concentration. A tall, willowy lady had a large loom set up near the main window and was weaving brightly colored wool through it.
And Leah, sitting at her workstation with Juniper and William’s three-and-a-half-year-old son, Billy, in her lap. Her dark head was bent over his bright gold one as she helped him with whatever he was working on.
Billy looked up. “Callum! Come and see my art!”
Between cute dogs and even cuter children, the powers that be sure were conspiring to give him the perfect excuse to talk to Leah. He felt that now familiar punch to his gut when Leah looked up and their eyes met. Then his heart tightened in his chest as her lips curved in a soft, welcoming smile. She was unbelievably gorgeous.
“I’m making a plate, for Daddy. For Father’s Day.”
“Are you, mate? That’s amazing.”
“Leah said I can put my hands on it. You can stay and watch.”
“Okay.” Callum exchanged an amused glance with Leah as he pulled out a low stool and sat down at the table.
“Right, so what’s Daddy’s favorite color?”
“Purple!” Billy replied, his blue eyes dancing.
Leah laughed, a delicate, bell-like sound. “Really? Or is that your favorite color?”
“Both!”
“Okay, then. Are you going to make the purple, or should I?”
“I will.”
Leah reached for the red and blue paint pots. “Here you go.” She watched as Billy carefully poured some from each on a plastic plate. “That’s it. Now mix it up.”
With his face a picture of fierce concentration, Billy mixed the colors. “More blue.”
“Off you go then.”
Once Billy had got the shade of purple that he was happy with, he said to Callum, “Now, you watch.”
“Okay, boss.”
Billy grinned impishly as he pushed his hands into the paint, sliding them around with great enthusiasm until they were all covered.
“Oh, how about we get Callum to hold the plate still for us,” Leah said, sliding the plain ceramic plate Juniper had made across the table. Callum held it in place while Leah took Billy’s hands and pressed them, palm down, into the plate. “There you go. How’s that?”
She lifted his hands and Callum smiled when Billy gave the plate a long, assessing look, before saying, “Good.”
“Great. I’ll just get some wipes for your hands and you can take it to your mum.”
Callum was at a loose end as Leah got up and walked over to Juniper’s station. Billy sat there staring at him with his soulful blue eyes, twisting his hands around so the paint squelched. “You have to look after Leah.”
Startled, Callum said, “Do I?”
“Yeah, coz her colors are sad.” He said the words quietly, a slightly mournful note to his voice that made him sound a lot older than his three and a half years. “Your colors are good, though.”
“Are they?” He was a strange little boy, Callum thought. Cute, for sure, but then he would say weird stuff like that. Callum had asked Juniper about it once. She’d explained that she guessed it was auras Billy could see and that he knew how to interpret them. It was very disconcerting.
“They used to be angry. But they aren’t anymore. I like them.”
“Oh, well, that’s good to know.”
Billy grinned, back to looking like the adorable child that he was.
