Aquarian streak. "Perhaps I was a little hasty in dismissing your offer of help the other day," she said as winningly as she knew how. "I've been a trifle overwhelmed by events lately."
He leaned back in the chair and crossed his fingers over his chest. He'd removed his suit jacket, and she noticed he had a very impressive chest and shoulders inside that fitted white shirt. Pity he hid them behind the fussiness of ties and jackets. He looked as if he belonged in tight ski clothes. Or in a jungle with nothing on at all.
Distracted at that wayward thought, she settled her gaze on the business end of a small screwdriver protruding from his shirt pocket. As he talked at her, she studied the little pile of clock innards on the corner of his desk.
"I'm not certain the fate of the school is relevant to me any longer, Miss Alyssum. I'm considering sending Constance to live with her grandmother."
A squeak at the door warned Maya of an eavesdropper even before the door burst open and a miniature whirlwind flew in, wrapping itself around her legs and nearly toppling her.
"Don't make me go, Miss Alyssum! I can go home with you, can't I?"
For one fleeting moment, as she met Axell's gaze, Maya caught a glimpse of the window to his soul and saw despair before he glared at her as if this were all her fault.
And so it was. Kneeling, Maya wrapped her arms around the weeping fairy child. "Of course, you can, sugar baby. Give me a hug." And she meant it. Defiantly, she knew she'd take this beautiful little girl home with her right now if she could.
As the child wrapped her arms around her throat and practically strangled her, Maya glared at the indifferent man in the desk chair. This was the reason she dreamed of success for her school. All her life, she'd searched for a place that would accept her. She was too old to expect it for herself now, but she could offer it to other children, give them the love and acceptance she and Cleo never had.
She'd just never dreamed it would start with a child who had everything she'd never had.
October, 1945
I met a woman last night, Helen Arnold, the banker's niece. I heard she owned a moonshine joint outside town and wondered what she'd be like, but I never imagined... It would be a sin to go back there. I've worked long and hard and survived a war to get where I am. I can't let a fascination with the Arnold's black sheep ruin my chances—although, with all that red hair, maybe she should be called a red sheep? No, there's nothing sheep-like about Helen. She's a challenge.
Chapter 4
Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
Stunned into silence, Axell absorbed the tableau kneeling on his office floor. Had it been a painting, the scene would have been labeled Madonna and Child. There was something almost pre-Raphaelite about the glorious spill of fiery red curls down the woman's back, the pure ivory expanse of her curved brow, and the multicolored flow of her gauzy, pleated gown.
Constance in her short flowered skirt and padded running shoes demolished the artistic image.
What the hell was Constance doing here? He'd taken her to school well over an hour ago.
Tortured by his daughter's sobs, helpless to cope with them, Axell removed the screwdriver from his pocket and twisted it between his fingers as he groped for some logical means of dealing with this unanticipated problem. The teacher's glare told him it was not the right reaction.
Awkwardly, he emerged from behind the shield of his desk and towered over them. He wasn't the kind of man who sat on floors, but his daughter's brokenhearted cries offered him no choice. Tugging up his trouser leg, he got down on one knee and tried to peel her away from her teacher. "Constance, come here and let me talk with you."
"No!" Angrily, she jerked her little arm away from him. Constance was never angry.
Frightened by his helplessness, Axell threw the woman a beseeching look. What had she done to his daughter that Constance felt freer to go to her rather than to him?
The teacher's glare relented somewhat as she stroked Constance's long fine hair, gathering the dark strands in her hands and tugging gently. "Hey, sugar baby, look at me a minute, okay? You'll have me crying if you don't stop soon."
Amazingly, Axell heard a smile in her voice. How could