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Axur felt a slight sting at Katie’s true words. He hated that he cared, but he had a bigger problem at hand. He needed to change his attitude and at least make Katie comfortable.
Without her, Ayla would suffer because he would never give up his job. He had to at least be tolerable for Ayla’s sake … that was as long as it wasn’t already too late.
FOUR
KATIE
Stella leaving felt like a nail in a coffin. With her gone, Katie was officially on her own to deal with this man.
And his niece, she’s your main priority, she reminded herself.
Ayla was reading from a book when Katie walked into the living room on her first morning on her own.
She smiled and sat next to the girl. “What are you reading?”
Ayla shyly held up the book cover. Katie couldn’t help but frown when she read the title.Fifteen Indigenous Lifeforms and Their Effect on Ecosystem Biomes.It hardly sounded like a book any eight-year-old would like.
“So, do you like learning about … biomes?” Katie asked hesitantly.
The girl shrugged. “I like the pictures.”
“Ah. Do you have any storybooks?”
Ayla shook her head. “No. Uncle Axur let me borrow a few of his. This is one of them.”
Katie felt her jaw slightly clench. Of course, the general gave her these books. No kid in their right mind would ever pick out something like this unless they didn’t have anything else to read.
Memories float to the surface of her mind as she recalled birthdays and Christmases when her dad always insisted on getting her something practical. Plain shoes that he said were made to last, not be fashionable, when she was four. A day planner for her sixth birthday. Socks for her tenth Christmas.
Not to mention books. Never any fun books with adventures or romance or even an exciting narrator. No, only books that were clearly made for adults who were studying that one particular subject.
“You should be learning useful things, not reading nonsense,” her father had told her every time she protested.
There had been lots and lots of books. Most of them were still collecting dust on her shelf. Now, this poor girl was having to go through the same thing she had.
Not on my watch.
“I have an idea,” Katie said, a glimmer in her eye. “Why don’t we make up our own stories based on the pictures?”
Ayla perked up. “That sounds fun!”
Katie grinned and pointed to a picture of something that looked like a cross between a deer and a fox.
“Once upon a time, there was a curious fellow named Zee, who always had to eat grass. One day, he decided he never wanted to eat grass again and was going to travel the world.”
She flipped the page and turned to Ayla. “Now, you continue the story.”
The girl seemed to ponder it a minute before her eyes landed on a picture of an avian creature.
“But then, when Zee went to a new kingdom, he accidentally stole from the bird king, King Bor. He vowed to hunt down Zee and get his revenge.”
The story went on with Katie and Ayla alternating to tell the story. It ended with Zee and Bor becoming best friends and starting wars against all the grass kingdoms.
Both Katie and Ayla were laughing by the end of the silly story. Despite what she went through, Ayla’s mind still seemed lively enough. However, it would take more than just one made-up story to help her heal.
Katie glanced at the clock to see that it was already lunchtime.
“Come on,” she said, standing. “I’ll fix us some lunch, and then we can play some more.”
