He placed another cereal loop in Tilly’s mouth and yet again it flew past her lips when she tried to say ‘k’. After the third attempt, Tilly’s grin waned. Mia opened her mouth to suggest a break but Kade beat her to it. He placed a handful of cereal on Tilly’s small palm.
‘Here, eat these and when you’re done we’ll try again.’
Tilly crunched and munched through a fresh smile as Kade unbuttoned his shirt cuffs and rolled up his sleeves. He gathered three pink loops into his hand and waited for Tilly to finish chewing. Again the expected impatience failed to tighten his features.
‘Here we go…one…’ he said.
Tilly opened her mouth. The cereal went flying. Kade continued speaking. ‘Two…’ Tilly frowned as she concentrated on using the tip of her tongue to keep the cereal in place. An audible sound emerged from the back of her throat.
‘K’.
Mia clapped. ‘Well done, Tilly. A fabulous ‘k’ sound.’
Kade placed another loop in Tilly’s mouth and again she made a clear sound. This time Mia didn’t clap. Kade’s tentative, almost shy, smile toward Tilly caused Mia’s suddenly unsteady hands to lower slowly to the table.
The modus operandi of the ambitious and powerful was all too familiar. It was the one thing she knew like the lines of pain carved on her reflection. She’d seen Kade’s indifferent hand hover over Tilly’s sobbing head, the way he could barely look at her as well as his obsessive watch-checking. Tilly was just an inconvenient distraction on the bottom of his ‘to do’ list.
And yet here he was smiling at Tilly with unmistakable warmth in his eyes. Sure she’d had to bribe him to stay but then with every loop he patiently placed in Tilly’s mouth, with every calm syllable he uttered, he revealed a side that was as different to her father as frost was to sunshine. The compassion he’d displayed earlier at finding out she was Langford’s daughter, and now his considerate persistence with Tilly, all confirmed a single truth.
She had to amend her poor opinion after all. Her first impression
was
wrong. Kade wasn’t a carbon-copy of her father.
He had a heart.
HE MUST be going insane.
Kade read the monogrammed document on his desk for the fourth time. While the crisp, black text translated into words, they went missing-in-action before they reached his short-term memory. The room was quiet, temperature conducive to work and surroundings comfortable but still he couldn’t focus. Desperate, he’d even accepted some dubious-smelling candle from Mrs. Shepherd guaranteed to improve concentration.
Yeah. Right.
He tilted his chair and jammed his hands behind his head. He glared at the pressed-metal ceiling as if the answer to his poor attention would be imprinted there. So what if two days ago he’d sat in the shade of the summer-house and allowed the determination of a four-year-old, and the smile of a woman, to anchor him in his seat? Just because, for an unprecedented few minutes, he hadn’t thought about Matchtec didn’t mean that his brain could now decide it deserved a holiday.
He swung his weight forward and righted the chair. The faint notes of Tilly’s and Mia’s merriment drifted up from the garden. Their incessant laughter had plagued him for days. It was as though both of them belonged to some secret club for which fun and pleasure were the only pre-requisites. He stood and crossed to the window, positioning himself far enough away so he wouldn’t be visible from below. The last thing he needed was for Mia to realise that upper management could indeed be distractible.
His eyes adjusted to the mid-morning brightness. Mia and Tilly sat on a blue tartan rug beneath a shady old jacaranda his grandfather would have planted. Between them rested a yellow bucket and from their hands dangled strings tied to sticks. He had no idea what they were doing but one thing he was sure of, they weren’t working. He massaged his tight forehead. It was already day three and the only time Mia had used the music room had been during their ‘negotiated’ afternoon. Enough was enough. The more she disregarded his wishes, the more determined he was to tighten his grip on the reins of control. He would impart order to his temporary world.
But instead of heading downstairs and into the garden that had been his grandmother’s life work, he remained stationary. Even from such a distance he could see the fullness of Mia’s bottom lip and the way she tipped her head toward Tilly while she listened. Surrounded by the vivid green lawn, Mia’s hair fell in copper waves around her shoulders left bare by her floral dress. If he were an artist he’d be reaching for a paintbrush. He swung away from the window.
He wasn’t an artist. He didn’t own a paintbrush. Never had. And he didn’t have time to be susceptible to things of beauty. No matter how heart-stopping Mia’s smile.
