A hand touched my hip. I looked down to find Olivia drawn close, one hand curled into the silk while she watched Matthew and Jenny’s antics intently. By the time they had finished, even Skylar was smiling again. Children’s joy is infectious.
Finally, Matthew set Jenny back on the ground and acted like he needed to catch his breath. The little girl returned to her parents and peered at me and Olivia with a pair of intense blue eyes that matched her father’s.
“Who are they, Daddy?” she asked.
“Remember I told you we invited some friends for the weekend? This is Nina and her daughter, Oliva. Can you say hello?”
Jenny turned toward us and waved a tiny hand. “Hello.”
I bent down so I was face to face with her and offered a smile. “Hello, Jenny. My name is Nina, and this is Olivia. We’re related to your uncle Eric. It’s very nice to meet you.”
“You look sad,” she told me, blue eyes guileless. “Do you need a hug?”
It was a harmless question, but one that took me off guard nonetheless. “I—how kind of you,” I said. “But I think I’m—”
“She’s my mama,” Olivia cut in suddenly, with a sharp voice that surprised even me. “If she needs a hug, I’ll be the one to give it to her.”
She turned, swallowed thickly, and then, before I could stop her, threw her arms around my neck so tightly I could barely breathe. And yet I found I wouldn’t have removed them for the world.
Something inside me uncoiled. I closed my eyes for a moment, clasping my daughter’s head to my shoulder and breathing in her sweet, nameless scent she had had since she came into the world. Oh, I had forgotten that lovely smell. A bit sweaty, warm, but somehow full of life. Love, really. That’s what it smelled like. A unique kind of love that only belonged to her.
Over her shoulder, I found Matthew staring at us, his brow furrowed with need. He cleared his throat and looked away, but not before I saw a wet shimmer over his deep green eyes.
“Thank you, darling,” I whispered, then let my daughter go and stood up.
Brandon and Skylar were just chatting with their daughter, clearly used to this sort of display of affection. Jane, however, was watching me with understanding as I stood and brushed the creases out of my skirt.
“Why don’t you and Jane show Nina the cottage?” Brandon said. “Zola and I can wrangle the kids inside. I don’t want to leave Luis with the other two for too long.” Behind him sounded a loud yowl of a much younger child, and immediately, Brandon took off into the house.
“Go on,” I urged Olivia. “You’ll have more fun with the other children.”
She blinked up at me solemnly but obediently detached herself from my skirt. For a moment, I almost called her back but decided against it. It was better for her not to get too attached, this close to her departure for school. Or maybe it was just better for me.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“How many children do you actually have?” I asked Skylar as we turned down a path through the property that led toward two small cottages at the perimeter.
“Oh, it’s a houseful right now,” Skylar said. “We adopted Luis last year, and right now my sister and brother are staying with us before they go back to Andover too.” She brightened. “They might know Olivia, actually. Jane mentioned she goes to the same school.”
I brightened. “Oh! That’s a pleasant surprise.”
Skylar nodded. “They’ll make her feel at home.”
Jane and I followed her down a path through a grove of large oak trees that provided a lush, welcome canopy of green in the late summer heat.
“That’s Brandon’s lab,” Skylar said, nodding toward the nearer cottage that looked like it was under construction. “It’s almost finished, but they have workable space in the basement right now.”
She didn’t expand on what I knew a bit from local gossip—that Brandon Sterling was something of a renaissance man. Having made his fortune in the market, he had switched to law later, and then, after meeting his wife, had switched to some kind of engineering or research.
“And this,” Skylar said as we approached the door of the second cottage, “is for you.”
She let us into the small house that included a kitchen, living and dining rooms, and two doors that opened into two guest bedrooms connected by the small bath. It wasn’t by any means large, but