Page 12 of Harmonizing with Little Heaven Leigh

Heaven flashed him a grin. “Soon, Daddy. Soon.”

For a while, just knowing they would be moving into their dream space had lightened the stress load, but as the day of completion grew closer, the excitementandanxiety seemed to expand into every corner of their lives. To say that their moods were on a hair trigger was putting it mildly. And then things took a turn that left Angel scrambling for every ounce of patience he had left.

Littles were supposed to be safely contained within the Littles’ Wing where they could be supervised, but sometimes all the supervision in the world wasn’t enough to keep them out of trouble. His Heaven was an example of that. Before she’d been given a job with him, she’d gotten into trouble so often that Derek joked about wearing a paddle out on her backside.

For her the fix had been simple. She wasn’t really trying to get in trouble, she just needed to breathe and stretch her legs outside of the Littles’ Wing. Her younger side was getting plenty of nurturing, but her adult side was feeling stifled by having to follow so many rules all the time. Once she’d been given a job with responsibility, things had gotten better.

But sometimes Littles just needed to be naughty. Mischief was exciting and when you put a bunch of Littles together, they were prone to encouraging bad behavior and chaos. Things could escalate quickly.

He knew that. Every adult on the grounds was well aware of that.

Littles loved chocolate. The attraction to the sweet treat was so strong, most of them lost all willpower and simply couldn’t help themselves. Angel knew that too.

So, when his frustration over the tight quarters had gotten the best of him, he should have realized that moving the chocolate pieces to the multi-purpose room to assemble it there… was a bad idea. In Angel’s defense, he really just needed room to work and wasn’t considering the possible issues it might raise.

He wasn’t thinking about the downside of bringing large slabs of chocolate into the Littles’ Wing and leaving them unattended in a room while he went back to the kitchen. And, to be fair, the event room did have a lock on it. If the door had closed properly, there wouldn’t have been an issue.

If.

Since the event was going to have so many Littles in attendance, Angel wanted to do something they would find fun, but would still impress everyone else. A castle, complete with princesses and knights on tiny chocolate horses, was probably a little ambitious, given his schedule and limitations, but the idea was full of whimsy, and his creative side latched onto it with excitement.

Knowing it would be the last time he had to struggle with the space issue, also made it a bit of a personal challenge, so he decided to go with it. Best of all, he’d done castles before, so he had reference photos ready to use and could skip that step. It would be tight, but he could manage something presentable in the time he had.

All the flat wall sheets were cut, pressed with a stone pattern, and labelled before going into the chiller. With a small torch, he could assemble it in the multi-purpose room later and then paint the chocolate to make the castle walls look more realistic.

Then he set to work making the smaller pieces. The people, the horses, and an assortment of odds and ends would help add a bit of life to the piece. He took his time carefully painting on the clothes and features. There would even be a moat, filled with warm liquid chocolate that would be circulated by a hidden fountain.

While he made all the individual pieces, that would bring the scene to life, Heaven was busy with her own share of the work. She was making a treat buffet to go alongside the castle. There were racks of cake pops, and bite-sized pieces of cake that could be dipped into the moat. Chef Connor’s staff were contributing trays of fruit for dipping as well.

It would provide the necessary nibbles for the party, while keeping up the spirit of whimsy.

He loved it when everything came together. He was so pleased with how things were going, that he was able to push aside his frustration when a tiny wheelbarrow kept falling apart, and when Heaven accidentally knocked over one of the horses and its legs broke off. These were small things and easily fixed.

But between trips from the kitchen to the event room, something happened that washed away the last of his patience. Heaven discovered it first and the expression on her face wiped the smile off of his. She was just coming out of the room when he arrived with another wheeled cart full of chocolate pieces.

He could see instantly that there was a problem. “What’s wrong?”

She quickly pulled the event room door shut and put her back to it. “Daddy… I think you need to um…” She paused, clearly struggling for words. “Maybe take a deep breath and count to ten… or a hundred.”

His eyes narrowed. “Heaven Leigh,whatis going on?” There was a sinking feeling in his stomach and he straightened and crossed his arms over his chest as he waited for her answer.

“I—I think, maybe… there was an accident.” Her eyes were abnormally wide, and her expression looked pinched, worried.

“An accident?” His first thought was that she’d broken another horse. They were so fragile, standing there on legs not much thicker than a pencil. He would never be angry at her for something like that, and chocolate was forgiving, most things could be fixed with a judicious application of heat.

He shook his head. “Chiquita, if you broke something, we can probably fix it, and we have plenty of time. Don’t worry,” he assured her.

“No, um… it’s not that.” But she didn’t seem ready to explain further.

“Then what is it?”

“Daddy, why don’t you leave the cart here and go back to the kitchen. I can take care of it and then you don’t?—”

He cut her off by firmly moving her away from the door. Despite her protests, he unlocked and pushed it open. He wasn’t more than two steps inside before it became obvious why she was acting so skittish.

Aside from sexy bedroom talk, Angel didn’t swear much, especially at work. It didn’t look professional in front of guests, and Littles were like mimics when it came to repeating things they shouldn’t. But there was no holding back this time, and “What in the absolute fuck happened in here!” burst from him at full volume.

Heaven inhaled sharply and then, “Daddy!” The shock in her tone was obvious. She sent an anxious look over her shoulder at the classrooms across the hall, but Angel wasn’t concerned with who might hear him.

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