Frustration thrummed in Mia’s veins as she dipped her fishing rod into the plastic bucket. She’d seen the masculine shadow at the second-storey window gaze out at them and then step behind the heavy curtains. For the past two days a glimpse was all they’d seen of Kade. How could she chisel away at the wall separating him from Tilly if he didn’t ever make an appearance? It didn’t matter if Kade had proven that he wasn’t exactly like her father, her unofficial duty was far from complete. Kade still excluded Tilly from his life.
As if pulled by an invisible thread, she turned her head to look again at the red-brick, white wrought-iron trimmed homestead. The only sign of life in Kade’s office was now the muted gleam of a crystal chandelier. After his help in the summer-house it was as though he’d locked himself away in a high tower and thrown away the key. But he couldn’t stay up there forever. He was going to have to come down and face Tilly sometime. And when he did, Mia would be waiting.
‘What’d you det?’ Tilly questioned.
‘Sorry?’ Mia focussed on her tiny client and not on the window. ‘What card did I get?’
Tilly nodded with such energy Mia couldn’t help but laugh. Tilly’s
joie de vivre
was infectious. This lovable child had lost everything and yet she still found a reason to smile. How could Kade not want to spend time with his courageous niece?
‘Let’s see.’ Mia pulled her fishing rod out of the bucket. Attached to the magnet at the end of the string was a fish-shaped card with the picture of a kite. ‘I got a kite,’ she modelled for Tilly.
‘You dot a k—ite,’ Tilly copied.
‘Lovely ‘k’ sound, Tilly,’ Mia said, tucking a tendril of shining hair behind the little girl’s ear. ‘You’re getting so good at using your special ‘k’ sound at the beginning of words.’ Mia added the kite card to the pile they’d already fished out from the bucket. ‘Okay, your turn. There mustn’t be too many left.’
Tilly dipped her fishing rod into the bucket. A distinctive masculine tread sounded on the sandstone pavers of the garden path. Mia glanced up. Two days in solitary confinement hadn’t relaxed Kade’s tense features. His city-short hair was ruffled as if frequently ploughed through by a restless hand and whiskers shadowed the etched line of his jaw. She also wasn’t the only one to modify her wardrobe to accommodate the summer heat. The top two buttons of his business shirt were now undone and dark denim hugged his hips instead of tailored trousers. But as he strode closer, one thing remained familiar. His frown. The leaving of his tower obviously hadn’t been easy.
Tilly spied her uncle. She dropped her rod, leapt off the rug and raced toward him. Her red-checked cotton dress billowed out behind her. Strands of her fair hair fanned out in the breeze. The instant Tilly embraced his leg, Kade stiffened. Mia winced. But Tilly appeared unaware of her uncle’s lack of response. She smiled at him. A smile so happy, so loving, Mia could feel its warmth from where she sat.
Feelings flickered across his face. Uncertainty. Indecision. Withdrawal. Oblivious to the emotional slide-show unfolding above her, Tilly retained her hold. Kade’s mouth firmed as though he were in physical pain. Mia laid her fishing rod on the rug and stood. She’d better do the grown-up thing and rescue him before the wind changed and his grimace became permanent.
‘Tilly,’ she called, ‘how about you let your uncle go? He’ll need his leg to walk over here and see what we’ve been doing.’
Tilly entwined her hand with Kade’s and tugged him forward. When his boots reached the edge of the rug, he stopped as though she were asking him to tread barefoot over hot coals. ‘Morning.’
‘Morning to you too. And what a good morning it is, don’t you think?’
His lips curled. ‘That’s debatable.’ He eyed off the cooler and wicker picnic basket. ‘Outside again? Are the music room’s facilities insufficient?’
‘No.’
‘Are you making another mess?’
‘No.’ Mia smiled at Tilly who showed no sign of releasing her uncle’s hand anytime soon. ‘Tilly and I are here because we thought it would be a waste to spend such a nice day inside…and now we’re glad you’ve decided to come and join us.’
His gaze glittered. Her hidden sarcasm hadn’t fallen on deaf ears. She knew full well he’d marched downstairs to cancel their picnic.
Tilly had edged closer to Kade until she was pressed against his right leg. Happiness danced on her smiling lips. There was no way Mia could allow Kade to retreat into his high tower again.
She inclined her head toward the yellow bucket. ‘Come and have a look at what we’ve been doing.’
‘I don’t have time.’
‘Yes you do, otherwise you wouldn’t have come down here.’
She could almost hear the clash of their mental swords.
‘I could spare a few minutes…if you and Tilly spend the rest of the day in the music room.’
