Page 46 of The Wolf I Sworn To Hate

They spent the next couple of hours making an impressive snow fort out of cold, white, compacted bricks that would be the envy of any mason. Then, they created a huge arsenal of snowballs.

“Go get your sister,” Sean said.

Grinning widely, Edward ran inside. He came back a couple of minutes later and said, “She’s on her way.”

She walked outside. “Edward, where are you?”

He stood up and pelted her with several snowballs while Sean and Sawyer stood off to the side watching and laughing. They loved seeing the boy have fun, despite the situation they were in.

“Oh, you turkey. You ambushed me.”

She bent over, gathered snow, and made snowballs to lob back at him.

When Edward was out of ammunition they went inside for some hot chocolate.

Xyla pointed her finger at Sean. “I’ll get you for this.”

He grinned. “Bring it.”

Sean took another nap until dinner. Afterward, Edward convinced Ellie, Marcie, Sawyer, Xyla, and Sean to play charades with him.

They teamed up girls against guys. It was the best game of charades that Sean had ever played. He couldn’t remember the last time he laughed so much.

Edward hugged him before heading off to bed. “Thanks, Sean. You’re the best.”

“You are, too,” Sean replied.

“That kid adores you. You are so good with him,” Sawyer remarked.

“He’s a good kid, and he probably has a bit of hero worship going on. Xyla said he thought he owed me a life debt.”

Sawyer laughed. “That’s never a good thing. I’ve seen the movies.”

That night, he replayed the day in his mind.

I could be having that kind of fun with my own son.

He quickly banished the thought.It wasn’t meant to be.

Sean closed his eyes. He was beginning to realize that he had been afraid to live after he lost his family, but Xyla and Edward were showing him how to live again.

18

Xyla

The sun outside was shining brilliantly, and Xyla couldn’t resist going outside. She remembered Sawyer’s warning but told herself that she wouldn’t leave the sight of the building. People were outside doing different things, so she should be fine.

Breathing in the cold air was invigorating. The sun felt warm on her face, and she wondered if the temperature had heated up enough to start melting the snow. William had reported this morning that the radios still weren’t working, and no one could get a signal on their cell phones.

Would it be so bad if we were stuck here for a month or so?

She enjoyed the exercise but got tired quickly because she still sank into some of the taller drifts. After a while, she headed back inside and went to the kitchen to see if Franny needed help.

The woman must have sensed her presence as she walked toward the kitchen. “Xyla, would you mind going down to the basement and getting me some of the strawberry preserves on the top shelf? It’s to the right as you go down the stairs.”

“You preserve strawberries? When do you find the time?”

“Yep. Sara, Ginny, and I have a little garden out back, and we grow our own strawberries.”

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