The Problem Child (Emerson Pass Historicals 4)

We stoodunder the awning holding hands. Snow continued to fall. “Will you get home all right in this?” I asked.

“Yes, I should be fine. But I should get going before all the tracks are covered.”

I put my arms around his neck and kissed him. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

“It wasn’t me. I told you—the angels led me here.”

“Oh, Viktor, what would our family do without you?”

“You don’t ever have to be without me,” he said. “If you don’t want to be.”

“I don’t want to be.” I laid my cheek against his chest. “I hope your mother’s theory is correct.”

“Me too. It’s strange how she thought of it. She said the memory came to her out of nowhere.”

“Thank her for me,” I said.

“I will. Although I’m starting to think it was the angels.”

I looked up into his eyes. “I’d have thought you fanciful until tonight. It seems that you always know when we need you. How can that be explained except by the divine?”

“I agree,” he said.

I looked out into the night. The snow falling made everything quiet. No scampering critters or owls hooting, everyone cuddled up in whatever shelter they called home. More and more, Viktor was becoming my shelter. “It’s strange how everything changes when someone you love is sick. If it weren’t for Addie, I’d be obsessed with the race and whether you were going to ask me to the fall party next week. Now none of it matters if Addie isn’t better.”

He lifted my chin, and I looked up into his eyes.

“We believe, we trust in the Lord,” Viktor said. “Lean into your faith. Addie’s going to get better. We shall go to the party. Even Addie will be there. Tonight proved it all to me, Cym.”

“I believe, too. Right now, here with you, anyway.”

He stroked his thumb inside the palm of my hand. “I’ll come by tomorrow before work to see how she’s doing.” He kissed me. “Until then, try to get some sleep.”

“All right.”

“If she’s better, would you like me to take you out to the underground club to dance?” Viktor asked. “You deserve a little fun.”

“Yes. Unless the pond freezes over, of course.” Every year a decision was made whether we would dance or skate. I sniffed the air. “It could get cold enough for the pond to freeze over.”

“Either way. If you agree to hold my hand, then I shall not care,” Viktor said. “Good night, fair Cymbeline.”

“Go, before I drag you inside and make you stay forever.”

He gave me one more quick peck and then darted down the steps and shuffled through the snow to his car. He waved before ducking into the driver’s side. Headlights flickered on as the engine roared to life. And there, in the halos of light, I thought I saw the flutter of an angel’s wing. I blinked and the image was gone, leaving only the snow falling gently in the night from a sky blanketed with stars.

Stars that were above the clouds, even if I could not see them. How much else did the human eye miss? Not tonight. Tonight we had seen with our hearts that angels dwelled among us.

I went upstairs as quietly asI could. The door to Addie’s room was closed. Since Addie had been sick, Delphia had been in Fiona’s double bed. I peeked through a crack in the door of Fiona’s room. Wearing her flannel nightgown, she was in the rocking chair by the window looking out at the falling snow. Delphia was a sleeping lump in the middle of the bed.

The floorboards creaked as I entered. Fiona put her finger to her mouth, then pointed toward my bedroom. I nodded, and the two of us padded down the hall to my room.

I switched on the bedside lamp. Fiona yawned and shivered. “It’s so cold tonight.”

“Do you want me to light the fire?”

“Would you? And can I stay in here with you tonight?” Fiona asked. “Delphia kicks something terrible.”

“Sure. Kind of like old times?” When we were young, Jo, Fiona, and I had all slept in twin beds in what was now the little girls’ room.

I leaned down to light the fire laid out by our maid earlier in the night. Fiona went once again to the window and peered out as if she were looking for something.

“What’s out there?” I pulled the grate close to the hearth to keep any stray pieces of burning wood from getting past the tile.

She slowly turned away to look at me. “Li’s out there. He was supposed to come by earlier to see about Addie, but he never showed.”

“Maybe something came up?”