Mia shook her head. ‘No deal.’ Now that she’d discovered Kade possessed a heart, she no longer needed the music room as leverage. There was more than one way to keep him there. She smiled sweetly. ‘You’ll stay because Tilly would like you to and if you don’t, you’ll upset her.’
Kade looked at Tilly. On cue her bottom lip protruded in a perfect pout. Tilly may have trouble using words to communicate but she certainly had no trouble with non-verbal language. Her lip trembled. If he didn’t respond in another three seconds, there would be tears. Three…two…one…
‘Okay.’ He passed a hand over his face. ‘I’ll see what’s in the bucket.’
Tilly’s pout dissolved into a smile. She scampered across the rug with Kade following more slowly in her wake. He slanted Mia a dark look over his shoulder. She grinned.
He scowled into the bucket. ‘What am I supposed to be seeing?’
‘The bucket is full of pictures that begin with ‘k’ and are shaped like fish,’ she said as she approached. ‘You use the fishing lines to catch them.’
Tilly handed Kade a fishing rod. ‘Dow fishing.’
Kade inspected the small horseshoe magnet attached to the rod. Curiosity tempered the severity of his expression.
‘There are paperclips on the fish,’ Mia explained, ‘for the magnet to secure to. The theory being you lift up the fishing rod and the fish will stay attached.’
He looked over the magnet for a little longer. ‘If I’m here, I may as well see how it works.’
Tilly sat cross-legged beside the bucket and patted the rug for Kade to sit next to her. He hesitated, then did as he was asked. Tilly dangled the string of her rod into the bucket, before lifting out a fish. She plucked it off the magnet and showed Kade the picture.
‘K–ey. Key.’ She repeated perfectly.
Shock widened his eyes. Mia suppressed a flicker of satisfaction. The play and toys Kade so disapproved of were achieving results. Tilly still had a long way to go until her ‘k’ sound generalised to all words but she’d practised hard and could now say most words correctly that started with ‘k’.
‘Isn’t Tilly doing well?’ she asked as she too sat on the rug.
‘Yes, indeed she is.’
Mia wasn’t sure if approval or sheer relief thawed Kade’s voice.
He dipped his own rod into the bucket and extracted a fish. He removed the picture from the magnet and handed it to Tilly. ‘What’s this one?’
‘Cow.’
Kade’s lips lifted at the corners. ‘And this one?’ He again dunked his rod into the bucket, pulled out a picture and passed it to Tilly.
‘Candle,’ Tilly answered.
Kade looked across at Tilly. His mouth curved. Tilly grinned back.
Tilly again dipped her rod into the bucket and Mia busied herself unpacking the picnic basket. She had to turn her small victory into a larger one and keep Kade with Tilly for as long as possible. Every second he spent with her was even more important now he’d avoided her for the past two days. By the time the fortnight ended she needed to have made sure that Kade had bonded with his ward.
Mia placed a pile of different coloured plastic bowls on the rug. They tilted like a rainbow Leaning Tower of Pisa. Across from her, Kade stuck the rod magnet to the metal on his watch with an almost childlike inquisitiveness. An unfamiliar softness intensified the blue of his eyes. It was as though she’d caught a glimpse of a side of him that he’d never let out to play. The stack of bowls in front of her toppled over.
She righted the bowls. She had enough to concentrate on without allowing Kade’s growing humanity to distract her. She prised off the cooler lid. ‘I think Tilly’s fabulous clear talking calls for a celebration?’
The magnet hung forgotten in his hand. ‘Celebration?’
’Yes, Tilly had a choice of different things that she would like to do as a reward for working hard and she chose to make…,’ Mia pulled out a pink plastic container from the cooler, ‘ice-cream.’
Kade wrapped the string around his rod, placed it next to the bucket and stood. ‘I’m still recovering from the caramel popcorn sugar-high.’
Tilly grabbed his hand. ‘Don’t dow, Untle K–ade.’
Mia’s heart flew into her mouth. Tilly had just said Kade’s name correctly. He couldn’t ignore such an achievement? Could he?
‘That was great talking, Tilly.’ He glanced at his office window and then to where Tilly’s small hand remained clamped to his like a barnacle to a ship’s hull. Indecision flexed in his jaw. ‘Okay. I’ll stay five minutes longer.’ He again sat on the picnic rug. ‘But no ice-cream.’
Kade might be used to having his every command followed. But so was she. ‘You stay, you eat. Tilly and I insist. Don’t we?’