Tears hung on Eve’s long, golden lashes, and her eyes shimmered with moisture, but she smiled and threw her arms around Judah’s neck.
“I love you, Daddy.”
Judah swallowed hard. I love you, too.
She hugged him tighter. “Mother’s coming.”
“It figures.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing.” Judah gradually eased out of E
ve’s embrace as he rose to his feet. “Let me handle things, okay? When your mother finds us, she’s not going to be happy, so we’ll tell her that I’m the one who shot the energy bolt. That way she won’t be angry with you.”
“But that’s lying, Daddy, and lying is wrong.”
Judah groaned. Raintree logic. “Actually, it’ll just be a little white lie, so you won’t get in trouble.”
“Mother will know that I did it. She knows everything.”
Judah couldn’t repress his smile. “Why don’t we put her to the test and find out?”
When Eve looked up at him, he winked at her.
She winked back. “Okay.”
Exactly five minutes and sixteen seconds later, Judah sensed Mercy coming up from behind as he and Eve sat on the side of the creek, their shoes off, their feet in the cool water. He glanced over his shoulder and spied her a good thirty feet away.
When he turned back around, Eve said, “Mother is very upset.”
“Remember, let me do all the talking.”
“I think my mother is the one who’s going to do all the talking.”
When Mercy approached them, Judah and Eve simultaneously turned to face her.
“Hi, Mommy. Daddy and I are just cooling off. It sure is hot today.”
Mercy glared at Judah. “What did you let her do?”
Judah shrugged. “Eve didn’t do anything. I did. I was showing off a little for my daughter.”
“Is that right?” Mercy zeroed in on Eve.
Eve’s cheeks blushed bright pink. “Uh-huh.”
Mercy scanned the area in every direction. When her gaze fell on the empty spot in the woods created by the absence of six large pine trees, she gasped.
Focusing on Eve, she said, “I want the truth, young lady. Did you—” she nodded toward the woods “—do that?”
“Do what?” Eve asked.
Mercy glared at Judah. “Not only did you allow her to do something extremely dangerous, you taught her to lie.”
“No, Mother, please. Don’t be angry with Daddy.” Eve yanked her feet from the creek and hopped up off the ground. “I did it. I zapped a whole bunch of trees. I was aiming at just one, but—” she flopped her hands open on either side of her “—my energy ball kind of went crazy, and all those trees went poof.”
“Oh, God, oh, God,” Mercy mumbled under her breath, then turned to Judah. “Did you help her create an energy bolt?”