had dropped to his knees. He spread his arms wide and the little girl barreled into him, babbling in a voice that rang with joy.
“Uncle Jamie, I missed you so much. I missed you more than the moon and the sun. I missed you more than all the planets and the stars.”
Bittersweet memories flooded into Miranda’s mind. She and her sisters had played that game with their parents, too, competing over who loved whom the most, but it had been the sea for Papa and arts and music for Mama. I love you more than the ocean. I love you more than the east wind. I love you more than Mozart, more than Michelangelo.
“Easy, Skylark,” Blackburn said. “You mustn’t run. You’ll wear yourself out.” He pushed up to his feet, took the little girl’s hand in his and turned toward Miranda. “Look what I got for you, Skylark. A new mama. What do you think of her?”
A new mama? The words went off like a gunpowder explosion in Miranda’s head, destroying all rational thought. She stared down at the little girl, who was staring back at her.
Slowly, the joy in the little girl’s face faded. She darted a glance at Blackburn and whispered, “She doesn’t like me...” Then the child twisted around to glance back at Mrs. Van Cleef with a nervous expression that spelled Any more than this one does.
Without releasing the little girl’s hand, Blackburn lifted his other hand. His fingers closed around Miranda’s arm. He applied the same silent warning he’d used when they stood in front of the preacher and he’d dragged the consent of marriage out of her.
“Of course she does.” Steely fingers bit into Miranda’s arm. “She’s always wanted a little girl of her own to look after. Haven’t you, Miranda?”
Miranda studied the child. She seemed a timid little thing. And there was only one of her. Not four, like the boisterous Summerton girls who had worn her nerves into a tangle in five minutes. When Miranda didn’t say anything, the little girl blinked. A solitary tear spilled out from beneath her thick dark lashes and rolled down her cheek.
Seeing that tear, sensing the loneliness and grief the child so valiantly tried to hide, jolted Miranda out of her stunned reticence. A new mama. That implied Nora must have lost her mother, and most likely also her father.
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